Valentine’s Day, Shmalentine’s Day. We’re not all big fans of the Hallmark holiday, especially when we don’t have someone special to share it with. But Galentine’s Day? That we’re all about. We love having a special day to celebrate all of the wonderful women in our lives. You know, the gal pals that really make life worth living. And what’s better than celebrating our favorite TV Galentines with our real-life Galentines? There are some incredible female friendships on the small screen. From the OG Galentines, Leslie and Anne, to more recent TV BFF pairs like Offred and Moria, we’ve rounded up 17 of our favorite female friendships on TV. So grab your friends and your rosé and settle in for some Galentine’s Day binge-watching.
17. Leslie and Ann from Parks and Recreation
Leslie and Ann meet at a local parks and recreation meeting, which is probably not where you’d expect to meet your best friend in the world, but there you go. These two BFFs are the original “Galentine’s day” observers, and they share what feels like a real, genuine female friendship. Leslie gives Ann the best compliments, and Ann continuously pushes Leslie to be more laid back and have more fun. They encourage each other to be better friends and partners to the other people in their lives, without ever betraying the bond that they share. Every time we see them together, we’re all the more thankful for the Anns in our lives.
16. Monica and Rachel from Friends
Two of TV’s OG gal-pals, Rachel and Monica of Friends fame are total BFF goals. Monica let Rachel move in, no questions asked, after Rachel ran out on her wedding to Barry. As roommates, they supported each other through career changes and family drama, good relationships and bad ones, pregnancy and infertility, all while looking totally stylish and having the best hairdos. They sat in the same coffee shop together all day, every day and never got in a big enough fight that things couldn’t be resolved within the span of an episode or two. The bond these two share is definitely one we all aspire to have with our Friends.
15. Jess and Cece from New Girl
From the looks of it, you wouldn’t guess that these New Girl pals would have that much in common. Cece is a former professional model-turned-bartender and pretty much the definition of a ~cool girl~. Jess is a hopeless romantic teacher who has a whole host of nerdy habits. But when it comes down to it, these childhood friends will always have each other’s backs. Jess supports Cece throughout the drama that surrounds Cece’s arranged marriage to Shivrang, even though the total concept of arranged marriage goes against everything she believes in. And Cece is beyond patient with Jess while she works out her feelings about Nick, which are totally obvious to everyone but Jess. When this show wraps, we’ll miss watching this pair of Galentines each week!
14. Daria and Jane from Daria
Being a teenager isn’t easy. It’s especially difficult when you’re a misanthropic, jaded high school student who’s stuck in the middle of nowhere. Luckily for Daria, she had Jane by her side to make things a little easier. Jane was just as cynical and ‘over it’ as Daria was, and their deadpan humor and dry sarcasm made them one of the easiest TV pairs to watch. Daria’s been off the air for 15 years now, but we can still totally see Jane and Daria being our BFFs to this day. Maybe they’re all grown up and living in NYC now, working as a writer and artist, but they’re probably still just as self-aware and pessimistic.
13. Blanche and Dorothy from Golden Girls
Really we’d be honored to be Galentines with any one of the Golden Girls ladies, but Blanche and Dorothy are our favorite pair out of the gang. Blanche is the most free-spirited of the group and makes it her personal mission to sleep with as many men in Miami as she possibly can — a decision that Dorothy definitely disapproves of. Dorothy is far too intellectual and not nearly glamorous enough for Blanche. But at the end of the day, they’re inseparable and the first roommate the other goes to with any problem or success. It might stem from their shared exasperation over Rose or their mutual hope for finding their next big loves, but wherever it comes from, these two women have a bond that’s deeper than most friendships.
12. Laverne and Shirley from Laverne & Shirley
Laverne and Shirley were America’s favorite working-class BFFs in the ‘50s and ‘60s. The pals lived together in a basement apartment in Milwaukee and worked at a Shotz brewery as bottle cappers. Mid-way through the show’s run, they packed up their stuff and moved across the country together to Burbank, California, where they took jobs at a local department store. Any friendship that can endure a double date with The Fonz and Richie Cunningham (the characters first appeared on Happy Days before getting their own spin-off), a cross-country move, and two super annoying upstairs neighbors is one worth emulating.
11. Khadijah and Regine from Living Single
Living Single gave viewers a whole host of great friendships, but it was the friendship between Khadijah and Regine that really stood out the most. Friends since childhood, these two Brooklyn roommates were really there for each other during it all. Kadijah was the head honcho at Flavor and had a string of romances, while Regine ran her own clothing boutique and was on a continuous search for her future rich husband. These two ladies proved that success comes in all kinds of different forms and that there was nothing more powerful than women supporting other women.
10. Cristina and Meredith from Grey’s Anatomy
Is there really anything more romantic than being someone else’s “person”? Grey’s Anatomy’s Christina and Meredith endured the grueling hours of residency together, handled some seriously disgusting E.R. cases side-by-side, and frequently withheld judgment when the other entered into questionable romantic situations. We can’t help but obsess over the friendship that they have. A true Galentine would definitely drop everything to accompany us on our Hawaiian honeymoon after we’d be left at the altar, no questions asked, just like Meredith did when Dr. Burke left Cristina on their wedding day. We all could use a little more of the constant support and brutal honesty these two share.
9. Big Boo and Nicky from Orange is the New Black
OITNB’s Nicky and Big Boo have a complicated relationship. They start off as competitors, with their bet to see who can sleep with more women, until they tire over the whole thing and settle for a draw. The two maybe aren’t as close as Nicky and Red, who have more of a mother-daughter relationship, but Big Boo definitely has a soft spot in her heart for Nicky. She does her part to help Nicky stay clean and off of heroin while still giving her the space to make her own decisions. When Nicky eventually relapses, Big Boo doesn’t shut her out like many of the other women do, but quietly keeps an eye on her from afar and continues as if everything is normal between them. We can’t help but love the playful, non-judgmental bond these two share.
8. Carrie and Samantha from Sex and the City
We love all the girls on Sex and the City and the friendship that they share. In fact, we idolized them so much that most of us spent our teen years trying to decide if we were a Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, or Charlotte (and then, of course, who our BFF was). But really, Samantha and Carrie were the foundation of the group. Without their friendship, the foursome wouldn’t exist. They met first, they share a little bit (or in Samantha’s case, a lot) of a wild side, and they’re fiercely loyal to one another. When Carrie confesses to Samantha that she’s having an affair with Mr. Big, Samantha tells Carrie that judging is not her style and keeps her secret from the other girls until Carrie’s ready to tell. That kind of judgment-free support is exactly what we need in all of our Galentines. It’s a bummer to know that there was so much animosity between Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall while they played these characters, but we can separate the two pairs of women, no?
7. Lorelei and Sookie from Gilmore Girls
It’s not always easy mixing business and friendship, but Lorelei and Sookie do it flawlessly. The Dragonfly Inn owners have been devoted to each other since Lorelei first started working at the Independence Inn, and their bond just strengthened as they began their own business venture. Sookie makes sure that Lorelei eats something other than junk food and coffee, and, in return, Lorelei makes sure clumsy Sookie doesn’t suffer any fatal accidents in the kitchen. Their quick wits are perfectly matched, and they aren’t afraid to call each other out when they’re acting self-centered or drop the ball. Their friendship makes us want to drive up to Stars Hollow this February to find a Galentine of our own.
6. Rhoda and Mary from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Rhoda and Mary of The Mary Tyler Moore Show are the original sitcom gal pals. Starting in 1970, these two neighbors set the bar for female friendships (and, for that matter, the bar for women) on TV and they set it high. They were both single, working women who came from different backgrounds and were in different social classes. There was a healthy dose of competition and contention between the two, but at the end of every episode, they were there for each other. Through everything. Almost 50 years later, their friendship has withstood the test of time and is one of the very best we’ve ever seen depicted on-screen.
5. Lucy and Ethel from I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy was the most watched TV show in America for most of its six-year run. The black and white comedy was revolutionary in its heavy focus on the daily life of two ordinary, middle-class housewives, something that up until that point had been mostly glossed over. But what made the show even better was the hilarious friendship between Ethel and Lucy. Ethel spent years talking Lucy down from her harebrained, over-the-top schemes, and Lucy kept Ethel on her toes and never let her friend lose herself in the demands of womanhood in the ‘50s. They complemented each other perfectly.
4. Buffy and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Here’s what we really love about Buffy and Willow’s friendship on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: they were strong, independent teens, who could handle their own lives without each other but were made infinitely better by standing side by side. They never competed with each other or did anything to keep the other from developing their powers and strengths (at least not until Willow starts to go off the deep end with her magic in season six). They also had one of the rarest female friendships on TV, in that they never let men and romantic relationships define their friendship or come between them. They were close because they liked each other, not because they bonded over a man. #goals.
3. Abbi and Ilana from Broad City
Of all the Brooklyn-based friendships on TV these days, Abbi and Ilana’s is the best. Unlike their counterparts on Girls, these two Broad City chicks aren’t out here to stab each other in the back and steal each other’s men. Instead, they’re here to go to accompany each other to awkward gallery openings, fish condoms out of each other’s lady parts, and support each other through the reality of cruddy twentysomething city jobs (a cleaner at a Soul Cycle rip-off? A salesman at Deals, Deals, Deals? Talk about dreading going to work). These two have us rolling with laughter every week, and we’re in awe of how steadily and consistently they’re there for each other.
2. Offred and Moria from The Handmaid’s Tale
Life in a world where you have zero rights because of your sex would not be an easy one. At least in the Republic of Gilead, Offred and Moria have each other. They were together at the start when they lost their jobs and had their bank accounts frozen, and they were always there for each other, albeit from afar, when things got really bad. The Handmaid’s Tale is one of the most depressing shows on TV, but Offred and Moria’s friendship gives us hope that no matter how bad things get in the world, we’ll always be okay as long as we have our girls.
1. Madeline, Celeste and Jane from Big Little Lies
Big Little Lies gave us all the girl power feels both on-screen and off. We love watching so many strong, talented women come together to bring a story like this one to life. We spend the first few episodes of the HBO hit thinking that Madeline, Celeste, and Jane are destined to be frenemies, like so many other women on TV. But then we watch them go to bat for each other over and over, encourage each other to break out of what the roles their community has forced upon them, and apologize to each other in a way only a “very big person” can when they realize they’ve been in the wrong. At the end of the day, they have each other’s backs and present a united front against a horrible, toxic man. Thus making them something our ultimate TV Galentines dreams are made of.