Unrequited Love Switcheroos in Live-Action TV series.
- 7 Yüz: At the beginning of "Prosedür", Banu is hung up on her ex and co-worker Rıdvan, whom she still pines after; he has since moved on and dated other people. By the end of the episode, their positions have flipped: Banu is no longer plagued by feelings for her old flame, while Rıdvan is left frustrated that she's moved forward with her life — all because of the procedure he himself encouraged her to get.
- It was practically a Running Gag between Big Pete and Ellen in The Adventures of Pete & Pete. In the initial shorts, Ellen would occasionally introduce herself as Pete's girlfriend, causing him to promptly correct her saying "You're a girl, you're a friend, but you're not a girlfriend." In the series, very frequently, when one would be interested in the other, the other would be trying to pursue, or be pursued by someone else, causing the initial party to get jealous. Their relationship never went past a kiss in the episode "Day of the Dot".
- There have been two so far in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., both unusual variations on the trope:
- For most of Season 1, Skye has a rather obvious crush on Ward, her aloof and enigmatic supervising officer who's quite the Tsundere towards her, and even ignores her advances to begin a casual relationship with May due to her being less emotionally complicated. Though he does eventually admit his feelings for Skye and the two briefly get together, the very same episode reveals that he's been Evil All Along. Once Skye learns this she is, naturally, no longer keen on continuing their relationship, but Ward insists that his feelings for her were genuine, and continues to pursue her throughout Season 2, despite Skye now claiming that he makes her physically sick and making no secret of her wish to see him die, even going so far as to (non-fatally) shoot him herself in the mid-season finale.
- A weirder example occurs with Fitz-Simmons: for the first few episodes of Season 1, it seems as though Simmons has an unrequited crush on her long-time best friend, while Fitz is too preoccupied with his crush on their new teammate Skye to pay her much attention. But a few episodes in Fitz begins to experience a Love Epiphany towards Simmons, who herself suddenly becomes Oblivious to Love at around the same time, and seems about to begin a relationship with someone else. When Fitz eventually admits his feelings towards Simmons at the end of the first season, she rejects him utterly, claiming that she never thought of him that way; which leaves the question of whether Simmons's apparent attraction to Fitz was the result of Early-Installment Weirdness, or whether she's deliberately denying her feelings for him - even at the cost of their previously extremely close relationship - for other reasons yet to be explained.
- They get together in Season 3.
- Beverly Hills, 90210:
- Dylan and Brenda. S2: Dylan —> Brenda then Brenda —> Dylan. S3/4: Brenda —> Dylan.
- For the first two seasons, Andrea has an enourmous crush on Brandon, who (for the most part) only sees her as a good friend. In season 3, Brandon begins to develop feelings for Andrea, but by then she has given up on him and began dating someone else.
- David and Donna in later seasons. S5: David —> Donna. S6/7: They swap per episode. S8 and S9: David —> Donna. S10: Donna —> David.
- Brandon and Kelly also occasionally switch who is pining after who, specifically during their break-up periods. S1 and S4: Kelly —> Brandon. S5: Brandon —> Kelly. S6: They swap per episode. S7: Kelly —> Brandon. S8: Brandon —> Kelly.
- Kelly pined over Dylan a bit in the early seasons, after their on-again off-again relationship throughout seasons 3 and 4, it was usually the other way around.
- The Big Bang Theory:
- Leonard was arguably never really into Leslie or Dr. Stephanie as much as he was with them just for the rebound, but when Penny breaks up with Leonard and he gets together with Priya, she re-develops feelings for him. In season 5, after Leonard breaks up with Priya, he and Penny get back together. But by the beginning of season 6, Penny is already questioning the future of their relationship. That said, they eventually become a married couple as of season 10.
- There's also the on-and-off romance with Bernadette and Howard, which shouldn't be going anywhere considering that they're now married.
- The main theme of Season 6 of Bones. Booth tells Bones he loves and wants a relationship with her in the 100th episode, Bones turns him down, they part for seven months, Bones realizes her feelings for him, Booth has a new beautiful Blonde girlfriend, Hannah. Lampshaded in "The Doctor In The Photo" where Bones tells Booth her feelings for him and he informs her that he has moved on with Hannah now. Then Bones prompts Booth to propose to Hannah, but Hannah is not ready to settle down. Booth ends up breaking up with her on the spot and then tells Bones that he doesn't want to be in another relationship anytime soon. They still get together a few episodes later, though.
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine has a fairly classic example: in Season 1 Jake has a thing for Amy, which he mainly expresses through the adult equivalent of pigtail pulling, so by the time he gets around to admitting his feelings properly, Amy has begun a relationship with her old friend Teddy that seems to be getting pretty serious, and she kindly but decisively turns him down. Jake then spends the first few episodes of Season 2 completely hung up on Amy, but then dates Sophia - who, despite being a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Amy, actually gets him to the point of being able to declare himself over his old crush. This happy state lasts for all of about two episodes - then Jake's plans for a surprise Double Date go horrendously awry, with Amy revealing that she'd been trying to find a way to break up with Teddy, and Teddy countering her sudden outburst at dinner by claiming that her feelings for Jake are the reason their relationship failed. Ultimately, Jake and Sophia stay together despite this revelation, while Amy and Teddy break up, leaving Amy in more or less the same position as Jake was in the previous season (though handling it far more maturely, naturally).
- Early on in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cordelia has a crush on Angel, who is in love with Buffy. In season 3 of the Spin-Off series Angel, Angel develops a crush on Cordelia, but by then she seems to have moved on from him and has fallen for the Groosalugg. Like Xander and Buffy, several years passed between the end of Cordelia's crush and the beginning of Angel's.
- Also, Wesley seems to finally get over his feelings for Fred just in time for her to realize her feelings for him.
- The title character in Castle has feelings for Beckett, but she has on-and-off romances with other characters. He attempts to get together with her at the end of season one, only for her current boyfriend to walk up behind them, and for Castle to chicken out.
- Season two finale: Beckett attempts to ask Castle out, only for his ex-wife to show up. The two then head for the islands.
- Season three ends with them relatively evening the score, as Castle calls Beckett out on not talking about their Fake-Out Make-Out and telling her that he loves her as she blacks out after being shot.
- At the start of season four, she tells Castle she doesn't remember anything about the events of the Season 3 finale. She's lying.
- At the end of season four, they start a relationship.
- Cheers: Sam and Diane have done this plenty of times throughout the first five seasons. S1: Sam —> Diane. S3: They swap per episode. S4: Sam —> Diane then Diane —> Sam. S5: Diane —> Sam.
- Subverted on Chef! (1993) when Savannah made up an imaginary boyfriend in the hopes of making this happen. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work, partially because her imaginary romance was too Sickeningly Sweet.
- In Community:
- Britta rejects Jeff from the very first episode. But when she develops feelings for him, he's with Michelle, another professor at Greendale. They end up in a secret Friends with Benefits relationship in season two, which abruptly ends when they're found out.
- Annie had a crush on Troy in high school, but went unnoticed by him. He starts to like Annie when she starts dating Vaughn, but his feelings of attraction were manipulated by Jeff and Britta for their own purposes. They end up Better as Friends
- Dallas: Bobby and Pam a few times during their divorce period. S6: Bobby —> Pam. S7: They swap per episode. S8: Pam —> Bobby.
- Also Cliff and Afton, sort off.
- Degrassi: Joey and Caitlin flip who is pining after who in all three shows of the franchise they appear in. Degrassi Junior High: Caitlin —> Joey. Degrassi High: Joey —> Caitlin. Degrassi: The Next Generation: Caitlin —> Joey.
- Dwayne/Whitley/Kinu on A Different World, in that Dwayne pursues Whitley for an entire season, while she is at times uninterested, and at other times in a relationship with Julian. Between seasons, they spend the summer apart, wherein Dwayne writes Whitley passionate letters and Whitley's feelings for Dwayne change, but she doesn't answer any of his letters in order to keep the passion flowing. When they arrive back at Hillman for the beginning of the school year, Whitley is ready to confess her feelings. Dwayne shows up with new girlfriend Kinu, who he met over the summer, instead.
- Done interestingly on Dollhouse - Paul Ballard is in love with Echo while Melly is in love with him. Then Echo falls in love with Paul, though they don't consummate the relationship. Then Alpha kills Paul's mind and it's re-made without his love for Echo, though she still loves him anyway. Then in the next ten years they spend together he falls for her yet again and they're implied to have a relationship, but she won't say she loves him. Then he dies. Joss Whedon, you make puppies cry.
- Lady Mary and Matthew in Downton Abbey; at first they have Belligerent Sexual Tension, which evolves into Matthew's unrequited love for Mary. Mary begins to reciprocate these feelings, but changes her mind when it becomes possible that Matthew may be usurped as heir. Matthew stops liking Mary because of this, only for Mary to change her mind and fall back in love with him. She spends the whole of Season two pining after Matthew, who is engaged to a hypotenuse.
- Many times with Ed/Carol on Ed. "Carols" go from Nick Stanton to Bonnie Hane to Dennis Martino to Frankie Hector.
- ER:
- John's got a major crush on Abby, but she's with Luka; when they break up, she makes it understood that she wants to be with John, but he's already with Susan. There's also a bit of that with Ray and Neela later on.
- The uber-example would be with Doug and Carol, the show's signature couple. Doug spent the first half of the first season pining for Carol, who rebuffed him, as she'd moved on and gotten engaged. By the second half of the season, he'd begrudgingly accepted this and moved on into a new relationship himself, only for Carol to be the one to be jealous every time she saw them together.
- Ephram and Amy on Everwood count as he's with Madison when Amy finally decides to be with him.
- Steve and Laura on Family Matters.
- In The Flash (2014), Iris starts a relationship with Eddie when Barry is in his nine-month-long coma. He decides that he can accept Eddie as Iris' boyfriend and starts seeing Linda Park. Iris is visibly surprised at this, eventually causing Linda to break up with Barry by mentioning his unrequited feelings for her. When the two make up, Iris is seen looking at them with a forlorn expression before walking away. She eventually confesses her love for Barry and they kiss, only for Barry to accidentally erase that timeline when he time-travelled to save the city, leaving him once again pining after her.
- Becca and Tucker in Flash Forward (1996). They'd each had crushes on each other throughout their childhood, but never at the same time...until the final episode of the series.
- Mal and Inara from Firefly have an extremely complicated version of this trope. It starts with Mal, and then Inara starts to reciprocate somewhat, culminating in her giving him a kiss out of relief when she had been afraid he died, but of course, Mal was unconscious at the time and didn't figure out it happened. Just when it seems like the two might address the rapidly growing Unresolved Sexual Tension between them, Mal sleeps with Nandi, which causes Inara to completely breakdown and realize she's in love with him but can't do anything about it since she's a Companion, and further motivates her to leave Serenity. In the Big Damn Movie, she returns and it's implied that she might stick around to be with Mal.
- On The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Hillary begins to get jealous when her Abhorrent Admirer, Jazz, is about to marry somebody else. Leads to a hilarious Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace moment:Hillary: I'm in love with him!
(Everyone gasps)
Hillary: ...Oh, my gosh, what am I saying? I'm gonna go lie down. - Friends:
- Ross and Rachel do this so many times it's unbelievable. S1: Ross —> Rachel. S2: Rachel —> Ross. S3: Ross —> Rachel then Rachel —> Ross. S4/5: Rachel —> Ross. S6: Ross —> Rachel. S8/9: They swap per episode. S10: Ross —> Rachel.
- Later in the series it happens with Joey/Rachel. In season 8 Joey falls in love with Rachel, falls out of it, and in season 9 she's the one who has a crush on him. Phoebe even lampshades Rachel's tendency to do this.
- Flashbacks in a Thanksgiving episode even show this happened with Monica and Chandler at one point, though in this case it's more of an unrequited infatuation switcheroo. When Monica and Chandler first meet one Thanksgiving, she immediately has a crush on him, but he doesn't like her because she's fat, she accidentally overhears him saying this to Ross, leading to the end of her crush. Then the next Thanksgiving, Chandler becomes attracted to Monica when he sees that she has lost the weight and is now thin, but she is still mad about him calling her fat and wants revenge. Her attempt at this results in her accidentally cutting off Chandler's toe, leading to the end of his crush. Years later, Monica and Chandler eventually fall in love and end up Happily Married, though even before then there are a few subtle hints (particularly in the episodes "The One At The Beach"/"The One With The Jellyfish") that Chandler has redeveloped a crush on her.
- Niles and Daphne go through a version of this in the first seven seasons of Frasier. Niles is instantly attracted to Daphne, and falls deeper in love with her over the years, but Daphne is completely unaware of his affections. Eventually, she is the only one who has no idea Niles is in love with her. By the time she finds out how Niles feels and finds out that she feels the same way toward him, Niles has moved on with Mel, who seems like a perfect match for him, leaving Daphne as the one with unresolved feelings.
- Glee:
- Emma is in love with Will Schuster. Later, Will finds out that he loves her too. But Emma's already dating this dentist who drives a sweet ride. Then Will tries to woo her by being cool like the dentist.
- Also works with the whole Finn/Rachel/Jesse situation; Rachel pines over Finn for half of season one. Finn seems to return her feelings, but is dating Quinn. Then when he finds out Quinn cheated on him with Puck, he breaks up with her, and Rachel assumes that she can automatically jump into the place of his girlfriend. He rejects her so he can go out with Brittany and Santana. Rachel quickly moves onto Jesse, just in time for Finn to decide that he has feelings for Rachel. Rachel then rejects him, and he spends the rest of the season trying to get back together with her. They get together in season two, but he breaks up with Rachel when he finds out that she kissed Puck out of spite. She spends most of the rest of season two trying to get back together with Finn, but he's moved onto Quinn, who is dating Sam. Sam breaks up with Quinn when he finds out Quinn kissed Finn. Quinn and Finn start going back out, but Quinn can tell that Finn still has leftover feelings for Rachel. Finn breaks up with Quinn when he realizes that he's really in love with Rachel, who in the mean time has had an episode-long crush on Blaine, who also has an episode-long interest in her (Kurt, of course, has a crush on Blaine), and expressed an interest in Sam. She winds up sort of getting back together with Jesse, only for Finn to kiss her in the season finale, leaving Jesse in the lurch. Taking the meaning of the word Switcheroo to a whole new level.
- Gilmore Girls flip-flops this like crazy. Rory and Dean get together in the first season. Then he breaks up with her when she falls for Jess. He pines after her while she's dating Jess, then he gives up and marries someone else, and she becomes jealous. After she and Jess break up, she has an affair with Dean, he gets divorced and starts dating her again, and she falls for yet another guy, leaving Dean to the side. By the reunion show, ten years later, it's implied that she's over Jess, but he's back to pining over her.
- The Goldbergs: The adorkable Geoff Swartz spends seasons 2 & 3 trying to woo his buddy Barry’s older sis Erica, who is one of those cool kids who is not interested in anything—especially not lovesick Geoff. In the season 3 finale, she shuts their non-existent romance for good, and Geoff finally starts to accept that she doesn’t like him back. But that night, she listens to a tape he made that he was saving for their future kids, and with a little nudge from bro Barry and BFF Lainey, finally realizes she loves him back—only to find out the next day that he’s started dating another girl. She then spends half of season 4 having to deal with her broken heart and seeing him with Evie. Luckily for fans, they come together before the end of the season, and become a couple. In fact, in the spinoff series Schooled, which takes places ten years afterwards, it’s shown in a high school reunion episode that Erica and Geoff are still going strong.
- Hannah Montana: Miley's at first annoyed by Jake's attempts to woo her, but then she falls for him and he's already moved on.
- Amber and Alfie from House of Anubis. Alfie was well known for following Amber around like a lost puppy for all of season one and part of season two. They did date, but Alfie was still pulling most of the weight and they eventually broke up. Then, as Alfie fell for another girl...Amber grew feelings for him and was now the one chasing after Alfie.
- How I Met Your Mother:
- Ted and Robin do this a few times throughout the series. S1: Ted —> Robin then Robin —> Ted then Ted —> Robin. S4: Robin —> Ted. S5 and S7/8/9: Ted —> Robin.
- Barney and Robin have been doing this many times. S4: Barney —> Robin then in the season finale they swap per scene. Late S5 and parts of S6: Barney —> Robin. S7: They swap per episode. S8: Barney —> Robin then Robin —> Barney, it turns out to all be part of Barney's final play ''The Robin''.
- In the finale Barney and Robin divorce after three years. Robin confesses to Lily that she should have married Ted instead; unfortunately, the latter is happily married to Tracy. In 2030, the mother died six years ago which allows Ted to go back to Robin.
- iCarly:
- A Christmas Wonderful Life episode where Carly wishes her brother was normal. As part of the changes caused by her wish, Freddie, who has at the very least a strong crush on Carly in the series, has given up on Carly romantically, dating a whiny brat. He also gives her an extreme cold shoulder which indicates their friendship is now non-existent. Carly finds out she is now dating Nevel. Carly pretty much breaks down at the idea that Freddie doesn't love her and that he isn't her friend.
- This also briefly happens in Season 4, when Freddie begins dating Sam, Carly seems to have feelings for Freddie. After the Seddie breakup though, it seems to switch back again. (Or at least, Freddie thinks so.)
- In Kim's Convenience, Jung's boss Shannon harbours a big crush on him in Season 1 and makes some attempts to woo him, something that he either doesn't notice or chooses to ignore. When he finally starts to realize his feelings for her, she's already moved on and started dating Alejandro. The finale of Season 2 reveals she still has feelings for him, but she refuses to act on them because she's happy with her relationship with Alejandro.
- This is done a few times with Gary and Valene in Knots Landing during the 8 seasons they were separated.
- Lizzie McGuire: Throughout the series, Gordo has a crush on Lizzie and she has no idea. One episode reveals that back in the fourth grade, she had a crush on him.
- Randy and Catalina on My Name Is Earl. Originally, Randy was in love with Catalina who constantly turned him down, and when Catalina needed a Citizenship Marriage, Randy eagerly volunteered. She felt somewhat obligated to sleep with him as thanks, but to make sure he'd never want to do it again, she tried to be as unappealing as possible by rubbing dead fish over her body beforehand and invoking Parental Sexuality Squick in her dirty talk. It worked like a charm, and Randy no longer wants anything to do with Catalina romantically. However, Randy turned out to be the most sensitive lover that Catalina ever had, so now she's the one pining after him.
- In Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Lisa Zemo spent the first two seasons chasing after Cookie. He didn’t express an interest in her because of her nerdy appearance, but that changes once she goes through a big makeover in the third season. Unfortunately for him, she’s really popular with her male classmates and he’s lucky to get only one date with her. They do end as the Beta Couple in the series finale, thankfully.
- Never Have I Ever: Just as Devi seems to be moving on with Ben, Paxton has a Love Epiphany towards her.
- Most of the major couples not involving Michael Scott in The Office (US).
- Jim pines for Pam in Seasons 1 and 2 as she’s engaged to Roy. Pam breaks up with Roy and pines for Jim as he starts seeing Karen in Season 3. They finally get together in Season 4 and remain so for the rest of the series.
- Several times with Dwight and Angela in later seasons. S4/5: Dwight —> Angela. S6/7: Angela —> Dwight. S9: Dwight —> Angela then Angela —> Dwight. They finally click again at the very end, and get married in the series finale.
- In early seasons, Kelly is obsessed with Ryan, who mostly seems standoffish and annoyed by her. In later seasons, Ryan is the one who is pursuing Kelly and is jealous of her other relationships more often than not. But after leaving in Season 9, they come back for the finale and leave off together (with Ryan abandoning his son to do so).
- Andy and Erin also take turns being infatuated with one another. They do get together, but it ultimately does not last. Erin ends up with a guy named Pete at the end of the series.
- This was the premise of the final season of The Parkers. Nikki spent the whole series chasing Professor Oglevee, who saw her as an Abhorrent Admirer. In the last season, however, she met someone new and became engaged. That was when the Professor realized he loved her after all. After some wedding-day hijinks, the series ended with Nikki and Oglevee finally getting married.
- Parks and Recreation:
- In Season 2, April develops a crush on Andy, who at the time is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend Ann and is unaware of April's feelings throughout most of the season. However, he eventually catches on and begins to reciprocate her affection despite having been previously weirded out by their age difference. In the season finale, Andy asks April out, but she turns him down because she believes he still has feelings for Ann. Andy breaks his arm, and Ann, who meanwhile is going through a romantic mess of her own, kisses him while taking care of him in the hospital. April learns of Andy's broken arm, causing her to realize that life is short and to agree to go out with Andy. Andy ruins his chances when he decides to tell her about his kiss with Ann. In the third season premiere, April returns from vacation with a new boyfriend, and Andy spends the next few episodes trying to win her back. He eventually succeeds, and despite a few more minor bumps in the road, they are married within 3 episodes of coming together.
- This happens between Chris and Ann a few times. When first appearing toward the end of season 2, Chris quickly falls for Ann, who has just broken up with Mark (and has lingering feelings toward her other ex-boyfriend Andy) and is not interested. After pursuing her for some time, she eventually reciprocates and they date for a while in season 3. When they break up, Ann spends the next several episodes trying to get over Chris while he has already moved on. Later on around the middle of season 4, Chris begins to have feelings for Ann again and spends the rest of the season depressed over her on and off relationship with Tom. Then in season 5, Chris starts dating news reporter Shana Malwae-Tweep and Ann (who has broken up with Tom for good by that point) becomes jealous.
- The Partridge Family: In "The Eleven-Year-Itch," Danny meets a fangirl with a crush on him. After he spends a while trying to avoid her, she gets over her crush, and they agree to be friends. Afterwards, Danny almost immediately develops a crush on her.
- Theresa/Ethan/Jared in Passions.
- And Kay/Miguel/Fox.
- ITV's Primeval, in classic scifi fashion, turns this trope on its head with the relationship between Nick Cutter and Claudia/Jenny. Nick and Claudia fall in love by the end of season one. Then Nick goes back in time and accidentally changes time so that Claudia is erased from history. She is replaced by Jenny who looks just like her but has a different background and personality Nick and Jenny start to show feeling for each other, but Nick dies right before Jenny finds a picture of Claudia that convinces her that Nick was telling the truth.
- Conner and Abbey's story also has a more traditional switcheroo. Abby rejects all of Conners awkward advances. But when Conner starts going out with Caroline she tries to sabotage their relationship.
- Then Conner figures out that Caroline was working for Leek and wasn't really interested in him. He realizes she played him for a fool and turns to leave... Of course, Caroline is suddenly interested in him for real.
- The main character in Psych, Shawn Spencer, spends most of the early seasons trying to go out with Detective Juliet O'Hara, who keeps rejecting him. She finally comes around and admits she like him too, when he's on a date with his high school sweetheart. Then he breaks up with said girl, but Juliet has moved on to a rich guy they met on a case.
- This nearly happened in Pushing Daisies. When Olive Snook finally gets over Ned and moves on he begins to doubt that his feeling for her were truly those you would feel for "just a friend".
- Sam/Andi/Cady in Reaper. While dating Cady, Sam beings to suspect that she is The Devil's daughter (e.g. flowers and animals die in her presence). He doesn't know he's The Devil's son yet, though, which could indicate that all those things happen because of him.
- Schitt's Creek has Season 1 Alexis torn between Mutt and Ted, eventually choosing Mutt. When she breaks up with Mutt in Season 2 and Mutt is Put on a Bus, Ted returns from what was supposed to be their honeymoon having worked out the whole time. Eventually, Alexis realizes she has feelings for Ted, but by that time he's dating Heather.
- School of Rock with Summer and Freddy. Throughout the series, it has been shown that Summer has had a huge crush on Freddy, who never notices even though it is VERY OBVIOUS at times. Come "Total Eclipse of the Heart", Summer FINALLY gets over Freddy, to the point she even tears down her picture of him in her locker. Freddy then realises that he and Kale have nothing in common so they break up, but not without Kale encouraging him to find someone who likes the same things he does. He then goes to Summer, only to find her with another guy.
- Scrubs can also be mentioned, in the first season that is: at first JD likes Elliot but it's not reciprocated; after they sleep together, she still likes him but he's moved on; on the third season it's done again: first he likes her again but she's with another guy, then she dumps such guy but JD's not interested any longer. Then, on fourth, she's with his brother and that annoys him and so on...
- Iconic Amicable Exes though they were, Seinfeld's Jerry and Elaine did show attraction to each other on rare occasions...just never at the same time (the ending of "The Deal" perhaps excepted). A complete switcheroo occurs over "The Serenity Now," when Jerry, after getting in touch with his emotions, has a Love Epiphany that causes him to propose to Elaine. She's highly alarmed and can't get out of the building fast enough, but later thinks it over and happily goes back to cash in on the offer, only to find that Status Quo Is God has kicked in, to her immense irritation.George: You know, all these years...I've always wanted to see the two of you get back together.
Elaine: ...Well, that's because you're an idiot. - Toyed with in the Torchwood episode "Adam", in which Toshiko stops hopelessly pining after Owen and gets a boyfriend, while Owen suddenly starts pining after her. But in reality, their personalities were changed by an alien who gave them Fake Memories and made himself Tosh's boyfriend. Interestingly, despite having their memories wiped, their relationship did seem to change after this episode, with Tosh going so far as to ask for a date and Owen accepting it. Then events intervened.
- Hyde and Jackie do this a few times in That '70s Show. S3: Jackie —> Hyde then Hyde —> Jackie. S5: Hyde —> Jackie. S6: Jackie —> Hyde.
- Todd/Jenny/Nikki in Todd and the Book of Pure Evil.
- In the first season of True Blood, Sookie was involved in a love triangle between vampire Bill and shapeshifter Sam. She chose Bill and Sam moved on. Come Season 6, Sookie was in a rough spot and made a pass at Sam, only for him to reject her due to his relationship with his pregnant girlfriend.Sam: Goddammit Sookie! You know how I always felt about you!
- A Girl of the Week tried to pull this one on both Charlie and Alan in Two and a Half Men. Back in high school they had both snubbed her: Charlie because she wasn't pretty enough and Alan because he was just clueless. She went through extensive dieting cosmetic surgery to make herself attractive and attempted to seduce them both just so she could then reject them and rub their noses in it. Of course, after seeing how crazy she had become, they didn't count it as much of a loss.
- Josh and Donna from The West Wing were constantly on this trope. Josh gets jealous of Donna's random dates in season 2. Then Josh moves on enough to get a crush on Joey Lucas, and Donna gets jealous. Then Donna moves on enough to get involved with Cliff Caley, and Josh gets jealous. Then Josh starts dating Amy Gardner, and Donna gets jealous. Then Donna starts dating Jack Reese, and Josh gets jealous. Then Josh starts dating Amy Gardner again, and Donna gets jealous. And this is all before either of them ever said anything to make their romantic tension anything other than an ambiguous Ship Tease.
- Wings: Joe and Helen have done this a few times before they got together for good. Pre-series (off-screen): Helen —> Joe. S1/2: Joe —> Helen. S3: Helen —> Joe. S5/6: Joe —> Helen.
