this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2026
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Seinfeld- Jerry and Elaine are exes and breify get back together at the end of season one

Friends- lots of romantic entaglements but mainly Chandler/Monica, Ross/Rachel, and Joey/Rachel

How I Met Your Mother - two of the main characters are a steady couple, the other three are a love triangle

Big Bang Theory- by the end, it's three couples and one single guy

Any shows like these where the main characters never date each other or hook up with each other?

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[–] Starchildjohn@leminal.space 81 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The IT Crowd i think, i don't remember in group romance in that show, maybe light flirty comedic moments but not more.

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Douglas Reynholm tried to roofie Jen

[–] Tenniswaffles@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Do.. do you consider attempted sexual assault/rape a "romantic entanglement"?

What the fuck.

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[–] gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Since when was he anything more than a side-character? Or friends with any of them?

He was at worst a villain, at best an annoyance

[–] Vegiforous@piefed.ca 65 points 1 month ago (1 children)

30 Rock. None of the core group ever get together. There's a little bit of sexual tension between jack and lemon but it's always clear that it will never go anywhere

[–] moondoggie@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Jenna & Frank hooked up that one time though

[–] mech@feddit.org 53 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Has there ever been a mixed-gender group of adult friends where there are no romantic entaglements within the group?

[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 month ago
[–] village604@adultswim.fan 9 points 1 month ago

Maybe a group of aces?

[–] Fatal@piefed.social 35 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Only Murders in the Building

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 month ago

Good one, I hadn't thought of that

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[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 34 points 1 month ago (4 children)

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

[–] GalacticSushi@piefed.blahaj.zone 35 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Dee and Charlie bang.

Mac bangs Dee and Dennis' mom.

Frank bangs Charlie's mom (a lot).

Frank, Charlie, and Dennis all bang the waitress.

Dennis tries to bang Mac's mom.

Frank and Mac both try to bang Dee and Dennis' Aunt Donna.

I think Frank bangs Dee and Dennis' cousin Gail the Snail

But all of these are one off bits rather than being part of a larger arc or plotline, so I think it still fits the spirit of the question.

[–] SEND_BUTTPLUG_PICS@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 month ago

Mac and the waitress do hand stuff.

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[–] s@piefed.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Mac is gay for Dennis, and Charlie and Dee had a fling in The Gang Misses the Boat

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Addressed the Charlie and Dee thing below; I just don't consider a one-off, single-episode B-plot like that 10 seasons into the show (with a later throwaway joke in one episode three seasons later) a "romantic entanglement" for what's an ongoing 17-season comedy show.

Mac's crush on Dennis is the closest we come, but that's still very distant from "romantic entanglement" to me; that implies an entanglement, where in reality Mac's one-sided crush is infrequently referenced and pretty much always for laughs, and Dennis clearly demonstrates at every turn that literally nothing will ever come of it. The audience is always deliberately shown that this will never turn into anything; there's no "will they, won't they" going on because the answer is always and in perpetuity "won't they".

TL;DR: There's no actual arc or plotline.

[–] etchinghillside@reddthat.com 6 points 1 month ago

Tricky – because they’re entangled off set(?)

[–] Discover@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Love the show, but Dee and Charlie hook up in 'The Gang Misses The Boat'. She also admits to SAing him later in 'Time's Up For The Gang'

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah, it does happen, although I still went ahead with the comment because I don't consider that a "romantic entanglement".

  • The show has 178 20-ish-minute episodes over 17 seasons.
  • Of those, there's one B-plot in one episode ("The Gang Misses the Boat") ten seasons in and a later one-off reference to it in "Time's Up for the Gang" (S13).
  • The show has mostly minor elements of serialization, and there's no ongoing romance between the core gang at any point; if you accidentally missed those two episodes (or one and walked away to get a drink without pausing for like a minute on the other), you'd literally never know.
  • Arguably the closest we get is Mac's obvious crush on Dennis, but this only comes up infrequently, is rarely played for any kind of actual drama, and is almost exclusively a punchline, and Dennis never reciprocates in the slightest.

"Entanglement" to me implies that the two or more characters have ongoing, mutual romantic feelings for each other that are explored or at least consistently shown over multiple episodes.

[–] cattywampas@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Probably not, because romantic entanglements make for better TV.

[–] Noctambulist@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Very subjective. In my opinion introducing romantic subplots is the laziest of writing.

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[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Golden girls comes to mind. And maybe arrested development? but that's more family than a group of friends.

[–] JayTreeman@fedia.io 18 points 1 month ago

George Michael and maybe is a pretty big plot point 😂

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I can't comment on Arrested Development cause I've never seen it, but Golden Girls are all women not a mixed-gender group

[–] null@piefed.nullspace.lol 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You should go watch Arrested Development.

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[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Damn it. I think I subconsciously ruled out of the mix gendered and ended up at golden girls just trying to think of a sitcom that didn't feature romantic interests in the group.

I'm a dummy, carry on.

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[–] Vespair@lemmy.zip 15 points 1 month ago

Humans are horny and attracted to proximity.

[–] toor@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

3rd Rock from the Sun? Been a while since I rewatched that, though. Kinda not "friends" but "co-workers".

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Hadn't thought of that one. It's a bit hard to decide if they should be considered coworkers or a family. I guess it technically counts cause they're a gender mixed group not actually related by blood. One of them is a kid but is actually the oldest. Although I'm not sure the aliens really had gender in the way humans do

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[–] RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

More like co-workers instead of friends but MAS*H.

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Margaret and Frank were a couple and she hooked up with Hawkeye at one point

[–] RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

Valid points.

[–] mech@feddit.org 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 month ago

The original Power Rangers were teenagers. And I thought Jason and Kimberly were a couple but I don't know, the only season I really watched was RPM, which has a romance between Dillon and Summer

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[–] garbagebagel@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I want to say Resident Alien. The core 3 adult friends don't have any romantic relations as far as I remember. Although there is one love triangle involving one of the main and side characters I guess. But the majority of the show is about real beautiful mixed-gender friendships IMO.

[–] klugerama@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Harry and D'Arcy dated for a few episodes (maybe only one or two, I don't recall clearly). There was a bit of teasing that Asta and Harry would be a thing at some point but thankfully that never materialized.

There were definitely romantic relationships with side characters - Sheriff Mike had a couple, obviously the mayor and his wife, Harry and the bird lady, Liz had a boyfriend (though he rarely appeared or was even mentioned), plus D'Arcy tried a few times to find love and Judy... had several flings?

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[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ghosts? Does that count as a group of friends

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (7 children)

The British one would qualify as one with no romantic entaglements (if you don't count the living couple) but the American one has several couples in the core group Thor/Flower, Trevor/Hetty, Pete/Alberta

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[–] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Scooby-Doo? No, they're supposed to be teens.

[–] iamericandre@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Fred and Daphne are a couple I’m pretty sure

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago
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[–] joeljoelle@piefed.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 month ago

Probably nothing that made it past one season, the writers eventually will turn to that. Good question, curious.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 7 points 1 month ago

being human kinda. the werewolf ends up dating someone who moves in so that kinda messes it up but the original trio never has relations I think.

[–] stringere@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] unknown@piefed.social 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I was going to say Spaced till I remembered Twist and Brian have their weird thing and he maybe slept with Marsha. Tim and Daisy never hook up tho, but they do pretend to be a couple for a bit to get the flat.

Black Books - Bernard does mention he once possibly might have slept with Fran but she made him forget, and then it never comes up again.

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[–] jarvis@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Feels like asking if there's a show where the main characters never eat together. Sex and food are sorta what we do. Like as a species. A show would have to be very limited in scope to leave one of those things out.

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