The Hottest Painful Romances: ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘Normal People’ & More
Hey there, lovers! Join us in our 10-day countdown of the 100 Hottest Onscreen Romances — from both television and film, comedy and drama — culminating on Valentine’s Day. Plus, sound off on your pick for the hottest TV couple of all time in our poll! And be sure to check out TV Insider’s February 2024 issue, currently on newsstands, or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.
Love stories don’t always have happy endings. This selection of TV and movie romances takes us through tales of heartbreak ranging from cinematic classics like Gone With the Wind to contemporary TV romantic dramas and comedies like Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy, Catastrophe, and more. Scroll through to see our picks for the Love Hurts installment of our 100 Hottest Onscreen Romances countdown, and stay tuned for more collections to come.
Grey's Anatomy (Netflix)
For 11 seasons on the long-running hospital drama, surgeons Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd had one of TV’s great romances. Supported by the immediate and intense chemistry between Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey, their rollercoaster relationship was irresistible from their one-night stand in the premiere—she doesn’t even remember his name!—when Meredith was an intern and he the new head of neurosurgery.
Their tempestuous love and eventual marriage survived the surprise appearance of Derek’s soon-to-be ex-wife (Kate Walsh), countless arguments and subsequent breakups over work and supposed betrayals—not to mention the stresses of having three children, both biological and adopted. In Season 11, Meredith’s wrenching decision to disconnect Derek’s life support after a botched operation broke viewers’ hearts. But Mer and Der’s bond endured even after death, when a long-gone Derek appeared to an unconscious, COVID-stricken Meredith in a dream and coaxed her back to life for their kids’ sake. —Ileane Rudolph
Gone With the Wind (Max)
“You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how,” Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) boldly tells Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) in the 1939 epic Gone With the Wind. Some 85 years after the film’s release, movie lovers still give a damn about the tempestuous romance between the strong-willed Southern belle and the roguish black sheep of an aristocratic Charleston family. Despite Wind’s problematic depictions of the Civil War and Reconstruction era, we remain captivated by the irresistible dance of desire and defiance of two headstrong, flawed characters clearly meant to be together yet over and over driven apart by their own stubbornness and self-obsession.
With the film so brilliantly cast, it’s hard to imagine anyone but the dashing Gable and the delicate Leigh navigating a world falling to pieces around them, their onscreen chemistry evident in every barbed battle of wills. Behind her flirtations lies a woman of steely resolve, while his cynicism and bravado mask true affections. Their first passionate embrace defines the push-pull of their relationship. “I love you because we’re alike. Bad lots, both of us,” Rhett declares before going off to war, ignoring Scarlett’s pleas to stay. “Kiss me! Kiss me once,” he implores, taking her in his arms. She breaks free, smacks him and calls him “a lowdown, cowardly, nasty thing.” Love-hate perfection. —Herma Rosenthal
Love, Victor (Hulu, Disney+)
Just as Victor Salazar (Michael Cimino) is a bit lost as the new kid at Atlanta’s Creekwood High School, he also struggles with his sexual orientation in this 2020-22 rom-com. At least he’s certain that Benji Campbell (George Sear, above right, with Cimino) gives him butterflies: Everything goes slo-mo when Victor spots him in the hallway, and a conversation about sneakers somehow veers into the question of believing in destiny. (They do!) The two faced many an obstacle after going public, but this was a love that couldn’t be denied.
Cheers (Hulu, Paramount+)
Him: “You know, I always wanted to pop you one. Maybe this is my lucky day, huh?”
Her: “You disgust me. I hate you.”
Him: “Are you as turned on as I am?”
Her: “More!”
The constant bickering and electric sexual tension between Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) culminated in a passionate Season 1 finale kiss that had viewers cheering at their TV sets. Sam, a former Red Sox relief pitcher, owned the Boston bar Cheers, where his easy charm sharply contrasted with the uptight braininess of new waitress Diane. Sounds like a colossal mismatch—and their on-again, off-again relationship would seem to be evidence of that—but chemistry always won out! How else would this volatile pair have become one of the most iconic TV couples of the 1980s?
Insecure (Max)
Relationships can be messy, few more so than the roller coaster between Issa Dee (show creator Issa Rae) and her longtime boyfriend, Lawrence Walker (Jay Ellis). From 2016 to 2021, the L.A. couple would split and rekindle, seemingly on a loop, through cheating, just not trying and a host of other mistakes. But they learned and grew: “I’m sorry for not being who you expected me to be,” he says at one point, “who I expected me to be.” In the end, it came down to the fact that each one was critical to the other’s happiness.
Normal People (Hulu)
The steam practically rises from the screen thanks to the chemistry between popular jock Connell (Paul Mescal) and moody outcast Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) in this 2020 adaptation of Sally Rooney’s coming-of-age novel set in Ireland. Their relationship evolves over 12 episodes from a secret high school affair into a rocky college romance. Their high-voltage connection, both sexual and cerebral, keeps pulling them back into each other’s orbits.
Scandal (Disney+, Hulu)
Yes, the illicit love affair between Washington, D.C., fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and President Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant (Tony Goldwyn) on Shonda Rhimes’ 2012–18 over-the-top thriller was scandalous. It was also steamy, passionate, emotional, tortured and twisted. Despite the machinations of his wife, Mellie (Bellamy Young), all kinds of inside-the-Beltway emergencies, Olivia’s hot spy lover Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) and numerous wannabe assassins, the couple’s deep devotion managed to hold them together.
Catastrophe (Prime Video)
Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan play Londoners hilariously negotiating marriage and parenthood.
Love Story (1970, Fubo, Pluto TV)
Ryan O’Neal tries to save a terminally ill Ali MacGraw in the ultimate tearjerker.
