Friends: How six individuals in NYC rewrote the sitcom playbook

On September 22, 1994, viewers tuned to television were introduced to six characters, all in their early twenties, living in New York, whose drama and friendship would change the cultural context of sitcoms for decades to come. First pitched under other names, Insomnia Caf, Friends Like Us, and Six of One, Friends was the creative mastermind of David Crane and Marta Kauffman, and was sold to NBC right off the bat after a successful pilot filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.

Set in the backdrop of the busy streets of Manhattan, the show revamped what it meant to be young adults, in terms of finding yourself, and not necessarily designated around family units, or comedy in a typical workspace, but placing the viewer into a surrogate family of allegiance, humor, and common struggles.

When Rachel Green ran into Central Perk in her wedding dress, viewers were introduced to a new phase in sitcom thinking: a character-based, emotionally affecting, even witty show sensitive to the realities of hope and insecurity, transforming neighborhoods of the American city.

The chemistry of Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer was a pop culture revolution. The pilot alone attracted 22 million viewers itself– evidence even back then that this wry, emotional show about friendship was going to be not only a huge success, but the bar by which an entire generation would judge what friendship should be like, and what attempting to circumvent the rules and find an alternative approach to their lives should be like.

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Friends as a chosen family

Before Friends, the sitcoms were usually based around nuclear families or the place of work. The friends gave the viewers a different type of family– the one based on choice, rather than blood. More than merely flatmates or neighbors, Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler, and Joey embodied a surrogate familial unit that would prove to be highly resonant with audiences by the 1990s and beyond.

All of them came with different eccentricities and dreams:

Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston): She was a classic fashion fiend. She literally ditches her wedding, stumbles through life, and somehow lands on her feet as a boss in the fashion world.

Monica Geller (Courteney Cox): She was the type-A mom friend, even before anyone had kids. She had a competitive streak, but she’s also the glue that keeps this lovable group together.

Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow): The eccentric and unpredictable, Phoebe has a wonderful backstory—street-smart, weirdly wise, and just a little left of center. She’ll sing a creepy song about a smelly cat and then drop some heart-wrenching truth out of nowhere.

Ross Geller (David Schwimmer): Ross is a walking “can’t catch a break” meme. He is the king of awkward, lord of the dinosaurs, and somehow always getting tangled up in the most chaotic love stories.

Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry): The wright of sarcasm who struggles with insecurity. He covers it up with jokes and eventually sorts himself out. Finds love, finds happiness, cracks another joke.

Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc): Sweet, hungry Joey. The man has the brainpower of a golden retriever and the charm to match. He is out here trying to make it big as an actor, dropping “How you doin’?” on anyone with a pulse. Joey is loyal to the core and always good for a laugh.

The audience could relate to the plight of these characters– in love, at work, and in discovering themselves– which gave it a timeless stature as the coming-of-age sitcom of a generation.

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The hangout comedy pioneer and an eternal cultural memento

The series was not merely documenting the lives of six young adults– it pioneered the hangout comedy, where more emphasis is made on the day-to-day conversation and chemistry among the characters rather than trying to follow a plot line.

Activity frequently revolved around the Central Perk, a famous coffeehouse that was seen to capture the urban social life of that time. Rather than high-concept situations, the show was more about the genuineness and coziness of everyday interactions, making a blueprint that was followed by How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and others.

Friends had an exceptional impact on fashion, language, and way of life beyond television:

Memorable styles: Most of the hairstyles that Rachel sported became fashionable, and the bohemian-chic Monica and Chandler apartment popularized interior design.

Central Perk: The props setup started a café culture revival; the oversized mugs and out-of-scale furniture of the characters were aspirational to the audience.

Catchphrase: Few sitcoms before or since have left so many memorable catchphrases in the public consciousness. "How you doin'?" and other lines became commonplace slang.

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Straight answers to real problems and a change in the sitcom formula

Friends was not afraid of serious topics, as many of their predecessors were. It touched on the topics of divorce, barrenness, adoption, and even same-sex relationships with equal parts of humor and pathos. The infertility of Monica and Chandler, the co-parenting of Ross, and the same sex pairing of Carol were unusually bold for such times.

This confluence of lightheartedness and real feeling (achieved perhaps most successfully on television) established a new standard of sitcom narrative structure that spawned an era of shows with character-based storylines and episode-spanning story arcs, as opposed to self-contained episodes.

Even thirty years later, it still invites new viewers to watch the series via streaming services, so the show remains among the most popular and talked-about comedies in the world.

The six leads negotiated unprecedented million-dollar-per-episode pay, breaking pay taboos in a challenging era.

Meanwhile, the off-screen friendship of the cast alike was carried through into their on-screen chemistry, which is a key ingredient never repeated since. Plus, the ideally balanced story structure with contained episodes and some continuing story arcs at the same time made the audience addicted to the show throughout ten seasons.

Additionally, the dreams and fears of adult life in the city, dating disasters to employment issues, were explored and sometimes critiqued by the series. It taught viewers that although adulthood can occasionally be a messy affair, the special people in your life always make it much better.

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Long-term legacy: The blueprint of Friends

The influence of the show can still be felt:

Impact on television: Sitcoms such as How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and New Girl borrowed the closely knit concept of an urban family that Friends set forth.

The timeless appeal: Friends continues to stand out for its unique and uncommon combination of humor, heart, and cultural relevance. It was named one of the greatest TV comedies of all time in numerous polls and industry surveys.

A 2025 Ranker poll of 2,610 votes ranked Friends the #1 best sitcom of all time, taking 26% of the vote by a sizable margin over The Office (15%) and Seinfeld (10%).

Friends was declared the favorite show of 2,800 actors, producers, and directors in a 2015 survey by The Hollywood Reporter. Similarly, a survey by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair named Friends the third-best sitcom of all time.

Friends still lives on reruns and recommendation lists and even in the genetic structure of all the hangout comedies that came after.