Friends

Six friends from Greenwich Village, New York—obsessive neat-freak Monica, facetious neurotic Chandler, eccentric new-wave masseuse Phoebe, dweeby paleontologist Ross, ladies' man goof Joey, and former high-school queen Rachel—served as the platform for the fusion of the sitcom genre with soap opera drama, which ultimately resulted in the creation of one of pop culture's most beloved shows. Friends reached previously unheard-of heights of popularity as Joey and Chandler came to represent the ideal bromance, Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe transformed into surrogate sisters, and Ross and Rachel's on-again, the off-again relationship created an unparalleled degree of fascination for its audience.

In addition, its exceedingly vague title alone—I mean, really, "Friends"?—captures its broad popularity. Its success may serve as the clearest illustration yet that the characters—and not necessarily the plot—are what truly populist sitcoms are all about. In the ten years since the show's finale, the writing has been just creative enough to allow a talented group of actors to develop into their characters and become comedic clichés. Friends have influenced every aspect of popular culture, including fashion. A prime example is Jim Vorel's "the Rachel" hairstyle, which was dubbed "the decades defining do" and epitomized influence.

Years: 1994-2004
Creators: David Crane, Marta Kauffman
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer
Network: NBC