Classic TV Shows: Iconic Duos We're Still Obsessing Over Today

1 of 17

Comment

Addison & Hayes (Moonlighting, 1985-89)

Besides being the TV show that introduced Bruce Willis to the world, at the time it was a genuinely innovative series that would break the fourth wall and have the characters make comments to the audience in the midst of things. For the first couple of seasons it was a genuine pop culture phenomenon thanks to the writing of Glen Gordon Caron and his staff, and there was magic between Cybill Shepherd and Bruce. She was model-turned-detective Maddie Hayes, who reluctantly finds herself teamed up with Bruce's David Addison. Such a clever show, with the big question being, will they or won't they? They did, and it turns out they shouldn't have. Once they got romantic, the magic was gone. Behind the scenes, the leads genuinely disliked each other and it all fell apart, but during the first couple of years? Amazing.

2 of 17

Comment

Batman & Robin (Batman, 1966-68)

In the annals of superheroes, who's a better team than Batman and Robin? In the mid-'60s both were brought to television in vivid color and became an immediate (though short-lived) sensation. Campy fun with Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Yvonne Craig (Batgirl), Cesar Romero(the Joker), Julie Newmar (Catwoman), Frank Gorshin (Riddler) and Burgess Meredith (Penguin). The show put words like "Bam", "Pow," and "Blam" into the popular vernacular and gave us two episodes a week! Talk about changing times, just compare Adam's Batman to Christian Bale's.

3 of 17

Comment

Ernie & Bert (Sesame Street, 1969-)

Can two Muppets share an apartment without driving each other crazy? If you ask the orange Ernie, the answer would be yes, but the yellow Bert? No way! A part of Sesame Street from the very beginning, Wikipedia describes their relationship best: "An ordinary Bert and Ernie skit involves Ernie coming up with a hare-brained idea, and Bert trying to talk him out of it, ending with Bert losing his temper and Ernie remaining unaware of the results of his own bad idea." Despite it all, they love each other and are best buds. A popular rumor is that their names were inspired by Ernie the cab driver and Bert the cop in It's a Wonderful Life.

4 of 17

Comment

Fred & Barney (The Flintstones, 1960-66)

Take The Honeymooners, turn it into a cartoon, set it in prehistoric times, turn the Kramdens into the Flintsones, and the Nortons into the Rubbles, and you'll understand the approach to this '60s cartoon. Best buds Fred and Barney always seemed to find trouble, thanks to Fred's never-ending get-rich-quick schemes and Barney's going along for the ride. The duo appeared in various updated versions over the next couple of decades. The original show aired in primetime and actually did draw the attention of Jackie Gleason, star and creator of The Honeymooners, who thought the premises were too similar, but didn't pursue legal action because he felt the show was genuinely funny in its own right. So Fred and Barney continued to live on for the past near 60 years. Yabba Dabba Do!

5 of 17

Comment

Joe Friday & Bill Gannon (Dragnet, 1967-70)

Watching the show from today's perspective, you would never understand why this premise — dramatizing real Los Angeles police cases — connected with audiences the way that it had. But connect it did, thanks to Jack Webb's dry-as-dirt Joe Friday and his partners, most notably Harry Morgan's Bill Gannon, as they busted the perps. It's oh-so-serious and sometimes you have to make sure that Friday and Gannon are still breathing as they deliver their monotone dialogue, but it's a hoot.

6 of 17

Comment

Hawkeye & B.J. (MASH, 1972-83)

The cast of the Korean War-set dramedy was amazing across the board, but there was real magic between Alan Alada's Hawkeye Pierce and Mike Farrell's B.J. Hunnicutt, the latter of whom joined the show in its fourth season. As surgeons operating out of the MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) 4077TH in South Korea, the two of them kept each other sane (Hawkeye only barely) as they got through the horrors around them with humor and heart. Their goodbye in the final episode of the series was the most painful of all.

7 of 17

Comment

Kirk & Spock… & McCoy (Star Trek, 1966-69)

We have no choice but to make this one a triple: The heart, mind, and soul of the original Star Trek was represented by the starship Enterprise's captain, James T. Kirk (William Shatner); science officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and chief medical officer, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley). Through 79 intergalactic adventures that spent as much time exploring the human condition as deep space, these characters bonded before us like brothers (high unusual for TV at the time).

8 of 17

Comment

Larry & Balki (Perfect Strangers, 1986-93)

How often can you go wrong with a variation of The Odd Couple? It's a point this show proves, as it brings together a pair of distant cousins, the neurotic Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) and oblivious Balki Bartikomous (Bronson Pinchot) from the Mediterranean island Mypos. Needing a place to live, Balki eventually moves in with Larry, and the duo finds themselves in various misadventures, which Balki more often than not has to get them out of.

9 of 17

Comment

Laverne & Shirley (Title Characters, 1976-83)

One of the great TV comedy duos is Penny Marshall as Laverne DeFazio and Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney. Introduced on Happy Days, this show had the pair cast as bottlecappers at Milwaukee's fictional Shotz Brewery. Outrageous situations and probably the most physical comedy from actresses since Lucille Ball on I Love Lucy, this one was a winner. Sadly, behind the scenes the ladies did not get along through much of production, and in the eighth season, after she found out she was pregnant, Cindy Williams quit the show, leaving Penny Marshall to carry on without her for the rest of that, the show's final year.

10 of 17

Comment

Lenny & Squiggy (Laverne & Shirley, 1976-83)

You have to be a special kind of funny to be a pair of supporting characters in a show about another comic duo and manage to stand out so much that you could have had your own series (which was being discussed at one point). Michael McKean is Lenny Kosnowski and David Lander is Squiggy Squiggman, roommates who live in the apartment above Laverne and Shirley. What a couple of lovable lamebrains, but the guys were so funny. Our personal favorite exchange is when Squiggy said, "We weren't born yesterday, you know, Laverne!," to which Lenny looked at him and replied, "Yeah, 'cause I would've gotten you a card or somethin'."

11 of 17

Comment

Lois & Clark (1993-97)

There have been so many pairings of Lois Lanes and Clark Kents in the 80 years since Superman was created, and while romance was a part of many of them, the only time it's been the central focus was on ABC's Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Starring Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain, the show was in many ways a throwback to screwball romantic comedies of Hollywood's Golden Age, with some super heroics served in as well. After season one, the show got sillier with non-threatening villains and subpar visual effects, but there always remained a strong connection between the leads, culminating in the birth of their child in the series finale.

12 of 17

Comment

Lucy & Ethel (I Love Lucy, 1951-57)

Make room, please, for the Queen of Comedy and her trusty sidekick! Closing in on 70 years since they first appeared, it's really tough to top Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo and Vivian Vance as Ethel Mertz. Lucy is the housewife of Desi Arnaz's club singer Ricky Ricardo, and Ethel the spouse of cheapskate landlord Fred Mertz. The way the show usually went is that Lucy would get mad at Ricky for not letting her do something and come up with one crazy scheme after another to get around him, dragging poor Ethel along for the ride. Those in the know, just think one word: Vitameatavegamin. C'mon, it's comic gold.

13 of 17

Comment

Mary & Rhoda (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, 1970-77)

Associate TV news producer Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) and department store window dresser Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) on the surface couldn't be more different — and even started off antagonistically towards each other before becoming the best of friends. They may not have been the physical comedy team of Lucy and Ethel, but damn if they didn't play beautifully off of each other as they navigated womanhood in the 1970s, seeking independence while also falling in love (Rhoda usually more disastrously). Eventually, Rhoda got her own spin-off.

14 of 17

Comment

Mulder & Scully (The X-Files, 1993-2002; 2016-)

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are members of the FBI who find themselves working in the "X-Files" division, exploring the world of the supernatural, from UFO government conspiracies to strange things that go bump in the night. The difference between them is that Mulder is the believer (his sister was abducted by aliens) and Scully is the skeptic, which admittedly got silly after a time given how much they experienced. Still, this was a scary show and the team of Mulder and Scully was one that millions of fans wanted to follow week to week.

15 of 17

Comment

Oscar & Felix (The Odd Couple, 1970-75)

Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman) is a sportswriter who also happens to be a slob, while Felix Unger (Tony Randall) is a photographer that's a neatnik. Admittedly those are pretty broad descriptions, but when playwright Neil Simon brought them together for his 1965 play (then 1968 film), he caught magic in a bottle as these two divorced men began living together, and drove each other crazy. The result is one of the top comic duos, thanks to the Garry Marshall-produced TV series, helped the characters to live on in The New Odd Couple (starring Demond Wilson as Oscar and Ron Glass as Felix) and the recent version featuring Matthew Perry as Oscar and Thomas Lennon as Felix. Oh, Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.

16 of 17

Comment

Ralph & Ed (The Honeymooners, 1955-56)

Admittedly, it's a broken theme already, but here's another amazing TV duo in the form of Jackie Gleason's bus driver Ralph Kramden and Art Carney's sewer worker Ed Norton. Ralph blusters and schemes, Ed gets talked into going right along with him, and virtually nothing goes right. They fight, they bond, and it starts all over again. Added into the mix are their poor put-upon wives, Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows) and Trixie Norton (Joyce Randolph). Fun exchange: the time they were handcuffed together on a train and as they're trying to sleep, Ed says, "Hey Ralph, mind if I smoke?" to which Ralph replies, "I don't care if you burn!" Or when they were fighting and Ralph said, "Norton, if you see me coming down the street, I want you to get on the other side," which gives Ed the opportunity to snap, "Hey, Ralph, if you're walkin' down the street, there ain't no other side!"

17 of 17

Comment

Richie & Fonzie (Happy Days, 1974-84)

Because they shouldn't have been friends, it makes the connection of Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) and Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) that much greater. Richie is a nice, wholesome high school student in Milwaukee, WI. Fonzie was considered a leather jacket-wearing hood, who turned out to be anything but. He was (extremely) comfortable in his own skin and exuded a cool that no one could match (and which, at times, almost seemed to be a superpower). Yet they came together and became the best of friends (though Fonzie only admitted it once, when Richie was in a coma from a motorcycle accident). What was so….uh, cool, is that as much as Fonzie bailed out Richie and his friends from trouble, Richie returned the favor as his conscience. Although the show lasted 11 seasons, it was never the same after Richie/Ron left at the end of year seven.