History Main / UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo

* Dylan and Brenda on Beverly hills 90210, Brenda breaks up with Dylan after a pregnancy test scare, he spends the next several episodes pining after her. By the time Brenda begins to have second thoughts, Dylan was beginning to move on.

** Also Luis/Sheridan/Fancy

** Also Lois and Clark in seasons 8 and 9. After Lana leaves Smallville, Lois begins to have feelings for Clark, but the feeling dosen't seem to be reciprocated. When Lois was begining to move on, Clark was begining to have feelings for her.

** Monica and Chandler started out this way in the flashback episode "The One With All The Thanksgivings". When they first meet in the year 1987 on Thanksgiving, Monica has a crush on Chandler, but he clearly isn't interested because she is overweight. Unfortunately, she overhears him saying this to Ross. A year later, Chandler develops a crush on Monica after seeing that she has lost all the weight, but she is clearly still angry with him for calling her fat.

** Lois and Clark in seasons 8 and 9. After Lana leaves Smallville, Lois begins to have feelings for Clark, but the feeling dosen't seem to be reciprocated. When Lois was begining to move on, Clark was begining to have feelings for her.

* Argubly Clark/Lana/Chloe on "Smallville".

* Ross and Rachel on "Friends". Throughout season 1 Ross is in love with Rachel, and she is completely clueless. When Rachel finally finds out and in turn discovers her own feelings, she finds that she is too late. Ross has moved on and started to date Julie. To top it all off, after Ross finds out about Rachel's feelings and realizes he has to choose between her and Julie, he decides to make a list of pros and cons. Ross chooses Rachel, but unfortunately she finds the list and afterward wants nothing to do with him, leaving Ross once again pining after her. A similar thing happens in season 3, after Ross and Rachel first break up it is very clear that he wants her back, it is only after he starts dating someone else that she begins to realize she still loves him. It happens again in season 4, Ross seems to still have lingering feelings for Rachel, and is clearly jealous of her new love interest Joshua. When Ross moves on and starts seeing Emily, Rachel is clearly beginning to question if she is really over him. In the season 8 episode "The One With Rachel's Date", Rachel goes on a date while she is pregnant with Ross's baby. Ross is jealous throughout the episode. After the date doesn't go well, Ross cheers her up and asks if she wants to get a cup of coffee with him, she kindly refuses. A few minutes later she changes her mind, but she finds that Ross is already talking to another woman, Rachel looks upon the scene sadly.

* Ross and Rachel on "Friends". Throughout season 1 Ross is in love with Rachel, and she is completely clueless. When Rachel finally finds out and in turn discovers her own feelings, she finds that she is too late. Ross has moved on and started to date Julie. To top it all off, after Ross finds out about Rachel's feelings and realizes he has to choose between her and julie, he decides to make a list of pros and cons. Ross chooses Rachel, but unfortunately she finds the list and afterwards wants nothing to do with him, leaving Ross once again pining after her. A similar thing happens in season 3, after Ross and Rachel first break up it is very clear that he wants her back, it is only after he starts dating someone else that she begins to realize she still loves him. It happens again in season 4, Ross seems to still have lingering feelings for Rachel, and is clearly jealous of her new love interest Joshua. When Ross moves on and starts seeing Emily, Rachel is clearly begining to question if she is really over him. In the season 8 episode "The One With Rachel's Date", Rachel goes on a date while she is pregnant with Ross's baby. Ross is jealous throughout the episode. After the date dosen't go well, Ross cheers her up and asks if she wants to get a cup of coffee with him, she kindly refuses. A few minutes later she changes her mind, but she finds that Ross is already talking to another woman, Rachel looks upon the scene sadly.

* Bobby and Pam on "Dallas". After they seperate and get a divorce, Bobby pines after Pam for a while, but she is with Mark. After Mark dies, Pam begins to realize she still loves Bobby, but he is with Jenna by then.

* Dylan and Brenda on Beverly hills 90210, Brenda breaks up with Dylan after a pregnancy test scare, he spends the next several episodes pining after her. By the time Brenda begins to have second thoughts, Dylan was begining to move on.

* Ross/Rachel/Julie on ''{{Friends}}''. And of course RomanticFalseLead was in there before that. The same thing happens in season 3, after Ross and Rachel first break up it is very clear that he wants her back, it is only after he starts dating someone else that she begins to realize she still loves him. It happens again in season 4, Ross seems to still have lingering feelings for Rachel, and is clearly jealous of her new love interest Joshua. When Ross moves on and starts seeing Emily, Rachel is clearly begining to question if she is really over him.

** Monica and Chandler started out this way in the flashback episode "The One With All The Thanksgivings". When they first meet in the year 1987 on Thanksgiving, Monica has a crush on Chandler, but he clearly isn't interested because she is overweight. Unfortunitly, she overhears him saying this to Ross. A year later, Chandler develops a crush on Monica after seeing that she has lost all the weight, but she is clearly still angry with him for calling her fat.

* Sam and Diane on "Cheers". After they break up, Sam has lingering feelings for Diane when she is with Frasier. After Sam finally begins to move on and date someone else, Diane gets extremely jealous.

* Ross/Rachel/Julie on ''{{Friends}}''. And of course RomanticFalseLead was in there before that.
** Happens again in seasons 8, 9 and 10; Joey falls for Rachel, falls out of it, and guess what: she proceeds to fall in love with ''him''. Phoebe even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it at some point.

* Onegin/Tatiana in the Russian novel/opera/film ''Eugene Onegin''

* "Sunday Morning" by No Doubt is this trope exactly.

See also AllLoveIsUnrequited, WillTheyOrWontThey and ThePaolo.

* Ross/Rachel/Julie on ''{{Friends}}''. And of course ThePaolo was in there before that.

* ''{{Big Bang Theory}}'', though it may not count in full as Leonard was arguably never really into Leslie or the doctor (forgot her name) as much as he was with them just for the rebound.

* Largely the plot of the "Arnold Loves Lila" episode of ''HeyArnold''. When Lila believes Arnold has a crush on her (thanks to Helga's hastily re-written "Arnold loves [[strike:Helga]] Lila" graffiti), she starts to like him too, but he [[JustFriends "likes her, but doesn't LIKE-like her"]]. Once she gets the message, he really does start to "LIKE-like her," but too late — now ''she'd'' rather be friends.

** Happens again in seasons 9 and 10; Joey falls for Rachel, falls out of it, and guess what: she proceeds to fall in love with ''him''. Phoebe even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it at some point.

* Maybe ''{{ER}}'' a bit, half-way in the series: 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 wih John, but he's already with Susan. Arguably, there's also a bit of that with Ray and Neela later on.

* Randy and Catalina on ''MyNameIsEarl''. After their CitizenshipMarriage, Catalina feels obliged to sleep with Randy, but is determined to do it as badly as possible to put him off. Only... afterwards, she can't believe how sensitive he was to her, and her behaviour in the bedroom has put him off.

* Subverted on ''Chef!'' when Savannah made up an imaginary boyfriend [[OperationJealousy in the hopes of making this happen]]. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work, partially because her imaginry romance was too SickeninglySweet.
* ''{{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.

** Incidentally, she does in fact still love Sasuke [[spoiler:and can't bring herself to kill him.]] Naruto was right for once.
*** It may not be the case. This Troper actually doesn't think Sakura could bring herself to kill ''anyone'', much less her childhood crush and previous comrade.
**** She's a ''ninja''. Of course she can kill, as a medic ninja, she's trained to avoid and neutralize enemies quickly. [[spoiler: Her confronting Sasuke was her trying to convince herself that she could let him go. Didn't fly so well.]]
** Though it should be noted that Sakura does also have an ulterior motive,[[spoiler: namely to get Naruto to give up on Sasuke as well.]]

** This troper felt it was the other way around; Inara is the one really in love with Mal, while he only shows attraction toward her from time to time.
** And ''this'' troper is certain that both are actually in love with each other at the same time, but are just a bit too stubborn to actually admit it, even to themselves.

See also AllLoveIsUnrequited and ThePaolo.

* Ross/Rachel/Julie on ''{{Friends}}''.