A married couple in the friend group (Lily and Marshall vs. Monica and Chandler)
A will-they-or-won’t-they couple (Robin and Ted vs. Rachel and Ross)
A central hangout (McLaren’s vs. Central Perk)
Multiple weddings
A main living space (Ted’s/Lily’s/Marshall’s apartment vs. Monica’s apartment)
New York City setting
Friend who uses numerous tricks or plays to get women (Joey vs. Barney)
Dating within the friend group (Robin dated Ted and Barney vs. Rachel dated Ross and Joey)
And, both sitcoms ran for more than 200 episodes, in nine seasons for “How I Met Your Mother” and 10 for “Friends.”
But there are also differences, such as:
The theme of the show. “How I Met Your Mother” focuses on finding love, while “Friends” focuses on navigating life
Marshall and Lily date through most of the show (except for those sad episodes in season 2), while Monica and Chandler don’t start dating until the end of season 4.
“How I Met Your Mother” is narrated by older Ted (voiced by Bob Saget), while “Friends” is never narrated.
“Friends” had more flashback episodes that used prior footage, but “How I Met Your Mother” filmed material that was supposed to span decades.
“How I Met Your Mother” had fantasy episodes thanks to the imagination of the characters (and writers), and the show had an episode filled entirely with rhyming dialogue. “Friends” stuck to what was happening in the moment, for the most part.
Do these differences and similarities make the shows bad? Do they cheapen the value of these iconic shows? I don’t think so.
Yes, they have similar concepts, and some people like both shows equally, but they have enough differences to keep interest.
And, both shows handled relevant issues, even though they aired over a 20-year period.
If these shows had premiered in the same year, it would’ve been hard to choose. Fortunately, they didn’t.
I’m glad I can enjoy both shows over and over again.
What do you think? Is “Friends” better than “How I Met Your Mother,” or vice versa? Why?
“Fuller House” has a similar problem. But, after the first two episodes, it improved.
The Netflix show’s first episodes were jam-packed with nostalgia and old gags. From “How rude!” to an Elvis baby costume, a lot was there…including an awkward break-the-fourth-wall moment acknowledging the absence of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who played Michelle Tanner in “Full House.”
The premiere takes place 29 years after “Full House.” It focuses on D.J. Fuller (formerly Tanner) (Candace Cameron Bure), who’s trying to balance work and family life after her husband died.
So, basically it’s “Full House” with reverse gender roles. Guess who checks in to help out? Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber).
It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just makes some plots, such as episode’s 2 moving in and sharing rooms, boring. And the first episode was filled with exposition, even though I bet 90 percent of people watching the show already knew the basics.
But by episode 3, the plots improved. They weren’t all rehashed from “Full House,” and they incorporated the use of modern items such as smartphones, Uber and social media.
Issues such as parenting and moving on cross over well between the two shows, but “Fuller House” takes a moment to look at other problems such as infertility. It was refreshing to see this type of comedy tackle bigger issues while still maintaining its loving, always-ending-in-a-hug moments.
At times the plots came out forced, such as a “Dancing with the Stars”/“Dirty Dancing” moment at a club with Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy and D.J.’s high school boyfriend Steve’s (Scott Weinger) attempts to date her. It also could be stale with the old jokes and format (one conflict for the kids, one for the adults), but it still provided laughs.
The problem with these reboots is that expectations are too high, so it’s impossible to please people. But I will say “Fuller House” is better than “Girl Meets World.”
If you loved “Full House,” give “Fuller House” a chance, but try to keep your expectations at bay. It’s still enjoyable, but you won’t be saying “Holy chalupas,” the catchphrase of Max, DJ’s middle child.
It was a good ending to show, featuring so many of the great characters of Stars Hollow, all coming together to honor Rory (Alexis Bledel), who’s about to go take a job traveling for Barack Obama. (Side note: That’s a pretty cool parallel.)
Plus it features a reuniting of Luke (Scott Patterson) and Lorelai (Lauren Graham), giving us all hope for the future.
There is always tension between Lorelai and her grandparents, but in season 1, it was very apparent since they were seeing each other more often.
This tension seeped into Rory’s life when she turned 16. Emily throws her granddaughter a fancy party…with all her Chilton friends, whom Rory hadn’t formed friendships yet.
Then the grandparents come to Lorelai’s house for Rory’s other party, and it makes Emily (Kelly Bishop) realize she doesn’t know her daughter (or granddaughter) at all.
Also, this is the episode when Dean gives Rory the bracelet she wears throughout their relationship.
Lane (Keiko Agena) gets married! Twice! To Zach (not Dave)!
Showing another family with generational differences, Lane’s Buddhist grandmother comes to the wedding, so Lane and Zach have to take part in a Buddhist ceremony.
Then, everyone smashes into the church for the Christian wedding (58 seats and 62 Koreans!).
And lastly, after Mrs. Kim and her friends leave, Lane and Zack have the reception they want, with booze, hot dogs and Hep Alien…oh yeah, and a very drunken toast from Lorelai about not getting married.
Now, I don’t think Max Medina, one of Rory’s teachers, was the guy for Lorelai. I don’t even like how he proposed (in a fight).
But the thousand yellow daisies was a beautiful sentiment.
What I love most about this episode is that Rory finally has the courage to tell Dean she loves him…and even the “idiot” part is perfect to her character. And Tristan, who toyed with Rory often, has to watch it.
Lorelai and Rory never seem to turn food away, but this Thanksgiving episode puts their stomachs to the test.
With four dinners to attend, the mother-daughter duo make pit stops at Luke’s, the grandparents, Sookie’s and the Kim’s. And each place has its own set of quirks and goofs…and a fight about Yale.
After so much back and forth, Luke and Lorelai finally get together in the season 4 season finale.
The plot centers around the practice weekend at the Dragonfly Inn, so everyone is on edge.
Richard (Edward Herrmann) and Emily are fighting, so Lorelai uses family obligation to get them to come, but then Emily and Lorelai fight in the lobby.
Rory and Dean rekindle their romance, for better or for worse. And Kirk runs out of the Dragonfly naked and screaming.
As much as I love Luke and Lorelai (how could you not?), the vow renewal of Richard and Emily is perfect for them.
Emily bosses people out of jobs and rooms, while Richard woos his wife with jewelry, song and dance.
Of course this wedding also includes some meddling, so thanks Emily and Christopher for breaking Luke and Lorelai up…and catching Rory and Logan in an inopportune moment, bringing out the protective qualities in Luke and Christopher.
When I finally sat down to watch some episodes of “Girl Meets World” a few weeks ago, I was disappointed.
I’m a huge fan of “Boy Meets World.” I’ve seen every episode multiple times. I hate when Cory and Topanga aren’t together. I love how the parents take care of Cory and his friends.
But “Girl Meets World” does not have the same dynamic.
Yes, it’s a family show. Yes, Riley (Cory and Topanga’s daughter) and her friend, Maya, have similar characteristics to Cory and Shawn. But the show comes off as a cheesy rehashing of the original, with copied to-the-tee plot lines and forced moral lessons, which came off so naturally on “Boy Meets World.”
Part of the problem with “Girl Meets World” is simply the passage of time. Cory and Topanga were wonderful to watch as kids and students, but they aren’t as relatable as adults. Not everyone who watched “Boy Meets World” is at the stage in life where kids are on the horizon, much less in middle school — which is where Riley is.
This is probably why “Friends” will never return. As much as fans clamor for a reunion, co-creator Marta Kauffman has made it clear the show is about being in your 20s — when your friends are your family — so a movie reunion will never happen. Chandler and Monica had a family at the end of the show’s 10-year — why would we want to watch that?
If the key to the “Girl Meets World” was Cory and Topanga, it failed. They aren’t young anymore. They have responsibility, and it was more fun to watch them struggle through life than to see them have it all together.
That’s why “Full House” shouldn’t be revived. Word on the street is Stamos wants to bring the show back and many cast members are on board.
If you are going to bring a TV show back, it needs to have value and purpose. Besides nostalgia, a “Full House” revival doesn’t have value or purpose, and it’s not a fresh idea, either.
“Boy Meets World” and “Full House” still do well in reruns on various networks. It’s partly for nostalgia, but it’s also partly for the fact that the shows are timeless, minus the fashions. (I hope feathered bangs never come back.)
But let’s stick to reruns only, please. Or funny Jimmy Kimmel Live staged reunions. Enjoy.
HIMYM had some great guest stars. This season six episode featured Katy Perry as Zoey’s (Jennifer Morrison) cousin, whose name wasn’t really Honey, but she was so naive everyone called her that.
The show uses phone calls and flashbacks to carry the plot to the moment when Ted and Zoey finally get together, but it never felt forced or static.
This season 7 opener was a moment of clarity for Barney and Robin. It forshadowed their eventual reuniting as a couple, but first Barney had to actually care about a woman and not use bad pickup scenarios, like pretending to be a prison escapee and wearing overgrown fingernails. Nora (Nazanin Boniadi), who called him back in this episode, helped him mature.
The episode also shows the day of Barney’s wedding, and we see Marshall ruin Ted’s friend Punchy’s wedding. But most importantly, Barney and Robin perform an epic dance to “Groove is in the Heart,” schooling everyone at the Cleveland wedding.
Lastly, this episode that has one of my favorite conversations from the show:
Robin Scherbatsky: “…You got chemistry, you only need one other thing.”
Ted Mosby: “What’s that?”
Robin Scherbatsky: “Timing. But timing’s a bitch.”
Brunch is supposed to a pleasant affair, but it’s not in this season 2 episode.
Ted thinks his dad cheated on his mom, Barney is mad at Ted’s dad for being a bad wingman, Lily and Marshall can’t handle not being together and Robin wants Ted’s mom to be honest about the fact that she and Ted’s father have separated.
It’s a mess of fighting told in different segments all leading up to a blowout after taking a nice group photo.
A lost phone number on Halloween leads to years of wearing the same “hanging chad” costume (referencing the 2000 election) and attending the same boring rooftop party.
This season 1 episode sounds like it could be a drag, but it’s an early episode that sets up a lot of character development.
Viewers see how Lilly and Marshall interact as a couple as they wearing matching costumes and share food. In contrast, viewers see Ted’s hopeful longing for “the one” and Robin’s inability to truly let someone into her life.
It’s too bad the season 7 episode The Slutty Pumpkin Returns (first aired Oct. 31, 2011) didn’t live up to its hype. Sorry, Katie Holmes, not even you could save that snoozefest of an episode.
Lilly and Marshall are an adorable couple, plain and simple. But, like many weddings, many things go wrong when the couple ties the knot.
But in the end, they have the wedding they originally wanted. And Barney almost cries as he, the master of playing woman, performs the ceremony, despite claiming he doesn’t believe in marriage.
By far the best episode of season 9, this episode gave viewers what they had wanted for years: the mother’s backstory.
Cristin Milioti did a fabulous job, and it was fun to see many of the clues viewers had seen throughout the show’s run from her character’s point of view.
1. Girls Vs. Suits (first aired Jan. 11, 2010)
The show’s 100th episode featured one hilarious song-and-dance number.
When Barney has to choose between his signature attire of suits and a girl, he dreams up his “Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit” fantasy, complete with a suit in the sky with angel wings and lyrics such as “Wingman I can wear/They’re oh so debonair/The perfect way to snare/A girl with daddy issues.”
Oh yeah, and Tim Gunn makes a cameo. According to IMDb trivia, he was the most welcomed star on set out of all the guest stars.
Obviously there are numerous good episodes of HIMYM. Let me know what your favorites are in the comments.
This blog was originally published on elkharttruth.com on April 13, 2014.
Two weeks ago, I finished watching all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls.
I was very sad when I completed my three-month journey of watching all 154 episodes.
I admit, I’m mildly obsessed with the show. I think I’ve seen every episode at least three times.
I can relate to the show, especially Rory, the daughter of the mother-daughter duo the show centers around.
Rory is a driven, innocent girl who comes into her own in college and then freaks out about finding a job post-graduation … in journalism.
Yep. That sounds familiar.
But the show is relatable to others as well. Whether it’s the mother-daughter dynamic, the domineering mother/grandmother relationship or just the ups and downs of navigating through life, there’s something for multiple generations to enjoy.
Seven years after the show went off the air, it’s still a relevant show.
Here are three reasons why:
The mother-daughter dynamic
The mother-daughter duo of Lorelai and Rory, I think, is what many mothers and daughters want in their relationship.
Lorelai and Rory share a bond of survival (Lorelai got pregnant with Rory at 16 and raised her as a single mother while working her way up to manager at an inn.) and love … not to mention the same name (Rory is a nickname for Lorelai).
They watch TV together, eat junk food together, poke fun at movies together, struggle through life together. All while maintaining a mostly honest relationship.
It sounds too good to be true. But that’s where Gilmore Girls keeps it real.
The show never sugar coats the relationship between Lorelai and Rory. They have fights. They rarely speak to each other in season six until the ninth episode. They tell each other how they really feel, rarely holding back.
The fast pace of the show
Fans of the show probably know this, but each episode’s script is about 30 pages longer than an average hour-long TV show script.
Why? Because each episode is chock full of fast-paced dialogue.
The characters talk a mile a minute, or at least it seems that way. It’s one of the main reasons I love the show, because I talk that fast in real life.
The actors have to work up to the final talking rate, which Keiko Agena, who plays Rory’s best friend Lane, demonstrated on a season 7 DVD bonus feature.
Sometimes when I re-watch an episode, I catch something new that I probably missed because of the speed of the show. It’s not enough that I miss a plot point, but it’s a treat to see what more you can laugh at each time you watch an episode.
The witty, obscure culture references
Some of the season DVDs of Gilmore Girls come with a handy dandy guide about the show’s “Gilmore-isms,” or a reference guide to all of the things the characters say.
Every episode contains multiple references to pop culture, literature, movies, current events and more.
For example, Rory calls Jess, a friend and eventual love interest, Dodger, a reference to Oliver Twist. Another episode references Lindsay Lohan’s barely clothed Vanity Fair cover.
It’s hard to keep up, but that’s what makes it fun. I’ve learned so many different tidbits from watching the show. I have to Google some things, and when I do catch a reference, it’s a proud moment.
I believe all the tidbits of knowledge will make you smarter … or at least better at trivia.
Gilmore Girls is a show that grew over seven years. It was never stale, and it was always entertaining. I highly recommend it. It’s a show I’ll continue to watch year after year, because it’s just that good.
