15 most likable TV leads

5. Abbi and Ilana on Broad City

Admit it: If you were asked to compile a list of the most likable television leads, Abbi and Ilana from Broad City might weirdly evade your mind. Whether it’s because the word “likable” conjures the connotation of a flawless, model citizen or because they toe the line as charming hot messes, it’s fair to forget your favorite small-screen power couple. But we’re here to smash that dated notion of likability into pieces. Abbi and Ilana are, obviously, the best millennial role models.

Who else tackles life’s unexpected and unavoidable curveballs with the same irresponsible acceptance of adventure? You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone as optimistic and resourceful as Ilana or someone as game to kick and scream through her comfort zone as Abbi. In their five hilarious seasons on television as an unbeatable twosome, Abbi and Ilana represented the modern generation coming of age and rage between two vastly different presidencies. Their assorted misadventures around New York City were both a voice and an escape.

Broad City helped abolish the former mainstay of on-screen female friendships, in which tension within was the narrative’s frequent source of conflict. But Abbi and Ilana were strictly in it together, dodging bullets from the daily grind as partners in crime, much like the trio of insanely likable ladies on The Bold Type. They might lead a more eccentric and unconventional life than most, from riding on a couch in the back of a garbage truck to chasing a mugger through the city, but nothing could ever make these two unlikable.