Copyright Screen Rant
While The Big Bang Theory might be the most popular hangout show of the 21st century, there are a surprising number of sitcoms in the genre that are even better than this classic series. By the time The Big Bang Theory’s finale aired, the series was one of the biggest shows on television. At its peak, The Big Bang Theory commanded a weekly audience of around 20 million. For a frame of reference, that is around the same audience that Game of Thrones boasted at the same time. It is astounding for a network sitcom to manage this feat, but The Big Bang Theory’s enduring appeal made it possible. Although the show changed a lot after its first episode, The Big Bang Theory’s pilot established the most important element of the show’s future success. From the beginning, the series was a classic hangout show, despite Penny and Leonard’s central romance. The main appeal of the series was seeing the gang hang out and get into misadventures. From Cheers to Friends to It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, the hangout show has been a staple of sitcom culture for decades now. However, while The Big Bang Theory might be one of the most successful examples of the genre in terms of ratings and cultural reach, that doesn’t mean it is the best show to ever do it. 8 Community Dan Harmon’s Community was always a tricky show to categorize. Following a mismatched study group in a crumbling community college, the show could have been called a workplace comedy, save for the fact that the characters weren’t at work. Considering how many times they called each other a found family, the show could reasonably also be classified as a family sitcom. However, the best category for Community is undoubtedly that of the hangout show. The main appeal of the show was seeing Community’s cast of characters get into absurd scrapes every week, and the show’s consistent ingenuity and invention means it did more to deconstruct and subvert sitcom conventions than The Big Bang Theory ever managed. 7 New Girl While The Big Bang Theory began only a few years after Friends ended, there is an argument to be made that it was New Girl which really deserves to be considered the classic sitcom’s spiritual successor. Like Friends, New Girl launched its stars into the A-list stratosphere after their roles on the show. Like Friends, New Girl also followed a group of mismatched friends, male and female, four of whom were paired off romantically by the end of the series. However, what gives New Girl an edge over The Big Bang Theory is the show’s hilariously relatable depiction of millennial life in the spheres of work, dating, and socializing. 6 Ghosts (US and UK) While the characters of Ghosts are as funny as any hangout show’s lineup, both the original British show and its American remake have a secret weapon up their sleeves. Both versions of Ghosts stand head and shoulders above their hangout show competition since they bring together characters from various historical epochs through a paranormal twist. Both versions of the sitcom feature one character who can communicate with the ghosts that reside in her sprawling, remote estate, resulting in a hangout show where characters from various historical eras are forced to coexist under the same roof. The result is a goofy, charming, and utterly unique blend of paranormal parody and classic hangout show comedy. 5 Derry Girls Setting a hangout show in an occupied territory might sound like a bad joke, but Derry Girls proved that even military invasions can be a laughing matter in this instant classic coming-of-age comedy. The heroes of Derry Girls are living under a foreign government’s military occupation, but they’re more concerned about typical immature teenage pursuits than paramilitary action. Warm-hearted, hysterically funny, and often surprisingly poignant, Derry Girls is one of the best hangout shows of all time, thanks in large part to its unlikely setting. By reminding viewers that everyone has an awkward teenage phase, even kids growing up in the shadow of a military occupation, Derry Girls humanizes its heroes through hilarity. 4 Freaks and Geeks Paul Feig might be one of the biggest names in Hollywood comedy in 2025, but neither he nor Judd Apatow had the clout to keep Freaks and Geeks alive for more than one season when the series debuted in 1999. This was a shame since, between Jason Segel, Seth Rogen, and Linda Cardellini, the sitcom was full of future stars. Freaks and Geeks gave all these future A-listers a chance to flex their comedic and dramatic muscles alike as the hangout show detailed their humdrum suburban existence. Not a lot happened in Freaks and Geeks, but this didn’t stop the series from being funny, relatable, moving, and deeply human. 3 How I Met Your Mother Yes, How I Met Your Mother’s humor has aged poorly in places, and the show often feels deeply of the ‘00s in many of its story and character choices. However, it is important to note that How I Met Your Mother was also the closest thing to a direct replacement for Friends after the quintessential hangout show ended in 2004. The series also remains a stronger series than The Big Bang Theory in many ways, as How I Met Your Mother constantly experimented with the network sitcom format. With fantasy segues, flashbacks, flash-forwards, an unreliable narrator, and even musical numbers, How I Met Your Mother pushed the simplistic hangout show format developed by Friends in daring, ambitious ways. 2 Friends Friends wasn’t the first hangout show, but it is still the definitive example of the genre. The stories of Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey, and Phoebe helped shape countless competitors, imitators, and loving homages in the decades that followed the show’s success, and most of the shows on this list wouldn’t exist without the show’s outsized pop culture impact. That said, the show’s iconic status isn’t the only thing that made Friends great. While some Friends episodes didn’t work, much of the sitcom’s back catalog remains as funny as ever, even decades after the episodes originally aired. Ultimately, it is this longevity that puts Friends ahead of The Big Bang Theory as a hangout show. 1 Seinfeld While Friends might be the most famous hangout show ever, it isn’t quite the most influential. That accolade has to be given to Seinfeld, a series that managed to reshape the language of pop culture for decades after it ended. The adventures of Seinfeld’s misanthropic antiheroes were consistently funny, but it was their disaffected, sardonic outlook that shapes TV to this day.
