History Main / NobodyThinksItWillWork

* Patti and Robin Lee Graham were not shockingly different the sixties teenager who sailed round the world alone but they did have a marriage that no one would have bet on. She was a teenage beach girl, he was a crazy(if not really as crazy as some when you think of it) boy who wanted to sail around the world. They met at 18 and eloped and are still together. That is more awesome than sailing round the world.

* GreenArrow and BlackCanary, after years of relationship issues (cheating, abusive behavior, etc.), finally got married. When they sent out invitations to the wedding, the reactions from most of the superheroes was somewhere between hysterical laughter and taking bets on how long it would last. So far, so good, though.
** Well, not anymore.

A trope frequently seen in {{Sit Com}}s and [[RomanticComedy RomComs]]. The hero and his love interest are obviously all wrong for each other. They have little in common as far as interests or hobbies are concerned, their personalities are built to clash, and it's obvious that once the shine has worn off the apple, they're going to break up and break up hard. Maybe he's a serious-minded businessman and she's the daughter of two aging hippies who never left TheSixties behind. Maybe he's an unambitious semi-jock who has never really done anything in his life, and she's a genius bound for a life of intellectual achievement. Whatever the case, friends, family and casual acquaintances point out that "This will never work" at every opportunity, because nobody in his right mind thinks that the two belong together.

-->'''Diane Court:''' Nobody thinks it will work, do they?
-->'''Lloyd Dobler:''' No. You just described every great success story.
-->--''SayAnything''

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* ''DarkHeartHigh:'' Yuri's parents. For good reason - an EvilOverlord and a MagicalGirl aren't supposed to get married! And never mind having a *kid* on top of that!

* Green Arrow and Black Canary, after years of relationship issues (cheating, abusive behavior, etc.), finally got married. When they sent out invitations to the wedding, the reactions from most of the superheroes was somewhere between hysterical laughter and taking bets on how long it would last. So far, so good, though.

* The ''Fanfic/OneiroiSeries:'' Well, did you really think anyone would?

---> '''Diane Court:''' "Nobody thinks it will work, do they?"
---> '''Lloyd Dobler:''' "No. You just described every great success story."

* ''DeltoraQuest:'' He's the handsome, brave, heroic and renowned king of a massive country. She was raised by trees.

* The core premise of ''DharmaAndGreg'', ''{{Bewitched}}'', and possibly ''IDreamOfJeannie''. In Dharma and Greg they have clashing personalities where they're family thinks makes them uncompatible, in ''{{Bewitched}}'', pretty much all of Samantha's relatives think she's crazy for marrying a mortal and in IDreamOfJeannie...she lives in a goddamn bottle. Since the former two series have romantic tension since they start out married, and the last has them start out in a master/more-powerful-servant relationship, a recurring plot is one or both spouses (or whatever) getting doubts or clashing, only to reconcile and learn AnAesop.
* The ''{{CSI}}'' episode "$35k OBO" begins with a couple leaving a restaurant, wishing one another happy anniversary and remarking, "And they said it would never last." Since it's ''CSI,'' it doesn't come as all that much of a surprise when the trope is almost instantly violently subverted.
** In more ways than one: [[spoiler: Not only are they both murdered, but it turns out they each hired ''the same hitwoman'' to kill the other]].

-->'''Jill:''' Our wedding was so beautiful. I am so glad that I didn't let anybody talk me out of marrying you.
-->'''Tim:''' Who would try to talk you out of marrying me?
-->'''Jill:''' Oh, no one, you know, just my mom, my dad, my sisters, my family, the minister, the postman, some guy down at the mailbox...

* This was the general attitude, at first at least, about the pairing of Luke Spencer and Laura Webber on ''GeneralHospital''.
** This sort of romantic pairing is actually pretty common in soap operas.
* ''ILoveLucy:'' CBS initially responded to Lucille Ball's insistence that Desi Arnaz play the husband in her TV show by saying they weren't sure if audiences could believe that a celebrity like Lucy had a mixed marriage with an obscure Cuban bandleader. In response, Lucy and Desi gave a vaudeville tour across the country. The tour became a success, proving to the networks that a TV show of the duo would be huge.

* Shania Twain's song "You're Still the One" is all about this trope.
* Adding to the list, "Anniversary" by Voltaire.
* As is Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract".

* And touched on in Sonny and Cher's "I've Got You Babe" (''They say we're young and we don't know; won't find out until we grow...'')
* George Gershwin's song "[[http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/g/georgegershwin8836/theyalllaughed299724.html They All Laughed]]" is about a couple who had to go through this trope. It's the TropeNamer, in fact.

* Chuck Berry's ''Never Can Tell'' (you may recognise it from ''PulpFiction'') is titled after the refrain the old folks use to recant their naysaying while the song describes the kids going on to live happily.

* Patti and Robin Lee Graham were not shockingly different the sixties teenager who sailed round the world alone but they did have a marriage that no one would have bet on. She was a teenage beach girl, he was a crazy(if not really as crazy as some when you think of it) boy who wanted to sail around the world. They met at 18 and eloped and are still together. That is more awesome then sailing round the world.

* ''ILoveLucy:'' CBS initially responded to Lucille Ball's insistence that Desi Arnaz play the husband in her TV show by saying they weren't sure if audiences could believe that a celebrity like Lucy had a MixedMarriage with an obscure Cuban bandleader. In response, Lucy and Desi gave a vaudeville tour across the country. The tour became a success, proving to the networks that a TV show of the duo would be huge.

* Tracy Ullman's "They Don't Know About Us".

* OzzyOsbourne and his wife Sharon are another RealLife. When they got married, everyone expected his hard-driving rock and roll lifestyle to destroy any chance they had of staying together. 28 plus years later, they're still together.

Often a romantic version of the OddCouple, though the two romantic leads don't need to literally be opposites. Also frequently involves an UptownGirl. We've SeenItAMillionTimes. Compare with StarCrossedLovers.

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* OzzyOsbourne and his wife Sharon are another RealLife. When they were married, everyone expected his hard-driving rock and roll lifestyle to destroy any chance they had of staying together. 28+ years later, they're still together.

* Subverted in ''{{Friends}}'' while looking like a version of the trop played straight. Despite getting the audience to want Ross and Racheal together, the two have nothing in common and make a terrible couple as evidenced by the many, many times they become romantically entangled and crash hard.

* The song "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane" by Tanya Tucker.
* Adding to the list, "Anniversary" by Voltaire.

** As does the song "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane" by Tanya Tucker.
** Adding to the list, "Anniversary" by Voltaire.

* Howard Mackie's final ''SpiderMan'' story attempted to go this route with M.J reflecting that apparently everyone had said they would never last. Of course, anyone who's read the older stories should know that pretty much ''everyone'' was trying to hook her and Peter up, particularly Aunt May.

* ''DharmaAndGreg''.
* In ''{{Bewitched}}'', pretty much all of Samantha's relatives think she's crazy for marrying a mortal.

* In the series finale of ''StargateSG1'', the person who is most vocal about this regarding Daniel and Vala's relationship is Daniel himself. They end up spending nearly fifty years together, until time is rewound and the relationship is reset to its beginning.

* In ''MuchAdoAboutNothin''g, Don Pedro proclaims that Beatrice and Benedick are a good match for each other. Everyone else is highly skeptical due to their constant bickering, but they still agree to help him try to set them up.

* In MuchAdoAboutNothing, Don Pedro proclaims that Beatrice and Benedick are a good match for each other. Everyone else is highly skeptical due to their constant bickering, but they still agree to help him try to set them up.

* FanVerse/TwoGuysAGirlAndAnAversionToSunlight.

->'''Diane Court:''' Nobody thinks it will work, do they?
->'''Lloyd Dobler:''' No. You just described every great success story.

Except they do.

And when they live HappilyEverAfter, they prove everyone wrong, because TrueLoveIsExceptional.

* ''DharmaAndGreg''.
* In ''{{Bewitched}}'', pretty much all of Samantha's relatives think she's crazy for marrying a mortal.

* Green Arrow and Black Canary, after years of relationship issues (cheating, abusive behavior, etc.), finally got married. When they sent out invitations to the wedding, the reactions from most of the superheroes was somewhere between hysterical laughter and taking bets on how long it would last. So far, so good, though.

** As is Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract".
** And Celine Dion's "Everybody's Talking My Baby Down."
** And touched on in Sonny and Cher's "I've Got You Babe" (''They say we're young and we don't know; won't find out until we grow...'')
** It should be noted, however, that the song quote at the beginning of this isn't an example -- Brenda and Eddie get a divorce "as a matter of course," though they still remain friends.
* Real life example: Lois Duncan, author of many famous suspense stories, described her husband Don Arquette, as being an engineer and so different from her that many family members thought they would not be able to talk about anything besides the weather. Yet they have been married since 1965.
* Semi real life example: Mario Vargas Llosa and his first wife Julia, who happened to be not only a divorcée [[CakeEater eight years older than him]], but also the [[IncestIsRelative sister-in-law of one of his uncles]]; their romance and marriage circumstances were told in his book "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter". They eventually divorced, but, as he put it, "Our marriage lasted more time than our family and we ourselves expected: eight years". The average time everybody bet on their relationship length was two years. Julia's bet was on three.
* RealLife example: Lord Roseberry commented that the marriage of WinstonChurchill and Clementine Hozier wouldn't last more than six months. It lasted 56 years, until the former's death.

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<<|LoveTropes|>>

* Ben Stone and Allison Scott in ''Knocked Up''. He's an overweight pothead layabout. She's a hot media figure. They are both the best thing to ever happen to each other.