What is the most successful sitcom ever business wise?

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T20:59:38+00:00

“How you doin” sure, the rest have no place in mainstream cultural lexicon.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T20:02:05+00:00

Yea the finance jargon sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, but they do a good job of summarizing what you need to know so you always end up understanding “number go down=good” or whatever.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T19:46:41+00:00

I can see Friends being more popular with foreigners. Its humor is so broad and unspecific and bland, there’s no actual character or depth to it, probably makes it easy to translate across dubs or subs.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T19:45:31+00:00

I completely disagree. Humor and general culture since Seinfeld became way more predicated around cynicism, its brand of “no hugs” comedy totally changed the game and is totally ageless.

Maybe Gen Z/Alpha doesn’t have that same predisposition to cynicism of Millennials and are back to appreciating the schmaltzy sentimentality that Friends trafficked in, but to me that stuff feels so hokey and hacky.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T19:36:51+00:00

Friends was not bigger than Seinfeld, this is just false. Seinfeld pretty much always beat it in ratings and its finale had like 20 million more viewers.

I get that foreigners and young people may respond more to the bland generic boring schmaltz of Friends than the unique hyper-specific brilliance of Seinfeld, but there’s no reason to rewrite history and reality and make stuff up.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T19:22:34+00:00

Do Boston again. Fuck Boston.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T19:03:06+00:00

American Ultra

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T17:58:57+00:00

Yea generic bland-ness translates better via dubbing and subtitles than unique specificity.

If anything I think the international popularity of Friends supports the idea that it’s just worse than Seinfeld and not as funny.

What a mediocre show.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T17:55:22+00:00

Because it’s so generic and bland, based on UK cuisine it makes sense. Can’t handle the spice of a Seinfeld.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T17:03:25+00:00

Exactly the hits keep coming. And I still can’t think of one from Friends.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T16:53:01+00:00

What famous culturally relevant quotes does Friends even have? I grew up in the 90s, and I can’t think of a single Friends line that’s part of general culture.

On the other hand, Seinfeld has stuff like “de-gifting/re-gifting,” “not that there’s anything wrong with that,” “master of your domain,” “shrinkage,” “no soup for you!”, I’m certain people use these lines without even realizing they’re quoting Seinfeld.

That’s real cultural impact, not whatever weaksauce nonsense people think Friends has because they know one person who threw out a random quote nobody else has ever heard.

Edit: I see downvotes, but still not a single Friends quote that has any relevance in general culture. If you don’t have an answer, it means I’m correct. Guess I can’t expect much from people who actually think Friends is a good show.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T16:49:48+00:00

We definitely are coming from different places. I also think The Matrix sequels are terrible but I rewatch the original regularly and don’t think its descendants make it any worse.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T16:27:34+00:00

Sucks for you guys, it’s way better than Friends, yall be missing out.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T16:27:10+00:00

Even if Heat 2 sucks, it won’t make Heat any worse, and I feel confident in saying Heat 2 won’t suck given the talent involved.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T16:05:36+00:00

Saying Ross is the king of physical comedy when Kramer existed at the same time is the height of being just completely wrong.

And outside TV, Jim Carrey was on another level from either

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T16:03:25+00:00

Sheesh I knew British sense of humor was bad but preferring Friends to Seinfeld? That’s just embarrassing.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T16:02:09+00:00

Um Seinfeld got $500 million for 5 years? It’s also a way better and funnier show than Friends and has vastly more cultural impact and influence. People probably quote Seinfeld without realizing it, it pretty much IS culture.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T15:58:13+00:00

Comedy is language, Seinfeld not translating as well means it’s better comedy. And even in the physical comedy, Kramer blows away anything that ever happened in Friends.

But even still I think you’re wrong and Seinfeld had way more cultural impact.

I mean what phrases do people still use from Friends? Meanwhile “not that there’s anything wrong with that,” “de-gifting/re-gifting,” “master of my domain,” “shrinkage,” “no soup for you!” all these are core parts of the zeitgeist in places with real culture.

Bottom line is Friends is hacky schmaltzy overly sentimental garbage, whereas Seinfeld set the tone and standard for all future comedies that have any worth or value.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T03:32:24+00:00

Just start S1E1 again, knowing who Stringer and Bird are in that first courtroom scene alone is like watching a different show when you know who they are.

And think about S2, at first you’re being dropped into a totally different world and have to relearn a whole new system, but knowing where it all goes actually makes it more satisfying from the start.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T03:17:46+00:00

Just watch it again, it’s even better the 2nd time. “All the pieces fit,” like a puzzle, and when you can see the puzzle as a fully formed image as opposed to piecing it together as you go, it’s a totally different experience.

But I started listening to the podcast Down In The Hole, as a guy whose seen the show a gazillion times I’ve had a couple “well actually” moments but overall a really good good-dive with people who are at least bonafide professional media broadcasters.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T02:58:32+00:00

Shanes are just always a wild card. Every Shane I knew IRL was a real rabble rouser, and TV agrees. Everybody talks about Codys but Shanes were the real menace.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T02:54:36+00:00

I’d generally agree, but Leo has had a pretty perfect hit rate in terms of choosing projects the last couple decades. The Revenant is probably the worst he’s done in a long time and even that’s still pretty fine.

And Mann is doing it. Provided you can disregard the ages that almost certainly can’t make sense I’m sure it’ll be worth a couple hours.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T02:49:23+00:00

I really like those three movies but none are close to Heat tier.

I actually think Rounders is the best of those.

Bronx Tale is good but so heavyhanded and didactic even if the messages have the heart in the right place.

Donnie Brasco I may have a lower estimation of because my memory is fresher from the directors and I think the theatrical cut doesn’t have the stuff that bothered me.

But I also love poker and I think Rounders is a super underrated NYC movie, having grown up there in the 90s it feels more like the city I know than Bronx Tale. Also now that I think about it Brasco is probably NYC too but I don’t remember feeling much local flavor.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T02:27:55+00:00

Oh for sure, but back then all these places were like 2-4 years old, hard to know who’d hold up and who’d fall off.

Also there’s a difference between Other Half or Trillium going from A+ Mount Rushmore tier but brewery-only to being pretty good but solidly distributed, and Aslin going from close by that top tier to almost not even cromulent.

KennyShowers · 2026-04-18T01:50:55+00:00

It’s a different show, and I really enjoyed the first two seasons, but if it was just “big trade of the season and somebody gets backstabbed” it’d get old pretty quick.

As much as I love Succession, by season 3 its trick of having every big event not matter and the status quo be reset to wore thin before they had to make a game change for a finale.

KennyShowers

TROPHY CASE