Friends definitely ranks in my top five favorite shows ever. The show follows six friends (Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, Joey, Chandler, and Ross) living in New York City. Each character is quirky in their own way and the friends always seem to be in some sort of problem, whether it is work, friend, or relationship related. When the show starts Ross, an archeologist, is just going through a divorce. His high-strung sister, Monica, also lives in New York and lives with easygoing Pheobe.  Ross’s college best friend, Chandler, lives across the hall from hall and shares his apartment with Joey, who is an actor waiting for his big break. In the first episode, Rachel, Monica’s friend from high school and Ross’s long-term crush runs into a coffee shop in a wedding dress, after just ditching her fiancé at the altar. She begs Monica for a place to stay and eventually Monica allows her to move in.

The thing I love most about this show is that even though each character has their downfalls, they are each so uniquely themselves, and demonstrate all the best characteristics of friendship to each other. There is also great character development, that never feels rushed. For example, when you meet Rachel, her character is spoiled and self-centered. She runs away from her expensive wedding, just because she can. When she decides to m0ve in with Monica, her rich dad cuts her of and for the first time in her life, Rachel has to work a job and earn her own money. She is full of complaints, and it becomes extremely obvious she’s clueless on how the real-world works, which can make you hate her. But if there’s one thing Rachel is, it’s a good friend. By the end of the show, Rachel was a fan favorite. She kept the best parts of her personality, being funny and personable, but grew out of her selfish ways.

Some characters, however, never really changed. From day one Joey was the easygoing, fun-loving friend. He worked hard to launch his acting career, but never truly succeeded. He was always the person on screen that you could count on to make you laugh, or to laugh at the other characters. Joey was kind of an airhead, but in a way, you couldn’t help but appreciate. Same goes with Pheobe. She was constantly doing her own thing and never really knew what she was going to say next, but her personality was one of a kind. Pheobe’s always carrying around a guitar, singing off-tune songs about cats, or really anything else she thinks of.

Last up are Monica and Chandler. These are my two favorite characters. Although it takes them a while, and you don’t really see it coming, these two end up being one of my favorite TV couples ever. They’re the perfect balance between Monica’s controlling self and Chandler’s sarcastic wit. While all the characters in this show deserved happy endings, I feel that these two deserved one the most.

I love this show and could probably start watching in the middle of any episode and know what’s going on. It’s just an easy watch, but you end up loving the characters so much that you can’t turn it off. If you’ve never seen friends, you have to watch it!