Top 11 TV Show Duos

By CJ Tiernan

Characters are such an important part of a TV Show. Because the story unfurls over such a long period of time, you get to spend so much more time with a character. If you can't stand a character, or don't understand where they're coming from, you might just jump ship on the show altogether. When you get two characters, who are either friends or partners, that can play off one another, especially for comedic effect, it's the best. I highly enjoy watching characters that like each other and can rely on one another for anything. Below is a list of my 11 favorite duos I've ever seen on TV.

1. Shawn and Gus - Psych

Sue Lukenbaugh from Sacramento, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Shawn Spencer and Burton "Gus" Guster are the best of friends. However, they have disparate personalities. Shawn has reckless confidence and routinely charges into situations headlong without a plan and just wings it. Gus has a much more conservative approach, working a reliable 9-5 and operating in many instances as some version of the voice of reason or the scaredy cat. Over 9 seasons, we see all of the strains on their friendship and business partnership, yet they always stay strong together.

2. J.D. and Turk - Scrubs

John "J.D." Dorian and Christopher Turk are best friends that start the show as medical students at a teaching hospital. The show balances comical, over-the-top surreal moments, courtesy of J.D.'s wild brain, with genuine heartfelt and moving moments. The balance of comedy and drama is awesome in this show, and the backbone of the heart is the dynamic between these to friends/coworkers.

3. Phil and Lem - Better Off Ted

Phil Mymen and Lem Hewitt are brilliant lab partners. They are also comically averse to any levels of conflict. They aren't the main characters of the show, which is different from most of the other duos on this list, but they bring more humor than any other characters. They work for a company that puts the bottom line above the idea "just because we can, doesn't mean we should" to spectacular effect. Phil and Lem are essentially inventing fantastical creations that sometimes backfire. The way they talk to each other is funny, but they play off each other really well.

4. Scooby-Doo and Shaggy - Scooby-Doo

This is the first of three animated duos on the list. Scooby-Doo and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers are friends and coworkers, working with their fellow friends solving mysteries for the aptly named Mystery Inc. aboard the aptly named Mystery Machine. This duo is fun because Scooby-Doo is a dog that talks while Shaggy is a human. They are very similar because they always get scared and they're always hungry. Their ability to eat in the face of danger is downright inspirational. #SquadGoals

5. Troy and Abed - Community

Troy Barnes and Abed Nadir are best friends who both attend the same community college. They are part of the same Spanish study group, but will often hang out with each other separate from the rest of the group. They have impossibly vivid imaginations and tend to do really elaborate things that are typical of much younger kids, like pillow forts and imaginary morning shows. They are aspirational for their ability to entertain themselves without any level of fear from outside opinions on what they're doing.

6. Phineas and Ferb - Phineas and Ferb

Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher are stepbrothers that, during their summer vacation respite from school, attempt to make every day fun by creating various and impossibly elaborate inventions and contraptions. They bring in the other kids their age to also have fun with them. They are inclusive and always striving to maximize the fun. They are positive and oblivious to the obstacles in their path or the reason as to why their inventions always disappear and they have to start anew the next episode. It's an all-time great animated show and they are great brothers. Stick around for the end of the episode, where Ferb tends to utter his one and only line to maximum effect.

7. Cory and Shawn - Boy Meets World

When I was growing up, Boy Meets World was part of ABC's TGIF lineup, in addition to being available on TV as reruns on Disney. Cory Matthews and Shawn Hunter are best friends and the show lasted long enough that we got to follow them from Middle School all the way to College. Shawn was the cool kid who gets into trouble and Cory was the more buttoned-up, conservative kid. They are fiercely loyal friends and it was really nice to see Middle School, High School, and College stories play out as a kid. These two were the quintessential TV friends of my youth.

8. Steve and Dustin - Stranger Things

Steve Harrington and Dustin Henderson are friends with an age gap, pushed together through impossible and life-threatening circumstances. Steve is older and the cool kid and starts the show as a bully. Dustin is younger and nerdy. They quickly develop a brotherly dynamic. Throughout the seasons of the show, various members of the "Scoops Troop" pair up, but none are as fun as the friendship between these two.

9. Mulder and Scully - X-Files

Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully work for the FBI and are sent on cases that tend to feature possible paranormal phenomena. Scully is the skeptic and Mulder is the one who "wants to believe." Scully, a medical doctor, was initially brought in to try and quell Mulder's openness to the paranormal. They begin as partners that develop into friends that develops into a tricky romantic relationship. The show is long, spanning 11 seasons and 2 movies, which gives you an opportunity to really get to know the characters and their back stories.

10. Chuck and Morgan - Chuck

Chuck Bartowski and Morgan Grimes are lifelong best friends that are always together and there for one another. Then Chuck accidentally becomes a secret government asset, as he has classified information downloaded into his brain. It puts their friendship under pressure as Chuck has to start lying to Morgan. Morgan always remains loyal and is the ultimate best friend. The show is great and so is the friendship.

11. Stewie and Brian - Family Guy

Another man and his best friend, only the man is a baby, and the dog is a highly sophisticated talking dog. Stewie Griffin and the family dog, Brian Griffin, go on all sorts of adventures, including traversing time, and their dynamic is a lot of fun. They are both so much more than the rest of the family gives them credit for so when they team up, they get to realize their potential. It is always a treat to get to a Stewie-and-Brian-centric episode.

Final Thoughts

Friendships are so much fun to see play out on TV. In many instances, they are aspirational for their loyalty or the degree to which they spend time with one another. The duos listed above are my favorites, but I'm sure I missed some of yours. Please let me know which ones I left off in the comments below. The one that just missed my list was Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic of Mike and Mike in the Morning, a long-running radio show on ESPN that was simulcast on TV. Thanks!