Hoes before bros. Uteruses before dudereses. Ovaries before brovaries.
Women get a bad rap for being overly competitive and catty with each other, but in truth, we know from real-life experience that female relationships are incredibly supportive and affirming. He broke up with you? It’s because he’s so insecure standing in the radiance of your greatness. They picked someone else for the position? It’s because they actually found it embarrassing that you could be so good.
Gal pals are essential in life, and womances are magical. So here’s a salute to the TV friendships that do it right.
Best female friendships on television
Meredith and Cristina – ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
“She’s my person,” we say now, and thanks to these two, an entire culture of women understands. Meredith and Cristina have been the backbone of Grey’s Anatomy since the start, and while their loves came and went, we were always most heartbroken when the two women didn’t have each other. They were each other’s closest confidants, and greatest support system; healthy competitors, they always pushed one another to strive to be the best. And as Cristina moved on, with the end of the Twisted Sisters came the end of an era: These two reminded us that through death and divorce, marriage and babies, we can make it when we have a cool BFF who just gets us.
Blair and Serena – ‘Gossip Girl’
These gossip girls live out the term “love you like a sister,” by fighting over the big things, and bickering over the small. But through it all, they remain the most important constant in each other’s lives. As the fiercest of rivals and the best of friends, Blair and Serena would do anything to protect each other. So forget Dan’s muppet hair and Chuck’s Willy Wonka suits, because B and S are the real Gossip Girl love story: “You’re my family. What is you is me. There’s nothing you could ever say to make me let go. I love you.”
Monica and Rachel – ‘Friends’
Besties since high school, these roommates have seen each other through it all — from prom disasters to runaway weddings to celebrating true love. These two women are each other’s biggest cheerleaders. Loving each other through their unbearable quirks, they don’t have to compete because they always support.
Penny, Bernadette, and Amy – ‘The Big Bang Theory’
Their friendship is pretty much built on wine and cheesecake, but what makes these girlfriends so cool is their unending support for one another. Together, they work to navigate through Amy’s basic social misunderstandings and find ecological solutions for Penny’s romantic woes. Girl’s night out has never been so bizarre… nor sounded so fun.
Chloe and Lois – ‘Smallville’
Cousins first and friends forever, Lois and Chloe prove that sometimes our best friends can be the ones who’ve always stuck around: our family. When Chloe was thought dead, her feisty cousin was the only one determined to find out the truth, causing a royal ruckus that caught the right kind of super-attention. Through the years, they’ve shared both romantic interests and investigative rivalries, and after Lois showed up in season 4 to save her cousin’s life, a couple years later, Chloe got to return the favor.
Bones and Angela – ‘Bones’
When it comes to the free-spirited Angela and logical Brennan, opposites attract. Though their ideologies are fundamentally different as an artist and a scientist, these two besties connect over the big things in life. They confide in each other for (sometimes brutally) honest, (but always) loving advice, and they push each other to see the world in another light. Bones perfectly sums up their logical love: “It is very good to see you because you are my best friend and I love you like a sister. I assume, not having an actual sister to use as a control.”
Mary and Anna – ‘Downton Abbey’
According to the ultimate BFFs Meredith and Christina, your “person” is the friend who would help you drag a dead body across the living room floor. If that’s the case, then Mary and Anna do one better by dragging the ole Pamuk across multiple Downton hallways. Mary and Anna have proved their loyalty to each other through the years, and for two such private women, their mutual trust means a lot. Anna is the one person whom Mary can confide in, and one of the few people with whom she feels herself. Meanwhile, Mary stood by Anna as her life unraveled, and later used her influence to protect her. They’ve wept together and rejoiced in life, and in a world of restraint and class restrictions, have chosen to love each other unconditionally.
April and Arizona – ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
These two are the freshest gal pals on our list. It took 10 seasons and a couple of broken hearts for the two sunniest women at Grey-Sloan Memorial to find each other, but once they finally got down and drunk in that supply closet, we realized we had stumbled upon something special. Bright and sunny, Arizona and April are the opposite of Grey’s established Twisted Sisters, and their chittery girl talk and patient support of each other is the sweet contrast we never even knew we wanted. The show wouldn’t have been the same without one or the other, so it seems fitting that these two left Grey’s for good at the same time.
Santana and Brittany – ‘Glee’
Much has been made of this seemingly written-in-the-stars romance, but what makes these two girls special is their unwavering friendship. As cute and cool as they seem to be, their opposing personalities offer a sweet balance to their dynamic. And from the beginning of the series, we’ve learned that no matter what bitchy antics these Cheerios get up to, or how competitive they might get with others, these two have always stayed loyal to each other.
Snooki and JWoww – ‘The Jersey Shore’
The voice of reason and the little (meat)ball of fun, these housemates with seemingly opposite personalities initially bonded over their love of the Shore lifestyle. As the seasons went on, though, we got to see these costars become genuine besties as they helped each other survive breakups and babies. The two girls’ frank demeanors allowed for an intimacy and honesty between them, and we watched them become fiercely protective of each other, always staying true to their friendship no matter what other dramz and Situations came around.
Tina and Amy – ‘Saturday Night Live’
Besties since their starving Chicago improv days, Amy and Tina’s chemistry catapulted them to become the first female co-anchors on the formerly male-driven “Weekend Update.” Brilliant and hilarious, these women redefined classy comedy on a weekly basis, and later brought the magic to the culturally defining Sarah Palin SNL skits. Fortunately for us, we get to watch their epic womance grow right before our eyes as they continue to make movies together.
DJ and Kimmy – ‘Full House’
Kimmy was brought in as the kook on Full House, but her friendship with DJ highlighted an important aspect of every girl’s life. Besties don’t always make sense on paper, but in the privacy of our own friendship, our craziest, goofiest side comes out. DJ may have been a responsible intellectual to the world, but to her childhood BFF, she was just a closeted goofball looking for an excuse to let it go.
Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda – ‘Sex and the City’
They made it through weddings, babies, divorces, and deaths, and through all the years of drama in the big city, these women always put each other first. The four fierce friends created a support system of love, trust, and pretty shoes, teaching us that in the end, ”Maybe our girlfriends are our soulmates.”
Raven and Chelsea – ‘That’s So Raven’
Best friends since preschool, the environmentalist Chelsea and materialistic Raven are united by their goofy personalities and love for each other. And just as Chelsea safeguards Raven’s psychic secret, Raven always watches her girl’s back. These are two foxy mommas you don’t wanna mess with.
Lucy and Ethel – ‘I Love Lucy’
The original Twisted Sisters, these two ladies schemed and salsa’d their way into viewers’ hearts with their kooky antics and undying loyalty to each other. Partners in crime and kindred spirits, Ricky may have been the love of Lucy’s life, but Ethel was always her soulmate.