Television at its best is a collaborative medium, with producers teaming up to develop concepts, screenwriters working together to turn those concepts into stories, and craftsmen behind the camera joining forces to turn the written word into living color (or black and white before the mid-sixties). This month, I'm counting down the best teams who appear on camera in the vast annals of classic television--my all-time favorite small-screen dynamic duos.

Note that I rank the twosomes who are essential to their programs. Without these duos, there would be no show. So while I love the interaction of Kirk and Spock, you could still have Star Trek without that specific combination, so they are not on the list.

Ricky Ricardo and Fred Mertz

Though I Love Lucy is perhaps the quintessential television classic, it is difficult to watch for long stretches unless these two are on screen complaining, scheming and making condescending remarks about the ladies. At first glance, they have little in common, but all they need to be a hilarious team is the simple shared experience of being a chauvinist male in the 1950s. Oh, some might argue that Lucille Ball is the center of this program, but just look at the title: I Love Lucy. It's clearly meant to be Ricky's story!

Chet Huntley and David Brinkley

Perhaps we really don't need two talking heads to tell us what's going on in the world--we may not need even one--but you have to hand it to the guys who carried the nightly NBC newscast from 1956 to 1970.  Everybody remembers Walter Cronkite today, but as a solo act he lacked the electricity and sparkle you can only get with a duo of charismatic newsreaders. Even though they generally operated hundreds of miles apart in separate studios--Huntley in the Big Apple, Brinkley in the nation's capital--they were an inseparable tag team. Doubt their impact? Just look at their catchphrase:

“Good night, Chet.”

“Good night, David.”

I get chills just writing it!

Cronkite's coverage of NASA and Vietnam elevates him in journalism history, but in its prime, The Huntley-Brinkley Report was top dog. Given how news is today, of course, this team would look much different, as producers would cast Huntley as an older, dignified male and Brinkley as an attractive, much younger minority female.

John Steed and Emma Peel

The Avengers is never explicit about what is going on between the two of them, but we know. Take the fun mind-swapping episode Who's Who, when not only do we get to see a couple of crooks transfer their consciousnesses into the agents' bodies, but we also see just how well the genuine articles know each other. I'm sure there are hardcore fans out there who yearn for the Tara King era (there's always someone), but Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg helped define not just the spy genre, but an entire era.

Tennessee Tuxedo and Chumley

The always-scheming Tennessee is never as smart as he thinks as he is, and maybe lovable walrus pal Chumley isn't quite as dumb as we think he is, but the two of them complement each other beautifully. The penguin is a dreamer who is always seeking to improve his lot in life, usually by escaping the Megaoplis Zoo. The walrus...likes fish and does whatever Tennessee tells him. Theirs is a partnership that works, even if their plans almost never do. Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales continues to inspire me to pursue my own dream of finding a sidekick who might question me with a fervent “Duh...” every now and then, but will ultimately go along with all my wacky schemes.

George Burns and Gracie Allen

The old saying is never more apt: She gave him sex appeal, and he gave her class. Or am I thinking of Joan Davis and Jim Backus? At any rate, The Burns and Allen Show is one of the more underrated sitcoms of the classic era, a show that holds up better than many contemporaries for two big reasons: Its clever gimmick of Burns providing a direct running commentary to the audience, and more importantly, the fine-tuned chemistry he had developed with Allen over some 30 years in show business.

Allen's irrepressible spirit makes the illogical logic of her dialogue even funnier; it never occurs to her that she's the one who doesn't make sense. But Burns is a marvelous straight man, even when he's just taking his cigar out of his mouth, raising an eyebrow, or shooting the audience a wry glance. Over its 8 seasons, the show provides a steady stream of 'regular' people who can only sputter in response to Gracie's wild verbal journeys. Also, co-star Bea Benaderet's hilarious reactions combine befuddlement with gentle affection. Yet Burns' interactions with his real-life mate provide a solid base for the program. He manages to convey not just amusement at Gracie's dialogue, but a sense of wonder. It's like his character not only loves her as a person, but he admires her for being able to sustain the own little reality she inhabits.

(Burns & Allen)

The Lone Ranger and Tonto

This team would rank higher except for that nagging aura  of condescension in the relationship. Look at their first meeting in the debut episode of The Lone Ranger TV series. As soon as Tonto starts nursing his new friend back to health, what does the left-for-dead Texas Ranger do? He orders his savior to dig another grave so the bad guys will think he really IS dead. Dig it yourself, Kemo-sabe!

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

Here's another longtime comedy team that had huge success in various mediums before bringing their act to the small screen. However, while Burns and Allen have been in syndication in recent years, you don't seem to find The Abbott and Costello Show much. Nevertheless, it's a great show even today, with memorable episodes like the one where Bud slaps Lou, the one where Bud talks Lou into doing something that causes a personal catastrophe, the one where they recreate an old burlesque routine...

OK, I'm teasing. I do love the show, and I think the familiarity of the bits, and more critically the familiarity of the act, is what makes it so much fun. The show offers two legends doing what they do best, and I regret that it's underappreciated today. We should consider ourselves lucky that such a legendary movie team also made 52 enjoyable television episodes.

James West and Artemus Gordon

The Wild Wild West is near the top of my list of shows I wish were rerun in my area when I was growing up. It's easy to see why my dad and his friends loved it on CBS in the late 1960s. After all, it has secret agents (West and Gordon, played by Robert Conrad and Ross Martin, respectively), fun bad guys, great gadgets, and lots of violence.

I'm still catching up with this series, but I know the conventional wisdom: Conrad is there to do the fighting while Martin is there to do the acting. I'd be just fine taking care of the acting, thank you. Then again, it does seem like Conrad gets all the ladies. Hmm. Now that I think about it, what's wrong with a few bumps and bruises?

Patty and Cathy Lane:

They're not just cousins, mind you, but identical cousins, and The Patty Duke Show just wouldn't work without the contrast between free-spirited, rough-edged Patty and sophisticated, reserved Cathy. Would you really want more episodes focusing on Patty's brother Ross?  I was always impressed that the producers happened to find two actresses who looked so similar yet could play such different roles. I must confess, though, that I always used to think the one who played Patty was faking her American accent.

Felix Unger and Oscar Madison

Of course The Odd Couple makes my list, but if Garry Marshall had overhauled it as Oscar, Felix, Vinnie, Roy, Speed, and Murray Play Poker, I surely would have loved that, too. As is, we get one of the great windows into the nature of human coexistence ever produced: the saga of an annoying neurotic's struggles to cope with his divorce and his best friend's struggles to avoid “accidentally” bumping him out the window of their Park Avenue high-rise.

Kelly Robinson and Alexander Scott

I didn't 'get' I Spy when I was younger. The location shooting didn't impress me, and it seemed like the guys sure spent a lot of time sitting around talking. Now, of course, I love the exotic locales that free them from studio backlots, and I can't get enough of the “wonderfulness” of the interaction between the two leads.

In his autobiography, Sheldon Leonard claims Robert Culp was so taken with the little hip patter Bill Cosby added that he started peppering his own dialogue with it. Who could blame him? Yeah, it's a thrill to stop a scientist from creating a supervirus and dictating the outcome of the Cold War, but the real joy comes from landing a winning zinger.

Whether busting baddies' jaws or busting each other's chops, these spies remain true pals. And notice that even though the presentation of a black man and a Caucasian as equal partners was groundbreaking when the show debuted in 1968, when we see an episode today, that doesn't even register. It's just no big deal, and while that says something about the changes in the country in the intervening 50 years, perhaps it says more about the palpable bond between the two co-stars.

One of my favorite I Spy moments comes at the end of the episode entitled Tatia. -- SPOILER ALERT -- Scotty called the cops because, as he had warned, the female Kelly was seeing was indeed an enemy. When the apologetic Scotty says, “punch me in the mouth,” his devastated friend asks him to just stop talking. Scotty presses, almost pleading, 'Come on, take a shot. Do something,' and goads him further by taking a mini-boxing stance. As Kelly's wild lunge misses, Scotty holds him up, straightens his jacket, dusts him off, then looks him over. They walk away together in a quiet but powerful evocation of their bond.

Gunther Toody and Frances Muldoon

Car 54, Where Are You? is often underestimated, perhaps because it stars “Herman Munster” and “The guy who says 'Ooh! Ooh!' all the time.” In fact it's one of the best written sitcoms of its era, which should be no surprise to lovers of creator Nat Hiken's other classic, Sgt. Bilko.

Apart from the clever plots and dialogue, the show is built on the rapport between partners Toody and Muldoon, a chemistry that extends beyond their amusing and obvious physical contrast.

One episode, Partners for 9 Years, even addresses their enduring partnership, but from an unexpected angle. Instead of celebrating that the two have shared a squad car for 9 years, everyone in the precinct talks about how weird it is that the two have been together so long. It's treated as unnatural and bizarre behavior that must have some kind of secret explanation. Of course, the probing into why they get along so well causes a chain of events that makes each guy assume the other is trying to get away from him, which makes them sudden enemies.

This is one of my favorite episodes because it illustrates the obvious things each guy brings to the partnership, and therefore the show, while demonstrating how incompatible they are with anybody else. An attempt to change partners is a disaster for both of them, and naturally they reunite, presumably for at least another 9 years or so.

Batman and Robin

You can bet I'm excited that my favorite dynamic duo, really the prototypical television twosome—I mean they coined the phrase—are finally coming to DVD (a release has been announced for later this year). As a kid, I loved the show for its fast pace, its neat colors and its crazy villains. Now that I've matured, I admire Batman's energy, its production design, and its stellar guest stars--which is another way of saying I love its fast pace, its neat colors, and its crazy villains.

For a time, I really disliked Robin. I always preferred the Caped Crusader as a solo act, and I thought the Boy Wonder only dragged him down. Now I realize how vital he is to the series' success. After all, Adam West sure would look goofy reciting that dialogue to himself (OK, goofier). The TV Batman didn't have to be an avenger of the night; he was fine as a mentor to his young ward, setting a good example for viewers as well. We learn a lot from Batman extolling the virtues of getting adequate sleep, reminding Robin how essential it is to be prepared, or admonishing Robin to fasten his safety Batbelt,

Even in his secret identity of Bruce Wayne, he dispenses wisdom to Dick Grayson that we can all absorb. Consider his response when Dick blurts out that economics is boring:

You must be jesting, Dick. Economics, dull? The glamour, the romance of commerce...Hmm! It's the lifeblood of our country's society. Frankly, I can think of nothing more stimulating than economics and commerce--

Unfortunately, Alfred interrupts Bruce just as he's getting into it.

Ultimately, though, their status as television's all-time finest team is not based merely on their ability to teach us. It's also about their constant victory over the forces of evil. Any pair that can somehow overcome such luminaries as the Minstrel, the Archer and Minerva must be a considerable duo. And the fact that Batman and Robin could take down as formidable a foe as Louie the Lilac? That alone makes them a worthy choice as TV's top dynamic duo.

Rick Brooks is the proprietor of Cultureshark, a blog in which he uses an often irreverent approach to express his reverence for the classics and the un-classics.