One of the most successful sitcoms of the 90s—nay, of all time—started with the simple premise of six twentysomethings living and loving in New York City. Friends quickly grew to be a phenomenon across all demographics who tuned in every week to watch the fun, quirky adventures of Monica, Rachel, Chandler, Ross, Joey and Phoebe.

Most of the action centered on the friends’ journey to responsible adulthood and their romantic triumphs or mishaps. Monica was a struggling chef who had a hard time putting her skills to good use, memorably reduced to jobs like waitressing at a 50s themed diner, forced to wearing a poodle skirt and sweater outfit complete with huge fake boobs. Rachel was Monica’s high school friend, a rather spoiled princess, who had to decide what do with her life after leaving her fiancé at the altar and moving in with Monica. Ross, Monica’s older brother, was a paleontologist and freshly divorced, though his ex-wife was pregnant with their child. Across the hall from the girls live Chandler, Ross’s best friend, and Joey, a not-too-bright aspiring actor. Rounding out the cast was Phoebe, a flighty neo-hippie masseuse and occasional folk singer. The gang hung out almost daily at Central Perk, a hip café with comfy seating and large mugs.

The writing on the show proved clever and funny and the characters delivered spot-on comedy, especially Chandler, a hapless and deeply sarcastic data analyst. Each character had their special foibles: Monica exhibited obsessive compulsive traits, like vigorous cleaning and tidying; Rachel was clueless about the real world, having been sheltered and pampered all her life; Phoebe spent quite a lot of time on the astral plane, believing in reincarnation and hiding a surprisingly tough childhood; Joey came from large Italian-American family and routinely forgot the names of his numerous conquests; Ross embodied the ‘good guys finish last’ stereotype, divorced by his wife in favor of her new lesbian lover and nursing a long time crush on Rachel.

Over the ten years the show was on the air, the characters grew and moved together or apart, most notably Ross and Rachel, who formed the couple everyone rooted for only to be torn asunder by doubt and mistrust. In there somewhere, Monica and Chandler discovered their love for each other, Joey finally found success in his acting career and Phoebe found a long lost half brother and acted as a surrogate mom for his triplets. No, really, if you’re going to write an actress’s pregnancy into the show, you might as well make it worth your while.

The band of actors portraying the friends enjoyed immense popularity and ever-increasing pay raises; all of them branched out into film as a result of the show’s success. Friends consistently beat the competition in its time slot and helped NBC climb to the top of the heap. After the show’s end in 2004, it moved into syndication and remained as popular as ever.