FRIENDS vs How I Met Your Mother - Which is better?

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Mar 11, 2004
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Yeah both are not very good and you basically have to temporarily lobotomize yourself to watch them. How I Met Your Mother was like a version of Scrubs where you remove anything actually interesting.

Friends is the potato chips of TV shows. Ok in small doses as part of a bigger meal (like if you're sitting around watching was it "Thursday Night NBC" TV with friends, or while you're eating supper). It's easy to binge on it but just leaves you feeling remorseful that you did. Going with the "is like ____ but without anything interesting" analogy, Friends is that to Frasier.

Fuck Friends, imho Bob's Burgers has more interesting characters than Friends.

What a completely weird argument. For one thing animated shows are basically about having the most absurd characters you can. They should easily be more interesting than possibly the Most Common Denominator cast of characters in any show ever (I think just about every show has had more interesting characters than the cast of Friends). I'm actually not even sure if you're pointing out how uninteresting the Bob's Burgers characters are or trying to praise it. Bob's Burgers has some of the least interesting characters on just about any animated show, seriously modern Simpsons and Family Guy have more interesting characters than Bob's Burgers. I'd say Bob's Burgers has more fun plots and is generally a better show than those two (the modern versions of both shows that is), but that's not saying much. The characters on it are horribly uninteresting and honestly I think outright annoying since it seems that was the impetus behind each one, which thankfully they've toned that down substantially over time. I can't even believe its from the same creator as Home Movies.
 

Childs

Lifer
Jul 9, 2000
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First couple seasons of Friends was painful to watch, especially when Ross had that monkey. Otherwise, it was pretty good. HIMYM started out better but for some reason I just stopped watching it.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
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First couple seasons of Friends was painful to watch, especially when Ross had that monkey. Otherwise, it was pretty good. HIMYM started out better but for some reason I just stopped watching it.
The last season of HIMYM was terrible, but I liked the rest. I'm a fan of Jason Segal though so I'm a little biased. Friends was okay but there were some stretches that felt lacking on the comedy side.
 

MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
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Soap probably addressed most of P&N's problems way before there was an internet.
 

Humpy

Diamond Member
Mar 3, 2011
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hotter than monica

canada-eh-cobie-smulders.jpg

Friends still wins because I'd bang all three of those broads. How I met your mother only had the one.
 

It's Not Lupus

Senior member
Aug 19, 2012
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I tried to rewatch Friends since I never watched it completely, but the laugh track is just so damn annoying. And I can't ever rewatch HIMYM because the ending is so shitty.
 

boomhower

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2007
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HIMYM for me. Friends wasn't bad but I didn't care for it as much. Seinfeld is better than both by far.
 

TheVrolok

Lifer
Dec 11, 2000
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ATOT posts "Which is better..." and expected "both totally blow" response occurs. A classic working formula.

I prefer HIMYM, but I think it really just comes down to age/demographic.
 

dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
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I liked HIMYM but can't watch it in reruns. Just not funny the second time around. Friends I can watch if nothing else on plus Jennifer's pokeys are a nice bonus that help offset Monica's shrill character.
 

TheVrolok

Lifer
Dec 11, 2000
24,254
4,090
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I liked HIMYM but can't watch it in reruns. Just not funny the second time around. Friends I can watch if nothing else on plus Jennifer's pokeys are a nice bonus that help offset Monica's shrill character.

Very true about reruns. Show doesn't really "work" in just single episodes; and while a fair bit was pretty funny originally, it is far less funny the second time around.
 

Elganja

Platinum Member
May 21, 2007
2,143
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friends was a great show that i watched when it was on (and still watch reruns occasionally)

himym i never watched until it was near the end, and I enjoyed it as well... the last season was terrible though

scrubs i think was better then both of the above, and i can watch that any time
 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
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Both are pretty terrible. If I'm forced to watch one, it would be Friends. HIMYM has the hottest girl though (whoever the dark haired girl is).
 

Xonim

Golden Member
Jul 13, 2011
1,131
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All the "they're both terrible" just cracks me up. Two terrible shows don't combine to air 19 seasons / 444 total episodes. They're certainly not the best shows on TV, but they're not terrible either.

I will say HIMYM kinda mailed it in the last 4-ish seasons, but even comparing S1-5 of HIMYM to Friends, Friends is the better show IMO. It's one of those shows where you can just watch any random episode and don't really need to know what's happening, but HIMYM has more of a season/series-long story arc.

Hotter than Aniston in her prime? I don't think so.

/agree
 

dainthomas

Lifer
Dec 7, 2004
14,632
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The last season of HIMYM was terrible, but I liked the rest. I'm a fan of Jason Segal though so I'm a little biased. Friends was okay but there were some stretches that felt lacking on the comedy side.

Stopped watching HIMYM a few years ago, and never heard about the ending so just read it on wiki. Wow. That's just the worst possible conceivable ending ever. Even the Seinfeld ending is orders of magnitude better and I thought that sucked. If I'd invested all that time in it I would've been seriously PO'd.