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Poll: Who are TV’s best love triangles?

If love makes the world go round then love triangles make the television world go round. Who are your favorites?


Last week, when the CliqueClack TV staff was throwing laptops at each other quietly discussing the best television trios, we discovered that in the greater realm of trios, that there was an entire subset of triads that deserved their own discussion: Love Triangles. The hardest part of our weekly poll often times is defining the time line (you should have seen half the staff spontaneously combust when Brett made a comment about the Star Trek trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy).  Considering though, how much I like to cheat, I’ve decided that this week we’re going with the “within recent memory” as our jumping off point.

For me, that means I’m going back as far back as 90210 (the OG) with Dylan/Brenda/Kelly (Not to be confused with Dylan/Donna/Kelly, which as Brett pointed out to me, was never really a triangle). Personally, it is a close choice between Friday Night Lights Riggins/Jason Street/Lyla Garrity and Dawson’s Creek Dawson/Pacey/Joey, but longevity lives out, and my eventual vote goes for the Dawson. Or, technically the Pacey.

But what did my fellow Clackers say?

Michael: Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo … Jack, Kate and Sawyer … hands down. The push. The pull. The conflict. The wonder of who would do what. I’m not in for all the mushy-mush that comes with something like a love triangle … but the interplay between Jack, Kate and Sawyer ended up becoming half the fun of Lost. And anyone who dug Lost who tells you otherwise is lying to you….

Ruby: That was kind of a love quadrangle — Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Juliet.

Micheal: Not in the beginning.… [I, for the record, am with Ruby]

Modwild: This is really hard for me. My first inclination was Buffy/Spike/Angel, but I’m going with Joey/Pacey/Dawson. Joey started out as a girl in love with the boy next door, and completely at odds with the antagonistic bad boy that was Pacey. Pacey’s character growth has to be one of the best ever portrayed on television, and when he fell for Joey, he stepped up to prove to her he was the man she really wanted. It was perfect.

Brett: [after correcting my 90210 SNAFU, he takes aim at my suggestion of Starbuck/Anders/Apollo] Wouldn’t the presence of Dualla kind of knock BSG off the ‘triangle’ list?

Ruby: Yeah, I would have considered the BSG triangle to be Starbuck/Apollo/Dualla, because Dee seemed far more upset about Kara and Lee than Anders did. Anders had his own problems to deal with (finding out he’s a Cylon for example).

Deb: Part of the problem is that there aren’t a lot of love triangles these days, because they are like love gazillionangles. Everyone bed hops, switches partners, etc., so amongst ensemble casts (think Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice) you don’t get triangles because they’ve all slept with each other. It’s sad that I can’t think of a current one!

Bob: [In an appropriately brotherly smackdown] Isn’t there one on Vampire Diaries?

An: I can’t remember any love triangles of the past (at the minute), but the love triangle of the present is Vampire Diaries’ Elena/Damon/Stefan.

Deb: I did think of VD, but for me it isn’t one I’d nominate because it feels so one-sided right now. I don’t really think Elena is torn between two lovers … Damon wants her, but does that make a triangle? I guess maybe it does….

Brett: Deb, I bet that if you go cruise the Wincest forums you can find yourself a Sam/Dean/Castiel triangle….

Then again, when can we ever be expected to agree on anything … The bigger question, is what do you think? Check in on the poll, or tell us how we missed an obvious triangle in the comments!

Photo Credit: NBC

23 Responses to “Poll: Who are TV’s best love triangles?”

September 30, 2010 at 10:39 AM

Bill/Sookie/Eric – True Blood

September 30, 2010 at 11:24 AM

That’s on there — go vote! :)

September 30, 2010 at 2:16 PM

Sydney/Vaughn/Lauren – Alias

September 30, 2010 at 2:24 PM

I voted for pacey/Joe/Dawson, but you soooo miss one important!!!

– Veronica/Duncan/Logan

September 30, 2010 at 2:25 PM

See, to me, Veronica was so obviously meant for Logan, I never really considered it a triangle :P

September 30, 2010 at 7:18 PM

Oh, that’s a good one. Unlike Ivey, I think Duncan would have been better for her. That, of course, doesn’t mean that he was right for her though. That’s the fun thing about love triangles. The better guy and the right guy. Or, the bad boy and the good boy.

September 30, 2010 at 7:21 PM

Whereas I think Duncan would be best matched up with a fence post. They both had about the same amount of charisma :)

September 30, 2010 at 9:57 PM

OF COURSE!!!!! I can’t believe I didn’t think of the VM trio — nice catch, Nattyff!

September 30, 2010 at 2:54 PM

What about Lana/Clark/Lex from Smallville?

September 30, 2010 at 3:17 PM

I would vote for Starbuck /Apollo, but Dualla? really? Did she ever really feel like a a threat? Sam, MAYBE….

September 30, 2010 at 4:04 PM

Agreed. Starbuck/Apollo/Sam.

September 30, 2010 at 5:56 PM

It depends on whether you’re focusing on Kara or on Lee. If you focus on Kara, then yes Sam and Lee are both in love with her and she with them, but Sam was never as devastated about her betrayal. He sort of knew that she was untameable, and he had his own stuff to deal with.

If you focus on Lee, then the other points in the triangle are Kara and Dualla. This was a much more passionate triangle. You have the same magnetic bond between Lee and Kara and on top of that you have Dualla’s very deep feelings for Lee and his love for her, their crazy marriage, her devastation, their suicide, and Lee’s horror over what happened. That’s a lot of passion right there.

If you’re just talking about which triangle is more popular/likeable, then sure I like Sam more than I like Dualla. But which was the stronger, more passionate love triangle? I think it’s Dualla/Lee/Kara.

September 30, 2010 at 5:58 PM

I meant to write “her suicide.”

September 30, 2010 at 4:10 PM

Max/Liz/Tess or Michael/Maria/Isabel from Roswell

September 30, 2010 at 6:38 PM

The most interesting and unusual one really didn’t start until a week ago and shows a lot of promise. That would be Olivia/Peter/Olivia from Fringe.

September 30, 2010 at 7:21 PM

Eww…I so hope that is not the case. Freaky.

September 30, 2010 at 10:18 PM

I guess to be more precise I should’ve called it Olivia/Peter/Fauxlivia. It’s going to be interesting the way that one plays out, and knowing Fringe it’s also going to be creepy/funny thanks to Walter Bishop.

September 30, 2010 at 11:01 PM

I have to say “none of the above”. Or rather, none at all. I’m a romantic and believer in True Love and soulmates and all that jazz and every time a show introduces a love triangle, it either kills the OTPness of the pairing or it makes one or more of the triad look stupid.

Wait, I changed my mind. House/Wilson/House’s current love interest. No matter who the woman is in House’s love, she will never love him like Wilson does. Nor will House ever feel for her what he feels for Wilson.

(I agree with Ivey that Logan was so obviously for Veronica in the long game, it wasn’t a real triangle.)

October 1, 2010 at 5:53 PM

Rory/Dean/Jess
or
Lorelai/Luke/Christopher

could have been a couple of interesting choices to add.

October 2, 2010 at 4:56 AM

Jim/Pam/Karen from The Office!

October 2, 2010 at 4:57 AM

I vote Brennan/Booth and the guy at Fox compiling the ratings for the show each week ^^;

October 31, 2010 at 5:23 PM

Well, i absolutely LOVE Buffy/Angel/Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (go spike) but, at the moment I am really loving the Vampire Diaries :) Damon and Elena ftw.

November 7, 2010 at 9:00 AM

Buffy/Angel /Spike is not a love triangle, cause Buffy was never in love with Spike.

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