In honor of International Friendship Day, we will be remembering television at its very best. Instead of torrid romances and drama that typically saturates the airwaves and streaming platforms, we are gathering a list of television’s best friendships that make viewers believe the best in people. This is a tall order and surprisingly enough, not as easy as it seems.
Despite the aptly named NBC series, Friends actually doesn’t have healthy depictions of friendships at all. Much of the humor comes at the expense of their alleged friendly dynamic. Everyone thinks Pheobe (Lisa Kudrow) is weird. No one accepts Ross’ (David Schwimmer) interests. Monica (Courteney Cox) is jealous of Rachel (Jennifer Aniston). Chandler (Matthew Perry) makes fun of Joey’s (Matt LeBlanc) intelligence – or lack thereof. There is no room for friendship dynamics in name only here. Instead, this list will contain the truest and most supportive forms of friendship, from the obscure ones we may have forgotten to duos we just can’t get enough of.
1. Kirk and Spock — Star Trek: The Original Series
Starting out strong, the ultimate friendship that comes to mind is one of television’s most iconic duos. A friendship repeated throughout film and television in many variations, the relationship between Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) was one of television’s first friendships that remains in the pop culture zeitgeist. Beginning in the first run of Star Trek: The Original Series in 1966, Kirk and Spock began the archetype for opposites attract. The captain of the Enterprise is accustomed to rule-breaking and never believes in a no-win scenario. His first science officer is the opposite, always looking for a logical answer. Together it seems that two could not be any different, but their affection spans the stars and decades of storytelling.
When it counts, Kirk and Spock will do anything for the other. In one of the most moving story arcs, Spock sacrifices himself because the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. He submits to radiation poisoning to save the crew and his best friend in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. This exact scenario is reversed in Star Trek: Into Darkness, proving that in any timeline, Kirk and Spock will always choose to die for each other. The friendship has outlasted Shatner and Nimoy’s depictions many times over. The most recent actors playing Kirk and Spock belong to Paul Wesley and Ethan Peck respectively in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Though the two are just beginning their iconic friendship, there is no doubt that a new generation of Trek fans will fall in love with these two.
2. Meredith and Cristina — Grey’s Anatomy
For a series that has been on the air for almost two decades, Grey’s Anatomy is somehow still going strong. Turnover of the series’ original cast is high so that even the series’ titular character is taking her leave (at least for the time being). But don’t let that erase the original value of the series. Following the trials and tribulations of a group of doctors interning at Seattle Grace, Grey’s Anatomy has always been about Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Cristina (Sandra Oh). Though the two lead characters very quickly embark on romantic relationships with their bosses, the dynamic of the series has always revolved around their friendship. The surgical interns initially bond because of their shared ambition and wariness about opening up emotionally. As soon as the ice breaks, it’s pretty much confirmed that these two characters are soulmates. Both go through husbands and paramours, but their friendship is always constant.
So much so that one of the saddest moments of the show isn’t even necessarily Meredith losing Derek (Patrick Dempsey), but having to say goodbye to her best friend. At the end of season 10, Cristina officially says goodbye to run a medical research facility in Zurich. This marked the end of an era for the show as Meredith would have to continue without her rock. But as Meredith promises Cristina in one of their final moments together, this isn’t the end. Their love for each other has spanned a decade and will continue to do so, even with Oh leaving the series. They are each other’s person, and friendships like that last a lifetime.
3. Robin and Lily — How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother may be from Ted’s (Josh Radnor) romantic and desperate perspective of trying to find a wife like a protagonist from some Jane Austen novel, but he is not a great friend at the end of the day. Even though Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) has been accepted into his circle of friends, Ted wastes no time making him feel like a second-class citizen. Ted prioritizes his romantic pursuits above all else, even when it hurts people around him. With that in mind, the honor of best friendship doesn’t go to any of the men in the series, but the women. Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Robin (Cobie Smulders) have an infinitely better relationship, particularly because it doesn’t involve Ted or his insistence that Robin is the love of his life.
Before Robin shows up, Lily is lost in a sea of her fiancé, Marshall’s (Jason Segel) friends. Though she counts Ted as one of her closest confidantes, she never had the benefit of female camaraderie. Ted’s pursuit of Robin allows Lily to finally have a female friend, and even when the relationship takes a turn for the worst, Robin is allowed to stay in the circle. When the men aren’t around, Lily and Robin have a close friendship full of support and antics that could not exist otherwise. They never have falling outs, and even when they make unpopular decisions like Lily leaving Marshall at the end of season 1, they still support each other implicitly.
4. Veronica and Wallace — Veronica Mars
The little show that could on UPN may not have seemed like much when it premiered in 2004, but it helped catapult Kristen Bell into household stardom. She sold the series as the titular teen striving to solve the murder of her best friend. Armed with a tazer and an arsenal of quips, Veronica works at her father Keith’s (Enrico Colantoni) P.I. office where she cultivates her crime-solving skills. But that doesn’t stop her from encountering the same coming of age as any other teenager. In the seaside community of Neptune, California, Veronica has been an outcast ever since her father accused the Kane family of killing their daughter.
Veronica makes peace with being the town pariah until new kid Wallace Fennel (Percy Dags III) is accosted by the local teen biker gang. Though Veronica wants to keep out of the drama at first, she finds that she has more in common with Wallace than one might think. Both are outcasts in their own way with no one else to hang out with. Neither of them is in the tax bracket of most of the kids at Neptune High, and there is no friendship like one formed in the trenches of high school warfare. The two never even consider broaching romance and are there for each other platonically for the rest of their lives. Wallace has been there to defend Veronica’s honor and help her solve crimes ever since she cut him down from a flagpole the first day that they met. Through boyfriends and murder, Wallace is the one constant that Veronica has throughout her life.
5. J.D. and Turk — Scrubs
A sitcom that had as many heartwrenching moments as laughs, Scrubs was the pinnacle of medical shows at the time. Though outlandish with many meta jokes and fantasy sequences, the medical aspects of the series were extremely close to reality. But the cherry on top of the Scrubs cake is the friendship between J.D. (Zach Braff) and Turk (Donald Faison). Starting as interns in the medical and surgical practices respectively, the series follows the two as they move up the ranks at Sacred Heart Hospital through relationships, professional pitfalls, and of course, the antagonism of Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley).
The friendship between J.D. and Turk is the foundation that the series is based on, and even though the two may (on the briefest of occasions) have minimal conflict, they are the one constant in each other’s lives. Their co-dependency is largely played for laughs, but also demonstrates the mark of real friendship: always being there to run in slow motion toward each other.
6. Seth and Ryan — The O.C.
The teen drama that all other shows in the genre measure themselves against, The O.C. was a pop culture phenomenon for a reason. On the surface, it may seem just the typical trappings of rich teens in the throes of unrelatable problems, but the series has heart at its gilded center. With a beautifully cultivated soundtrack of the early ’00s indie scene, The O.C. hones in on feelings of loneliness and being an outsider. Juvenile Ryan (Ben McKenzie) finds himself in a bad situation after his brother steals a car. His mother abandons him, and he has no one in the world but his public defender (Peter Gallagher). But Sandy has a heart of gold and brings him home for the weekend. What starts as a temporary situation turns into a moving story about family. Ryan meets Sandy’s intelligent but solitary son Seth (Adam Brody), who finds no one among his rich classmates to connect with.
He and Ryan bond and become brothers. The Cohens eventually adopt Ryan, which helps him reject the cycle of violence and crime in his hometown of Chino. The O.C. isn’t just about the wild antics of rich teenagers, but two characters who find each other when they need it most. Both become better for their relationship and can’t imagine their lives without each other. So much so that when Ryan has to move back to Chino, Seth is so distraught he runs away from home. Seth and Summer may be the ship heard around the world, but Seth and Ryan are the heartfelt glue that keeps fans coming back again and again.
7. Keeley and Rebecca — Ted Lasso
The heartbreak of Keeley Jones (Juno Temple) not ending up with Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) is still fresh, but we at least have the assurance that Keeley and Rebecca will never cut ties. Where Ted Lasso fails at romance plots, they make up for it in the solitary female friendship of the series. Keeley starts off simply as the girlfriend of hotshot footballer Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), but through that relationship she comes to befriend the owner of AFC Richmond, Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham). As with most of the characters in the series, they all have growing up to do. Rebecca has to learn to move past her vengeance against her ex-husband, Rupert Mannion (Anthony Head), while Keeley learns what it’s like to stand on her own two feet.
In the male-dominated industry of English football, their relationship is one of the most important. The two not only hold each other up, but also keep each other accountable. When they make mistakes, they move past them and encourage each other to be their best selves. In the world of television, this is not a common dynamic, and showing it in a silly comedy about a fish out of water makes it that much more important.
8. Shauna and Taissa — Yellowjackets
A series almost exclusively revolving around female characters is rare, and Yellowjackets has discovered how to explore the gritty depths of female friendship. There are many characters that have interesting dynamics in the show, but Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) and Taissa (Tawny Cypress) have a connection that spans decades, and are the least traumatized of the bunch. Not necessarily the closest when the plane carrying their high school soccer team goes down in the ‘90s, Shauna and Taissa bond through their shared grief and experience. Taissa is the first to learn that Shauna is pregnant when trapped in the Canadian wilderness and is her main support system.
This support continues into their adulthood, even when they are trying to keep a low profile about what happened in the woods. Because of crimes committed to ensure their survival, the Yellowjackets characters try to keep their ties under wraps. But as a blackmailer tries to manipulate the team, viewers see that bonds formed in high school still remain, especially when cannibalism is involved. Shauna and Taissa are the closest in adulthood, sharing details of their personal lives when it’s not necessary. And though these dynamics will never be completely without tension, they are the closest in the show to having a normal friendship dynamic.
9. Rick and Daryl — The Walking Dead
Trauma bonding is a common theme in television and no more so than in The Walking Dead. The decade-long show has seen the death of many characters, but throughout it all, there is a core dynamic that has kept many of them sane. When Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) first meet, they could not be more opposed. Daryl blames Rick for the disappearance and presumed death of his brother Merle (Michael Rooker), while the sheriff is just trying to keep their small group together during the zombie apocalypse.
But as things get worse for the group, the characters start to change. Rick becomes a more hardened version of himself, doing what is necessary to keep the people he loves alive. And without the toxic influence of his brother, Daryl realizes he can be a good person. He dispenses with the racist rhetoric that Merle taught him and becomes one of the most valued members of the group. Rick and Daryl grow closer and come to understand each other implicitly. As Rick says, they’re brothers, which becomes especially difficult to accept when Lincoln leaves the show. Rick is presumed dead after an explosion on the bridge, and no one blames himself more than Daryl. He becomes emotionally isolated as the leadership of the group falls to a council, and he never stops looking for his friend. We can only hope that with the incoming spin-offs from The Walking Dead, the two will see each other again.
10. Jon and Sam — Game of Thrones
In a show as bleak as Game of Thrones, levity is practically a requirement. Families are bound together through blood and vengeance, but the one corner of the show that is free from this is The Night’s Watch. After taking the black, Jon Snow (Kit Harington) retires from his former life and accepts a new band of brothers. The most significant of whom is Samwell Tarly (John Bradley), the most unlikely of recruits new to The Wall. Sam is weak where Jon is strong, and a coward where Jon is brave. But the two have the strongest friendship in the entire series.
Jon takes it upon himself to protect Sam and in turn, teach him what it takes to survive in this world. Throughout their time in The Night’s Watch, the two characters become as close as brothers. Jon shows an aptitude for leadership, and Sam finally finds a way to apply his book learning for good in the real world. He trains as a Maester and never gives up on Jon, even when it seems that the Northern bastard has left this plane of existence. Jon reaches his true potential after his assassination and returns from the dead. Through decisions good and bad, Sam is there for him, and Jon supports him just as much.
