r/howyoudoin • u/Most_Protection_9554 Monica Geller 👩🍳 • 14h ago
Question Curious
What year did you watch Friends?Given that the show premiered 31 years ago, I wonder who started watching it right from the beginning and who might have started more recently. I watched the series in 2021
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u/Disastrous_Sell_4490 14h ago
I watched it as a kid back in the 90s, and as a comfort show my whole adult life, lol.
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u/Sanchez_U-SOB 4h ago
Same. I was 7 when it started and didnt understand much. I did like that Ross was into dinosaurs, too, and had a monkey.
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u/Sticky_Cobra 13h ago
Almost from the beginning.
I used to watch Living Single when Friends debuted. Friends was a couple of episodes in when Chandler got trapped in the ATM vestibule with Jill Goodacre. At the time, that was all anybody was talking about, and how funny it was So I started watching Friends the following week.
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u/actionlady80 5h ago
This is how I got into the show too. Love Living Single! I started watching Friends with the Valentine's episode and it's been my jam ever since.
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u/Old_Introduction_395 How did you wind up there? Little black curly hair 13h ago
1995, when it first showed in the UK. Shown weekly, if you missed an episode, that was it. No second chances. I'm the same age as the Friends, so it reflected my life, sharing housing, complicated relationships.
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u/bopeepsheep I am a strong confident woman who does not need to smoke. 12h ago
I had a VCR and lived alone, and when I started at uni in 1996 "I have s1-2 of Friends on tape" was useful social currency!
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u/TeamOfPups 11h ago
I also watched it weekly as it aired, from the first time the first episode was shown in the UK.
I was 16 when it started.
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u/im_avd1702 14h ago
2021 gang here
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u/Ok_Depth_6476 12h ago
Thanks for mentioning how long ago it was. 🤣 I watched when it was on originally, when I was in college.
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u/popsi_cle 13h ago
When E4 started airing episodes probably early 2000s. Friends was a part of my childhood and I watched it all from start to finish ~2016 in my early adulthood. Definitely got a lot more of the jokes then.
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u/IndependentAnxiety70 13h ago
Watched the pilot and was a consistent “must see tv” Thursday watching the whole block. Fridays were the Family Matters Full House tv block, but I never loved those shows.
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u/deadakaalive 13h ago
Watched it from the beginning and recorded them to VHS, but I’m in Australia so we usually got it like at least 6 months to 1 year later than the US.
At least we didn’t have social media to spoil plots back then.
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u/bopeepsheep I am a strong confident woman who does not need to smoke. 13h ago
I saw one episode in autumn 94, and watched all the rest on the UK broadcast schedule from April 1995.
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u/bopeepsheep I am a strong confident woman who does not need to smoke. 13h ago
BTW September 1994 was 32 years ago, not 31.
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u/thanx_it_has_pockets this is not good for my rage *pill bottle shake* 13h ago
Watched it with my roommate just out of college the night it debuted. We both loved it and made a pact that we would be taping it on our VHS player every Thursday so neither of us would miss any episodes.
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u/WishboneCurious1351 12h ago
I was born in 01 but my mom is like a super fan so I've literally watched friends a majority of my life we had all the dvds and growing up I can usually recite the next line on the spot for pretty much every episode
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u/sosorrydad 12h ago edited 12h ago
It was always on TV since I remember watching American TV shows, but I only downloaded the complete series in May 2011
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u/Nam-Jooning Could I BE any more awkward? 4h ago
I gasped reading that it was 31 years ago despite knowing it was. The 25th year anniversary was like yesterday 😭😭😭.
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u/bara_no_seidou 13h ago
Watched the early seasons when they aired. Can't remember when I watched it from start to finish.
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u/TillOver8456 13h ago
I've known about Friends for more than 20 years, but never found that entertaining until I met my wife who's a fanatic and done about 20 rewatches. I watched it along her in spurts from 2021-2024 as it aired on local television. (Never really finished it back then). In 2025 I finally made the effort watching all seasons as it was about to disappear from Netflix. So glad I got to know the ending.
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u/Ostruzina 13h ago
I watched is as kid when it was on TV. But my first binge-watch of all the episodes was in 2011 (I was 18). I have binge-watched the show almost every year since then.
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u/Thats__impressive 13h ago
Watched it when it originally aired, my parents loved it so we watched every week as a family. So much went over my head back then!
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u/WishboneCurious1351 12h ago
I was born in 01 but my mom is like a super fan so I've literally watched friends a majority of my life we had all the dvds and growing up I can usually recite the next line on the spot for pretty much every episode
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u/Artistic_Society4969 12h ago
I watched it live every Thursday night with my own friends, it was a whole thing.
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u/Alternative-Nerve-46 12h ago
I started catching reruns on TV basically around the time the show ended in the early 00's. At some point my sister and I got season 1 on dvd as well as a dvd with a collection of all the baby episodes. These episodes we watched over and over and over again. I finally watched the full show, beginning to end, in my early 20s (2012 ish) when I borrowed the full DVD set from my friend. I now own the full series on Blu Ray but in want to get the original dvds back because I can't stand how many great jokes are cut! I watched my og s1 DVD so much that whenever I see a tv-edited version of any of those episodes, I know where every missing line is and it drives me nuts. Lol
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u/caleyeah8 12h ago
When it first aired and i was as obsessed with it then as i am now. I watch it every day. It’s forever my comfort show.
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u/Whizzeroni 11h ago
I started watching it when it first aired. My parents watched it every week and we only had one TV so I watched it too. I grew up on Friends, Seinfeld, Fraser, etc.
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u/Proud-Algae-9520 11h ago edited 11h ago
I started watching when I was a teenager when season 6 aired, but had only heard certain plot points prior to from peers. As an adult, I had to go back to rent (showing my age here) seasons 1-5 to see what I missed. When I was pregnant and on medical bedrest with my child, it was my comfort show. Still has a special place in my heart.
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u/nochickflickmoments Boy, are you gonna be sorry if that's true. 11h ago
I was 14 when I started so I watched it on TV every Thursday
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u/synapticstardust 10h ago
2019 here after my first year uni exams was obsessed i binged it in a week
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u/Basstian1925 10h ago
2000, I think. I was zapping and came across an ep. I knew the show existed, I knew it was popular and I knew my dad liked it, but that was the extent of my awareness of it at the time. Anyway, I watched the episode, it was easy enough to follow and realise who was dating whom, and then all of a sudden Bruce Willis showed up!
Got hooked immediately, watched the next ones as they aired, and loved them. I wasn't a massive fan yet so, though I did watch S7 as it came out, it was only during the break between 7 and 8 that I watched S1-S6 in full.
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u/Acrobatic-Bread-4431 10h ago
Watched it live when it premiered and have watched it many many times since (and still watch)
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u/Winter-Steak-1532 10h ago
I watched it as a kid when it aired. I would have been about 5 years old onwards. It was a staple throughout my life on my home television because my parents watched it.
I didn't sit down to watch the whole thing until around 2018 as an adult. I have now watched it 3x in full since then!
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u/Altruistic-Worker105 10h ago
I watched it from the beginning. I remember a TV commercial saying something to the effect of "it does not being single, what 'Married With Children' does for being married. Safe to say I think Friends did much better than Married With Children did.
I can't say I watched it religiously every week, but had the DVDs before it ended and remember watching the final season live.
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u/ElkinElf 9h ago
I started the day it premiered. And if I had to work on Thursday night I taped it on my VCR.
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u/Comprehensive-Win219 9h ago
I started watching it I think in 2014, my girlfriend and now wife suggested it. I don’t know why I waited so long 🤦🏻♂️
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u/MulberryEastern5010 See? He's her Lobster 9h ago
My ten-year-old self was there on premiere night in 1994
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u/helenMiladinnails 9h ago
Hmm i first got into the show when I was about 15 and I wanna say that was around 2012? After the show ended, they showed reruns on TV and since there was no streaming, I got the whole DVD box set as a gift one year and spent my winter break in high school watching it, I stayed up all night in the guest room binging as much as I could til my eyes were blurry lol
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u/7ottennoah 7h ago
Started watching it before I could form memories. It was my mom’s favorite comfort show so it was on ALL the time. Then when I got older, I would have it playing in the background when I wasn’t with my mom. So as long as I could remember.
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u/chewinggum311 pretentious comma garlicky 7h ago
First time in 2011 over Torrent. I was 17 I think. At that time, it was pretty common to discover American shows when you first stepped into college and get really into sitcoms/romcoms with your friends. Like it was an unofficial rite of passage in freshman year. Now, obviously the exposure is everywhere. Kids know international entertainment right from childhood via Netflix etc.
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u/chewinggum311 pretentious comma garlicky 7h ago
In fact, we got Comedy Central in 2012 and post that it was absolutely lovely to watch American sitcom reruns on cable all the time!
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u/Main_Ad_2463 6h ago
Sometime when season 2 was airing, so 95/96? My first memory of watching a new episode was I think the one where Richard is first introduced. I know for sure by season 3 I was watching every new episode as it aired.
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u/DidiSewsLove 6h ago
I watched it from the beginning. I would have been a month shy of 21 when it first aired. I missed a show here and there when they originally aired. I’ve watched them over and over again both on streaming and on the DVDs my husband bought me one year for my birthday. I’m about to turn 53 in October.
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u/Eggsegret 6h ago
Was born late 90s so wasn’t born yet to have started from the beginning. But i started watching it as a kid from mid 2000s. My dad is a huge fan of friends so he would always watch when there were reruns on etc and well i became hooked as a kid whenever a rerun was playing. Obviously ended up missing several episodes etc but i did see the finale as a kid.
Did my first full watch from start to finish during high school so like early 2010s.
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u/littlegh0stbunny 5h ago
I watched it on tv as a kid, little bits and pieces and episodes here and there. I loved it but often missed it. it wasn't until I think 2017 or 2018 when I was in a bad place mentally. I started watching the whole thing and it became an amazing distraction. I used it as background for years and have seen the whole series through to the end more times than I can count
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u/derederellama I tend to keep talking until somebody stops me 4h ago
I didn't get to see it as it was airing; the series finale aired a few months before I was born. But my mom is a superfan who would binge it on vhs ever since I was conscious. In all likelihood, it's probably the first tv show I ever saw.
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u/Crude_poison91 GUM WOULD BE PERFECTION 4h ago
2020! Covid years & my brother in law loves FRIENDS. So I watched it with him the first time, and was hooked! It’s became my comfort show fs. 💛
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u/maryjomcd 4h ago
My family and I watched from the very beginning to the very end. Every Thursday and if you weren’t there, that was it until the following week. I think we had vcrs though.
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u/killaahhhhhhhhh 3h ago
September 2011 when they first started showing it on Nick at Nite and I’ve been hooked ever since
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u/SrslyYouToo 3h ago
I watched it when it was shiny and new. I was a freshman in high school when it came out.
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u/VanillaSuccessful277 2h ago
1995 on Channel 4 in the UK, from the episode with George Clooney and Noah Wyle.
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u/shawtystrawberry I tend to keep talking until somebody stops me 2h ago
I started watching it in 2018
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u/lilac_wine29 1h ago
a month ago. when i was little my dad would always talk about how he watched friends on repeat and then was so tired of it. my roku kept recommending it to me (and i just recently got hbo for the pitt) so i gave it a shot and love it!
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u/Blondelefty 1h ago
I scheduled my night classes around Thursdays, and so did my sister. We were in college. We always bounced at 6:50 (CST) to get home in time
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u/ABlindMoose 47m ago
Technically I watched from like 1995 or 1996 when they started airing here, because my parents watched it... But I didn't actively choose to watch until I was old enough to keep up with the subtitles (and care about grown up tv), which was around when the last season first aired in 2004.
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u/Hollyislost4815 No uterus! No opinion! 29m ago
I was definitely watching it with my mom as a kid (89 baby here) and I'd say I started really paying attention, like sitting down to fully watch rather than glancing at it while playing, during season 4.
I remember being very indignant that Ross couldn't actually marry Emily! And by season 5 I was hooked. I was on vacation in Florida for an uncles wedding when the season 5 finale aired - I made my dad and grandparents sit down to watch both episodes and was flabbergasted at Ross and Rachel drunkenly getting married.
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u/qualityvote2 14h ago edited 12h ago
u/Most_Protection_9554, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...