Although How I Met Your Mother is one of my favorite shows, I can't help but notice the similarities it shares with Friends, another favorite of mine. Both plots have many things in common, and the characters are even more alike...
1. Each pilot involves a new girl being introduced to an already established friend group. (Rachel and Robin)
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2. Both friend groups have a nerdy guy who become professors for a short amount of time in the middle of the series. (Ross and Ted)
3. Both friend groups have a 'player' who prides themselves on the number of women they have slept with. (Joey and Barney)
4. Both friend groups have a 'mom' of the group, who loves to be in control and is often the most rational. (Monica and Lily)
5. Both friend groups have a family man who makes a good living by the last few seasons and ends up marrying the 'mom' of the friend group. (Chandler and Marshall)
6. The nerdy guy falls for the new girl in the first season, and they end up dating for a year in the second season. (Ross and Rachel, Ted and Robin)
7. Both of these couples are off and on for a few years after, until they finally end up together in the series finale.
8. Both of the new girls become extremely motivated career women who are embarrassed of their pasts.
9. Both of the Nerdy guys act like know-it-alls and are constantly correcting other people's grammar.
10. In both series, the nerdy guy and the family man were college roommates.
11. At some point in the series, the family men hate their jobs and become stay-at-home husbands for a short time.
12. Both of the 'players' also fall for the new girl while she is off again with the nerdy guy.
13. Both of the 'players' officiate the marriages of the 'family man' and the 'mom'.
14. Characters in both shows live above the one place all the friends convene every day. (Monica, Rachel, Chandler and Joey live above Central Park. Ted lives above MacLarens.)
