Better Sitcom ? Friends or Big Bang Theory ? - Page 2

Friends over TBBT for me (because Sheldon and Amy in later seasons annoy me a lot) but laugh track sitcoms in general have gotten monotonous in my opinion.

These days I prefer mockumentaries. In fact, the only comedy show I've watched literally on loop is Brooklyn 99. I'm on my third watch 😆

Friends, and it's not even close

The Office is far superior to The Big Bang Theory as well (UK and US versions)

I'd take only fools and horses over all of them though.

I loveeee BBT but nothing comes close to Friends.I owe that show so much because I have such fond memories of watching it my family and friends.It’ll always be the most special show for me.❤️

Originally posted by: IAmLuvBolly

I know Friends still runs in syndication here in the States but I think its audience is still the original audience. I don’t think a show like Friends would work in todays times with Gen Z or even Millennials.

I am a millennial. Most of the "Friends" fans I know are millennials.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see how much it has resonated with Gen Z. My cousins who started college in the fall of 2023 and their friends had become fans and had friends stickers all over their laptops. Many of my colleagues have been pleasantly surprised by how "Friends" has become a thing with their teenage kids. Working on a major public university campus - I am always blown away by kids on campus wearing Friends swag.

There may be friends moments that did not age well, but overall it has a wholesome timeless appeal that really appeals to young people in the transitory period between childhood and adulting. And now that the gap between childhood and adulting has grown so much wider, it is finding much more appeal.

It could be just the circles or environments I am in - but as an elder millennial who finds Gen Z to be aliens from another planet - Friends and Taylor Swift have been two pop culture icons that help me connect with them.

The Big Bang theory⭐ it had mix of everything; comedy, science, emotions, jealousy, hurt, love, fun, care , money whereas Friends was caricature with focus only romance and sex.

I am genuinely surprised by that. Maybe, as you said, it’s just your environment or friends/acquaintance groups, or maybe it’s been my friends and acquaintances groups who have been different.

Originally posted by: Jaitreya23

The Big Bang theory⭐ it had mix of everything; comedy, science, emotions, jealousy, hurt, love, fun, care , money whereas Friends was caricature with focus only romance and sex.

I also felt that BBT showed much more character growth and maturity in its 12 years vs Friends all of whom more or less remained the same, or got worse in case of Monica 🤷🏽‍♀️😏

Originally posted by: IAmLuvBolly

I also felt that BBT showed much more character growth and maturity in its 12 years vs Friends all of whom more or less remained the same, or got worse in case of Monica 🤷🏽‍♀️😏

Yes every thing was about sex and money. I found Rachel very annoying as they showed her winning everything and everyone. something like TV serial heroines. Only Chandler got some character growth.

Friends and The Big Bang Theory are my comfort sitcoms. Whenever I am tired, anxious, or just need to wind down and relax - I play them before bedtime and fall asleep to them. And I'll often choose TBBT because its funnier. But Friends is the superior sitcom, hands down, not even close.

For having been made much later in 2007, TBBT aged faster and more poorly than Friends.

If you look at the jokes, a majority of jokes are at the expense of the characters rather than with them. It is disparaging of nerd culture. It is a representation of what mainstream media assumes to be nerd/geek cultures rather than what they're like. A good part of my social circle is people who are into comic books and cons, folks who had fantasy fiction weddings and named their kids after characters, post-docs in mathematics and plasma physics - and the big bang theory is such a one-note, one-dimensional, caricature.

In Friends, you have Ross have jokes at his expense over his nerdiness and obsession with dinosaurs. But you see him as a much more well-rounded character. While still awkward and not as comfortable with women like, say, Joey, Ross is a well-adjusted adult who seems to have found a balance between his nerdy passions and day-to-day life with friends, family, and relationships.

Penny was done dirty. Rachel has this beautiful arc from being daddy's little princess who was going to be a rich housewife - to this confident, self-sufficient, successful career woman and mom. Even Phoebe goes from being a homeless teen with an unstable life who finds the love and stability she craves while maintaining her edge and quirkiness.

For the majority of TBBT, Penny is stuck as a waitress and struggling actress who dates toxic or dumb guys. The only accomplishment the show really has for her is choosing Leonard over the type of guys she dates. She is almost never happy. Even after transitioning to a sales career, she waffles about it and doesn't grow till Bernadette pushes her.

She gets engaged to Leonard only after he's bought her a car and she finds her acting career imploding. Her marriage to Leonard is so anticlimactic and glosses over Leonard kissing someone else rather than navigating it deeper. And after being very strongly against wanting kids - she's randomly pregnant and happy about it. I have a lot of criticism against the whole Leonard and Penny storyline but that's a whole other topic.

Raj was also done dirty. He could have been such a good character. He was the only guy who was unabashedly a hopeless romantic but they made him so pathetic and misogynistic with women. Right from the bat he wanted marriage and family, but he was the only character who ends the series single. He was the only major POC castmember and they continuously mocked him.

Howard and Raj's friendship also wasn't well portrayed. The show always made overt jokes about their latent homosexual tendencies toward each other. Its hard to explain but TBBT jokes about Howard and Raj seem egregious and appear to have an ick factor about them. On the other hand Chandler and Joey had jokes about them too, but they felt more palatable. And on the whole Chandler and Joey are just a much more charming and evergreen example of male friendship.

What really makes TBBT enjoyable for me is Sheldon and Penny's friendship. It is one of the most genuinely tender and meaningful platonic friendship between opposite sex characters. They have more engaging chemistry than any of the lead pairs. Penny's real growth as a character only comes from her relationship with Sheldon. She develops a genuine friendship with someone she would have bullied or made fun of in high school. She grows to deeply care about a person and show them affection outside of a sexual encounter. And while Amy is credited with a lot of Sheldon's growth, I think most of it comes in relationship with Penny. Penny is the one who brings Sheldon out of his shell and socialize outside his comfort zone. Penny is the one he relies on to navigate his discomfort with intimacy and discuss his challenges with. He to grows to care for and show affection to a person who is not his mother.

Honestly, I dream of a Sheldon and Penny sitcom where Sheldon leaves Amy for all her scheming and manipulation to get him to engage in a relationship with her and Penny dumps Leonard because she never really loved him and the two of them are roommates and shenanigans ensue as they navigate life together.

The other thing I really like about TBBT is Howard's growth. I hated Howard so much until halfway through the show. But then he matured so much as a husband and then a father. I also appreciated his and Bernadette's challenges as working parents and how Howard grew to be comfortable with Bernadette being the breadwinner and him taking more on caretaker roles. But I really wished they toned down the Jewish caricatures and the fat jokes about his mom. If fat Monica was bad, Howard's mom jokes were another level of cringe.

Perhaps it is my nostalgia for growing up with Friends, but I think it surpasses TBBT in terms or timelessness and relevancy. Despite flaws and elements that didn't age well both the friendships and relationships in Friends were easy to invest in and root for. Even though many characters became caricatures of themselves by the end, most of them had growth arcs. Most importantly, it is one of the few shows that captures the transient struggles of youth between childhood and adulting.

TBBT could have been a wonderful show that wonderfully captured the journey of nerds, but lost its way by making fun of them and doing really bad by some of the characters narratively.

I can't think of a single sitcom with more insufferable characters than BBT.

I have aged out of Friends. But at worst, it's still mildly pleasant to watch.