30 Shows About Best Friends You Need to Watch
There are some amazing shows about friends and friendship. A lot of sitcoms, in particular, are based on some kind of friendship between characters. In this article, we are bringing you the best of the best when it comes to shows about best friends.
Some of the shows on our list are the best shows in history, and what’s even better they are focused on relationships between friends, so check them out below, and chose your next watch about friends.
Friends (1994–2004)
At the center of the series is the friendship of six young New Yorkers who often gather in their apartments or on a shared sofa in the “Central Perk” cafe in Greenwich Village.
Seinfeld (1989–1998)
Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld), George Costanza (Jason Alexander), Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) are four friends from New York. Jerry and Elaine were once a couple, but remained just good friends.
- RELATED: 30 Best Shows Like Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld is a comedian by profession and performs many sketches on stage. Each episode begins with one of his skits. His friend George Costanza, a short, balding, chubby and neurotic prankster, often complains to him about his many problems, which is the basis of the plot of many episodes.
Jerry’s friend and ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes also stops by the apartment and talks mostly about her relationships with men. Jerry lives in a building where his first neighbor is the “fired” (“wacky”) Cosmo Kramer who is always in a hurry and takes Jerry’s apartment as his own, especially his refrigerator.
That ’70s Show (1998–2006)
Set in the mood ring and polyester era of the 1970s, this series is a retro-trendy sitcom about an eclectic group of friends on the brink of adulthood. They live in suburban Wisconsin, longing for independence amid the growing problems of the adult world.
In suburban Wisconsin, Eric Forman lives under the authority of his parents, Red and Kitty. His girlfriend/neighbor, Donna Pinciotti and her parents Bob and Midge live next door. The rest of the gang consists of Jackie and Kelso, who is a little bit her boyfriend, a little bit not, Hyde, a conspiracy theorist who believes that Xerox will take over the world, and Fez, a foreign exchange student who soaks up American culture like a sponge.
The gang likes to spend most of their time in Eric’s basement, thinking about their lives, their parents and their futures, but they get into many funny mishaps and adventures in their teenage lives.
2 Broke Girls (2011–2017)
Sassy, streetwise Max works two jobs just to get by, one of which is waiting tables during the night shift at the retro-hip Williamsburg Diner. Sophisticated Caroline is an uptown trust fund princess who’s having a run of bad luck that forces her to reluctantly give waitressing a shot.
At first, Max sees Caroline as yet another in a long line of inept servers she must cover for, but she’s surprised to find that Caroline has as much substance as she does style. When Caroline discovers Max’s knack for baking amazing cupcakes, she sees a lucrative future for them, but they first need to raise the start-up money.
Sex and the City (1998–2004)
The series follows the lives of four women and close friends in their mid-thirties and forties. Starring Sarah Jessica Parker (as Carrie Bradshaw), Kim Cattrall (as Samantha Jones), Kristin Davis (as Charlotte York) and Cynthia Nixon (as Miranda Hobbes).
Crashing (2016)
Crashing follows the lives of six twenty-somethings living together as property guardians in a disused hospital, keeping the building safe in exchange for cheaper rent and a strict set of rules. The close personal relationships start to overlap, and the group navigates sexual tension and personal baggage before they are inevitably evicted.
One Tree Hill (2003–2012)
The series takes place in the fictional town of Tree Hill, North Carolina and originally follows the lives of two half-brothers, Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan Scott (James Lafferty). Their relationship develops from a heartless enemy, brotherly care, basketball, romance with female characters, who are significant characters within the series.
For the first four seasons, the series is based on the characters in high school. With the start of the fifth season, Schwahn decided to skip four years in time, and the characters show their lives after college. The seventh season takes place one year in the future.
Friday Night Lights (2006–2011)
During the summer, the players, led by the talented Bobby Miles, train diligently under the guidance of coach Gary Gaines, who prepares them for the start of the club’s jubilee season, which they intend to crown by winning another title.
But when Miles is unexpectedly forced to end his performance and career due to a serious knee injury, coach Gaines will suddenly find himself in a serious problem.
The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019)
The series is set in Pasadena (state of California), and the main characters are two geniuses (experimental physicist Leonard Hofstadter and physics theorist Sheldon Cooper), their neighbor (a waitress with acting aspirations Penny) and two of Leonard’s and Sheldon’s friends and colleagues (Howard Wolowitz and Rajesh Koothrappali).
In the later seasons, three more characters profiled themselves in the main cast: Bernadette (at the beginning of the appearance a student of microbiology and Penny’s fellow waitress, who after a relatively short time finishes her studies and gets a job in the pharmaceutical industry), Amy Farrah Fowler (Sheldon’s friend, neuroscientist , often dissecting brains and performing various crazy experiments on primates) and Stuart Bloom (the owner of a comic book store that the characters regularly visit.
The Bold Type (2017–2021)
Jane has recently been promoted to her dream job as a writer, Kat is the newly appointed social media director, and Sutton is still struggling at her secretarial job. These ambitious young friends help each other deal with life’s challenges as they pursue their professional goals, search for love, and discover who they really are.
A Business Proposal (2021-)
It tells the story of Shin Ha-ri, an employee who accepts to go on a blind date in place of her friend, but finds out that her date is actually her boss.
On My Block (2018–2021)
A coming-of-age story about four bright, street-savvy friends navigating their way through high school in gritty South Central Los Angeles, trying to get their friend out of a gang, and having their friendship turn into something more.
Will & Grace (1998–2020)
Gay lawyer Will Truman (Eric McCormack) and straight interior designer Grace Adler (Debra Messing) are best friends living in New York City. Grace is engaged to a real jerk until the relationship falls apart and she moves in with Will.
It’s supposed to be temporary, until Grace finds her own place, but more and more it looks like a permanent arrangement. Grace’s secretary and assistant is fun-loving wealthy socialite Karen Walker (Megan Mullally); Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) is Will’s flamboyant gay friend.
Never Have I Ever (2020–2023)
It stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi, a first-generation Indian-American teenager who has to deal with family pressures that include grief over the loss of her father, an unusual love triangle, new friendships, and various inner turmoils narrated by series narrator John McEnroe.
Girlfriends (2000–2008)
The series revolves around the friendship of four African-American women in different phases of their lives. They explore the many trials and tribulations that most women face today such as relationships, family, friends and other current issues that will interest most women. Whether it’s getting over a divorce, finding a career, or looking for true love, Girlfriends delivers it all along with comedy and wit.
Cheers (1982–1993)
The story was set in a bar called “Cheers” in Boston, where a group of locals gathered to drink and have fun. At the center of the show was the bar’s owner and head bartender, Sam Malone, who was a womanizing former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.
Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000)
High school mathlete Lindsay Weir rebels and begins hanging out with a crowd of burnouts (the “freaks”), while her brother Sam Weir navigates a different part of the social universe with his nerdy friends (the “geeks”).
Community (2009–2015)
When his diploma is discovered to be fake, attorney Jeff Winger is forced to return to school. Jeff soon becomes the leader of his fellow students, including businessman Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase), ex-football star Troy, spunky and divorced Shirley and the rest of the team. Jeff soon realizes that taking the easy way out doesn’t guarantee survival in college.
Psych (2006–2014)
Shawn’s father, police officer Henry (Corbin Bernsen), has been supporting Shawn (James Roday) since he was a child to notice even the smallest details in his surroundings, so that he would later continue to use them in the business that the whole family is engaged in.
Over time, the father and son are separated due to the generation gap and Shawn finds himself searching for his calling by trying a variety of jobs, just to avoid the detective work that his father does. Still, purely for fun, he calls the police and reports clues in cases he reads about in the media. When one of his tips is very accurate, the police suspect that he is an accomplice in the crime and arrest him.
Using charm, Shawn convinces the detectives that he is psychic and they, although skeptical, decide to hire him to solve difficult cases. With the support of his best friend Gus (Dulé Hill), Shawn opens an investigative agency and becomes a private detective whose solving of mysterious cases amazes the police.
Julie and the Phantoms (2020)
Julie is a teenage girl who finds her passion for music and life with the help of a high-concept band of teen boys (The Phantoms) who have been dead for 25 years. Julie, in turn, helps them become the band they were never able to be.
New Girl (2011–2018)
The pilot begins with the story of Jessica Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel), a somewhat unusual Los Angeles woman in her late 20s who teaches at a local elementary school. On her way back from another city, she prepared a surprise for her boyfriend, but she caught him cheating on her in their house.
She decides to move to get away from an unhappy relationship. Jess moves out and starts looking for a new place to live. Through an ad, she meets three young men: Nick, Schmidt and Coach, and moves in with them.
How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014)
For no particular reason, the aging Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) sat down with his daughter and son one day to tell them in detail the series of events that preceded the meeting of him and their mother. In order to describe in as much detail as possible what he was up to, Ted proudly recalled the time from his young days when he adored his job as an architect, but also the single life he lived.
Since he did not have a permanent girlfriend, he spent every free moment with his best friends from Wesleyan University: law student Marshal Eriksen (Jason Segel) and child educator Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), who decided to crown their long-term relationship with marriage. It was this event that prompted Ted to finally take action. In a serious search for a “soulmate”, Ted is happy to be helped by the wise Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), the funniest part of the four-member team.
Since Barney is a hardened womanizer who knows how to approach the fairer sex, Ted will easily meet many girls, but fate itself will find him the right one, who will be the mother of his children.
Boy Meets World (1993–2000)
The youth series perfectly describes a teenager who explores and lives in anticipation of great and fateful events that will mark his youth and help him grow up.
Cory Matthews is a teenager who struggles every day with new unpredictable situations into which his curiosity and typical youthful worries drag him. While he is “trying to grow up”, his teachers, family and friends confuse him even more with conflicting answers and sometimes bizarre behavior.
Cory’s omniscient teacher Mr. Feeny is also his first neighbor who always sees and knows everything. Their relationship therefore often goes beyond good neighborly relations, as well as politeness in the teacher-student relationship.
Cory often fights with his brother, and his love with Topanga does not provide him with any relief. Cory joins forces with his best friend Shawn to face life’s adversities together…
Living Single (1993–1998)
Six black 20-somethings — four women and two men — share their lives and loves in a Brooklyn brownstone. A trio of women share one of the apartments, receiving frequent visits from a fourth pal; meanwhile, two men who’ve been friends for years share an apartment one floor up.
Derry Girls (2018–2022)
The series follows Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), her cousin Orla (Louisa Harland), their friends Clare (Nicola Coughlan), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), and Michelle’s English cousin James (Dylan Llewellyn) as they navigate their teenage years during the end of the Troubles in Derry, where they all attend a Catholic girls’ secondary school. The friends frequently find themselves in absurd situations amid the political unrest and cultural divides of the times.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013–2021)
Captain Ray Holt (Andre Braugher) takes command of the 99th Precinct in Brooklyn, which includes Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg), a talented but carefree detective who has learned to do what he wants.
Other employees of the 99th Precinct include Detective Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), who is Jake’s highly successful and competitive partner; detective Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz), a strict and withdrawn colleague; detective Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), Jake’s best friend who is in love with Rosa; Detective Sergeant Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews), recently retired from the field after the birth of his twin daughters; and Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti), a sarcastic administrator.
The Golden Girls (1985–1992)
The series revolves around four older women who are alone, three are widows and one is divorced, who live together in a house in Florida. The owner of the house is a widow named Blanche Deveraux, who is joined by the widow Rose Nylund and the divorcee Dorothy Zbornak.
They are joined by Dorothy’s mother, Sophia Petrillo, after the nursing home she lived in burned down in a fire. Four women humorously touch on unusual topics such as impotence, drug addiction, homosexuality, plastic surgery, dementia or HIV.
Broad City (2014–2019)
The series describes the life of two friends Ilana and Abbi, who try to find their way in New York while making even the most banal and mundane events funny and disturbing at the same time.
Firefly Lane (2021–2023)
The plot takes us through a thirty-year-long journey through the friendship of Tully Hart and Kate Mularkey, two diametrically different women in character. In parallel, we meet them in the 70s in their street Firefly Lane, where as a teenager Tully just moved in, then in the 80s when they slowly embark on careers and relationships that will ultimately shape them into the people they are in 2003, which in the series represents the present.
Glee (2009–2015)
It centers on the glee club called the New Directions at the fictional William McKinley High School which competes as a show choir while its disparate members deal with social issues, especially regarding sexuality, race, family, teen relationships and teamwork.
