"Friends" and "Coupling" have been directly compared numerous times being that they both involve 6 friends living in the city--Rephrase: they both involve 6 friends living COMICALLY in the city. And, well, that's about it because Coupling is far far better.
Are we agreed?
I like both, but prefer Coupling. But I don't think the shows are that similar except for the setting, Coupling is way more sex and relationship oriented, while Friends is a show about 6 friends (though, I wouldn't say that it does not include sex and relationships, lol).
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Coupling is definatly better than Friends!! Friends is funny and everything, but sometimes there is to much drama in Friends. Coupling is always funny, and making me laugh!!
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i think the first season of "friends" was great and the rest was uneven.
"coupling" pretty much kept its level all through.
"coupling"'s creator stated that "seinfeld" was more of an inspiration, but personally i don't see much of a resemblance to either. very different types of characters and situations in each show.
I see it. Seinfeld was big on having one character teach the others about some nuanced human or cultural behavior (ie. "regifting") and making it a recurring theme throughout the episode. Giggle Loop is classic Seinfeld stuff.
shareWell, you're comparing 28 episodes produced over four years to more than 200 episodes produced over ten.
I expect you could go through the whole "Friends" library and come up with 28 episodes that are just about as funny as the entire run of "Coupling."
Now, if you ignore series 4 and try to find 22 episodes of "Friends" as funny as the first three series of "Coupling," you'd probably have a more difficult job ahead of you.
Frankly, I never was all that fond of _Friends_. I thought that the characters were overgrown adolescents, while the characters in _Coupling_ actually seemed to be adults. Also for some reason, I could never really identify with the characters in _Friends_ or their problems (I had similar problems with _Seinfeld_, although in the latter case, it was pretty clear that the decision to make all of the main characters completely unsympathetic was a deliberate one). Whereas in _Coupling_, Moffat really succeeded in creating characters that I could care about.
shareComparing the two is like comparing the Mona Lisa and a velvet Elvis. Friends was just a typical formulaic American sitcom with no whiff of subtlety.
shareI can only say that after watching Coupling Seasons 1 and 2, I hadn't laughed this hard at watching a sitcom since Friends' S1.
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I think "Friends" and "Coupling" can't be compared that easily, only under the aspect how a "funny" a show is.
Someone here said it before: "Friends" is not only comedy, it's drama, too. "Friends" also often has, especially in older episodes, a more subtle humor. Many jokes don't make you laugh out loudly.
In addition you really get to know the six main characters and therefore, you are able to put yourself in their position.
"Coupling" is more like pure comedy. There's hardly drama in it and the characters are more superficial and don't seem really realistic. The only purpose of the show is to make the viewer laugh as much as possible. And it works.
If you would detect how good a show is at the amount of laughter of the audience, "Coupling" would probably win. But you know, laughter is not everything...
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All I can say for certain is that Jack Davenport is noted as saying that he actually enjoys Friends, and finds it consistently funny through all of it's seasons. Matt Leblanc was even his favorite actor, and Jack says that it was always impressive to him how Matt could make Joey's character funny in every single episode.
shareTrying to compare the two series is like comparing apples to oranges. They both are fruit but that is as far as it goes. While I do find Friends funny at times ( I was never much of a fan - Seinfeld was my favorite) I by far prefer Coupling.
I'm always this nervous, you're just closer, you can see better. ~ Jeff Murdock
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I enjoyed both for very different reasons. Although similar in some aspects, also very different. Coupling is out right funny. I usually laugh throughout. Friends, while enjoyable, had good seasons and bad. Although I must admit although Oliver is funny, Coupling wasn't the same for me when Jeff left. I am American and lots of my friends never heard of Coupling (the British version). They tried to do it here, but it was horrid!!!!! Some things are better left in the original form. They tried to Americanize it, which in this case was totally unnecessary. To me, Coupling is superior.
shareI enjoyed Friends for the most part. I think the crying over the finale and ending was a little overdone. 10 Seasons of the same show, and the jokes are starting to wear-thin, I think it's time to end on a good note, which Friends did. I have to say, even though there are Friends influences and similarities, I always liked Coupling better. I think you can digest each show respectively and get a great amount of laughter and enjoyment out of both. Besides, Coupling has an originality and style different from Friends. The Character developments are different. While Patrick is a Mimbo like Joey, he's arrogant, self-involved and a Tory. Joey wasn't that arrogant, he was actually quite good-natured in a child-like way, and he was as far moved from politics as you could get. Joey has that blue-collared vibe, Patrick probably came from the upper crust or upper middle-class. Jeff and Steve do have an old-school friendship, probably met in high school or college, like Ross and Chandler, but that's all the similarity there. Ross can be a worry-wort like Steve, but Chandler is a smart-aleck. The issues are different, the philosophy on the issues are different. There seems very little storylines dealing with their jobs on Coupling, while employment and job problems are regular plotpoints on Friends. The only real moments: Jeff falls for his lady boss, who can be just as anxious in romantic endeavors as he can and Jane has a conflict with her superior at work. Phoebe does have some of the daffiness of Jane, but she is not the nympho Jane was and Jane is oblivious to social-political issues around her. You had no familiar character connections, other than parents as auxiliary characters from time to time (Jeffery's mom, Susan's parents), but no one here was related. There are some influences, but Coupling was its own show with its own pulse and style.
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Very well said. I agree with you on that.
Yes, while Friends was enjoyable (not all seasons), Coupling was just a little fresher for me. I truly enjoy this and I am so glad I got the dvd's. This was something my husband and myself could watch together, but I am sure from very different points of views.
"Friends is not only comedy, it's drama too"
A couple of serious moments every now and then doesn't make it a drama too. Most sitcoms have serious moments.
"Friends also often has, especially in older episodes, a more subtle humor"
There is NOTHING subtle about Friends. It was always forced and exaggerated comedy where most of the "humour" consists of the characters doing stupid things or saying words in stupid ways rather than any interest in actual funny dialogue.
I think the comparison is easy if you compare the seasons of "Friends" after Monica and Chandler get together and after Ross and Rachel split to "Coupling":
Whacky, Quirky girl: Phoebe=Jane
Stable couple, in love, working through committment phobias: Monica and Chandler = Susan and Steve
Whacky guy who can't get girls and freaks out around them: Jeff = Ross
Ladies man: Patrick = Joey
Egomaniacal Beauty Queen w/o much else to offer: Sally = Rachel
Incidentally, Coupling started about 18 months after Monica and Chandler began dating on Friends.
I think they took the Friends idea and put their spin on it.
I am a great fan of both shows but I think they are very similar and not unintentionally.
I think the comparison is easy if you compare the seasons of "Friends" after Monica and Chandler get together and after Ross and Rachel split to "Coupling":
Whacky, Quirky girl: Phoebe=Jane
Stable couple, in love, working through committment phobias: Monica and Chandler = Susan and Steve
Whacky guy who can't get girls and freaks out around them: Jeff = Ross
Ladies man: Patrick = Joey
Egomaniacal Beauty Queen w/o much else to offer: Sally = Rachel
Incidentally, Coupling started about 18 months after Monica and Chandler began dating on Friends.
I think they took the Friends idea and put their spin on it.
I am a great fan of both shows but I think they are very similar and not unintentionally.
The characters you match have different layers though. Phoebe is a hippy girl, always some kind of lilith fair type of politics, Jane is far removed from political/social concerns. Also, Jane is a self-centered nympho. Phoebe, while certainly whacky and experienced, is not self-centered and not quite that willy-nilly. Monica And Chandler=Susan is not nearly as insecure as Monica, her work is not as big a part of her stories, just that her and Jeff work in the same office and she is a sophisticated career woman. Chandler is a smart-ass, and Steve, while given to rants and being a worry wort, doesn't have as much of a sarcastic attitude. Steve mostly goes about his day, easy and casual, until weird dilemmas come up or Jeff starts acting up.
Joey is blue-collared, a good-hearted guy, most apolitical, a struggling actor; Patrick is egotistical, chauvanistic to a fault, self-worshipping, a business executive of some sort, pretty well secured in the funds with a sweet expensive car and stylish pad. Yes, both mimbo ladies men, but cut from a very different cloth.
Sally and Rachel has similarities, true. Rachel is often struggling for employment. Sally owns her own salon. Rachel wants Ross, and they have a nauseating will they, won't they run; Sally wants Patrick and their will they won't it answered pretty quickly. And while Rachel and Ross end happily, Patrick and Sally's relationship is left in a question mark.
Yes, there are similarities and influences, but not nearly enough to deem Coupling "a weak rip-off".
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If you were referring to my post you mistakenly claimed I labeled Coupling a "weak rip off". Could you please point out where I said that because I think you are mistaken.
I think Coupling is a terrific show and I don't think they are identical.
I DO believe that its not a mistake that Coupling starts off at the same place where Friends was at when Coupling originated. I also don't believe the similarities are accidental.
I think the writers copied the premise and wrote it in their own way. That's OK. Its an homage to the most popular television series in the world at that time. It happens all the time!
Almost every modern novel, movie, play, song etc........ Is the result of some previous work. The number of original geniuses in this world are very few!
Keep in mind that Steven Moffat was the only writer of the series and he based "Coupling" off of his own relationship with his wife (and series producer) Sue Vertue.
shareNo, not your post, just the many other posts that do so. But then, you can't agree with everybody on everything.
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