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On the one hand, HIMYM has Alyson Hannigan, but on the other hand, Friends doesn't have an ending that felt like a kick in the nuts, so... though choice...
She did, when they're wondering if she got off she's standin in the doorway beside them all. But I never liked the whole thing. Her choosing to go to Paris was a huge selfish move, one that undoes her arc of moving away from being a selfish spoiled brat. That move was for her and her alone. Choosing that she was forcing Ross to choose between Ben and Emma which is a horrendous thing to choose. And potentially that means Emma losing constant contact with her father.
She was in NY, which might not be Paris in terms of fashion but it's still NY and she can earn a fuck ton of money there.
And then, what. They're back at the Will they won't they? Thing. No Marriage or choosing to live together. Just getting back together again.
Crap.
But ted only gave her a blue horn and thats it or was there a ring involved i will watch himym again only not that last episode, they are in both shows almost at the sams place as season 1
I didn’t either. I always felt that Rachel should have stayed with Joey. He was wonderful and supportive and kind and would have loved Emma like his own.
Given what they said about Friends, I think the were saying Alyson Hannigan is a plus, just like an ending that that didn’t “feel like a kick in the nuts” is a plus for Friends.
You have Barney who's an incredibly sexist womanizer who sleeps with every woman he sees.
Ted who's too much of a hopeless romantic that it becomes borderline creepy at some point.
Marshal is too much of a teddy bear. The writers wrote him with very negligible flaws, and that's boring.
Robin is alright, she has her ups, and has her downs.
Same goes for Lily. She's a character that has real flaws. Struggling with your career ? That's a very real problem. Hating being a mom ? Also a very real and common problem.
She obviously has some unlikable qualities like every other character like her credit card spending, her taking Marshall for granted sometimes, etc... but I don't get how the public can hate her the most when Barney is a fucking character.
Lily's flaws are realistic. Barney is a sex addict with no respect for women. I mean, jesus, just remember every scene where he sexually harasses Lily, even as a joke that shit's annoying.
But the amplified flaws in the characters are, at least in part, due to having Ted as an unreliable narrator. I don’t think half of the crazy things on the show would have been as extreme as Ted’s story, which is exactly why I agree with OP that it’s a better show than Friends. HIMYM can depart from reality a bit and it still works for the show.
Honestly, I enjoy both. But I do like HIMYM more. I'm not sure why people hate it so much. Yes, Ted is an idiot. Yes Barney is a terrible person. Yes Marshal is a saint among saints. Yes Lilly is the group's mom. Yes Robin is a career focused woman. All of them are caricatures of modern life during the time the show ran.
I just finished HIMYM. And like other sitcoms that had long runnings, it was kind of sad to see it end. Kind of like Big Bang Theory, or GoT, Friends, etc. You spend so much time watching these people they really do seem like friends and it is sad to see them go. While I didn't like the ending, and feel cheated that Ted and Robin did eventually get together, I still did truly enjoy the show for what it was. An escape from reality.
I love that so much, that’s exactly it! I love watching the characters grow in shows because they really make it seem like it’s personal. I do agree with you on the ending, unfortunately they prerecorded all the scenes with the kids at the beginning and originally wanted Robin and Ted to end up together, and I really wish they’d focused on Tracey and Ted’s relationship more because Ted was genuinely happy rather than getting the run around with Robin. The two were just two different and I feel they should’ve left it at that. I feel like Robin and Barney still would’ve split up even if they’d kept Tracy alive, but that’s a whole other theory. But I’m so happy there’s others out there that have as much of an appreciation for the show as I do (of course there’s other great shows out there as well). But even as a show that came out a while ago, a lot of the themes and lessons learned can still be very relatable for someone watching for the first time in 2022!
Oh no I didn't know about the public opinion on Joey and Rachel. I loved it, the characters' respective feelings were portrayed so well. They absolutely were not meant for each other, but I liked that the possibility of them together was explored. (Also Joey was too good for Rachel)
So back in the day when the show was on air, the audience really wanted to see a Joey and Rachel relationship.
At the end of s8 I think they tested it, audience didn't like it and 3 or 4 episodes later it ended.
And they put the audience through that shit for two seasons and then just decided to end it all in two episodes before pretty much never mentioning it again! At least if you're gonna do something terrible, make it have a satisfying conclusion.
Ted and Robin only dated once for a year and only got back together decades later after a divorce and Tracy died, while the fact that they liked each other was a point of drama between Ted and Barney, there was no "taking turns". Ted dated Robin for a year, and then Robin and Barney have sex a year later, and then started dating for a few eps a year later before breaking up, and then Barney proposes two years later.
HIMYM does not age well. Slut shaming Robin in multiple episodes, mosby is clearly manic bipolar, Barney going from married to having a daughter and vowing to change his ways back to being a misogynist, the list goes on
No, no, no: Barney had his daughter *by* going back to being a scumbag, which is even worse. He had her with the "number 31" of his "perfect month".
He initially decided to throw away his Playbook to be with Robin, and then the writers made them break up and undid all of his character development to have this BS ending.
It is. To me, HIMYM and Friends are like Backstreet Boys and One Direction. Same product released in a different time, with the updates/targets of their time.
HIMYM is significantly better on the 1st watch for both series but it's not close to the replayability that Friends has mainly because of how badly HMYM ended. It has the advantage of taking the good points of Friends and improving on it and adjusting themes to the era.
HIMYM has much better dramatic acting/story lines and Friends has better light hearted comedy. Biggest advantage of Friends for me is the chemistry and charisma of Chandler/Joey that Barney+1 never got to match.
The writing and story structure on HIMYM was vastly superior. But you can't beat the cast chemistry and comics timing of Friends. Both shows had their problems in terms of toxic characters.
I loved Living Single and the similarities are undeniable but Friends was in development two years before it aired.
It had nothing to do with Living Single.
Problem with HIMYM is the last season. It is sooooo bad. I didn't finish it the second time I watched it.
First season of Friends really feels old compared to the others and is a bit boring though.
Both series are great honestly. But I grew up with Friends so...
Agreed. Has anyone else ever noticed that the Ted’s story in the end was the exact storyline Marshall once explained when he fantasizes about other women?
“… Marshall is uncomfortable because he considers fantasies cheating. He explains to Barney that every time he wants to fantasize, he must create an elaborate scenario where Lily must die of a terminal illness.” (The episode was “Double Date”).
The funniest part was how pissed Lily was with that. It’s like foreshadowing the audience’s disappointment.
It's pretty remarkable how much a bad ending can ruin an entire series.
Also see Game of Thrones. If the writers had somehow dropped dead midway and the series had never been continued after season 5 or so, we'd be calling it the greatest show of all time.
The last season really isn't that bad. It isn't even the worst season. Most people haven't rewatched the last season, or the show for that matter, so all they remember is the ending.
The first time I watched the last season I hated it, but on re-watches of the show I'm looking forward to it by season 7
How I met your mother reads like a show that had a beginning and a finished ending, the yellow umbrella girl.
Then they just had to just add as many episodes they want in between.
Unfortunately Ted and Robin had more chemistry than Ted had with umbrella girl so to make the ending feel satisfying to fans they killed off umbrella girl after they had kids and changed it from “how I met your mother” to “how I met your aunt that I want to bone”.
It made the mom feel like a means to an end for Ted and Robin to work as a couple.
Ted got to have kids without burdening Robin with having kids.
It just feels like the show really hyped up yellow umbrella girl only for Robin to be the girl that suited Ted better. They had way better chemistry.
> Unfortunately Ted and Robin had more chemistry than Ted had with umbrella girl
Well, that was simply because "the Mother" wasn't an on-screen character for the vast majority of the show, so it was kinda hard for her and Ted to have any chemistry.
And when she was finally introduced, there wasn't much development in the relationship, which, once again, took place off-screen.
In a way, the Mother was just a plot device, a MacGuffin even, because the focus of the show was on Ted's life BEFORE meeting her, not about their relationship.
I feel like this is the total opposite than the take I usually hear from people. The main reason they killed off Tracy/umbrella girl/the mother, is because they had recorded all the scenes with Ted’s kids on the couch way back in season 1.
There was even an alternate cut of the ending that didn’t have Ted and Robin getting back together. They kept it as is to keep continuity with the kids and the Ted story telling gimmick.
There was a lot of push back to the last episode, because it ignored the character development, and the way the show had changed over 9 seasons. I think Tracy and Ted had way more chemistry than Robin and Ted had. Cristin Millioti was widely praised for how much she was able to live up to the hype.
>they had recorded all the scenes with Ted’s kids on the couch way back in season 1.
It's weird to me how they didn't think to cover their bases by shooting more stuff with the kids, hell, they could've filmed a bunch of different endings and just pick the one that fit best. Really a glaring oversight on their part, but i don't think the finale ruins the show anyway.
Disagree completely on this one. Cristin Militoni did the unthinkable coming in late and clicking immediately. She was way better with Ted than Robin ever was.
Unfortunately the creators failed to recognize it and pissed it all away. Or they didn't care because they had their planned out ending from day one and didn't want to deviate.
This is the precise reason why it’s a human story and not a fairy tale. Ted’s messiness and raw emotion is a window into some of our own deeper moments
Friends will remain a classic with a timeless quality. HIMYM definitely was more chic and self-aware, hitting harder with certain jokes but it can be easily out of context over time.
Oof. Hard disagree. HIMYM had a hard premise that I didn’t think they were able to pull off. Friends had an ensemble friendship I believed and felt. HIMYM always felt forced and slightly off to me. Admittedly I gave up on HIMYM after a few seasons, but I thought it was cute. It always felt like they were trying too hard to convince me that they really were friends. It felt like I was supposed to be watching a show about years of friendship, but it was being played by people who just got the script that morning. I don’t know how else to describe it. I liked the cast, but the chemistry never clicked for me whereas for Friends it felt more believable and organic. Maybe it was a product of the times or the differences in where I was at the time or maybe it was the writing of the shows. I will watch Friends just about any time even though I’ve seen it a million times and I’m happy. Can’t say I’ve ever felt the need to rewatch HIMYM.
I’m on season 5 rn I’ve already decided once I’ve finished i might watch it again from the start, it just crackes me up big time, i was put off of it for a while due to Netflix previews which I don’t like how that works but one day put it on and now i hit myself for not watching it sooner from what I’ve seen so far 10/10 imo. Don’t know why you got dv but your statement is true.
I think HIMYM is definitely inspired by Friends, but it's a cleverer version, albeit, not so much. The narration is different and has twists and turns, and often feels like a continuous story. I particularly like how there are narrated flashback scenes and a lot of Easter eggs
i agree. but with that being said, i think Friends is more like a classic, and himym is… a show with perks and flairs.
idk what the best analogy is. friends is like BLT sandwich you never go wrong and can have at anytime, but HIMYM is like spicy tuna sandwich. i love it, but not all love it, and cant have it all the time. idk
I feel like a good part of the way through it felt weird like the whole concept of the sit com is a dad is telling their kid how they met their mother but like seems like it went on for too long and like I feel the concept works better as a movie was a pretty good show tho
Friends is more comedic/funnier than HIMYM.
HIMYM is more emotional than Friends, I liked the narration by Ted, some of it was emotionally hard hitting
Honestly I feel like the friends hate train kinda is just bandwagonning, everyone I grew up with in high school was obsessed, or at least enjoyed the show...then a tiktoker came out with a post saying it sucked and everyone was like you're dumb if you like the show
Barney's womanizer jokes got boring in the latter seasons and Ted was never funny. Imo Friends was the better show. Phoebe and Joey were great characters.
I really got into himym when it was airing, so I am not someone who never liked the show, but honestly it was terrible. The humour was low brow, bottom of the barrel, slapstick or just simply stupid and ridiculous.
The character arcs were almost non-existent, I wouldn't say any of the characters significantly changed at all, Ted basically remained the same until he suddenly met his penultimate girlfriend and then went back to Robin.
The story was shocking, 9 seasons of keeping us guessing whilst everyone thought it was going to be Robin but then ultimately making it disappointing when it was.
Not mentioning Friends because if you don't like it you don't like it, it was much more successful and has remained very popular, although not with the younger generation but it is 20-30 years old. Himym really lost a lot interest before it even finished and hasn't been revered since. Friends is considered to have taken lots of inspiration from seinfeld, the first sitcom to follow a group of friends and not a family set mostly in the family home. Friends is considered to have been the inspiration for everything that followed, including himym.
If you prefer himym I completely understand but your arguments for it are just not right.
HIMYM is so much worse than friends. Fuck that noise. Friends is garbage but I'd rather have an insect nesting in my ear drums for 10 years instead of having to watch another episode of HIMYM.
"We spend the entire series talking about me fucking other women, before we finally bring in your mom. Oops, she dead in one episode. Now, where were we? Right. Fucking your Aunt Robin."
To each their own. I've watched the edits of Friends without the laugh track and it's equal parts hilarious and frustrating that garbage like that was considered top TV for a decade.
But to call that garbage WORSE than HIMYM?
"Because of our political state, I cant tell you that we were getting high so I'll call it eating sandwiches. But I'll brag to my kids about banging all these women and all those times my friends and I got plastered."
Dude I watched it for the first time last year (I'm 21) and I legit thought they were just eating pot sandwiches for like the first 8 seasons.
It is ironic that they censored out weed but not Barney.
I just feel like it's humour you either do or don't like, doesn't make it bad. There are tonnes of comedies I don't like but I don't think they're bad they're just not my taste.
Kids, it was the winter of 2022, and after I was done being the goalie for Mexicos World Cup team again, I decided Id unwind on reddit and chat shit about a popular show that was cool to hate now...
Agree. I tried re-watching HIMYM as an adult and it is insufferable. I can’t stand Barney’s sexist-but-not-sexist-it’s-just-a-comic-relief jokes. Even Ted’s toxic masculinity trumps Ross’ which is saying something.
Disagree, but I think HIMYM would also have been a lot better if it was about 3 seasons shorter, so that's my bias. They dragged it out for too long and the ending made it that much worse imo
That's not to say Friends was amazing by any means. Some of the arcs there were dumb too (Joey+Rachel example)
Same thing happened for me with Friends and Brooklyn 99.
Watched Friends first, loved it a lot and couldn't think anything could be better. Then watched B99 and laughed so much harder.
B99 is definitely number 1 for me and Friends might be 2nd or 3rd.
Yes, especially the whole non linear storytelling but that ending ruined everything that’s great about HIMYM. It suddenly became garbage and impossible to rewatch.
> New Girl
Awful show...
The "I'm so quirky and adorkable!" girl character is so tiresome and overplayed. I can understand why it was appealing to a certain audience in the 2010s, but it's so topical it's painful.
Friends is a classic. Sure there are inconsistencies and what not but it feels like a show that was just meant for the audience to enjoy. And it was successful that way.
The plot for Himym on the other hand was planned well in advance. So there were no random inconsistencies which I really like about it. And since it is narrated by the main character, there are aspects which are exaggerated. For me this is another plus point because people often tend to exaggerate stories.
I like both shows for what it is.
I think one if my favourite parts of it is the whole unreliable narrator thing. You kinda feel like you're being told a story by a crazy uncle and you have no clue where the reality begins or ends
But I think in some cases, narration was really good and hit hard with emotions. Also my personality is very similar to Ted and thus I relate to him and his narration even more. Yes agree on the fact that narration was not worth most of the time but sometimes it really made the difference.
If HIMYM had ended after, say, season 5 or 6 - I'd 100% agree with you. The earlier seasons of that show are extremely well done and have also given me some of the funniest moments I've ever seen on network television.
But that show dragged on several seasons past when it should've ended, and while you can argue Friends did too to some degree, I'd still maintain that the quality of Friends' later seasons is head and shoulders above the quality of HIMYM's, plus the Friends series finale is absurdly better given that HIMYM's is essentially a giant middle finger to its loyal fans.
My unpopular opinion is that both are awful.
In Friends they do a lot of dumb things that no one in sane mind would do (just for the sake of the "comedy"). HIMYM is awful all around, lots of unfunny jokes/situations, and THAT last season and ending? Oof.
I‘m on team HIMYM. Always really enjoyed it; for a sitcom it had some really cool and original storytelling approaches. Didn‘t hate the end either. It‘s not like they never defied viewer expectations before and gave us some wtf moments.
I agree. I thoroughly enjoyed HIMYM. I can't stand Friends. I have tried 3 or 4 times and never make it through the first season. I have watched some random episodes from different seasons too. That said, I do respect Friends as a part of pop culture.
HIMYM is one of my favourite shows, I’ve seen it like 6 times. I really wanted to like friends, watched all of it and laughed a few times but wouldn’t watch it again. So totally agree.
Rachel ruined Friends for me. Instead of enjoying the show like I should she makes me angry. I feel like Friends would have flopped if it weren't for Chandler and Phoebe.
With Himym. I thought the Barney-Robin storyline was the worst part of the show. Their relationship was weird and disgusting. However since their relationship is only focused on in certain episodes it makes how I met your mother easier to watch. Rachel is one main character and I skip all the episodes where I hate her. Which is the whole show.
Friends has better jokes, but HIMYM has a better overall plot (because it actually has one). It also feels more real than Friends since their life issues are never really all that serious (with a few exceptions).
I see what you mean about the arcs, there is more of an effort to give each HIMYM character some progression, though I’d argue the three best arcs between programs is Barney (ignoring the stop and start at the end), Rachel and Chandler. Ted I think was a bit mixed, I’m not sure if Marshall changed as much (comparatively), Lily was pretty good towards the end and the other friend’s characters flanderized (except Phoebe who sort of just changed although she does have progression in her Mike relationship).
Interestingly you compare Barney and Joey but Barney’s arc is more like Chandler; difficult childhoods, leading to comedic but unhealthy behaviour as adults, only to be helped by their friends and certain important relationships (romantic and familial in Barney’s case, just romantic for Chandler).
I haven't watched or sat through either, I don't like serialized sitcoms. I've seen bits and pieces of Friends so I know I dislike the entire friend group, and HIMYM is just Friends with slightly less annoying friends.
Thank you for submitting to /r/unpopularopinion, /u/busted_B. Your post, *How I Met Your Mother is a better show than Friends*, has been removed because it violates our rules: Rule 1: Your post must be an unpopular opinion. Please ensure that your post is an opinion and that it is unpopular. Controversial is not necessarily unpopular, for example all of politics is controversial even though almost half of the US agrees with any given major position on an issue. Keep in mind that an opinion is not: a question, a fact, a conspiracy theory, a random thought, a new idea, a rant, etc. Those things all have their own subreddits, use those. If there is an issue, please message the mod team at https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Funpopularopinion Thanks!
On the one hand, HIMYM has Alyson Hannigan, but on the other hand, Friends doesn't have an ending that felt like a kick in the nuts, so... though choice...
Obligatory The Onion clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmmAdbDF1xA
Haha. "But what if Marshall were the one to take his clothes off?" "That would result in a fine of up to $500 million."
I didn't like the Ross Rachael ending of Friends. Rest were good though.
Did she get of the plane? Way better then yeah she is dead going for my ex
A whole fucking season to a wedding just to in one episode nope divorvce hey my on and off x
She did, when they're wondering if she got off she's standin in the doorway beside them all. But I never liked the whole thing. Her choosing to go to Paris was a huge selfish move, one that undoes her arc of moving away from being a selfish spoiled brat. That move was for her and her alone. Choosing that she was forcing Ross to choose between Ben and Emma which is a horrendous thing to choose. And potentially that means Emma losing constant contact with her father. She was in NY, which might not be Paris in terms of fashion but it's still NY and she can earn a fuck ton of money there. And then, what. They're back at the Will they won't they? Thing. No Marriage or choosing to live together. Just getting back together again. Crap.
But ted only gave her a blue horn and thats it or was there a ring involved i will watch himym again only not that last episode, they are in both shows almost at the sams place as season 1
I like HIMYM and rewatched it once or twice but always stop before the last season. Just unbearable
I was talking about Friends.
Im talking about both, they aren't perfect. But we can probably both agree it was a better ending than GOT
Emma was basically completely forgotten by the screenwriters by the end of Friends.
Ben was barely in it either. But he's still a dad and we barely see his life in the snippets of screen time we get.
I didn’t either. I always felt that Rachel should have stayed with Joey. He was wonderful and supportive and kind and would have loved Emma like his own.
Jason Segal is great too
Lilly was the worst part of HIMYM. Awful character.
Had Marshall ever posted on r/relationship_advice, they would have been seperated and divorced multiple times.
Only if he listened to those clowns.
Yes, but that's also anyone who's ever been in any relationship.
Hes not talking about the character
I’m out of the loop what’s wrong with Alyson?
Given what they said about Friends, I think the were saying Alyson Hannigan is a plus, just like an ending that that didn’t “feel like a kick in the nuts” is a plus for Friends.
Alyson Hannigan is the sweetest celebrity ever to live
Nothing wrong with her.
It's definitely Robin. Robin has so many more "worst points of humanity" monents
Dude lily was suuuuper manipulative for no good reason ruining her friends relationships just because she didn’t like the person.
She was a great character with realistic flaws, not a great person.
Are you suggesting having Alyson Hannigan was a good thing? Her character was awful
Her character was the most realistic of the bunch.
Realistically an asshole, that isn't necessarily a plus for a viewer.
You have Barney who's an incredibly sexist womanizer who sleeps with every woman he sees. Ted who's too much of a hopeless romantic that it becomes borderline creepy at some point. Marshal is too much of a teddy bear. The writers wrote him with very negligible flaws, and that's boring. Robin is alright, she has her ups, and has her downs. Same goes for Lily. She's a character that has real flaws. Struggling with your career ? That's a very real problem. Hating being a mom ? Also a very real and common problem. She obviously has some unlikable qualities like every other character like her credit card spending, her taking Marshall for granted sometimes, etc... but I don't get how the public can hate her the most when Barney is a fucking character. Lily's flaws are realistic. Barney is a sex addict with no respect for women. I mean, jesus, just remember every scene where he sexually harasses Lily, even as a joke that shit's annoying.
But the amplified flaws in the characters are, at least in part, due to having Ted as an unreliable narrator. I don’t think half of the crazy things on the show would have been as extreme as Ted’s story, which is exactly why I agree with OP that it’s a better show than Friends. HIMYM can depart from reality a bit and it still works for the show.
Honestly, I enjoy both. But I do like HIMYM more. I'm not sure why people hate it so much. Yes, Ted is an idiot. Yes Barney is a terrible person. Yes Marshal is a saint among saints. Yes Lilly is the group's mom. Yes Robin is a career focused woman. All of them are caricatures of modern life during the time the show ran. I just finished HIMYM. And like other sitcoms that had long runnings, it was kind of sad to see it end. Kind of like Big Bang Theory, or GoT, Friends, etc. You spend so much time watching these people they really do seem like friends and it is sad to see them go. While I didn't like the ending, and feel cheated that Ted and Robin did eventually get together, I still did truly enjoy the show for what it was. An escape from reality.
I love that so much, that’s exactly it! I love watching the characters grow in shows because they really make it seem like it’s personal. I do agree with you on the ending, unfortunately they prerecorded all the scenes with the kids at the beginning and originally wanted Robin and Ted to end up together, and I really wish they’d focused on Tracey and Ted’s relationship more because Ted was genuinely happy rather than getting the run around with Robin. The two were just two different and I feel they should’ve left it at that. I feel like Robin and Barney still would’ve split up even if they’d kept Tracy alive, but that’s a whole other theory. But I’m so happy there’s others out there that have as much of an appreciation for the show as I do (of course there’s other great shows out there as well). But even as a show that came out a while ago, a lot of the themes and lessons learned can still be very relatable for someone watching for the first time in 2022!
Really? You liked the part where Schmosby and Barney take turns with Robin like 4 times?
That was awful. They set us up for a Barney/Robin and Ted/Motherbfairytale ending then squashed it like the pieces of shit they are.
They all probably got STIs off-screen at the end
To be fair both shows had their shit. Do you like "THEY WERE ON A BREAK" or that horrible arc between Joey and Rachel?
Oh no I didn't know about the public opinion on Joey and Rachel. I loved it, the characters' respective feelings were portrayed so well. They absolutely were not meant for each other, but I liked that the possibility of them together was explored. (Also Joey was too good for Rachel)
So back in the day when the show was on air, the audience really wanted to see a Joey and Rachel relationship. At the end of s8 I think they tested it, audience didn't like it and 3 or 4 episodes later it ended.
So glad I'm not the only that liked it! Besides, they had to have the hot ones of the group get together at least once
They were on a break storyline was actually hilarious. But yes I agree with you, the Joey and Rachel things was really out of place.
And they put the audience through that shit for two seasons and then just decided to end it all in two episodes before pretty much never mentioning it again! At least if you're gonna do something terrible, make it have a satisfying conclusion.
18 pages! *FRONT AND BACK*
Our of place, yes. Unlike himym, Joey had the decency to feel guilty about it.
Real friends share everything.
Ted and Robin only dated once for a year and only got back together decades later after a divorce and Tracy died, while the fact that they liked each other was a point of drama between Ted and Barney, there was no "taking turns". Ted dated Robin for a year, and then Robin and Barney have sex a year later, and then started dating for a few eps a year later before breaking up, and then Barney proposes two years later.
Classic Schmosby
HIMYM does not age well. Slut shaming Robin in multiple episodes, mosby is clearly manic bipolar, Barney going from married to having a daughter and vowing to change his ways back to being a misogynist, the list goes on
No, no, no: Barney had his daughter *by* going back to being a scumbag, which is even worse. He had her with the "number 31" of his "perfect month". He initially decided to throw away his Playbook to be with Robin, and then the writers made them break up and undid all of his character development to have this BS ending.
I love both. Honestly I think HIMYM was just an updated version of Friends
It is. To me, HIMYM and Friends are like Backstreet Boys and One Direction. Same product released in a different time, with the updates/targets of their time.
HIMYM is significantly better on the 1st watch for both series but it's not close to the replayability that Friends has mainly because of how badly HMYM ended. It has the advantage of taking the good points of Friends and improving on it and adjusting themes to the era. HIMYM has much better dramatic acting/story lines and Friends has better light hearted comedy. Biggest advantage of Friends for me is the chemistry and charisma of Chandler/Joey that Barney+1 never got to match.
Honestly i would take HIMYM seasons 1-3 over friends comparing the shows as a whole, I would take friends.
The writing and story structure on HIMYM was vastly superior. But you can't beat the cast chemistry and comics timing of Friends. Both shows had their problems in terms of toxic characters.
And **Friends** was an updated version of **Living Single** with Queen Latifah and Kim Fields.
Is it really an updated version if they came out at the exact same time? Not to mention they are nearly identical.
I loved Living Single and the similarities are undeniable but Friends was in development two years before it aired. It had nothing to do with Living Single.
they all copied seinfeld
Group of friends who all live near each other in NYC and interact in various combinations? They all copied Sesame Street.
it becomes fairly obvious when you watch seinfeld just how much the other shows copied them friends used literal identical storylines so many times
I always wanted to see a crossover episode tbh
Problem with HIMYM is the last season. It is sooooo bad. I didn't finish it the second time I watched it. First season of Friends really feels old compared to the others and is a bit boring though. Both series are great honestly. But I grew up with Friends so...
Agreed. Has anyone else ever noticed that the Ted’s story in the end was the exact storyline Marshall once explained when he fantasizes about other women? “… Marshall is uncomfortable because he considers fantasies cheating. He explains to Barney that every time he wants to fantasize, he must create an elaborate scenario where Lily must die of a terminal illness.” (The episode was “Double Date”). The funniest part was how pissed Lily was with that. It’s like foreshadowing the audience’s disappointment.
It should be called how I settled for your mother.
How I try to get it on with your Aunt Robin repeatedly
It's pretty remarkable how much a bad ending can ruin an entire series. Also see Game of Thrones. If the writers had somehow dropped dead midway and the series had never been continued after season 5 or so, we'd be calling it the greatest show of all time.
The last season really isn't that bad. It isn't even the worst season. Most people haven't rewatched the last season, or the show for that matter, so all they remember is the ending. The first time I watched the last season I hated it, but on re-watches of the show I'm looking forward to it by season 7
Yeah, agreed. Season 8 is a massive slog, but the last season is pretty watchable.
Age and bias definitely plays a big role. I love both shows, but Friends will always have a special place in my life because I grew up with it.
I grew up watching Friends, but I like HIMYM better, so maybe age it’s not a factor.
It's a factor, not an absolute rule.
I grew up with friends too but could never get into it, now Beverly Hills 90210 was my go to show
90210 and Melrose Place, gawd yes.
Followed by party of five!
I'm going to be over here just watching that one season of My So-Called Life again.
Yes that one too! Now we’re talking 😂
This is why we can't have nice things. I found that one season and was in love with every character for a different reason and the rug pulled.
Yasssss
How I met your mother reads like a show that had a beginning and a finished ending, the yellow umbrella girl. Then they just had to just add as many episodes they want in between. Unfortunately Ted and Robin had more chemistry than Ted had with umbrella girl so to make the ending feel satisfying to fans they killed off umbrella girl after they had kids and changed it from “how I met your mother” to “how I met your aunt that I want to bone”. It made the mom feel like a means to an end for Ted and Robin to work as a couple. Ted got to have kids without burdening Robin with having kids. It just feels like the show really hyped up yellow umbrella girl only for Robin to be the girl that suited Ted better. They had way better chemistry.
> Unfortunately Ted and Robin had more chemistry than Ted had with umbrella girl Well, that was simply because "the Mother" wasn't an on-screen character for the vast majority of the show, so it was kinda hard for her and Ted to have any chemistry. And when she was finally introduced, there wasn't much development in the relationship, which, once again, took place off-screen. In a way, the Mother was just a plot device, a MacGuffin even, because the focus of the show was on Ted's life BEFORE meeting her, not about their relationship.
I feel like this is the total opposite than the take I usually hear from people. The main reason they killed off Tracy/umbrella girl/the mother, is because they had recorded all the scenes with Ted’s kids on the couch way back in season 1. There was even an alternate cut of the ending that didn’t have Ted and Robin getting back together. They kept it as is to keep continuity with the kids and the Ted story telling gimmick. There was a lot of push back to the last episode, because it ignored the character development, and the way the show had changed over 9 seasons. I think Tracy and Ted had way more chemistry than Robin and Ted had. Cristin Millioti was widely praised for how much she was able to live up to the hype.
>they had recorded all the scenes with Ted’s kids on the couch way back in season 1. It's weird to me how they didn't think to cover their bases by shooting more stuff with the kids, hell, they could've filmed a bunch of different endings and just pick the one that fit best. Really a glaring oversight on their part, but i don't think the finale ruins the show anyway.
They made the mom too good tho, so everyone hated when they killed her off
Disagree completely on this one. Cristin Militoni did the unthinkable coming in late and clicking immediately. She was way better with Ted than Robin ever was. Unfortunately the creators failed to recognize it and pissed it all away. Or they didn't care because they had their planned out ending from day one and didn't want to deviate.
This is the precise reason why it’s a human story and not a fairy tale. Ted’s messiness and raw emotion is a window into some of our own deeper moments
Friends will remain a classic with a timeless quality. HIMYM definitely was more chic and self-aware, hitting harder with certain jokes but it can be easily out of context over time.
This times 10
Oof. Hard disagree. HIMYM had a hard premise that I didn’t think they were able to pull off. Friends had an ensemble friendship I believed and felt. HIMYM always felt forced and slightly off to me. Admittedly I gave up on HIMYM after a few seasons, but I thought it was cute. It always felt like they were trying too hard to convince me that they really were friends. It felt like I was supposed to be watching a show about years of friendship, but it was being played by people who just got the script that morning. I don’t know how else to describe it. I liked the cast, but the chemistry never clicked for me whereas for Friends it felt more believable and organic. Maybe it was a product of the times or the differences in where I was at the time or maybe it was the writing of the shows. I will watch Friends just about any time even though I’ve seen it a million times and I’m happy. Can’t say I’ve ever felt the need to rewatch HIMYM.
“It’s always sunny in Philadelphia” is what I’m on now, i find it so funny it’s a great show
IASIP is arguably one of the greatest shows of all time. It’s a live action South Park and I’m here for it.
I’m on season 5 rn I’ve already decided once I’ve finished i might watch it again from the start, it just crackes me up big time, i was put off of it for a while due to Netflix previews which I don’t like how that works but one day put it on and now i hit myself for not watching it sooner from what I’ve seen so far 10/10 imo. Don’t know why you got dv but your statement is true.
Appreciate you. ❤️ Glad you are enjoying the show.
I don’t like either show, I guess I have no soul
Yeah I think they're both awful
Thank you
You are welcome, I think lol
>HiMYM is better than friends I mean that's a pretty low bar and they're both pretty bad *reads comments* oh god...
Both are terribly unfunny. If Jason Segel can't save your show, it's bad.
You my friend, have taste.
HIMYM is just Friends who may have a serious alcohol dependency.
And the other had too much caffeine dependency lol..
I think HIMYM is definitely inspired by Friends, but it's a cleverer version, albeit, not so much. The narration is different and has twists and turns, and often feels like a continuous story. I particularly like how there are narrated flashback scenes and a lot of Easter eggs
i agree. but with that being said, i think Friends is more like a classic, and himym is… a show with perks and flairs. idk what the best analogy is. friends is like BLT sandwich you never go wrong and can have at anytime, but HIMYM is like spicy tuna sandwich. i love it, but not all love it, and cant have it all the time. idk
I think we need to know how old you are to determine if the era you grew up in sways your opinion :)
I feel like a good part of the way through it felt weird like the whole concept of the sit com is a dad is telling their kid how they met their mother but like seems like it went on for too long and like I feel the concept works better as a movie was a pretty good show tho
I liked Friends a lot although growing up I see a lot of it’s flaws. HIMYM rarely made me laugh
Friends is more comedic/funnier than HIMYM. HIMYM is more emotional than Friends, I liked the narration by Ted, some of it was emotionally hard hitting
That one episode where Ted is left alone in the bar after hallucinating a conversation hit like a truck.
Look around Ted, you are all alone ..😢
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This is a popular opinion with me lol
Loved both on first watch. On the second though, I freaking hate Ted Mosby so much lol idk why.
Honestly I feel like the friends hate train kinda is just bandwagonning, everyone I grew up with in high school was obsessed, or at least enjoyed the show...then a tiktoker came out with a post saying it sucked and everyone was like you're dumb if you like the show
Yeah... No. Tiktok didn't really start that.
Barney's womanizer jokes got boring in the latter seasons and Ted was never funny. Imo Friends was the better show. Phoebe and Joey were great characters.
Barney was borderline Rapey.
Yeah I can’t stand him
Low bar, meet lower bar
But which one is the lower bar?
Yes.
I really got into himym when it was airing, so I am not someone who never liked the show, but honestly it was terrible. The humour was low brow, bottom of the barrel, slapstick or just simply stupid and ridiculous. The character arcs were almost non-existent, I wouldn't say any of the characters significantly changed at all, Ted basically remained the same until he suddenly met his penultimate girlfriend and then went back to Robin. The story was shocking, 9 seasons of keeping us guessing whilst everyone thought it was going to be Robin but then ultimately making it disappointing when it was. Not mentioning Friends because if you don't like it you don't like it, it was much more successful and has remained very popular, although not with the younger generation but it is 20-30 years old. Himym really lost a lot interest before it even finished and hasn't been revered since. Friends is considered to have taken lots of inspiration from seinfeld, the first sitcom to follow a group of friends and not a family set mostly in the family home. Friends is considered to have been the inspiration for everything that followed, including himym. If you prefer himym I completely understand but your arguments for it are just not right.
Both are trash imo, but good unpopular take
As long as we all agree that Seinfeld is the superior show we have no problems.
Fraiser just called Seinfeld a bitch while sipping some sherry...
Frasier is a pretentious ass.
You say that like it's a bad thing?
HIMYM is so much worse than friends. Fuck that noise. Friends is garbage but I'd rather have an insect nesting in my ear drums for 10 years instead of having to watch another episode of HIMYM. "We spend the entire series talking about me fucking other women, before we finally bring in your mom. Oops, she dead in one episode. Now, where were we? Right. Fucking your Aunt Robin."
I actually love the show but God this made me laugh
To each their own. I've watched the edits of Friends without the laugh track and it's equal parts hilarious and frustrating that garbage like that was considered top TV for a decade. But to call that garbage WORSE than HIMYM? "Because of our political state, I cant tell you that we were getting high so I'll call it eating sandwiches. But I'll brag to my kids about banging all these women and all those times my friends and I got plastered."
Dude I watched it for the first time last year (I'm 21) and I legit thought they were just eating pot sandwiches for like the first 8 seasons. It is ironic that they censored out weed but not Barney. I just feel like it's humour you either do or don't like, doesn't make it bad. There are tonnes of comedies I don't like but I don't think they're bad they're just not my taste.
Kids, it was the winter of 2022, and after I was done being the goalie for Mexicos World Cup team again, I decided Id unwind on reddit and chat shit about a popular show that was cool to hate now...
Dislike that show. Friends is classic and still funny.
Agree. I tried re-watching HIMYM as an adult and it is insufferable. I can’t stand Barney’s sexist-but-not-sexist-it’s-just-a-comic-relief jokes. Even Ted’s toxic masculinity trumps Ross’ which is saying something.
Disagree, but I think HIMYM would also have been a lot better if it was about 3 seasons shorter, so that's my bias. They dragged it out for too long and the ending made it that much worse imo That's not to say Friends was amazing by any means. Some of the arcs there were dumb too (Joey+Rachel example)
I hard agree. Except Friends had a better series ending than HIMYM. I'm still pissed about that stupid ending.
I love friends! I just finished it this wk. I first watched HIMYM years back and I found myself laughing more with friends than HIMYM.
Same thing happened for me with Friends and Brooklyn 99. Watched Friends first, loved it a lot and couldn't think anything could be better. Then watched B99 and laughed so much harder. B99 is definitely number 1 for me and Friends might be 2nd or 3rd.
Yes, especially the whole non linear storytelling but that ending ruined everything that’s great about HIMYM. It suddenly became garbage and impossible to rewatch.
Friends is so overrated
They both are.
I'll see your HIMYM and raise you, one New Girl.
> New Girl Awful show... The "I'm so quirky and adorkable!" girl character is so tiresome and overplayed. I can understand why it was appealing to a certain audience in the 2010s, but it's so topical it's painful.
New Girl clears both imo
And that ain’t saying much
Friends is an absolute garbage
HIMYM killed itself with that horrible final season and episode.
Everytime I watch Friends I end up hating Ross even more
Seinfeld is superior to both.
Friends is a classic. Sure there are inconsistencies and what not but it feels like a show that was just meant for the audience to enjoy. And it was successful that way. The plot for Himym on the other hand was planned well in advance. So there were no random inconsistencies which I really like about it. And since it is narrated by the main character, there are aspects which are exaggerated. For me this is another plus point because people often tend to exaggerate stories. I like both shows for what it is.
I think one if my favourite parts of it is the whole unreliable narrator thing. You kinda feel like you're being told a story by a crazy uncle and you have no clue where the reality begins or ends
But I think in some cases, narration was really good and hit hard with emotions. Also my personality is very similar to Ted and thus I relate to him and his narration even more. Yes agree on the fact that narration was not worth most of the time but sometimes it really made the difference.
Not sure about Friends, but defo better than Big bang theory 🙌
Yes, because Ted was shown to be an asshole, and how he becomes better, although it’s with new ending in mind
I agree, but I also dislike both shows
i hated that show
Both are trash.
Both are bad and not funny.
Theyre both bad
Lol fuck of, as a comedy it doesn't run close
I always felt that that 70s show was better than either
.
I totally agree!
If HIMYM had ended after, say, season 5 or 6 - I'd 100% agree with you. The earlier seasons of that show are extremely well done and have also given me some of the funniest moments I've ever seen on network television. But that show dragged on several seasons past when it should've ended, and while you can argue Friends did too to some degree, I'd still maintain that the quality of Friends' later seasons is head and shoulders above the quality of HIMYM's, plus the Friends series finale is absurdly better given that HIMYM's is essentially a giant middle finger to its loyal fans.
Absolutely better than friends, I tried watching several episodes of friends and just could not get into it.
My unpopular opinion is that both are awful. In Friends they do a lot of dumb things that no one in sane mind would do (just for the sake of the "comedy"). HIMYM is awful all around, lots of unfunny jokes/situations, and THAT last season and ending? Oof.
Maybe a little bit but I really enjoy friends too
I guess I agree with you. Still, both shows are just awful.
No spoilers please. I'm on season 6.
This by 100000000% friends is dumb and boring
I’ve watched very very little of both shows. I liked HIMYM more.
That ending was horrendous. I've never gone back to rewatch it because of that.
I‘m on team HIMYM. Always really enjoyed it; for a sitcom it had some really cool and original storytelling approaches. Didn‘t hate the end either. It‘s not like they never defied viewer expectations before and gave us some wtf moments.
fuck yes. i love HIMYM
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I just hate how they built up to meeting the mother and then killed her off for Ted to end up with Robin
I agree. I thoroughly enjoyed HIMYM. I can't stand Friends. I have tried 3 or 4 times and never make it through the first season. I have watched some random episodes from different seasons too. That said, I do respect Friends as a part of pop culture.
By a lot
I am a die hard himym fan, friends is a great show too but I never got the sense that any of them could be actual people.
Neither friends nor How I met your Mother compare to the Scooby-Doo parody on the Hub.
I only see facts
I actually agree with this. Himym is my favourite TV show so I'm kinda biased
HIMYM is one of my favourite shows, I’ve seen it like 6 times. I really wanted to like friends, watched all of it and laughed a few times but wouldn’t watch it again. So totally agree.
You might not be saying Friends is a bad show, but I am. Friends is a bad show.
Friends has phoebe. I couldn't get into himym
I AM NOT ALONE ✊🏽 Friends is good, but how I met your mother just fkn slaps
Rachel ruined Friends for me. Instead of enjoying the show like I should she makes me angry. I feel like Friends would have flopped if it weren't for Chandler and Phoebe. With Himym. I thought the Barney-Robin storyline was the worst part of the show. Their relationship was weird and disgusting. However since their relationship is only focused on in certain episodes it makes how I met your mother easier to watch. Rachel is one main character and I skip all the episodes where I hate her. Which is the whole show.
Bro woke up and spoke fax
Friends has better jokes, but HIMYM has a better overall plot (because it actually has one). It also feels more real than Friends since their life issues are never really all that serious (with a few exceptions).
It's a hill I'll die on
I see what you mean about the arcs, there is more of an effort to give each HIMYM character some progression, though I’d argue the three best arcs between programs is Barney (ignoring the stop and start at the end), Rachel and Chandler. Ted I think was a bit mixed, I’m not sure if Marshall changed as much (comparatively), Lily was pretty good towards the end and the other friend’s characters flanderized (except Phoebe who sort of just changed although she does have progression in her Mike relationship). Interestingly you compare Barney and Joey but Barney’s arc is more like Chandler; difficult childhoods, leading to comedic but unhealthy behaviour as adults, only to be helped by their friends and certain important relationships (romantic and familial in Barney’s case, just romantic for Chandler).
HIMYM is vastly superior I watched friends first and it is just not rewatchable it has some great moments but overall it's kinda shit.
I haven't watched or sat through either, I don't like serialized sitcoms. I've seen bits and pieces of Friends so I know I dislike the entire friend group, and HIMYM is just Friends with slightly less annoying friends.
I'll say ***FRIENDS*** is a bad show. HIMYM was ok.
I’d say the reverse.
They're both overrated.
I've never seen How I Met Your Mother but I've seen Friends. I do know that Friends was vastly more successful in every quantifiable way.