Life Is A Sitcom

I bet everyone would have wondered at some point how life would be like if it were a sitcom. Would you also be perpetually attractive or have a kick-ass theme music or be accompanied by the ever exasperating background laughter when you miraculously come up with a well timed and witty comeback? Would you be battling farce situations while living in a cozy purple apartment in New York City with the comfort of all your closest friends or would you be caught up in amusing circumstances along with looking for the love of your life and telling the same story twenty five years down the line to your children? Probably the best part about it would be the satisfaction of knowing that irrespective of whatever predicament you’re stuck in, after thirty minutes, life would return to its usual normalcy.

There are days when I feel like I’m a part of a sitcom with these inexplicably stupid situations I keep falling into. And even though Ted Mosby never walks through the door like I could’ve sworn I scripted, I can always find the real life equivalents of Joey Tribbiani, Phoebe Buffay, Monica Geller, Barney Stinson, Leonard Hofstadter and Penny-The-Blonde-From-The-Big-Bang-Theory-Who-Doesn’t-Have-A-Last-Name in my group of friends who’re completely weird, yet lovable in their own way.

I’d kill to have a Ted Mosby in my life (Who wouldn’t? I kill them.) So if you’re a guy who can’t stop calling him pretentious and annoying and make web pages like tedmosbyisjerk.com, then you’re not worthy of reading my blog –GO AWAY. And if you’re a girl who calls him snobbish and whiny, look deep into your soul, woman –you know you have a secret crush on him. He’s sweet, romantic and his occasional douchey moments only serve to make him more relatable. Plus, anyone who’s that much of a stickler to use the word “literally” correctly is okay in my book. And since I know writing about how adorable I think he is would require another post entirely, I’ll stop with this I-love-Ted-Mosby talk for now.

I’m sure if you think about it, you can relate every friend of yours to a fictional character from your favorite sitcom. Like, Jasmine is a cross between Barney Stinson and Penny-The-Blonde, and I am probably a cross between Phoebe Buffay and Joey Tribbiani. Here are the 6 lovable fictional characters everybody can categorize their friends into-

1. The Joey Tribbiani

“JOEY DOESN’T SHARE FOOD!!”

This particular friend is cute as hell, good-looking, food-loving, and has a real talent when it comes to flattering the opposite sex. He’ll make you regret your decision to go watch a movie with him by trying to hit on every hot girl he spots on your way to the movie theater. He’ll insist on buying an extra box of nachos and would shout at you like a chimp on steroids if you dare touch his packet of wafers. He is though, a little thick headed and pretty slow at grasping simple concepts which might make you want to bang your head against the wall and never to sit with him in your Science class. He lacks guile and cannot lie, even if he wants to. Sure, his annoying habits would occasionally make you want to stab him in the mouth, but his humor and an adorable smile would win your heart every time you talk to him.

2. The Monica Geller

"You’re on my team and my team always wins!”

This friend lives to lead and is dominating to the point of driving everyone crazy. From deciding where to hang out this weekend to planning out a birthday party for your friend, she has it all arranged even before you can dare to make a suggestion. And if you even try to question her ways, you might never hear the end of it when she starts lecturing you on why her methods are “best and the most suited”. She’s organized to the point of suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, while many of you won’t understand why that pile of books on the study table needs to be arranged in a “certain pattern”, she might rip your skin off if you don’t. She’s fiercely competitive, turns even whimsical word games into a matter of life and death and never forgets to keep scores. But she also is generously helpful and would offer to clean up your room for you. You know deep down, you can’t do without a friend like this.

3. Penny-The-Blonde

“Newton was a really smart cookie? Is that why they call them Fig Newtons?”

There’s one in every group. The hot but not-so-smart chick. This pretty little lady is the center of attention. Always. She trots around the school with her gorgeous face and skinny legs and is friends with all the popular people, and only when you actually get to know her, you realize exactly how dim she is. She doesn’t seem to care about getting good grades because all she wants to do in life is to be *insert actress/model/anything that doesn’t involve academics*. She possesses well-honed social skills and hits off easily with people. She is messy and unorganized and you’ll find her room to be quite like a pig sty. She is used to getting her way and her abundant good looks make her wooed by many guys who are easily smitten by her and would even offer to carry her books around in school. However what she really wants, like every girl, is a normal life and a decent guy to spend it with.

4. The Barney Stinson

"In my body, where the shame gland should be, there is a second awesome gland. True story."

This friend is the AWESOME one. The ultimate bro. Just like we dread to think how jaded life would’ve been had Barney Stinson not entered the Sitcomville, we shudder to think how our life would have been if this friend was not in our lives, because he’s the one whom everyone in the group wants to emulate. He has a bunch of really cool one-liners and is the life of every party. He is popular even outside your group of friends and has the ability to alter every dreary situation into something fun. He might come off as narcissistic and shallow, is surely a feminist’s nightmare and would jump from one girl to another in the blink of an eye, (and his commitment issues might make you wonder if he’s secretly gay or a raging heterosexual), but you know your circle of friends would be incomplete without this charmer.

5. The Phoebe Buffay

“I just realized something. Joker is a Poker with a ‘J’… coincidence?”

This one is definitely not your regular, everyday, normal girl friend. She thinks and does everything differently. She does not follow the crowd but rather stands out –be it the way she dresses, speaks or even thinks. She is the one with a strange taste in music, movies and guys. She might be the “freak” or the “weird one” in your group, but she has formed her own set of principles that she follows and doesn’t seem to care what others may think. There could be many reasons that make her so unique, but she retains a child-like innocence deep down. She talks of bizarre things like reincarnation so convincingly that would make you actually believe in it. Her chosen profession would be pretty unconventional, just like her. This is the friend who thinks she can sing/act/dance amazingly well, but in reality she is quite a crappy performer, something which you refrain to tell her.

6. The Leonard Hofstadter

“Twelve years after high school and I’m still at the nerd table.”

Every group has to have a nerdy friend who wears geeky glasses and Physics themed t-shirts. He is a wimpy Mr. Goody Two Shoes and is socially impaired. When it comes to picking up girls or asking them out, he is as ineffective as a white crayon, which is why you never consider him as your wing-man. He is the friend who’ll give you hours of lectures trying to explain you a Math problem, the one that aces all the exams and prefers finishing his homework assignments while all his friends are out partying. You wonder whether his stunted growth and prematurely balding head is the result of his geekiness. He doesn’t mind if he repeats the same jacket everywhere he goes and is surely not the most attractive guy around. His idea of entertainment is watching Sci-fi movies and his obsession with comic books make you pity him all the more.

Image source:

www.tvfanatic.com
www2.bc.edu/hannah-cerrone