The 10 Best Duos on Television

Mar. 15, 2025

Ellen Pompeo & Sandra Oh, Christopher Meloni & Mariska Hargitay.Photo:Michael Desmond/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; Zach Dilgard/NBC via Getty

Michael Desmond/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; Zach Dilgard/NBC via Getty

Whether it’s their characters' unavoidable onscreen chemistry or enviably funny friendships, they’ve got a connection that gets people tuning in week after week. We were on the edge of our seats to find out if Benson and Stabler’s flirty office vibe would turn into something more, and we started calling our BFFs “my person” after Meredith and Christina coined it onGrey’s Anatomy.

Read on for the onscreen pairings that have achieved icon status for going together like, well, peanut butter and jelly.

01of 10Olivia Benson & Elliot Stabler - ‘Law and Order: SVU’Chris Haston/NBC/GettyMariska HargitayandChristopher Melonifirst stepped into the roles of Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler onLaw & Order: Special Victims Unitin 1999 and their chemistry on screen captivated audiences.And though Meloni departed from the show in 2011, the characters’ epic “will they or won’t they” chemistry lives on, thanks to his enduring best friendship with Hargitay.Meloni toldEntertainment Tonightabout their ongoing relationship despite not working together every day: “We just pick it up right where we left off and we’ve said it’s like we don’t have this relationship with anyone else… It’s unique, it’s full of laughter, she’s full of love. We just kind of fall seamlessly into that place every time we see each other.“Their characters have since reunited onscreen through Stabler’s spinoff show,Law & Order: Organized Crime(and the show has even teased a kiss between the two!).

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Olivia Benson & Elliot Stabler - ‘Law and Order: SVU’

Chris Haston/NBC/Getty

Mariska HargitayandChristopher Melonifirst stepped into the roles of Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler onLaw & Order: Special Victims Unitin 1999 and their chemistry on screen captivated audiences.

And though Meloni departed from the show in 2011, the characters' epic “will they or won’t they” chemistry lives on, thanks to his enduring best friendship with Hargitay.

Meloni toldEntertainment Tonightabout their ongoing relationship despite not working together every day: “We just pick it up right where we left off and we’ve said it’s like we don’t have this relationship with anyone else… It’s unique, it’s full of laughter, she’s full of love. We just kind of fall seamlessly into that place every time we see each other.”

Their characters have since reunited onscreen through Stabler’s spinoff show,Law & Order: Organized Crime(and the show has even teased a kiss between the two!).

02of 10Lucy & Ethel - ‘I Love Lucy’Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance.CBS Photo Archive/GettyVivian VanceplayedLucille Ball’s sidekick, Ethel Mertz, on the iconic 50s sitcom and together the two shared in many hilarious moments onscreen — in one classic instance, inthe famous chocolate factory scenewhen the two get hilariously overwhelmed while working the conveyor belt. The twostayed close friends right up until the end of their lives.

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Lucy & Ethel - ‘I Love Lucy’

Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance.CBS Photo Archive/Getty

Vivian VanceplayedLucille Ball’s sidekick, Ethel Mertz, on the iconic 50s sitcom and together the two shared in many hilarious moments onscreen — in one classic instance, inthe famous chocolate factory scenewhen the two get hilariously overwhelmed while working the conveyor belt. The twostayed close friends right up until the end of their lives.

03of 10Walter White & Jesse Pinkman - ‘Breaking Bad’Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul.Frank Ockenfels 3/AMCBryan CranstonandAaron Paul’s Emmy-award winning performances inBreaking Badwent down in history — literally. Years after the show wrapped in 2013, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman were immortalized in the form of bronze statues in a convention center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The pair, who played a chemistry teacher turned methamphetamine cook and a drug dealer, were on hand forthe statue’s debut in 2022.In the decade since the show went off air, the two have remained close friends and have even becomebusiness partners starting Dos Hombres Mezcal.“I say it every time I’m with him. I love this man so much. I get so incredibly emotional,” Paul toldEsquire. “He is truly a father figure, an older brother figure, that I just love and adore so much, and the fact we get to kind of be in cahoots again—“Cranston chimed in: “It’s good,” to which Paul continued, “It’s a f—ing dream. It’s truly a dream.”

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Walter White & Jesse Pinkman - ‘Breaking Bad’

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul.Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC

Bryan CranstonandAaron Paul’s Emmy-award winning performances inBreaking Badwent down in history — literally. Years after the show wrapped in 2013, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman were immortalized in the form of bronze statues in a convention center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The pair, who played a chemistry teacher turned methamphetamine cook and a drug dealer, were on hand forthe statue’s debut in 2022.

In the decade since the show went off air, the two have remained close friends and have even becomebusiness partners starting Dos Hombres Mezcal.

“I say it every time I’m with him. I love this man so much. I get so incredibly emotional,” Paul toldEsquire. “He is truly a father figure, an older brother figure, that I just love and adore so much, and the fact we get to kind of be in cahoots again—”

Cranston chimed in: “It’s good,” to which Paul continued, “It’s a f—ing dream. It’s truly a dream.”

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Jerry Seinfeld & George Costanza - ‘Seinfeld’

Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander on ‘Seinfeld’.NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Alexander has saidthat the cast was more cordial “work mates” than best friendsoff set, but that they still exchange birthday emails — thoughhe and Julia Louis-Dreyfus had not heard the rumors of a reunion Seinfeld recently started.

05of 10Meredith Grey & Cristina Yang - ‘Grey’s Anatomy’Ellen Pompeo and Sandra Oh on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.Vivian Zink/Disney General Entertainment Content via GettyThoughGrey’s Anatomyhas had no shortage of sweeping, epic romances, there’s one relationship that stands above all else: The one between Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang. Best friends from day one of their Seattle Grace residency, the two see each other through new loves, professional challenges and heartbreak, and coined a new term for that type of soulmate. “You’re my person,” Cristina tells Meredith after putting her down as a contact while making an appointment for an abortion — in other words, “If I murdered someone, she’s the person I’d call to help drag the corpse across the living room floor.”

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Meredith Grey & Cristina Yang - ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Ellen Pompeo and Sandra Oh on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.Vivian Zink/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Vivian Zink/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

ThoughGrey’s Anatomyhas had no shortage of sweeping, epic romances, there’s one relationship that stands above all else: The one between Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang. Best friends from day one of their Seattle Grace residency, the two see each other through new loves, professional challenges and heartbreak, and coined a new term for that type of soulmate. “You’re my person,” Cristina tells Meredith after putting her down as a contact while making an appointment for an abortion — in other words, “If I murdered someone, she’s the person I’d call to help drag the corpse across the living room floor.”

06of 10Kenan & Kel - ‘Kenan & Kel’Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell on ‘Kenan & Kel’.TOLLIN/ROBBINS PRODUCTIONS / AlbumAw, here it goes! The two met as young comedians on the set ofAll That, and their noticeable chemistry landed them their own eponymous sitcom on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 2001. (You know you still hum the theme song, which compares them to other iconic duos in history.) And though they took a few years apart after filmingGoodburgerto pursue their own solo careers, they’ve recently reunited forGoodburger 2and have picked up where they left off.“It’s a brotherhood. We’ve known each other since we were kids. We both had our own journeys and journeys together,” Kel told PEOPLE.Added Kenan of their long history together, “We’ve been lucky that our stuff is still standing the test of time. Our silliness prevails.”

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Kenan & Kel - ‘Kenan & Kel’

Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell on ‘Kenan & Kel’.TOLLIN/ROBBINS PRODUCTIONS / Album

TOLLIN/ROBBINS PRODUCTIONS / Album

Aw, here it goes! The two met as young comedians on the set ofAll That, and their noticeable chemistry landed them their own eponymous sitcom on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 2001. (You know you still hum the theme song, which compares them to other iconic duos in history.) And though they took a few years apart after filmingGoodburgerto pursue their own solo careers, they’ve recently reunited forGoodburger 2and have picked up where they left off.

“It’s a brotherhood. We’ve known each other since we were kids. We both had our own journeys and journeys together,” Kel told PEOPLE.

Added Kenan of their long history together, “We’ve been lucky that our stuff is still standing the test of time. Our silliness prevails.”

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Abbi & Ilana - ‘Broad City’

Abbi Jacobson and lana Glazer in ‘Broad City’.Comedy Central / Courtesy: Everett

Comedy Central / Courtesy: Everett

And if it felt real, that’s because it was real;Jacobsen toldBustle, “The friendship on the show is based on our friendship in real life … I have a lot of amazing friends in my life that happen to be women, but Ilana was the first on in New York that really felt important. I guess we were right.”

As producerAmy Poehler toldNewsweekafter the show wrapped, “I’m just proud that I made an honest and funny show that held female friendship in high regard.”

08of 10Grace & Frankie - ‘Grace and Frankie’Suzanne Tenner/NETFLIXThe greatest thing aboutGrace and Frankieis that it gave us the reunited offscreen duo of Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, friends for decades since starring together in9 to 5. They start at odds onscreen when their husbands fall in love with each other — but as Grace and Frankie have to pick up the pieces together, their sizzling and snappy chemistry (and not dissimilar from their vibe in real life) transforms them from frenemies into lifelong best friends.“I love Jane from a long time ago. And so it seemed so natural,“Tomlin told PEOPLE of deciding to work with her palon the long-running series, which “deepened” their already-close friendship.

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Grace & Frankie - ‘Grace and Frankie’

Suzanne Tenner/NETFLIX

The greatest thing aboutGrace and Frankieis that it gave us the reunited offscreen duo of Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, friends for decades since starring together in9 to 5. They start at odds onscreen when their husbands fall in love with each other — but as Grace and Frankie have to pick up the pieces together, their sizzling and snappy chemistry (and not dissimilar from their vibe in real life) transforms them from frenemies into lifelong best friends.

“I love Jane from a long time ago. And so it seemed so natural,“Tomlin told PEOPLE of deciding to work with her palon the long-running series, which “deepened” their already-close friendship.

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Lorelai & Rory Gilmore - ‘Gilmore Girls’

Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel on ‘Gilmore Girls’.The CW /Courtesy Everett

The CW /Courtesy Everett

They got to revisit the magic in the show’s 2016 revival, about whichGraham told PEOPLE, “I have so much respect for [Bledel] as an actor and a person and a mom … We were both kind of in different places then, and we’re both more settled down now. So that was kind of cool, to reconnect.”

10of 10Keegan Michael Key & Jordan Peele - ‘Key and Peele’Cindylou/Monkeypaw Prods/Martel Roberts Prods/Kobal/ShutterstockAnother show where two comedians’ undeniable chemistry landed them a network show, Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele played a variety of(frequently absurd, always hilarious) characterson the sketch show bearing their names.Theyfell in “comedy love"at Chicago’s Second City, then moved to L.A. where they were roommates, and their friendship led to the hit show. Keytold James Cordenwhen they reunite, it’s like “being with your brother … the brother that you like.”

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Keegan Michael Key & Jordan Peele - ‘Key and Peele’

Cindylou/Monkeypaw Prods/Martel Roberts Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock

Another show where two comedians’ undeniable chemistry landed them a network show, Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele played a variety of(frequently absurd, always hilarious) characterson the sketch show bearing their names.

Theyfell in “comedy love"at Chicago’s Second City, then moved to L.A. where they were roommates, and their friendship led to the hit show. Keytold James Cordenwhen they reunite, it’s like “being with your brother … the brother that you like.”

source: people.com