TV Shows Like How I Met Your Mother
If you like How I Met Your Mother, here are 9 similar TV shows — each with its current AI renewal verdict, so you can see which are still going and which have been cancelled.
CBS · Comedy · How I Met Your Mother is ended
How I Met Your Mother works because it trusts its audience. The framing device, a father narrating his romantic past to his kids, lets the show play with time in ways a straightforward sitcom cannot. Stories loop back on themselves, small moments get recontextualized episodes later, and the unreliable narrator gives the writers room to be genuinely funny and occasionally moving. The show is also, underneath all of that, about five people in New York who would rather spend a Tuesday night together in a bar booth than anywhere else. That group dynamic is the engine.
The best shows like How I Met Your Mother
1. Friends
If HIMYM's New York apartment-and-bar world felt like home, Friends is where that template was built. Six close friends navigate jobs, relationships, and living situations with the same mix of absurdist humor and genuine affection that makes HIMYM's group so easy to root for. The romantic storylines stretch across years in ways that reward long-term viewers, and the ensemble chemistry is as reliable as it gets in the genre.
Stream on HBO Max Amazon Channel, YouTube TV, TBS, HBO Max
Ended0%
2. Will & Grace
Will & Grace shares HIMYM's interest in what happens when your best friend is also your primary emotional relationship, sometimes to the frustration of your actual romantic life. The New York setting and the push-pull of two people who know each other too well will feel familiar, and the show's wit is sharper and more consistent than most of its contemporaries. It leans harder into banter than into sentiment, which is a fair trade.
Stream on Hulu
Ended0%
3. My Three Sons
My Three Sons suits viewers who responded most to HIMYM's softer, family-centered side rather than the dating comedy. It is a straightforward show about a parent raising kids with the help of the people around him, and it earns its warmth without much fuss. The humor is gentler and the stakes are domestic, but the underlying idea, that family is what you build with the people you rely on, is the same one HIMYM keeps returning to.
Stream on Philo
Ended0%
4. One Day at a Time
One Day at a Time is a sitcom about a single mother and her daughters figuring out daily life, and its appeal is similar to the quieter, more grounded moments HIMYM does well. The comedy comes from people who know each other inside and out, which means it often lands harder than broader joke-driven shows. It is a good fit for viewers who liked HIMYM best when it slowed down and let its characters just be people.
Ended0%
5. A Different World
A Different World centers on students at a historically Black college, and it has the same investment in a close group of young people working out who they are while leaning on each other. The show takes on social issues more directly than HIMYM ever did, but it holds onto a genuine warmth and humor that keeps it from feeling like a lecture. Viewers who liked watching Ted and his friends grow up will find a similar pleasure in watching Whitley, Dwayne, and the rest of Hillman's cast do the same.
Stream on Netflix, Philo, Netflix Standard with Ads
Ended0%
More on shows like How I Met Your Mother
Fans of the show tend to care most about that central warmth. The jokes matter, but what keeps people watching is the sense that these friendships are real and worth protecting. Ted's romantic flailing is often the least interesting part of the show; the best moments are Marshall and Lily's partnership, Barney's vulnerability underneath the performance, and the way the whole group absorbs each other's crises without making it a big deal. Viewers who love HIMYM are usually looking for that same combination: a tight ensemble, decent jokes, and enough heart to make the characters feel like people you actually know.
The recommendations here cover a good range of that territory. Friends is the most obvious companion, a show built on the same New York-apartment-and-bar geography with a similarly devoted ensemble. Will & Grace trades some of the romantic-quest energy for sharper wit but keeps the best-friends-as-chosen-family premise intact. A Different World is the outlier in setting but not in spirit; it has the same investment in a close-knit group navigating early adulthood, with the added weight of social issues the show takes seriously. My Three Sons and One Day at a Time are older, gentler, and more family-focused, so they suit viewers who liked HIMYM's warmer moments more than its comedic ones.
None of these shows replicate exactly what HIMYM does with structure or narration, but that is fine. The non-linear storytelling was a trick, and a good one, but the reason people still rewatch the show is the characters. Any show on this list that gets a group of people right will scratch the same itch.
More shows like How I Met Your Mother
Frequently asked
- What is the most popular show like How I Met Your Mother?
- Friends is the most popular show similar to How I Met Your Mother in the IsItRenewed catalogue.
- Are shows like How I Met Your Mother still on the air?
- Of the 9 shows similar to How I Met Your Mother listed here, 0 currently carry a renewed verdict — the rest are cancelled, ended, or awaiting a decision.
- How does IsItRenewed pick shows like How I Met Your Mother?
- The recommendations come from TMDB's similar-titles data, and each is shown with its current AI renewal verdict so you know which are still going.