While the show ended 20 years ago, Friends is still a favorite for audiences today. It wasn’t perfect and some episodes haven’t exactly aged well, but there’s something about a show that follows a group of friends through the ups and downs of life that makes it a comfort watch for many of us.
If you’re looking for a show with the same vibe, here are five suggestions, all streaming on Hulu.
How I Met Your Father
Just another group of friends in New York City, navigating the dating scene, careers, and figuring out who they want to be. A follow up to How I Met Your Mother, this series, starring Hilary Duff and Sophie, tells the story of the group through the voice of future Sophie sharing tidbits of the past with her son.
Watch How I Met Your Father on Hulu
Happy Endings
If Friends were created 20 years later, it would look like Happy Endings. Like Friends, the show is about a six-person friend group, including a set of siblings. Also like Friends, there are some relationship entanglements that are major plot points of the show. The friends get themselves into sometimes wacky, sometimes relatable situations and always offer each other the support and love that leave many of us wishing we could weasel our way into the group.
New Girl
What if, instead of living across the hall, we just shoved the entire friend group into one apartment? There are on-again-off-again relationships within the group and on-again-off-again employment statuses. There’s a group hangout spot, in a bar instead of a coffee shop. There’s an apartment that should not be affordable for this group of people. And, like Friends, New Girl is fun and silly, with wholesome moments that bring the group together.
Community
It’s a little more wacky, but Community is similar to Friends in that both are centered around a group of friends with quirky personalities and their intertwined lives. In Community, the group meets at community college and forms a study group for their Spanish class. While the focus is on the friends, the side characters are stars in their own right. Move aside Gunther the barista, make room for Senor Chang.
Superstore
The premise is a bit different than Friends, but Superstore might just scratch the itch for another funny and sometimes heartfelt sitcom. In Superstore, the characters come together through their jobs. They all work at, you guessed it, a super store. While the episodes are full of laugh out loud moments, the show has similar themes to friends – will they or won’t they romance, strong friendships, and oddball characters.