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Best friends make even the worst days better. Whether it’s the Ilana to your Abbi or the Steve to your Robbin, a best friend is a sibling, a soulmate, or a special person that supports you and calls you out when necessary.
And so for National Best Friends Day, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite TV BFFs. These friendships make us want to be part of their circle or remind us of our own IRL friendships and why they’re so special.
David and Stevie (Schitt’s Creek)
There are several love stories in CBC’s Schitt’s Creek, but it’s David and Stevie’s sarcastic, sometimes bumpy, but deeply meaningful friendship that stands out. Their quick-witted banter is immediately endearing, but there’s something lovely about the way their friendship builds across the show’s six seasons.
Despite their different backgrounds (and a quick, failed romance), these two just see each other and are immediately accepting of whom they see. In Season 4, at a moment of extreme vulnerability, David says that the more he revealed about himself, “the less interested people got” — that is, until Stevie.
There are no mushy displays of affection here, but it’s delightful seeing two cynics trying and failing to stop a smile at their best friend’s antics.
Turk and J.D. (Scrubs)
Workplace comedies are a joy to watch, and Scrubs is no exception.
Part of what made the hospital sitcom so fun is the platonic devotion between doctors Turk and J.D. (and, by extension, actors Zach Braff and Donald Faison). The series opens with them as best friends already, but throughout the show’s hilarious workplace crises and the realities of life and death in a hospital, we see their friendship grow.
What’s especially endearing about these two is how they were able to get over their discomfort with showing affection and learned to express their love for each other in their own ways — including an iconic song number in “Guy Love.” This friendship is a great example of platonic intimacy and a nice antidote to toxic masculinity and internalized misogyny.
Abbi and Ilana (Broad City)
Abbi and Ilana of Comedy Central’s Broad City are a hot mess, but it’s the type of chaos that involves a lot of laughs — from finding ways to afford tickets to a Lil Wayne show to trying to charm the dreamy guy next door. It’s hard to watch them without wishing you were right there navigating the crazy ups and downs of your 20s with them.
It’s also lovely to see a TV show pay so much attention and devotion to female friendship. Though a touch codependent, Abbi and Ilana’s friendship is warm, unconditional, and, in a way that only the very best friendships are, magical.
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As Ilana says at the end of the show, right before Abbi has to move away, “This is still going to be the most beautiful, deep, real, cool-and-hot, meaningful, important relationship of my life.”
Troy and Abed (Community)
NBC’s Community is a study of friendship and belonging, and its success is largely thanks to its fantastic writing and the chemistry of its actors.
This is clearest in the best friendship between Troy, a former quarterback, and secret nerd, and Abed, an autistic film student. Their bond serves as the heart of the show, but according to series creator Dan Harmon, it wasn’t always meant to be that way.
Thankfully, the cast and crew were quick to notice a special connection between actors Danny Pudi and Donald Glover. Their instant friendship spilled over to their characters, and more scenes featuring their friendship — from their special handshake to their morning show — were written in.
The adjustment has more than paid off, with Troy and Abed’s friendship being one of TV’s most beautiful.
Grace and Frankie (Grace and Frankie)
What do you do when your husband leaves you for his male business partner? For Grace and Frankie, the central characters in Netflix’s longest-running original series, you befriend the business partner’s wife.
In the show, the two become fast friends and learn that they not only make great housemates but they’re also each other’s soulmates. Part of the magic is the fact that Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, who star as the show’s elderly leads, have been friends for decades — the pair met backstage at Tomlin’s one-woman show in 1977.
Grace and Frankie shows us that it’s never too late to make new friends and forge deep, meaningful connections.
Robin and Steve (Stranger Things)
We all love a lesbian and her emotional support himbo — particularly when the duo is fighting some seriously creepy monsters.
Robin Buckley was introduced to audiences of Stranger Things in Season 3, and it’s clear immediately that she was going to be more than just Steve’s sarcastic coworker at Scoops Ahoy. Over time (and with some of Robin’s clever Russian code-cracking), the two become good friends.
Aside from having next-level banter and saving each other from mortal danger from time to time, there are also the quieter moments of support and understanding they give each other. A lesser show might’ve had Steve pining after Robin hopelessly when she comes out to him as queer. But instead, we get a pair that has grown to unquestioningly have each other’s back.
Jen and Judy (Dead to Me)
On paper, Jen and Judy of Netflix’s Dead to Me have no business being friends — let alone ride-or-die soulmates.
When we first meet them, Jen is a grieving widow with a hot head and arms ready to smash a car with a golf club. Judy, meanwhile, is sunshine personified: optimistic, altruistic, and free-spirited, almost to a fault. But they click, and their whirlwind friendship leads to Jen inviting Judy to move in with her.
The unconditional support and unflinching understanding the two grow to have is something not everyone is lucky to have in their lifetime. And yes, there is also manslaughter involved, but I’m not going to throw the first stone.
Taystee and Poussey (Orange Is the New Black)
Netflix’s Orange is the New Black is full of great women characters and fascinating friendships, but the dynamic duo of Poussey and Taystee easily takes the cake.
Though there was a one-sided romance early on, the platonic love they come to grow into throughout the show is nothing short of special. They stand by each other, are honest even when it’s difficult, and are able to apologize to and forgive each other. It also helps that they kill it at charades and that their white alter egos — Amanda and Mackenzie — are hilarious.
Meredith and Cristina (Grey’s Anatomy)
Yes, Grey’s Anatomy is still ongoing. And though Cristina had left Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital a while back, her friendship with Meredith is still one of the most impactful relationships across the show’s 19 (and counting) seasons.
Meredith and Cristina start out as rivals, but we see them grow to love each other on top of their traumatic jobs and hectic personal lives. They cry together, call each other out, calm each other down, and hold space for each other when all they need is to drink and dance. They’d even kick a boyfriend out of bed if the other needed a cuddle.
As Cristina had so lovingly put it, Meredith is simply “her person.”
Max and Clance (A League of Their Own)
Last but not least are Max and Clance of Amazon Prime’s A League of Their Own, a show about baseball but also about queer joy and found family.
Clance is passionate about her comic book art and supporting her best friend Max, an aspiring pitcher who loves her best friend just as much — making them the chaotic nerd-jock duo from the 1940s we didn’t know we needed. They’re also one of the show’s most charming friendships, with Clance telling Max that she loves her more than anyone else in the world… right in front of her husband.
But their friendship is also deeply moving. “I’m always going to worry about you,” Clance tells Max as she boards the bus to chase her dreams. “Because you’re mine.”
