What It s Like to Watch Friends Again

David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Friends

Getty Images

Hither'southward an understatement:Friends is one of the most beloved comedies of all time. So much that all six stars got dorsum together for a long-awaited reunion in 2022 – recall that? Yes, Friends is bang-up, Friends will be immensely pop forever, and that's exactly the reason it'southward time to check out something new. It'southward skillful to branch out and run across what'south out in that location, and if you hate it, well, you tin always return to Friends whenever you want.

Ween yourself off Friends with this listing of the best hangout comedies, shows inspired by Friends, or shows featuring some Friends bandage members that fans volition definitely love. (Notation: The one and only Friends spin-off, Joey, is non currently available to stream.)

Looking for more recommendations of what to sentry side by side? We have a ton of them! Nosotros also have paw-picked selections based on shows you already beloved, as well as suggestions for what to scout on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, and Peacock.

G Crew

Justin Cunningham, Carl Tart, and Echo Kellum, Chiliad Crew

Justin Lubin/NBC

Iv out of five hangout comedies concur that six is the best number of characters, and NBC's new series Grand Crew upholds the tradition of Friends et al. as one-half a dozen twenty/thirtysomething Blackness friends chill out in a Los Angeles wine bar and discuss twenty/thirtysomething things (OK, they offset out as a fivesome, simply a sixth is coming!). The serial comes from Insecure and Brooklyn Ix-Nine author Phil Augusta Jackson and is executive produced by B99'due south Dan Goor, and information technology has that Happy Endings frenetic energy every bit they discuss toilet paper, breakups, Blackness Republicans, and more. -Tim Surette

Seinfeld

Michael Richards, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jason Alexander, Seinfeld

FILES/AFP via Getty Images

Some people might say that you have to pick a favorite between Seinfeld and Friends, but there'south enough of room to relish both. Like Friends, Seinfeld was a monster hit for NBC and centered on a group of pals hilariously experiencing the pratfalls of twenty-something life in the Big Apple. The humor is a flake drier than Friends, and you shouldn't go in looking at whatsoever of the characters to put on a fashion show, but if y'all want to see another group of close and completely imperfect pals navigate New York, along with a few zany recurring characters, Seinfeld is must-run into TV (pun intended).

Living Single

FOX/NBC

You might've heard about a contempo dustup between David Schwimmer and Living Unmarried star Erika Alexander. When Schwimmer suggested that someone should brand a version of Friends with all Black characters, the actress rightly pointed out that Living Single, which followed a sextet of besties living in Brooklyn, premiered beforeFriends. Living Single besides put its characters in a living arrangement that kept them in close proximity to i another; three of the four women in the prove shared an apartment, while their two male friends shared an apartment in the same building. Beyond those similarities, Living Single was besides notable for its snappy humor, rich relationships, and many alluring romantic arcs.

Cougar Town

Cougar Town

Danny Feld/TBS

It's non just the fact that Courteney Cox herself was the lead of Cougar Boondocks, which aired on ABC and TBS, that makes it a potentially not bad fit for Friends fans; she and Busy Philipps also starred every bit a pair of goofy, but well-meaning women who'd probably exist fast friends with Phoebe Buffay in one of Phoebe'south other lives. Like Friends, the show was packed with neighbors leaning on each other for moral support, forth with awkward romantic entanglements and, yes, even a few emotional moments. (Equally a bonus, it also features some on-screen reunions betwixt Cox and boyfriend Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry.)

Episodes

John Pankow and Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

Des Willie/Offset

Now this one is recommended largely because of the fact that a Friends cast member stars in it. Episodes features Matt LeBlanc playing a smarmier (we recall) version of himself trying to headline a new Boob tube show subsequently the Joey flop. The meta-comedy series was co-created by David Crane, who as well produced Friends and Joey, and centers on how LeBlanc and the network brass manage to undermine the dreams of a U.1000. producer couple who move to Hollywood to oversee the American version of their prove. Not simply does LeBlanc smoothen every bit, well, himself, but there are also a couple of clever cameos from James Michael Tyler (who played Key Perk'due south Gunther, of course) and David Schwimmer.

Go On

Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox, Go on

Justin Lubin/NBC

Matthew Perry has done a few notable comedy shows after Friends, including this too-curt-lived NBC series most a widower who joins a support grouping and meets a zany band of characters who help him cope. Like Friends, Go on centers on another signal in a person's life when their friends are the most important connections they accept, and Perry's ease with fast-paced jokes is definitely something Chandler fans will capeesh. It'due south besides heartwarming and hilarious on its own, but information technology floundered on Tuesday nights in an awful time slot while NBC loaded up Th nights.

Happy Endings

Happy Endings

Bob D'Amico/ABC

Listen, if you really, really want to watch a bear witness like Friends, then stop reading the rest of this list and watch the great Happy Endings. Six people? Check. Three guys, iii girls? Check. Ridiculous hangout sitcom situations? Check. A completely homogenous all-white hetero cast of characters? Thankfully, not quite. Happy Endings is what would happen to Friends if it were made 15 years later, and for my money, is much improve than Friends while blatantly, yet respectfully, imitating information technology (yet, merely like Friends, some of the humor hasn't anile that well). The serial lasted 3 acclaimed seasons before ABC made the boneheaded decision to abolish it, which no one can explicate to this 24-hour interval. -Tim Surette

Coupling

Coupling

BBC2

If y'all are ane of usFriends fans who really enjoyed it when the show went there with the dirty jokes and adult-friendly innuendos, brace yourself for Coupling, a show devoted to skillful-looking mates who always have sexual practice on the brain and love to talk nigh it -- in individual, in public, and, of course, in bed. The Stephen Moffat-created series ran from 2000-2004 and was essentially England's answer to Friends, right down to the 3-girls-three-guys cast and all their zany high jinks, while focusing on the foibles of new relationships. And as far as Friends imitators become, this i was really great. An American version was made in 2003 in the hopes that it would fill the void Friends left, but it was awful, and hopefully every copy of the master tapes was burned.

How I Met Your Mother

Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother

CBS Photograph Archive, CBS via Getty Images

Begetting in mind that this series had one of the well-nigh frustrating finales of all time, How I Met Your Mother was still a rip-roaring good time for the almost part. Similar Friends, the series follows a grouping of close pals -- including the requisite Casanova and everyman combo -- who live in the city and basically spend all of their fourth dimension together. There are some romantic pairings in the group considering of course, and together they feel lots of laughs, joy, and some tender moments along the way.

The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory

CBS

If you lot haven't checked out this long-lived sitcom, which has a vast fanbase of its own, bazinga! (Yous'll get that reference after you sentry, of course.)The Big Blindside Theory is another serial with chief characters who live so close to one another that at that place's an official no-knock-needed policy and, yes, who wind upwards pairing off. LikeFriends, the characters in this series love to sit down on couches and talk about inanity -- the difference being, of course, that near of them are certified geniuses, so if Ross Geller's mini-tutorials on dinosaurs and trilobites made your day, this is the testify for yous.

The Golden Girls

Estelle Getty, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, Golden Girls

Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank

To be completely transparent, we could probably observe a reason to squeeze The Golden Girls onto whatever and every recommendations list, merely it seems especially appropriate to suggest it to Friends fans, since the show features a similarly tight-knit and joke-happy grouping of besties who dearest to tease each other but are also in that location when it counts. The evidence is basically a preview of what a Friends spin-off might look like if Monica and Judy Geller (Christina Pickles) moved in together with Rachel and Phoebe a few decades after the finale.

New Girl

Hannah Simone, Max Greenfield, Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, and Lamorne Morris, New Girl

Ray Mickshaw/Fox

Much like Friends, New Daughter is one of those shows that take gained new life years after they ended, and for good reason. Though it initially starts with Jess (Zooey Deschanel) moving in to a loft with three guys she meets on the net -- Jake Johnson'due south Nick, Max Greenfield'south Schmidt, and Lamorne Morris' Winston -- after a breakup, it quickly becomes a lovably wacky ensemble comedy full of solid running gags, excellent guest stars, and abiding hijinks. If what you lot're looking for afterward Friends is another hangout comedy, New Girl is the ane yous should cheque out adjacent. -Allison Picurro

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Source: https://www.tvguide.com/news/12-shows-like-friends-netflix-hbo-amazon/

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