Shyreader55

OR Friends was the white NBC rip-off of Living Single that premiered a year after Living Single’s first season.

two related people the show is built around (Synclair & Khadijah, Monica & Ross)  

with childhood friends living nearby if not with them (Regine for Khadijah, Chandler for Ross or Rachel for Monica)

and a school friend that’s always there or moves in (Maxine for Khadijah, and again Chandler for Ross or Rachel for Monica)

the two dudes across the hall/in the building, one of which is hella sarcastic with a much more “grown man” profession and the other kinda goofy (Kyle and Overton, Chandler and Joey)

a character who used to be really fat as a child and adolescent… and became almost obsessed with thinness in adulthood (Kyle, Monica)

Phoebe = clearly Synclair

Joey = clearly Overton

Chandler = clearly Kyle

Rachel = clearly Regine

Monica = slightly modified Khadijah to make her more traditionally (read, eurocentrically) feminine, but still incredibly competitive with a nontraditional job where she’s her own boss in a field that caters to the tastes of others.

Ross = modified Maxine to make him less “alpha male”-ish (he’s supposed to be a more refined man in eurocentric and elitist terms), but still highly educated and competitive, fiercely loyal… and a protracted on again off again relationship with one of the other characters.

the only thing they didn’t do was put Synclair and Overton together on their show (even though everyone pushed for Phoebe and Joey to be together).

and the craziest thing is you’d think it took years for Living Single to establish all of these relationships so that Friends stans could say some of it just happened to co-develop, but nah. I have the entire first season of Living Single and all of this was established in that first season.

all. of. it.