26 Things ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Copied From ‘Friends’

HIMYM is one of my favorite TV shows. It has a fresh perspective and when  ‘Friends’ ended TV was in dire need of a hilarious new sitcom. For me, I am a Die hard fan of HIMYM and I have seen friends also but couldn’t help but notice some key similarities between these two shows.

Both the shows have successfully run for the 9-10 season and made us laugh, made us sad and made us think about life. In this article, we have put together 26 things How I met your mother copied from friends. Have a look

Things How I Met Your Mother Copied From Friends

 

1 – City

Both the shows are set in the same city New York. Both gangs live or belong to New York.

 

2 – Pilot

Both show’s pilot starts with the introduction of the main girl. In Friends, they introduce Rachel in the first episode. How I met your mother they introduced Robin in the pilot.

After the pilot, those girls become an integral part of the group.

 

3 – Hangout Spot

Both groups have a hangout spot where they often meet and spend time. In friends they had Central Perk; a coffee place where the group would sit for hours sipping coffee. In HIMYM they had MacLaren’s Pub. The booths were also the same. Regular booths, regular place.

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4 – Apartment

Both groups in HIMYM and Friends lived at a very convenient location. Monica, Rachel, Joey, and Chandler lived right above the coffee place with great apartments. Ted, Marshall, and Lily right above their favorite hangout place, their BAR.

 

5 –  Group Outsider.

Both groups have their favorite place and also those regular group outsider. In Friends there was Gunther and on the HIMYM there was Carl the bartender.

 

6 – Nerdy Guy

Both shows have the nerdy guy, who falls for the main girl. In friends, we have Ross (paleontologist) and on HIMYM we have Ted (Architect).

 

7 – Career Girls

Both career girls Rachel and Robin joined the group in Pilot. Both of them were so serious about their career that they end up hurting their relationship on multiple occasion.

 

8 – MOM of the Group

Now we have the mom of the group. On HIMYM she controls and cares for the group and gives the best advice to everyone. On the Friends, we have Monica, who cooks on Thanksgiving, cares for everyone and sometimes strict.

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9 – Nerdy Guys Become Professor

In both shows, Ross and Ted start teacher in university.

 

10 – Both of them dated students

Both Ross and Ted end up dating students while teaching at the university. Ross dates Elizabeth and Ted dates Cindy. Interestingly, both Ross and Ted end up splitting after few weeks of dating.

 

11 – They love correcting people

Both Ross and Ted are the nerdy guys on the show and they love to correct people’s grammar. On occasions, people have shown their displeasure about these habits.

 

12 – College Buddies

Both shows have friends who knew each other from college days. In Friends, we have Chandler and Ross. In HIMYM we have Marshall and Ted, both become friends during college and ended up living together in NYC.

 

13 – Hate Their Job

Both Chandler and Marshall hate their job. Chandler ends up switching career. In HIMYM Marshall sees how corporate law works end up being a judge.

 

14 – Can’t Take Good Picture

Both Chandler and Marshall are fun guys but struggle with taking a good picture. It was shown on both shows that they could do everything but posing for a good picture wasn’t one of them.

 

15 – Problem with Pregnancy

Both Chandler – Monica, and Marshall – Lilly had the problem with the pregnancy. Later on, they end up confronting and resolving the issue.

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17 – Both Girls are Obsessed With One Thing

Monica had OCD and is often shown as a neat freak. She loves to clean. On HIMYM Lily was obsessed with shopping. She had sizable debt.

18 – Playboy of the Group

Both shows have Joey and Barney. They end up sleeping with lots of women and never maintain any healthy relationship. The difference is that Joey is dumb but Barney is Barney.

 

19 – Feeling for Career Women

In Friends, Joey had feelings for Rachel and he tries to hide them. In HIMYM Barney ended up sleeping with Robin. Both of them agreed to never speak of this. Both Joey and Barney hide their feeling because of the past romantic relationship these girls had with their friends.

 

20 – Failed Relationship

Joey and Barney end up dating career girls but the relationship doesn’t blossom.

21 – Marrying Friends

In Friends, Joey officiates Monica and Chandler’s wedding. Joey also ends up marrying Pheobe and Mike in the final season. On HIMYM Barney was already ordained and performs Lily and Marshall’s wedding outside in the park. 

22 – Girls Dumped on Birthday

Actress Ann Dudek has played the small role in both Friends and HIMYM. Common thing is that she was dumped on her birthday on both shows. In Freinds she plays Precious, (Love interest of Mike). Pheobe breaks up with her on Mike’s behalf. In HIMYM she plays Natalie. (Ex of Ted). She was dumped two times by TED and both time on her birthday.

 

22 – Sex of the baby

In HIMYM Lily and Marshall decide to not know the sex of the baby but eventually find it out later through someone else.
In Friends, Ross decides not to find out the sex of the baby but Rachel tells him mistakingly.

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23 – Don’t know about the job

The whole gang doesn’t know what Barney does till the final season. In Friends also they don’t know what is Chandler’s job they just know it has something to do with numbers.

 

24 – Choice to break it off with a former love interest

Victoria and Emily asked Ted and Ross respectively to never see their best friends again. Victoria asked Ted to stop seeing Robin if he wants to marry her. Emily asks Ross to break it off with Rachel if he wants his marriage with her.

 

25 – Getting the girl finally

Ross dates Rachel and Ted dates Robin in starting seasons but the couples break up after dating for a while. In the final episode, it is shown that they get back together.

 

26 – Songwriters

It is a known fact that Marshall enjoys singing randomly and Phoebe also writes jingles and sings in the cafe.

Conclusion – Things how I Met Your Mother Copied From Friends

So these were some of the similarities I noticed in the show. But the shows are equally good and entertaining. If you have some more points then do contribute it with us in the comment section below.