I have seen a lot of shows where the main character is fairly smart but they have a dumber best friend who is a bad influence. Are there any shows that are the opposite, where the best friend is smarter than the main character?

I wouldn't really count husbands and wives. A ton of shows have portrayed the wife as smart and the husband as a buffoon.

I think this trope is more likely to be prevalent on shows in which the best friend is of some religious or ethnic minority. Turk from Scrubs and Gus from Psych are two examples I can list off the top of my head.

Fonzie from Happy Days

I wouldn't really count husbands and wives. A ton of shows have portrayed the wife as smart and the husband as a buffoon.


That's all liberal Hollywood knows how to do.

Fonzie from Happy Days


Do you think that Fonzie was supposed to be smarter than Richie?

No but seemed to be always bailing him out of trouble

Potsie in the first season of Happy Days.

On The Middle, in high school Axl had one smarter friend, Sean, and a dumber friend, Darren. In college he has two smarter friends, Hutch & Kenny.

On Home Improvement, Wilson was smarter than Tim.