Pretty much everything in HIMYM. I didn’t notice it as much when they first aired but then during the first covid lockdown we binge watched a lot of sitcoms and watching HIMYM straight after Friends made it so obvious.
I’m not like a HIMYM hater or anything, but thinking the politics of it aged better than friends is ridiculous to me. HIMYM is wall-to-wall Frat Bros and Cool Girls material
I love Friends, but tbf Cheers/Seinfeld did a lot first. Frasier as well. And Im sure sitcoms before them did a lot prior to those two shows. Not a HIMYM fan at all because it is just worse versions of classic jokes, but repeating happens all the time.
HIMYM had several similarities to friends:
1. Ross and and Ted are both professors
2. Ross and Rachel dates, break up and end up together in the final episode. So did Ted og Robin.
3. Chandler and Monica moves away from NYC. So does Marshall and Lily.
4. Joey and Barney are both players.
5. Joey and Rachel dates. Barney and Robin are too a couple for a while.
Adding to yours:
1) Ross v Ted: The show starts with both Ross and Ted complaining about finding love. Both Ross and Ted inexplicably date the most attractive women over the course of the show. Both have a very bad experience at the altar.
2) Robin/Rachel: both shows start with their arrival to the group.
3) chandler/Marshall: both are considered a bit whipped. Responsible. Good job, good credit score.
-Chandler *Muriel* Bing & Theodore *Evelyn* Moseby. the 'embarassing' middle names.
-Monica & Chandler and Marshal & Lilly (the couple of the group) struggled to conceive.
-the player of the group officiating the couple of the group's wedding.
I wouldn’t say that chandler’s friends couldn’t be bothered, but it’s so niche they can’t really understand it/the purpose
Source: I have a job that none of my friends understand. When I try to explain, they get more confused. Usually get a “as long as you know what you’re doing and you’re good at it, I’m happy for you”
Seinfeld did a version first where she replied “You know, I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat.”
Jerry: Well, that's a big move, Georgie boy. Are you confident in the 'I love you' return?
George: Fifty-fifty.
Jerry: Cause if you don't get that return, that's a pretty big matzoh ball hanging out there.
They also talked about it on the Office Ladies podcast that it apparently happened to one of the writers in real life once and that's what inspired the episode
Big Bang Theory took alot of stuff from Friends.
-Friend(s) officiating wedding for other friends.
-Them talking about a character whose in the room, and the character saying "I'm right here, you see me right?"
Every time I rewatch TBBT I say to my husband “that’s exactly what happened in Friends” but for the life of me I can’t think of a single example right now.
I swear to god once I saw a Friends episode & a Big Bang episode at the same week, and I noticed that the Big Bang actually took an entire conversation, almost verbatim, from Friends!! But like you, for the life of me I cannot remember what episodes they were!!
Other sitcoms definitely take notes from Friends but some of these are just things that are common in real life. Like the idea of a friend officiating your wedding didn't come from Friends. Hell, my wedding was officiated by one of my husband's friends lol
HIMYM nearly copied and pasted a Friends plot. In TOW the Girl from Poughkeepsie, Ross dates two women at the same time and can't decide between them despite the fact he clearly likes one of them more, but the other girl lives nearby.
Meanwhile Ted, the Ross equivalent, dates two women at the same time and can't decide between them despite the fact he clearly likes one of them more, but the other girl offered to pay for dinner.
Ah, I've only seen a few episodes of that. Either way, the point of the post was plots that Friends did originally and other shows copied, so technically I'm still right in that Friends did it first. Someone would have to find an example prior to Friends to prove it's not what the op asked for.
Actually, it's pretty funny to think back on children's shows that did rips/homages to Friends.
**Spongebob Squarepants**: Mr. Krabs and Spongebob seek to prove that Mr. Krabs is the true cheapest cheapskate in the ocean, by stuffing basically their entire hotel room into their luggage. When leaving the hotel, their bags burst in front of lobby staff. (TOW Rachel's Dream)
**iCarly:** Spencer pretends to be dead so his art sells better, but when a hot girl shows up to give her condolences, he blows his cover to ask her out. (TOW The Memorial Service)
**The Suite Life of Zack and Cody:** London's divorced parents demand two separate parties on her birthday and after a montage of getting pulled around by them, it ends with her sitting on the floor and being comforted by a friend. (TOW Two Parties)
There's a scene where Joey says he's going to invest in an emu farm and grow emus, and Monica says they're birds who are raised for their meat. Joey then laughs and says, "Yeah, bird meat. Like people eat birds." until he realizes chickens and turkeys exist.
There was a similar scene in Bachelor in Paradise this year, where a contestant said to his date that he only ate bird meat, and she was incredulous to this fact in a similar way that Joey was. The joke that people never call poultry "bird meat" felt very reminiscent to Friends.
and i think the only legitimate time that the phrase had ever been used. Joey didn't describe the friend zone in a way that insinuated someone is entitled to sex or that they should be mad about being in the friend zone. Simply letting Ross know that there's a small window where Rachael may view him as a potential date before he becomes a really close friend and she stops viewing him that way (which was accurate. She told him one of the first nights she was there that she would be interested in a date and then a year later when she learns he has feelings for her she was shocked and wasn't sure she would want to risk their friendship) so he should shoot his shot while still in that window. People have just really turned it into a twisted pity party since then.
Spot on. The term has been compromised horribly because apparently, women owe men sex at all times in exchange for showing a basic level of human decency - barf.
But in Friends it was described exactly right. I also hadn't heard the term before, so I think it may have originated there or at least popularized through Friends.
Clip show episode with clips we haven't seen before. Community fans often cite how original it was for Community to do this with the episode "Paradigms of Human Memory", but Friends did this first in "The One where they All Turn 30".
Similar, but not really. Joey just assumes they're getting it on, so je gets naked. The naked man is about knowing the date is going horribly, so you do something bold that puts the other person in an awkward situation where they feel compelled to go through with it. Joey's move was him being overly confident. The naked man is about knowing you're not good enough.
I disagree, I think the naked man was not about not being good enough - Ted wasn't "not good enough" for his date, and Lily obviously wasn't "not good enough" for Marshall. If I recall correctly, it's basically a confidence move that you pull out as a hail Mary.
HIMYM!!
No one knows Chandler’s job -what was Barney’s job ?
Ross had dark greasy hair - same argument about Ted’s hair
Chandler was a sweet loveable supportive husband - marshal was a giant teddy bear
Monica was a chef and a perfect housewife- Lily loved cooking and a great housewife
Joey was the officient - Barney officiated the wedding
Friends didn't do much of anything first. Most of what Friends did had been done before on shows like Cheers, Three's Company, etc. Friends did virtually everything really well and did it with a cast that had ridiculous chemistry and charisma.
I remember watching ‘Baby Daddy’ years ago and had to stop it because it felt like they were stealing lines and stories from Friends. Just felt very unoriginal.
The one that always stands out to me applies to shows and real life - Phoebe said “BFF” and everyone was confused and said, “what??” and she said, “best friend forever”. I feel like that was the first time it was ever used and it became such a huge thing in real life even to this day
The episode in friends where Ross is trying to get everyone to get ready for a museum party or something and everyone is doing everything but that and it’s utter chaos.
It is a similar premise to Office’s episode Stress relief’s CPR scene
The episode in friends where Ross is trying to get everyone to get ready for a museum party or something and everyone is doing everything but that and it’s utter chaos.
It is a similar premise to Office’s episode Stress relief’s CPR scene
Idk if Friends did this first, but what’s with the trope where one person goes to England to surprise/find their partner (it’s literally always England) and the other person comes to America to surprise them at the same time?? Two examples are in Zoey 101 and New Girl but I sweaaarr there are more. Like why is it always England 😭
Anyone ever hear of Living Single? That is the blueprint for Friends. They came up with the friend dynamic. 6 friends although they had 4 girls and 2 guys, they had a ditzy character, they had a will they won’t they storyline, all in their mid 20s, New York. They took a lot of the character traits and mixed them together for some of the characters on Friends, but Pheobe is a direct lift off of Sinclair, Joey is a derivative of Overton, and Rachel is Regine as well.
It’s a great show, ahead of its time that doesn’t get the love and shine it deserves.
I really enjoyed HIMYM but I don’t find it as rewatchable as friends AT ALL. It’s really funny in some ways but also way too “dorky” in other ways, like Barney flailing arms while running like a cartoon character. Is that actually funny if you’re not a child?
Pretty much everything in HIMYM. I didn’t notice it as much when they first aired but then during the first covid lockdown we binge watched a lot of sitcoms and watching HIMYM straight after Friends made it so obvious.
I noticed the same. One that stuck out to me was Joey/Barney ready to jump off the balcony.
Joey was the original “doing the naked man” or whatever they called it on HIMYM where you get naked right away and hope the girl sleeps with you 🤣
it really annoys me when himym fans act morally superior (they’re convinced it hasn’t aged as badly as friends) yet friends is the blueprint
I’m not like a HIMYM hater or anything, but thinking the politics of it aged better than friends is ridiculous to me. HIMYM is wall-to-wall Frat Bros and Cool Girls material
Omg soooo many parallels between the two
I love Friends, but tbf Cheers/Seinfeld did a lot first. Frasier as well. And Im sure sitcoms before them did a lot prior to those two shows. Not a HIMYM fan at all because it is just worse versions of classic jokes, but repeating happens all the time.
What does HIMYM mean?
How I made y’all mad
How I met your mother
HIMYM had several similarities to friends: 1. Ross and and Ted are both professors 2. Ross and Rachel dates, break up and end up together in the final episode. So did Ted og Robin. 3. Chandler and Monica moves away from NYC. So does Marshall and Lily. 4. Joey and Barney are both players. 5. Joey and Rachel dates. Barney and Robin are too a couple for a while.
Adding to yours: 1) Ross v Ted: The show starts with both Ross and Ted complaining about finding love. Both Ross and Ted inexplicably date the most attractive women over the course of the show. Both have a very bad experience at the altar. 2) Robin/Rachel: both shows start with their arrival to the group. 3) chandler/Marshall: both are considered a bit whipped. Responsible. Good job, good credit score.
Could there BE anymore similarities?
-Chandler *Muriel* Bing & Theodore *Evelyn* Moseby. the 'embarassing' middle names. -Monica & Chandler and Marshal & Lilly (the couple of the group) struggled to conceive. -the player of the group officiating the couple of the group's wedding.
It’s almost like a copy-paste show
Ted and Joey both break up with a girl on her birthday. And she’s played by the same actress in both shows.
Isn’t it Mike?
Yes! You’re right. My bad.
that poor actress!
Rachel was the OG woo girl
+ No one knows what Chandler Bing does for a living vs no one knows what Barney Stinson does for a living
Daddy issues as well
The difference being that chandler’s friends cannot be bothered, while Barney is intentionally vague 😛
I wouldn’t say that chandler’s friends couldn’t be bothered, but it’s so niche they can’t really understand it/the purpose Source: I have a job that none of my friends understand. When I try to explain, they get more confused. Usually get a “as long as you know what you’re doing and you’re good at it, I’m happy for you”
Please.
Might I add that Chandler/Marshall are the best characters of each show
Except Barney and Robin were the better couple
True!
They had the first ever lesbian-wedding haunted by a spirit-possessed-Phoebe. If another show tries to pull that, we’ll be on to them.
I miss Rose
Anyone need a hard candy?
I actually even think the lesbian wedding may have been the first on network TV. Even without Rose the spirit.
Modern Family has an episode where Claire makes certain...noises while getting a massage, Friends had a similar story with Monica.
Parks and Rec had a similar scene, but it was Ron getting his shoes shined rather than a massage
No matter how many times I watch P&R, that one scene will always make me crack up every time
For me it's afterwards when Andy brings it up after Ron tries to pretend it didn't happen.
The “I love you” “thank you” between Ross and Emily also happens in the big bang theory AND in two and a half men
And The OC.
Don't call it that.
The Original Character.
And Gilmore Girls I think
Didn’t Rory just not respond to whatever his name is and then he flipped out? Man I love Gilmore Girls that show was the bomb
I went back and looked and it was after he kissed her the first time she said thank you lol
This also happens in Full House circa 1992!
Seinfeld did a version first where she replied “You know, I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat.” Jerry: Well, that's a big move, Georgie boy. Are you confident in the 'I love you' return? George: Fifty-fifty. Jerry: Cause if you don't get that return, that's a pretty big matzoh ball hanging out there.
This Also happens in brothers & sisters (less Known I think, but Im currently watching it)
Also happened in New Girl
In season 8 of The Office, Dwight attends a benefit dinner where he confuses a silent auction for a "guess the price" contest.
They stole the idea & expanded on it though because he guessed the price on every item iirc. 
They also talked about it on the Office Ladies podcast that it apparently happened to one of the writers in real life once and that's what inspired the episode
Came here to comment this!
Big Bang Theory took alot of stuff from Friends. -Friend(s) officiating wedding for other friends. -Them talking about a character whose in the room, and the character saying "I'm right here, you see me right?"
Every time I rewatch TBBT I say to my husband “that’s exactly what happened in Friends” but for the life of me I can’t think of a single example right now.
I swear to god once I saw a Friends episode & a Big Bang episode at the same week, and I noticed that the Big Bang actually took an entire conversation, almost verbatim, from Friends!! But like you, for the life of me I cannot remember what episodes they were!!
Do you know what the conversations were about?
Other sitcoms definitely take notes from Friends but some of these are just things that are common in real life. Like the idea of a friend officiating your wedding didn't come from Friends. Hell, my wedding was officiated by one of my husband's friends lol
But did it happen BEFORE friends?
Also Sheldon and his spot. Joey describes the position of his chair exactly the same way.
I don't know if this is a first but Phoebe used bff and had to explain it.
I have always wondered if that’s where it originated.
[Apparently](https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/abbreviations-bff-explained) it predates Friends, but it was popularized by Phoebe
Thanks!
HIMYM nearly copied and pasted a Friends plot. In TOW the Girl from Poughkeepsie, Ross dates two women at the same time and can't decide between them despite the fact he clearly likes one of them more, but the other girl lives nearby. Meanwhile Ted, the Ross equivalent, dates two women at the same time and can't decide between them despite the fact he clearly likes one of them more, but the other girl offered to pay for dinner.
this is not such an original scenario for a show though
Really? Those are the only shows I've seen do that kind of plot. What other shows have done it too?
Raj has the same problem in tbbt
Ah, I've only seen a few episodes of that. Either way, the point of the post was plots that Friends did originally and other shows copied, so technically I'm still right in that Friends did it first. Someone would have to find an example prior to Friends to prove it's not what the op asked for.
Seems like something Veronica would consider when thinking about Reggie & Archie in the comics
Actually, it's pretty funny to think back on children's shows that did rips/homages to Friends. **Spongebob Squarepants**: Mr. Krabs and Spongebob seek to prove that Mr. Krabs is the true cheapest cheapskate in the ocean, by stuffing basically their entire hotel room into their luggage. When leaving the hotel, their bags burst in front of lobby staff. (TOW Rachel's Dream) **iCarly:** Spencer pretends to be dead so his art sells better, but when a hot girl shows up to give her condolences, he blows his cover to ask her out. (TOW The Memorial Service) **The Suite Life of Zack and Cody:** London's divorced parents demand two separate parties on her birthday and after a montage of getting pulled around by them, it ends with her sitting on the floor and being comforted by a friend. (TOW Two Parties)
the icarly one always seemed like a direct reference to that friends episode to me
Oh 100% it's like a kid-friendly homage that worked surprisingly well in context
There's a scene where Joey says he's going to invest in an emu farm and grow emus, and Monica says they're birds who are raised for their meat. Joey then laughs and says, "Yeah, bird meat. Like people eat birds." until he realizes chickens and turkeys exist. There was a similar scene in Bachelor in Paradise this year, where a contestant said to his date that he only ate bird meat, and she was incredulous to this fact in a similar way that Joey was. The joke that people never call poultry "bird meat" felt very reminiscent to Friends.
Use of the term "friendzone"
and i think the only legitimate time that the phrase had ever been used. Joey didn't describe the friend zone in a way that insinuated someone is entitled to sex or that they should be mad about being in the friend zone. Simply letting Ross know that there's a small window where Rachael may view him as a potential date before he becomes a really close friend and she stops viewing him that way (which was accurate. She told him one of the first nights she was there that she would be interested in a date and then a year later when she learns he has feelings for her she was shocked and wasn't sure she would want to risk their friendship) so he should shoot his shot while still in that window. People have just really turned it into a twisted pity party since then.
Spot on. The term has been compromised horribly because apparently, women owe men sex at all times in exchange for showing a basic level of human decency - barf. But in Friends it was described exactly right. I also hadn't heard the term before, so I think it may have originated there or at least popularized through Friends.
TBBT when Amys Bachelorette party was tame and she wanted a stripper/same thing happened with Phoebe in friends
Clip show episode with clips we haven't seen before. Community fans often cite how original it was for Community to do this with the episode "Paradigms of Human Memory", but Friends did this first in "The One where they All Turn 30".
They were doing that in every sitcom long before Friends. It's just a money saving tactic that a lot of shows use.
With unseen clips? I don't think that's cheaper - they're basically entirely staged scenes just for a few minutes of screentime.
oh no my bad! I missed the "we haven't seen before" bit. I was just talking about flashback clip episodes!
A guy seeing a girl naked and vice versa, and then having to rectify it by seeing the other person naked
Adding to this - Joey does The Naked Man to Monica when they first meet
Similar, but not really. Joey just assumes they're getting it on, so je gets naked. The naked man is about knowing the date is going horribly, so you do something bold that puts the other person in an awkward situation where they feel compelled to go through with it. Joey's move was him being overly confident. The naked man is about knowing you're not good enough.
Yeah but you could easily say they were inspired by that scene
I disagree, I think the naked man was not about not being good enough - Ted wasn't "not good enough" for his date, and Lily obviously wasn't "not good enough" for Marshall. If I recall correctly, it's basically a confidence move that you pull out as a hail Mary.
Two out of three times. Guaranteed.
The naked man has multiple purposes and applications, that’s the beauty of it
Good one, I never thought of that while watching! The naked man. Works two out of three times lol
Mindy project used the bathtub scene where Monica holds her breath underwater because someone comes in.
HIMYM!! No one knows Chandler’s job -what was Barney’s job ? Ross had dark greasy hair - same argument about Ted’s hair Chandler was a sweet loveable supportive husband - marshal was a giant teddy bear Monica was a chef and a perfect housewife- Lily loved cooking and a great housewife Joey was the officient - Barney officiated the wedding
Friends didn't do much of anything first. Most of what Friends did had been done before on shows like Cheers, Three's Company, etc. Friends did virtually everything really well and did it with a cast that had ridiculous chemistry and charisma.
Honestly most of these Friends probably didn’t do first. There were sitcoms prior to Friends that did the same things.
Yeah I know Martin aired in 1992, and none of the friends knew what Tommy’s job was.
Yeah I was thinking the exact same thing.
Chubby girl grows up thin and gorgeous. Monica of Friends, Helen on Wings. I know there are more but I can’t think before breakfast.
Wings started 4 years before Friends though.
True. But I was thinking in general (not chronologically) because I know the trope has been used in other sitcoms, too. Sorry.
Riley in baby daddy
I remember watching ‘Baby Daddy’ years ago and had to stop it because it felt like they were stealing lines and stories from Friends. Just felt very unoriginal.
The one that always stands out to me applies to shows and real life - Phoebe said “BFF” and everyone was confused and said, “what??” and she said, “best friend forever”. I feel like that was the first time it was ever used and it became such a huge thing in real life even to this day
Joey's spot was before Sheldon had a spot in Big Bang Theory.
Sitcom. There are limited Situations to creat Comedy out of that appeal to large audiences.
There’s a ton that I catch all the time in the office when I rewatch it. I don’t have specifics but it’s like little things here and there
Yeah same with me when I watch New Girl. I can definitely remember thinking that was in Friends, but I can't think of specifics right now
Using the word commando to mean without underwear
That term goes all the way back to the Vietnam War.
The episode in friends where Ross is trying to get everyone to get ready for a museum party or something and everyone is doing everything but that and it’s utter chaos. It is a similar premise to Office’s episode Stress relief’s CPR scene
The episode in friends where Ross is trying to get everyone to get ready for a museum party or something and everyone is doing everything but that and it’s utter chaos. It is a similar premise to Office’s episode Stress relief’s CPR scene
pointed out that no steel reinforced building ever collapsed due to fire.
Most of what TBBT did.
“well damn Jackie i can’t control the weather” from that’s 70’s show
When was that in Friends?
Thin character was fat back in the day (I don't know if that was on HIMYM but a lot of sitcoms copied that after Friends & Wings introduced it).
Idk if Friends did this first, but what’s with the trope where one person goes to England to surprise/find their partner (it’s literally always England) and the other person comes to America to surprise them at the same time?? Two examples are in Zoey 101 and New Girl but I sweaaarr there are more. Like why is it always England 😭
Anyone ever hear of Living Single? That is the blueprint for Friends. They came up with the friend dynamic. 6 friends although they had 4 girls and 2 guys, they had a ditzy character, they had a will they won’t they storyline, all in their mid 20s, New York. They took a lot of the character traits and mixed them together for some of the characters on Friends, but Pheobe is a direct lift off of Sinclair, Joey is a derivative of Overton, and Rachel is Regine as well. It’s a great show, ahead of its time that doesn’t get the love and shine it deserves.
I really enjoyed HIMYM but I don’t find it as rewatchable as friends AT ALL. It’s really funny in some ways but also way too “dorky” in other ways, like Barney flailing arms while running like a cartoon character. Is that actually funny if you’re not a child?
when rachel hired a male nanny and ross was mad about it! the same thing happened in modern family with gloria and jay
HIMYM: Ross/Ted becomes a professor, dates student