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What does "Friends" have that "How I Met Your Mother" doesn't?

jdpm1991

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Friends has been syndicated for several years now, it's a pop culture phenomenon. U.S. fans who used Netflix were furious Netflix announced it's removal, Netflix kept it on it's app for one more year before HBO Max added the show to their app.

But it seems like whenever people talk about How I Met Your Mother it's only about the series finale and how bad the ending is.

What does Friends have that HIMYM didn't?
 

Summerchild

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When you look back at the HIMYM it’s really bad. Barney is clearly abusive to women and lies a lot to get them into bed. That’s considered rape these days and Ted suffers from nice guy syndrome a lot. It’s problematic. I know friends had off key jokes but those were one off and not built on the premise of the show.

Think about it.. Barney is a rapist . Who wants to deal with that?
 

chocoLate290

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While Friends may have it’s problematic moments, HIMYM is like the epitome of bad typecasting comedy portraying abuse towards women as funny
 

FinessePrince

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I think a bad ending can ruin a show. Game Of Thrones was ruined by that awful last season. Nobody talks about it anymore, except for how the ending was bad.

HIMYM also doesn’t hold up well. Barney is very problematic and Ted’s annoying.
 

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The cast of Friends had a great natural chemistry/rapport with one another that was never duplicated. You really believed these people were as close as they appeared on screen(you don't really get that with other shows)

I didn't care for HIMYM much either Barney was a major turnoff. Friends had concepts etc that didn't age well either but none of these guys did anything that wasn't without consent.
 

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Friends was funny and the cast had chemistry. HIMYM was a mediocre show torpedoed by an awful ending.
 

May Flowers

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I've watched both shows in their entirety numerous times. Friends is the better show. I only love HIMYM for Marshall and Lily because I thought they were adorable. Ted was insufferable! I've almost never hated a character in a show as much as I hated Ted Mosby. Barney was just overall strange.

ETA - To elaborate...HIMYM was basically a 9 season Ted Mosby special focused on him thirsting over every woman he came across hoping that she was "the one", while telling his kids all kinds of inappropriate BS. He came across as so pathetic and needy. Only for him to meet this woman in the LAST season and for her to die and only end up right back with Robin.
 
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banksy212

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People can relate to friends, friends cast had chemistry and you can tell friends cast were at tolerable to each other.

I wish I was on friends, Jennifer Anniston, Lisa kudrow, david long name probably get millions each year just from the reruns.
 

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I can't speak on Friends but HIMYM was like you sleeping in front of the TV but your eyes are open. Just one big snooze fest. I tried to get into it but I hated all of the characters.
 

Ms.cleo

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I guess I’m in the minority because Friends was boring AF to me.

I on the other hand LOVED HIMYM, but the ending could’ve been better.
 

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I guess I’m in the minority because Friends was boring AF to me.

I on the other hand LOVED HIMYM, but the ending could’ve been better.
I could never get into Friends either. I liked HIMYM but the ending ruined it.
 

Lonzo

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Friends has been syndicated for several years now, it's a pop culture phenomenon. U.S. fans who used Netflix were furious Netflix announced it's removal, Netflix kept it on it's app for one more year before HBO Max added the show to their app.

But it seems like whenever people talk about How I Met Your Mother it's only about the series finale and how bad the ending is.

What does Friends have that HIMYM didn't?

Friends was a top ten show its whole existence. HIMYM was always at risk of cancellation until about the fourth season after Britney Spears guest starred a couple times.

Friends's costars became stars from the show itself. HIMYM's stars were either stars because of other shows (AH & NPH) or became stars from being in movies (JS & CS). The star of HIMYM didn't really get much traction after HIMYM and the mother actress gets more roles than he does.

Friends had recurring plot lines, but either episode is generally standalone. HIMYM was practically a serial. It's hard to just drop in on a HIMYM episode in the middle of the season without know what has happened already.

Friends humor was simple and funny. HIMYM had the complexity of Seinfeld. There is no Friends episode as ambitious as the Robin Sparkles episode, "Slap Bet."


HIMYM should have been a bigger deal. It was on Netflix for several years (that's how I rediscovered it after not watching after the first couple of seasons). I think HIMYM should be getting the love that The Office gets now.

For the record, the last episode was INCREDIBLE until the last couple of minutes and the big reveal.
 

Lonzo

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When you look back at the HIMYM it’s really bad. Barney is clearly abusive to women and lies a lot to get them into bed. That’s considered rape these days and Ted suffers from nice guy syndrome a lot. It’s problematic. I know friends had off key jokes but those were one off and not built on the premise of the show.

Think about it.. Barney is a rapist . Who wants to deal with that?

Barney is not a rapist. But I'm not a woman so maybe I cannot be the proper arbitrator. One of the points is that Barney has growth and outgrows the games and trying to bed as many women as he can.

But Barney was a ho. Yet he didn't drug women or get them drunk to take advantage of them. He would do an elaborate con to get women to sleep with him; but it's not like he forced them to xes with him. If a woman slept with him thinking he was Derek Jeter because she was a Bama, is that any different than a dude telling a woman he's 10 inches with girth and she they get down, she find out he's 4 inches and skinny? The bigger issue if you decide to have xes with someone with incomplete information, and its your decision, how is that rape?

Barney Stinson is made out to be a bad person the whole series. But they explain why he is as he is and they give character development.
 

Lonzo

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For all the people who say HIMYM had a bad ending: Did you actually watch the show?

I hated the ending, but the ending made sense based on the direction the show was going. I will explain why the ending was poor in my opinion, and it wasn't actually due to the ending they did.

Can I do spoilers for Friends and HIMYM if you haven't seen them?

Friends ended with
Ross and Rachel finally getting together.
When you think about it, that ending makes no sense. Friends did everything it could to keep that from happening other than the occasional fling. By the end,
they were just coparenting.
When they put
Rachel and Joey together
that should have nipped it in the bud. But it was the feel good ending.

The problem with HIMYM is kind of similar.
Robin and Barney made a lot of sense together. They had similar romantic goals. Ted was in love with Robin, but she was wrong for him. When Ted finds his dream girl and has children with her as his soulmate but she dies, it actually makes sense for older, accomplished Ted to hook-up with older, accomplished Robin when he was no longer looking for the fairy tale romance. The creators knew they wanted to do that. So why in the hell do you have Robin fall in love with and marry Barney!!!? That was the grand flaw. They did that to extend the show and give them plot lines. But the moment you put Barney with Robin in a marriage, you have to break up any desire to put Ted and Robin together. Given the ending they visualized, they should have had Barney do all the stuff he did for Robin with Nora, and given Robin either Don or Nick. I think people hated that Tracy died. But it made sense. As did Ted telling his kids all this stuff to prepare them for him asking Robin out. But for a show built around a "bro code," how are you going to date your bro's ex-wife? The problem wasn't the plot; the problem was the execution. People love the finale when they cut out that last five minutes in the future.
 

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Ted and Barney behavior is really bad looking back. Barney sold a woman for a car and generally sleazy towards women. Barney reminds me those pick up artist online who sell men those books. There is nothing wrong with having one night stands but Barney takes it too far.
Ted is a fake guy who hurts a lot of people. He called Lily the c word. He used someone else's credit card. He dumped a girl on her birthday twice. He shamed Robin for her past and not wanting children.
 

Lonzo

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Ted and Barney behavior is really bad looking back. Barney sold a woman for a car and generally sleazy towards women. Barney reminds me those pick up artist online who sell men those books. There is nothing wrong with having one night stands but Barney takes it too far.
When did Barney sell a woman for a car!?! I know he gave Marshall to the Triads for a gambling debt during his bachelor's party.

The show had a "Tony Soprano" situation with Barney. They wanted you to care about the character and be entertained by his bad behavior, while having him to horrible things to tell you that you should dislike him. Barney was a charismatic anti-hero, and a counter to the hopeless romantic Ted Mosby. Barney and Ted were both dogs; but Barney was the O-Dog to Ted's Cain. Barney's defined his life by his xesual conquests and challenged himself by having giving himself hurdles and more difficult means of bedding women because of his emotional unavailability. Meanwhile Ted defined his life on finding true love, but was willing to be distracted by an occasional meaningless fling. Ted would tell a woman he loves her on the first date, whereas Barney would never led a woman she his vulnerability.

As the story got deep into Barney's psyche, you find out what's wrong with him emotionally and why he was the way he was. He was abandoned by his father, played by the woman who was his first love and took his virginity, and proved to be childishly competitive, selfish, and spoiled. But over time, he proved to be loyal and selfless to his friends.

Ted is a fake guy who hurts a lot of people. He called Lily the c word. He used someone else's credit card. He dumped a girl on her birthday twice. He shamed Robin for her past and not wanting children.

Classic Smosby!

I think Ted is pretentious and conceded, but I wouldn't call him fake. Ted is selfish. Selfish just like Barney. He's too self-absorbed. He wants the storybook romance, but when a woman isn't the storybook, he'll drop her like a bad habit (unless it's Robin). Ted is definitely a jerk, but I think its good for a show to make its lead character have flaws.

I saw something some weeks back talking about what were the issues of the main characters:

Robin : Daddy Issues
Barney: Daddy Issues
Lily: Daddy Issues
Marshall: Daddy Issues (after you know...)
Ted: Is the Daddy Issue

I thought that was funny.
 

BrintaWakeUp

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Friends has been syndicated for several years now, it's a pop culture phenomenon. U.S. fans who used Netflix were furious Netflix announced it's removal, Netflix kept it on it's app for one more year before HBO Max added the show to their app.

But it seems like whenever people talk about How I Met Your Mother it's only about the series finale and how bad the ending is.

What does Friends have that HIMYM didn't?
Actual comedy.
 

TheLetterD

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I guess I’m in the minority because Friends was boring AF to me.

I on the other hand LOVED HIMYM, but the ending could’ve been better.
Same here, I never got the hype with “Friends.” I remember one day randomly watching an episode of “HIMYM” and couldn’t stop laughing. The ending was trash, that I can admit, but I can at least sit through an episode of “HIMYM.”
 

Romey

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The Friends cast had impeccable chemistry. It was a much funner concept. What person doesnt want to be a 20 something living in NY with their best friends.
 

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