I won't tell you how much Friends trivia I know in order to know that the original pitch for the show included the line "[it's] about friendship because when you're single and in the city, your friends are your family." From the time I first properly watched the show at sixteen, I longed for friendships like that with girls I could call my very best friends. Not long after, Pretty Little Liars came onto the scene, & I longed for a strong group of a girl gang even more deeply. (Only minus the friend who faked her own death and the whole A thing) Sometimes it seems silly to relate television so much to real life, but there's a reason it resonates so deeply with people. It might be fictional, but the emotions and stories are real.