History Main / RelationshipRevolvingDoor

** "I'm Comin' Over", in which it's a mutual desire despite being broken up, and he's right out the door in her direction the minute she texts him.
** "Tomorrow", in which he recognizes there's a reason they broke up in the first place and this cycle is toxic, and he'll stop it -- but not tonight.

** Subverted in "When You're Drinking" and "Don't Call Me", which are, oddly, nearly identical songs about how he desperately wants to stop being her drunk-dial booty call, and begs her to stop calling him. In the first, they have a relationship outside of when she's drunk, and he even magnanimously tells her she can call him anything ''except'' then. In the latter, he tells her to just find someone else altogether and to basically lose his number.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}'': Stephanie Brown and Tim Drake are constantly going through this, partially due to external factors and partially because Tim isn't the most supportive of boyfriends (though he has his moments), but is still one of a very small group of people who actually care about her at all. It's exceptionally notable since, even after the ComicBook/New52 reboot, they're ''still'' at it!
* The comic continuation of ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' does this with Buffy and her two [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys vampire boyfriends]], who she gets together with again and breaks up with again throughout the six-season run. By the final twelfth season, she's not with [[DidNotGetTheGuy either of them and remains single]], though a MaybeEverAfter is implied with Spike.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Watson go through a constant on-off-relationship with each other; they actually started with more or less only flirting friends. They got a relationship update once Peter's FirstLove Gwen was KilledOffForReal. Than they come together and break up till they eventually marry. Even than, during [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManJMichaelStraczynski J. Michael Straczynski's run]] they go on a temporal separation. It reached it's extremes when their marriage was RetGone via a DealWithTheDevil in ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'', and even since than, their reconcilation or permanent seperation are both teased again and again with uncertain ending.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'': Rogue and Gambit have been in a constant state of on-and-off ever since Gambit first joined the X-Men, to the extent that it's practically a permanent sub-plot. While they both have declared love and devotion for one another on multiple occasions, the relationship never lasts too long before something happens and they end up separating again, only to reconcile at a later stage. This is partially due to the strain on the relationship caused by Rogue's mutation, meaning the pair can never make physical contact, but also both partners carry some serious emotional baggage that surfaces every so often, sometimes leading to a breakup, whilst other times bringing the pair together. 2018's ''ComicBook/RogueAndGambit2018'', after a lenghty examination of this very trope, has the two decide to get back together, followed by an impromptu wedding in ''ComicBook/XMenGold'' and [[ComicBook/MrAndMrsX a series]] depicting their (still chaotic) life together as newlyweds, but it remains to be seen if this time is for keeps.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'': Marion Ravenwood is introduced as Indy's former girlfriend in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', being broke up for ca. a decade before the film starts. They reconcil during the movie. However, in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' she is nowhere to be seen as the two seem to have broken up off-screen. In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', the two meet again after nearly two decades, reconcil once again and get married at the end of the movie. Comes ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'' and the two have been divorced off-screen before the beginning of that film - only to meet again and reconcil once again at the end of the movie.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Leonard and Penny have this kind of relationship, full of false starts, setbacks, and at least two notable breakups. As of Season 5, they're significantly more stable, but Penny's CommitmentIssues have threatened to bring them back to square one a number of times. However, they move past it, and eventually marry--in some ways, by the last couple of seasons, they become the ''most'' stable and mature couple!

** Angela and Jack. They started off as friends, moved to [[UnresolvedSexualTension UST]], went on one date, decided it was too perfect and would end terribly, changed their minds, got engaged, found out she was [[AccidentalMarriage already married]], stayed together for a while, broke up, dated other people (in Angela's case mainly) and [[spoiler: almost got engaged again because she thought she was pregnant with another man's child. Turns out she wasn't, but this prompted a LoveEpiphany that lead to a spur-of-the-moment jail cell wedding]]. Finally resolved now and [[spoiler:they seem to be HappilyMarried]]. WillTheyOrWontThey indeed...

* ''Series/ConversationsWithFriends'': Frances is best friends with Bobbi, whom she previously dated. She begins seeing Nick, a married man. After they fall out, they get back together. [[spoiler:Then she breaks up with him. She then gets back together with Bobbi. Yet at the end it's indicated she may also reunite with Nick-{{polyamory}}, perhaps.]]

** Ross and Rachel's relationship epitomized the trope for almost all ten seasons of its run and was the show's primary focus. All told, they were only really together for about one season, with everything else mainly being ShipTease before they get back together for good in the GrandFinale. Ross and Rachel's on again off again relationship was lampshaded by Monica after she got tired of Rachel's constant flip flop feelings for Ross.
-->'''Monica''': ''[In a mocking tone]'' I love Ross! I hate Ross! I love Ross! I hate Ross!

** For the first season or two Monica had an on-and-off with "Fun Bobby." The gang realized that Fun Bobby had a drinking problem and helped him quit, but then discovered that without alcohol Bobby wasn't Fun.

** Meredith and Derek. Ever counted the times they say "Finally this is over. Completely." only to be drawn right back together episodes later?
** Alex and Izzie. They date, but Alex doesn't kiss Izzie at the end. Then They kiss and proceed to have sex, but Alex has, uhm, problems. Then he cheats on her with Olivia. Then along come Denny, Lexie, George, and Ava between them. Just as they're finally growing steady, Izzie is diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. That, however, leads us to the grand wedding scene. [[spoiler:Only to be followed by Izzie being fired from the hospital and leaving Alex.]]

** Jackson and April. Turns into a big WillTheyOrWontThey in Season 10 with the LoveTriangle involving Matthew. [[spoiler:They will.]]

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Rumplestiltskin and Belle set the pattern from the first episode where Belle makes an appearance. Not coincidentally, this trope usually runs parallel to Rumplestiltskin's HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, since Belle believes in ICanChangeMyBeloved and Rumple does want to change for her sake: they get together and are briefly happy, then Rumple chooses his power over her (again), they break up, then he is remorseful and Belle is so moved she takes him back. [[spoiler:After several cycles of that, Rumple's final HeelFaceTurn is ultimately cemented and he and Belle have a happy marriage and then get TogetherInDeath]].
* ''Series/{{Oz}}'': [[BewareTheNiceOnes Tobias Beecher]] and [[ManipulativeBastard Chirs Keller]]. First, they're new cellmates with loads of UST, then they confess their love and [[TheBigDamnKiss kiss]], but, once Keller returns from the hole, he claims not to be interested in Beecher. It turns out he was working with Beecher's abuser and ArchEnemy, the Nazi rapist Schillinger, and the two of them break Beecher's arms and legs. This would end any chance of romance, right? Well... Keller realizes that he really [[BecomingTheMask loves Beecher]] and wants him back. After a season of tension and several dead bodies, they get back together. Their happiness is short-lived, though, when Beecher mistakenly believes [[ItMakesSenseInContext Keller had Beecher's children kidnapped]]. Once Beecher learns the truth, he wants to reunite with Keller. Keller, however, hurt that Beecher actually believes that Keller is capable of something like that, dumps him. Beecher [[HeroicBSOD spirals]] after this rejection, begins [[ReallyGetsAround hooking up with many, many prisoners]] to numb his pain. Keller, still in love with Beecher, kills his hook-ups. When it finally looks like they can be together, Keller confesses to a crime Beecher committed to save him, then was [[PutOnABus transferred to a prison in Massachusetts]]. However, [[TheBusCameBack he returned]] when he was found not guilty. Before the MeadowRun reunion can occur, Keller is put on death row, and thus cannot see Beecher. Beecher eventually takes a job in the mailroom, so he can visit Keller when he delivers the mail. When Beecher is up for parole, he begins seeing his attorney, while maintaining his relationship with Keller. The attorney and Keller even meet, when Beecher asks her to represent Keller to get him off death row. Ultimately, Beecher and the attorney break up, partly because of Keller. When Beecher is paroled, he begins dating a school teacher, all the while seeing Keller, and working to get his death sentence overturned. Keller, unable to live without [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Beecher]], sets Beecher up to violate his parole so they can be together. Beecher rejects Keller, despite still loving him, and Keller commits suicide, [[ThanatosGambit making it look like Beecher killed him]], so they'd be reunited in death, if not life.

** This was {{Averted}} with Elaine and Jerry, who dated and broke up before the series started and remain AmicableExes...mostly. "The Deal" dealt with an attempt at a FriendsWithBenefits relationship which, oddly, ended in them getting back together, ([[NegativeContinuity only for the events of the episode never to be mentioned again]]).
* ''Series/TheUpshaws'': PlayedForDrama with Bennie and Regina. They've been together for 30 years, and during that time their relationship has been rocky, but pretty consistent. They've "broken up" and Regina has taken Bennie back, time and time again, after ''numerous'' rounds of his bullshit. This means Bennie can depend--accurately--on her eventual forgiveness, and he has little reason to change. When she throws him out near the end of season 1, even Regina's sister Lucretia--who would ''love'' to see Bennie gone for good--says Regina will probably forgive him eventually.

** "I'm Comin' Over," in which it's a mutual desire despite being broken up, and he's right out the door in her direction the minute she texts him.
** "Tomorrow," in which he recognizes there's a reason they broke up in the first place and this cycle is toxic, and he'll stop it--but not tonight.

** Subverted in "When You're Drinking" and "Don't Call Me," which are, oddly, nearly identical songs about how he desperately wants to stop being her drunk-dial booty call, and begs her to stop calling him. In the first, they have a relationship outside of when she's drunk, and he even magnanimously tells her she can call him anything ''except'' then. In the latter, he tells her to just find someone else altogether and to basically lose his number.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' and Marzipan are the OfficialCouple, but Marzipan claims that they have an open relationship, which Homestar doesn't agree with. They break up very often but are usually seen back together by the next episode. Marzipan's character introduction video even reflects this, with Marzipan saying "Homestar Runner and I are one hot item when I say we are," and the Flash version has her randomly follow it up with either "and today, we are" or "and today, we are not."

* [[Characters/FuturamaPhilipJFry Philip J. Fry]] and Leela from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' at first their relationship is a one-sided crush on Fry's part before Leela confesses her feelings for Fry in the fifth season finale--they have an on-again-off-again relationship during the sixth season but have settled into being a more stable couple in the seventh season, which was the final season of the show until 2023. The show's revival on Hulu has specifically averted this trope by portraying Fry and Leela as a committed couple, with the only episode that portrayed a breakup and reconnection being non-canon.

** Although they've been married throughout the series with their one legal divorce being a deliberate prelude to a vow renewal ceremony, [[Characters/TheSimpsonsHomerSimpson Homer Simpson]] and [[Characters/TheSimpsonsMargeSimpson Marge Simpson]] have had more than their fair share of brief separations, broke up at least once when they were dating (albeit in an episode, "That [=90s=] Show," to which FanonDiscontinuity is frequently applied), and in one future episode are shown to have had a breakup that stuck long enough for Homer to live in his own place and Marge to try dating again before they're inevitably back with each other by the end.
** Seymour Skinner and Edna Krabappel's relationship was like this between Season 15, when she left him at the altar due to his reluctance to commit, and Season 22, when she found a SecondLove in Ned Flanders. They [[SexWithTheEx slept together a few times with no strings attached]] and, in the episode "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words," were shown to be boyfriend and girlfriend again until Edna got Homer to [[ProxyBreakup dump him for her]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': [[Characters/TotalDramaCourtney Courtney]] past relationships with both Duncan and Scott:
** [[Characters/TotalDramaDuncan Duncan]] has an on-again-off-again relationship with Courtney, throughout ''Island'' and ''Action'', until ''World Tour'' where Duncan becomes more interested in Gwen and ends up forming a love triangle, causing animosity with Courtney.
** When she competes in ''All-Stars'': upon switching to the Villainous Vultures, she starts bonding with Scott, and they eventually hook up after an accidental kiss in "Zeek and Ye Shall Find". However, this relationship is short-lived when they break up after only two hours due to Cameron (manipulated by Mal) kissing Courtney. Scott forgives Courtney in the next episode and they become a couple again, only to break up an episode later due to Mal exposing Courtney's elimination chart.

** "I'm Comin' Over," in which it's a mutual desire despite being broken up, and he's right out the door in her direction the minute she's texts him.

* Music/ChrisYoung has at least two of these: "I'm Comin' Over," in which it's a mutual desire despite being broken up, and "Tomorrow," in which he recognizes there's a reason they broke up in the first place and this cycle is toxic, and he'll stop it--but not tonight.
** Subverted in "Don't Call Me," which starts out identically to his others in this vein, until the chorus hits and he's begging her to stop making him her drunk-dial booty call.

* Zuko and Mai in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. They get together at the beginning of Season 3, but Mai calls it off in a fit of anger about a third of the way through. They patch it up before the episode ends, but Zuko breaks up with her again after another third, when he leaves the Fire Nation to join Aang and his friends in defeating his father. They get back together in the series finale, only for Mai to leave him ''again'' in the comic book continuation, ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePromise The Promise]]'', when Suki tells her he's been asking his imprisoned father for advice and not telling anyone. Five more comics and they haven't gotten back together, although [[ShipperOnDeck Aang was hopeful they had]] the first time he saw Mai and Zuko in the same room together again. By the time of the SequelSeries, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Zuko is confirmed to have a daughter, the current Fire Lord Izumi, but the identity of Izumi's mother is never revealed... which didn't stop most fans from speculating it's indeed Mai, especially given the strong physical resemblance between the two and comments from Creator/GeneLuenYang (who handled writing duties for the aforementioned comics) at Emerald City Comicon 2017 stating that, though he had two characters (commonly believed to be Zuko and Mai) break up, it was only temporary and they'd be back together in a few years.
* [=BoJack=] and Princess Carolyn from ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' are treated this way before the show moved on to focus on the more serious connection between [=BoJack=] and Diane.
* Fry and Leela from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' at first their relationship is a one-sided crush on Fry's part before Leela confesses her feelings for Fry in the fifth season finale--they have an on-again-off-again relationship during the sixth season but have settled into being a more stable couple in the seventh season, which was the final season of the show until 2023. The show's revival on Hulu has specifically averted this trope by portraying Fry and Leela as a committed couple, with the only episode that portrayed a breakup and reconnection being non-canon.

* A common complaint of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'''s first two seasons. First Mako is dating Asami, and then, after much LoveTriangle drama, he [[OffscreenBreakup presumably]] breaks up with her and gets together with Korra. They break up partway through Season 2, then he kisses Asami, then puts off telling Korra about their breakup when she gets LaserGuidedAmnesia, with Asami annoyed in the background. Thankfully the season ends with them all deciding to forego romance, and they remain single until [[ComicBook/TheLegendOfKorraTurfWars the comic continuation]].

** Although they've been married throughout the series with their one legal divorce being a deliberate prelude to a vow renewal ceremony, Homer and Marge have had more than their fair share of brief separations, broke up at least once when they were dating (albeit in an episode, "That [=90s=] Show," to which FanonDiscontinuity is frequently applied), and in one future episode are shown to have had a breakup that stuck long enough for Homer to live in his own place and Marge to try dating again before they're inevitably back with each other by the end.

** Ross and Rachel's relationship epitomized the trope for almost all ten seasons of its run and was the show's primary focus. All told, they were only really together for about one season, with everything else mainly being ShipTease before they get back together for good in the GrandFinale.

* Fry and Leela from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' at first their relationship is a one-sided crush on Fry's part before Leela confesses her feelings for Fry in the fifth season finale--they have an on-again-off-again relationship during the sixth season but have settled into being a more stable couple in the seventh (and final) season.

** This was {{Averted}} with Elaine and Jerry, who dated and broke up before the series started and remain AmicableExes...mostly. "The Deal" dealt with an attempt at a FriendsWithBenefits relationship which, oddly, ended in them getting back together ([[NegativeContinuity only for the events of the episode never to be mentioned again]]), while in "The Mango" they had a one-off encounter motivated not by passion but by Jerry's need to prove to Elaine that he ''could'' make her orgasm, having found out that she was faking it throughout their pre-series relationship.

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'': Whether or not Elaine was dating Puddy or not would depend entirely on what works for the episode. Their unstable relationship was lampshaded often.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'': Marion Ravenwood is introduced as Indy's former girlfriend in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', being broke up for ca. a decade before the film starts. They reconcil during the movie. However, in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrucade'' she is nowhere to be seen as the two seem to have broken up off-screen. In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', the two meet again after nearly two decades, reconcil once again and get married at the end of the movie. Comes ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'' and the two have been divorced off-screen before the beginning of that film - only to meet again and reconcil once again at the end of the movie.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'': Marion Ravenwood is introduced as Indy's former girlfriend in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', being broke up for ca. a decade before the film starts. They reconcil during the movie. However, in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLostCrucade'' she is nowhere to be seen as the two seem to have broken up off-screen. In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkulls'', the two meet again after nearly two decades, reconcil once again and get married at the end of the movie. Comes ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'' and the two have been divorced off-screen before the beginning of that film - only to meet again and reconcil once again at the end of the movie.

* ''Series/{]Forever|2014}}'': Abraham and his ex-wife Maureen Delacroix. They've been married twice, divorced twice, and in "The Ecstasy of Agony" they get back together again and then part again.

Compare NewOldFlame, which is usually a one-time getting back together and usually used as a form of RememberTheNewGuy May result in FriendsWithBenefits for a while... but don't expect that to last terribly long. Sometimes starts with SexWithTheEx. This trope is a specific form of YoYoPlotPoint.