10 Least Interesting Romances In Otherwise Great TV Shows
2. Mrs. Krabappel And Ned Flanders (The Simpsons)
If you stopped watching The Simpsons years ago like most sane people, you missed out on this pretty dumb romance which happened for seemingly no reason other than the writers got bored.
In the season finale of Season 22, Edna Krabappel is suspended after she slaps Bart. She’s leaving the building via a ladder which collapses, but luckily Ned Flanders happens to be there and he saves her. They immediately start dating. Ned finds out about Edna’s dating history and gets upset, but then Edna is upset with Ned because he was upset, and it’s a whole bunch of dumb back and forth for the whole episode.
But while most relationships like this would just be a one episode deal, the writers actually decided to let viewers vote on whether they wanted Ned and Edna to remain a couple. Yes, in the last scene of the episode, Homer and Marge break the fourth wall and tell fans to go online and vote. Because apparently some people want to watch the world burn, the results came out in favor of the two remaining a couple, and they were married until Edna’s death in Season 25.
It was a pretty badly set up relationship, and having viewers actually decide the fate of it was one of the clearest examples of the show having completely run out of steam.