While Friends continues to maintain a massive audience since its 1994 debut, fans needing newer content should look to a sitcom that has gone undervalued, even after earning 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. With characters so beloved that people regularly ask where the actors of the Friends cast are now, the show lives on as one of the strongest productions on television, in spite of storytelling strides made in more recent series. In fact, many viewers recognize that numerous Friends storylines would never work in the modern day, and anyone craving a contemporary version of the classic can find one on Hulu.
Thanks to its whopping 10-season run throughout its decade on air, Friends has curated significant lore surrounding how all the Friends characters met and their various plots over the years. The depth of this fictionalized reality is difficult to recreate in a new show, especially one with far fewer seasons to its name. However, one 2015 Hulu original that takes place in the same city manages to give the same allure of the original Friends gang to a dynamic duo, a pair with undeniable chemistry despite the fact that their origin story is not revealed until the last episode.
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All 10 Seasons Of Friends, Ranked
Which season of Friends is the best has been debated since the show finished in 2004, but it's undeniable some Friends seasons are better than others.
Difficult People Is A Hilarious Modern Take On Friends' Premise
The Newer Sitcom Brings The Energy Of Friends Into Today's Cynical World
Starring Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner, Difficult People is a snappy sitcom that follows two obnoxious best friends pursuing their dreams of becoming professional comedians in the competitive chaos of New York City. Similarly to how the Friends characters collectively face challenges in their individual developments, Billy and Julie grapple with their personal pitfalls as a team, creating the same sense of camaraderie seen on-screen for every scene in the Central Perk coffee shop. The main difference between the two shows is Difficult People's more pessimistic perspective, given the increasingly complex troubles of today.
Friends remains a repeatedly watched series that shows no sign of losing its relevance, but fans looking for fresher humor can turn to Hulu's hugely under-hyped Difficult People. The new comedy is also set in New York and not only offers comparable charm but impressive critical acclaim as well. Both Friends and Difficult People invite viewers into the relationships on screen by developing dynamics among the cast that feel authentically imperfect, just as real-life best friends often argue over everyday antics.
How Difficult People Compares To Friends
Hulu's Show Matches In Tone But Cannot Compete With 90s Nostalgia
Offering a world with reasonably priced coffee and no awareness of social media madness, Friends reflects a slightly simpler time that viewers secretly crave in the current cultural climate.
Although it holds a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score, Difficult People has not amassed the viewership that Friends still carries due to the contemporary comedy's struggle to capture the comfort that the 1994 sitcom instills. Even young fans express love for Friends' detachment from modern-day woes. Offering a world with reasonably priced coffee and no awareness of social media madness, Friends reflects a slightly simpler time that viewers secretly crave in the current cultural climate. Difficult People mocks these modern grievances, but pointing out today's joke of a society is not enough to pull the audiences from the punchline.
According to the Television Academy, 52.5 million people tuned into the last Friends episode, making it the current fifth most-watched series finale in American history.
Though Difficult People's lack of nostalgia makes it a less popular watch, the show's ability to carry the Friends vibe into today's social landscape gives hope to those disgruntled with modern times. With Billy and Julie there for each other (even when the rain starts to pour), Difficult People is a recent reminder that Friends' enduring sense of camaraderie and optimism isn't entirely absent from the modern TV landscape. The 90s may have passed, but funny moments with friends are timeless.
