Buffy The Vampire Slayer

IN the film The Break-Up, Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn play a couple who are always fighting about little things so much so they finally decide to end their relationship. The film looks at the happy couple only very briefly before it gets down to showing them competing for the apartment that they share.

In the television world, couples rarely ever hook up and have an easy time dealing with their relationships. As series runs season after season, the “couple subplots” could even turn into a main plot. Sometimes, to perk things up, the writers even direct the couple towards splitsville.

Admit it, when this happens, fans of these TV couples become addicted to finding out what happens next. Works every time too.

StarTwo takes a look at 10 TV couples who hooked up but then things somehow did not work out ...

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Angel (David Boreanaz). The romance between Buffy and Angel was never meant to be, and these two beautiful people found out just how hard it is to break up. Why can’t they be together? The vampire with a soul Angel is cursed never to experience true happiness. The one time he and Buffy did hook up, he lost his soul and turned into the evil vampire he once was, forcing her to slay him. To cut a long story short, he returned to life but they realised a future together was impossible. Buffy breaks down and cries after Angel and she decide to go their separate ways; but he saves her the last dance at the prom before disappearing into the darkness of the night.

2. Smallville: Clark Kent (Tom Welling) and Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk). Will they or won’t they? The debate is still going on. Nonetheless we know that the adult Clark will end up marrying Lois Lane so it is probably a “they won’t” scenario. Superhuman or not, Clark has neither the power nor the strength to share his life with Lang. Maybe this is for the best since Lana has used up all her “damsel in distress” cards, anyway.

3. 24: Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and Audrey Heller Raines (Kim Raver). First his wife gets killed, ensuring him zero chance for a reconciliation; then his lover, Nina, turns out to be an evil agent. Bauer botches things up again when he puts his country above his girlfriend. No wonder Audrey decides to run back to her estranged husband. Guess Bauer is just unlucky with love.

4. Cheers: Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Diane Chambers (Shelley Long). Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) stepped in to fill vacancy at the bar, but she could never fill the hole in his heart left by uptight Diane. When Diane and Sam broke up, Sam - the recovering alcoholic - even relapsed and started drinking again. That’s pain.

5. Charmed: Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) and Cole Turner (Julian McMahon). A witch in love with a demon ... how poetic, eh? After much deliberation - which ran for a good three seasons - the sisters had no choice but to vaporise Cole. Understandably, Phoebe had a tough time getting over her husband.

6. Friends: Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) and Dr Richard Burke (Tom Selleck). While it was Monica’s brother, Ross “We’re on a break” Geller, who had a lot of break-ups with the same woman over and over again - Monica’s breaking up with the handsome ophthalmologist was quite devastating.

7. Ally McBeal: Ally McBeal (Calista Flockhart) and Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows). For a girl who so strongly believes in love, Ally has been betrayed too many times. Her childhood sweetheart - the one she thought she would spend the rest of her life with - ended up marrying someone else instead. The serial dater’s other romantic encounters - memorable ones include an eccentric lawyer played by Robert Downey Jr and a plumber played by Jon Bon Jovi - also fizzled out quickly enough to leave her broken hearted again and again.

8. The O.C.: Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) and Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton). The relationship between these two became just too confusing and drawn out. The bottom line remains, however, that these two are definitely not getting back together.

9.Gilmore Girls: Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) and Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia). The sweet Rory fell hard for bad-boy Jess. As it turned out these two had more in common than what was apparent on the surface. For starters, they both loved reading books. Unfortunately, Jess left Rory to go to California.

10. Party of Five: Bailey Salinger (Scott Wolf) and Sarah Reeves (Jennifer Love-Hewitt). If only Bailey had listened to all those ads about drinking and driving, he would still be together with Sarah. After an accident in which Bailey was driving and Sarah was in the passenger’s seat, the relationship practically went kaboom. At least Bailey cleaned up his act.