Summary
- Shows like How I Met Your Mother thrive on fun characters, great chemistry, and a reliable level of appeal to viewers everywhere.
- Despite the controversial final episode, HIMYM remains beloved even a decade after it ended, highlighting its enduring popularity.
- With a variety of streaming services available now, there are still many shows like HIMYM out there waiting to be discovered by viewers.
Shows like How I Met Your Mother will always remain popular thanks to the mixture of fun characters with great chemistry, and a level of reliability with its target audience. When HIMYM initially went off the air in 2014, it left a sitcom-shaped hole in the television schedule for many fans. The thirst for good, light-hearted comedies that deal with the topics of friendship, love, and, to an extent, family, is never-ending. But thankfully for viewers everywhere, television and streaming services are the gifts that keep on giving.
Even with the controversial final HIMYM episode, there was enough goodwill to allow it to remain a beloved favorite a decade after it ended. With that said, there are many shows like How I Met Your Mother are still out there for viewers to discover. While, in the past, there were only a handful of networks to supply the desire for bingeable sitcomes, there are now several streaming services to add to the still thriving networks for anyone looking for a show like How I Met Your Mother to add to the queue.
10 Best Pop Culture References Made On How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother became a hit sitcom for CBS, but the show's lasting legacy can be seen in everyday life thanks to these pop culture references!
15 Scrubs (2001-2010)
9 Seasons, 182 Episodes
- Directors
- Bill Lawrence
- Seasons
- 9
The fact that Scrubs aired for nine years and is almost 200 episodes strong speaks volumes of how much people loved the show. After it concluded in 2010, it seems like Scrubs managed to evade a lot of radars, even though it's widely regarded as a hilarious and out-of-the-box series. There hasn't yet been many calls for a revival of the show like there has other sitcoms, but that's okay, because fans can still enjoy the original on streaming.
Following Zach Braff's character J.D. a doctor as he navigates life and learns about love and friendships, this show is made for fans of How I Met Your Mother. It's a very similar show as the core group of characters are all friends who grow together, but the series has more surreal comedy at its core.
14 Two And A Half Men (2003-2015)
12 Seasons, 262 Episodes
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Two and a Half Men
- Release Date
- 2003 - 2015-00-00
- Network
- CBS
- Showrunner
- Chuck Lorre
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- James Widdoes
- Seasons
- 12
Two and a Half Man aired for twelve seasons and picked up two Golden Globe Award nominations, a testament to the show's quality and original comedy style. The series featured a slew of impressive guest stars during its run, like Miley Cyrus, Megan Fox, Enrique Iglesias, Mila Kunis, and Jason Alexander.
The "half man" is Jake, Alan's son
The show originally starred Charlie (Charlie Sheen) as a successful jingle writer and his brother Alan (Jon Cryer) as a struggling chiropractor. The "half man" is Jake, Alan's son. All three live together and suffer from some growing pains as they adjust to one another's different lifestyles. With a great ing cast, HIMYM shares the same humor as Two and a Half Men, and even when Ashton Kutcher replaced Sheen, the show remained one of the most watched on television at the time.
13 That 70s Show (1998-2006)
8 Seasons, 200 Episodes
that 70s show
- Release Date
- August 23, 1998
- Network
- FOX
- Showrunner
- Gregg Mettler
- Writers
- Mark Brazill, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner
Cast
Topher Grace
Mila Kunis
Mark Brazill
- Seasons
- 8
Before he ed the cast of Two and a Half Men, Ashton Kutcher was one of That 70s Show. The sitcom ended in 2006, a comedy that spends its entire time following a tight group of friends as they learn what growing up means in the spheres of family, love, and friendship. The show was also a love letter to life in the 1970s, with plenty of callbacks and a great music soundtrack.
Like How I Met Your Mother, the bulk of the main cast stays intact throughout its entire run and there are also a handful of sets, like the Foreman basement, where most of the ensemble scenes take place. It compares well with shows like How I Met Your Mother if Ted and his friends met in the 1970s while still in high school.
That 70s Show is available to stream on Peacock .
12 Sex And The City (1998-2004)
6 Seasons, 94 Episodes
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Sex and the City
- Release Date
- 1998 - 2004-00-00
- Network
- HBO Max
- Showrunner
- Darren Star
Cast
Kim Cattrall
Cynthia Nixon
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 6
Sex and the City is about a group of friends comprised of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda, four women in their mid-30s to early 40s who live in New York City and remain close as they try to find love in the big city. At its heart, the show is about friendship and the message is that soulmates can be the closest of friends. While How I Met Your Mother is about 20-somethings in New York City, a younger era of friends, both shows feature people who each other as they search for love in their lives.
For fans who don't want a story to end, they're in luck since there's also more Sex and the City for them. With two movies and a sequel series also available, there's a bit more story to enjoy about these friends than there is for the central characters of How I Met Your Mother. The movies take the friends outside of their usual neighborhood and the sequel series allows fans to see what the characters are up to years later.
11 The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (1990-1996)
6 Seasons, 148 Episodes
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
- Network
- NBC
- Showrunner
- Andy Borowitz
- Directors
- alfonso ribeiro
- Writers
- Andy Borowitz
Cast
James Avery-
Ross Bagley
- Seasons
- 6
The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air is the TV show that helped Will Smith move out of his musical career and into his role as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. While Smith mostly played a version of himself on the show, his ing cast made sure that it was always about more than just The Fresh Prince. Smith is Will, a young man who moves in with his uncle in Bel Air after his mother is worried about the violence in his hometown of Philadelphia.
Its humor while still featuring stories of grief
The show is more about family than friends, but the humor remains similar. It also skews decidedly younger than HIMYM since Will is in high school when the series begins with cousins and friends who are also teenagers. Despite that, there are also a handful of more serious storylines, so fans who enjoy that How I Met Your Mother can maintain its humor while still featuring stories of grief, for example, will appreciate that here as well.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is available to stream on Hulu and Max.
10 Friends (1994-2004)
10 Seasons, 236 Episodes
Friends follows friends who live in New York City while working, dating, falling in love, getting married/divorced, and having each other's backs every step of the way. The show romanticizes friendship and has arguably the most popular will they/won’t they relationships ever put on screen. While the show isn't completely original, as it borrowed heavily from Living Single, it is easy to see influence on shows like HIMYM that came later, including a very similar group of friends on How I Met Your Mother.
These are friends who live together, who strive to find their dream careers, and who start families during the span of the show, just like How I Met Your Mother. While the friends in HIMYM haven't known one another since childhood like Rachel, Monica, and Ross have, they still have a similar dynamic, and the chemistry of the casts in both is perfect.
9 Seinfeld (1989-1998)
9 Seasons, 180 Episodes
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Seinfeld
- Release Date
- 1989 - 1998-00-00
- Network
- NBC
- Showrunner
- Larry David
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Jason Alexander
- Seasons
- 9
Seinfeld is another spiritual predecessor of shows like How I Met Your Mother and many sitcoms that lean into a semi-surrealist vein of comedy that has come out in the last few decades. Created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, the show often described as “a show about nothing” follows a group of friends — Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer — as they navigate everyday life in New York City and discuss life in general.
It's relatable, sometimes even painfully so. Unlike How I Met Your Mother, it doesn't care about continuity, character development, or romance. Seinfeld is a darker, cynical cousin of Friends and HIMYM. But while it may not give you the big emotional payoffs that HIMYM does, it will deliver hilarious and expertly crafted episodes with the type of humor no one sees on shows that are on the air today.
8 Happy Endings (2011-2013)
3 Seasons, 57 Episodes
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Happy Endings
- Release Date
- 2011 - 2013-00-00
- Network
- ABC
Cast
Eliza Coupe
Elisha Cuthbert-
Zachary Knighton
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 3
Happy Endings is the same type of show as How I Met Your Mother, featuring a group of friends with close, often stressful relationships. Like Friends, Happy Endings starts with a wedding that doesn't work out. Happy Endings starts with Dave and Alex, the two friends who brought the group together, breaking up on their wedding day, and the first season deals with the aftermath of the breakup.
However, the show eventually evolves into the classic “friends hanging out” sitcom, following the various adventures these characters find themselves in their personal and professional lives. Happy Endings was praised for its warm-hearted comedy, earning both critical acclaim and a fan following, but unfortunately, it only lasted three seasons before ABC took it off the air. At least that makes it a relatively quick binge for fans compared to some of the other sitcoms here.
7 Modern Family (2009-2020)
11 Seasons, 250 Episodes
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Modern Family
- Release Date
- 2009 - 2020-00-00
- Network
- ABC
- Showrunner
- Christopher Lloyd, Steven Levitan
Cast
Ed O'Neill
Sofia Vergara
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 11
Modern Family follows three generations of a diverse family living in suburban Los Angeles. Just like HIMYM is a hilarious take on friendships, this show is a hilarious take on the many relationships within the very different generations of a single family. With so many different characters and households, Modern Family has something for everyone. The light-hearted humor, the witty approach to serious topics, the wacky and relatable characters, Modern Family has got it all, providing 11 seasons and 250 episodes of solid laughs.
The plus side of having such a long-running sitcom here is that all of the kids in the first season of the show are adults by the end, allowing the series to tackle a variety of different storylines for them. The next generation of the family is able to start families of their own by the time it ends, but never sacrifices the humor of the family dynamics.
6 Parks And Recreation (2009-2015)
7 Seasons, 126 Episodes
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Parks and Recreation
- Release Date
- 2009 - 2015-00-00
- Network
- NBC
- Showrunner
- Michael Schur
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Michael Schur
- Seasons
- 7
A good number of sitcoms rely too much on cynicism, which while a good source of comedy, can also be exhausting. If sitcom fans prefer characters who are mostly kind, like in shows like How I Met Your Mother, Parks and Recreation is the show for them. It is mostly a less cynical take on The Office since it is a workplace comedy that follows a few romantic relationships, but on a larger scale, the friendships that develop between the coworkers.
Parks and Rec is a satirical comedy set in the Parks Department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. The series revolves around the department’s Deputy Director Leslie Knope, a perky over-achiever, and her diverse team of co-workers. The show is known and beloved for its relatable characters, as well as well-portrayed and healthy romantic relationships, which should appeal to fans of How I Met Your Mother.
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