Poll: Who is the best trio currently on TV?

Segueing straight from Ruby’s Best TV Duos post last week, we thought a sequel was just the ticket. Because … we all know there’s nothing like a good ‘Part II’ to compliment the original … right?

The CliqueClack team was recruited once more (some even willingly so) to put their thoughts together on the Best Television Trios currently gracing our TV screens:

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Debbie: My nominations and reasons: Chance, Guerrero and Winston (Human Target) and Michael, Fiona and Sam (Burn Notice). My reasons are actually the same for both, because in these cases, the triad is strong and definitive and couldn’t be a duo. You can’t nominate just Chance and Winston, because then all of the amazing interplay with Guerrero is left out. Sam and Fiona may be a great duo, but the beauty of the character interactions is gone unless you throw Sam into the mix. (Keith was on board with Debbie’s Human Target trio also.)

Jeff: Chuck, Sarah and Casey (Chuck): These three temper and balance each out so perfectly with their combination of the Brains, the Beauty and the Brawn, yet kick ass each in their own ways.  Their unique alliance is the heart of what makes Chuck such a pleasure to watch.

Ivey: Eric, Tami and Julie Taylor (Friday Night Lights) gets my nod. Considering all of the adulation that the parents in this trio gets from critics (if, obviously, not Emmy voters who’ve proven their ineptitude), Aimee Teegarden as Julie completes this family. Often times she’s just the whiny, self-important teenager (or should that just read ‘teenager’?), but even then she is exactly the person you’d expect the daughter of two incredibly head-strong and kind parents to be. Luz, Baze and Cate (Life Unexpected) are an interesting contradiction to the Taylors. Where Eric and Tami generally get most of their parenting right, Cate and Baze consistently fail. The only thing they really have in common is the desire to do it right, based out of the love they all share.

Jen: All of House’s flunkies have been triangles at one point or another: Cameron, Chase, Foreman; Thirteen, Kal Penn, and Taub; now Taub, Chase, Thirteen.

Brett: For current shows my pick would be The Order of the Triad (Dr. Byron Orpheus, Jefferson Twilight and The Alchemist – The Venture Bros.). As a group they offer the perfect blend of skills, with just enough ineptitude to keep things interesting, and hilarious. Despite not being the stars of the show, on many occasions they are easily able to steal the spotlight. And, since we are talking about trios, they are the only group that actually refers to themselves as a Triad. Top that Taylor family! (Although, the Taylor family does win points for not being involved in the ridiculous murder/body dump plot at all.) Also, another current trio I didn’t see mentioned, Tony, McGee and Ziva (NCIS).

Keith: Two and a Half Men. Or is that only 2.5? Seriously, though — at what point are they going to finally call that “kid” not only .5 of a person?

Tara: You know I’m voting for the trio on MasterChef. And not just because Gordon Ramsay is hot. Although that is a very good reason. They work off each other well. Joe Bastianich is the bad guy, Gordon is the cool head and Graham Elliot is comic relief. (Keith also suggested the three professionals on MasterChef.)

Jen: I am going to nominate, alongside my Penny, Leonard, and Sheldon (The Big Bang Theory), Leonard, Howard, and Rajeesh. When the five of them are together, Leonard gets irritated with, well, all the guys because he’s trying to impress Penny. But of the geeks, Sheldon is (oddly enough) the one Penny gets along best with unless Raj is drunk. So, that trio works well together. If you look back on the episode when Leonard, Howard, and Raj go camping to capture the meteor showers and get dosed with pot brownies instead, even before they were drugged, the three of them were having a great time together. It was uncomplicated without Penny and Sheldon.

Ruby: As for current trios, Michael, count me as another vote for Sheldon, Penny, and Leonard. (Jeff added his vote for these three as well. With all The Big Bang Theory talk, Keith wondered:  “That’s a tough one, because shouldn’t it instead be Sheldon, Leonard and Rajesh maybe?”)

Having more to say on the Penny, Leonard and Sheldon front, Debbie stated: Other combinations of threes came up within the same show. So right there, according to my reasons, the trio simply isn’t strong enough. They may be a great emsemble cast, but they aren’t trios. The two triads I nominated are like the TV equivalents of the Holy Trinity. Exaggeration for effect …

To which Jen rebutted: Ha! Hahahaha, au contraire! The fact that other combinations of threes come up within the show shows demonstrates that these trios have the strength of fluidity and not rigidity. Case in point: Kaley Cucuo was recently injured in a horseback riding accident, and will be absent from several episodes of the show. If the show depended only on the strength of the Penny, Leonard, Sheldon trio, they would be, in a word, screwed. However, they can call up the strength of the Leonard, Howard, Raj trio (especially as they have conjured up a love interest for Sheldon). The very strength that you tout in your examples becomes a weakness if one of your triad falls off a horse. :P

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I can’t really tell you what happened after Jen’s ‘falls off a horse’ comment. I thought I heard things being thrown … stuff breaking. I didn’t have time to see if a full-on grudge match had broken out. I had to get this post in …

Tell us what you think of the our choices. Agree? Disagree? Is there a group you think is missing?

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Sep 22, 2010 @ 16:00 EST5EDT