It has been a few decades since the audience first heard the catchphrases “How you doin”, “That what she said” and “Legen-wait for it dary,” and since then it has stuck in our collective consciousness. However, the fans of the sitcom genre are often divided between which one to call their favorite, often defending their flaws at the same time. Out of all the sitcoms, ‘Friends‘ and ‘How I Met Your Mother‘ are often compared for being on similar lines.
Both shows follow a group of friends who navigate the complexities of love, life, and everything in between. While it’s unsavory, let’s try to settle the debate over why some people feel ‘How I Met Your Mother’ is placed above ‘Friends’.
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13. Characters Of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Are Mature
While the friends hang out at the Central Perk and the ‘How I Met Your Mother‘ gang meets at McLaren’s Pub, each character of the latter show is a much more mature adult. There are no dull characters. Moreover, ‘HIMYM’ might bring out a realistic perspective of adulting.
12. Barney Stinson Nailed The Role Of A Womanizer
Every sitcom is incomplete without a playboy. While Charlie Harper from ‘Two and a Half Men‘ lived up to the title, Barney Stinson might come second to it. With the playbook and the extravagant apartment Fortress of Barnitude, there are other unusual features most of which are for Barney’s one-night stands. Joey Tribbiani from ‘Friends‘ was nowhere close to his title, he was quite mushy and sweet to become a playboy.
11. ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Had Better Flashbacks
Both series included flashbacks to the characters’ college days and both series styled their characters hilariously. Getting over Ross’ mustache to Chandler’s hideous haircut is impossible. Rather than focusing entire episodes on the characters’ young days, ‘HIMYM’ would only occasionally flashback to Ted, Marshall, and Lily’s days at Wesleyan.
With gags about Ted’s toxic relationship with Karen, and his radio career under a weird pseudonym, ‘HIMYM’s college flashbacks felt like a show of their own and worked much better than ‘Friends’.
10. The Show Had Interesting Choice Of Supporting Characters
The main characters of ‘Friends’ – Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Pheobe are among the most lovable characters in the history of a sitcom. But that’s not what makes the series whole, the supporting characters also add a lot of life to the series.
Gunther, Janice, Mr. Heckles, Estelle, and Tag, the ‘Friends’ fans can pretend these characters are all hilarious, but truly, they’re just annoying. ‘HIMYM’, on the other hand, had an eclectic cast of supporting characters – Ranjit, Carl, Wendy the waitress, Bilson, Scooter, Patrice, the Captain.
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9. Plot Direction Was Well Planned
After countless re-watch of ‘Friends’, it just feels that Friends went on without only a particular plot, it was just six friends hanging out in a cafe. It did not have a linear plotline and felt aimless.
Meanwhile, ‘HIMYM’ had a better premise, at least the plotline had a sense of purpose – Ted narrating the story of how he met the mother which stretched for about nine years.
8. Plot Twists Were Much More Exciting
Sitcoms are incomplete without plot twits and cheeky romances. Both the sitcom ‘Friends’ and ‘HIMYM’ threw a curveball with an unexpected twist. For ‘Friends’, it was when Chandler and Monica slept together and Rachel got off the plane in the series finale. Although these twists somewhat got the fans excited, it was something we all saw it coming.
However, the plot twists of ‘HIMYM’ were rather hard-hitting with the death of Marshall’s dad, The Mother’s tragic ending, Stella leaving Ted at the alter, and the most unexpected relationship – Robin and Barney. It’s a shame that their relationship did not work out.
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7. It Had Clever And Quirky Inside Jokes
While ‘Friends’ is famous for Pivot an Unagi, it is not much for a 10-season series. It did crack the fans up, but eventually, it got boring over a point of time. However, ‘How I Met Your Mother‘ had a series of quirky inside jokes throughout the series run time. Barney’s “Legen-wait for it, dary” kept evolving, and Ted and Robin’s “Mock salutes” and interventions became a running gag. Also, it is hard to miss the doppelgangers and the famous slap bets.
6. ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Was Unpredictable
The sitcom always kept its audience on the edge of their seats. With ‘Friends’, it was the same storyline with the six of them hanging at Central Perk, Ross and Rachel’s on-again-off-again relationships, and Joey’s dimwitted ideas.
But ‘How I Met Your Mother’ was much more flexible in its format. One episode would have a sci-fi twist as Ted talks to future versions of himself and Barney. Also, Robin talking to the imaginary kids she just found out she’ll never be able to have. How heartbreaking that was!
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5. ‘HIMYM’ Made A Personal Connection With Its Fans
‘Friends’ might have been good for a light-hearted laugh-out series, but under a microscopic lens, it may have not connected to the audience as much as ‘HIMYM’ did. While ‘Friends’ did not play with reality much especially with Pheobe’s horrendous anecdotes, Ted and Marshall’s college flashbacks might have taken the fans down memory lane and made it nostalgic. Also, Robin’s struggling career and Barney’s character growth are something that spoke to the audience.
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4. ‘HIMYM’ Did Better With Its Narrative Structure
With its nonlinear narrative structures, jumping all over the place, and dovetailing story threads, ‘HIMYM’ was always far better at telling stories than ‘Friends’. ‘HIMYM’ was filmed without a live audience and then edited together and shown to audiences whose laughter was then recorded and played over the episodes. So, ‘HIMYM’ was allowed more freedom. Still, this is undeniably one way it’s better.
3. The Sitcom Had Drama To Its Core
The series had drama written to its core. From Ted’s narration to Lily and Marshell’s relationship along with Barney’s famous legendary dialogues, the show never ran out of drama. Also, the episode when Marshell’s father died, did not end without leaving the audience in tears.
2. Each Character Went Through A Development Arc
No matter how much we love friends it is impossible to deny the fact that the characters never really matured or aged very well. They were pretty much the same people since season one. From Rachel being a snob, Phoebe’s questionable thought process, and also Joey’s IQ remained lesser than Monica’s tolerance to uncleanliness.
However, throughout the seasons, the characters of ‘HIMYM’ go through a change, becoming mature and better people, especially Barney.
1. ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Made Better Soulmates
Although Ted married Tracy, and the fans were disappointed with the series finale, Ted and Robin were truly soulmates. Despite going through numerous relationships, and walking down the aisle, they kept getting back to each other. Also, Lily and Marshell were the epitome of soulmates, the couple who grew together as partners, as friends, and as parents as well. ‘Friends’ did try, but Roschel turned out to be toxic and annoying after their multiple breakups and patch-ups.
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