30 ways in which the characters of 'Friends' and 'That '70s Show' are basically the same

**Spoiler warning for people who haven't watched the shows **

Rachel Green and Jackie Burkhart

1) Spoiled Rich Girls

The two girls came from a rich family and at the beginning of their TV series, they were both considered to be spoiled. At first, Rachel used to live off her father's money before she decided to go on her own with the help of her new friends. Jackie also went from being rich to poor when her father went to prison and she had to live with Donna for a while. She even found a job at the Cheese Palace as a Cheese Maiden.

2) Popular Cheerleaders

Rachel and Jackie were both popular cheerleaders back when they were in high school. Once Jackie even wanted to become a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader when she grew up.

3) Fashion and Shopping

The two girls are very interested in fashion and spent a lot of time shopping. Rachel even made a career out of her passion by working as a buyer and personal shopper at Bloomingdales. Later on, she became a Fashion Executive at Ralph Lauren. Meanwhile, Jackie always wore the latest trends and she mostly criticized others for their lack of fashion sense. She would often say that Donna dressed like a lumberjack.

Ross Geller and Eric Forman

4) Star Wars Fanatics

Ross and Eric are such big fans of Star Wars that they both got their girlfriends to dress up as Princess Leia. Although Eric made more references to the Sci-Fi movie on his TV show, we did learn that Ross even camped outside the movie theater so he could see Star Wars: The Return of The Jedi in season 7, episode 19.

5) Teachers

At some point in their lives, both of them taught classes. Ross taught classes at NYU while Eric left Point Place to go teach in Africa in the last episode of season 7.

6) Awkward in front of girls

The guys are awkward when it comes to meeting girls. In "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" in season 5, Rachel came to Ross' help when he couldn't ask the pizza delivery girl out due to his awkwardness. In season 2 of 'That '70s Show', Eric didn't know how to respond to Donna's "I Love You" and said "I love cake" instead.

7) "Geeky" Collections

Their friends often made fun of their passions. Ross' fossil collection was often referred to as 'rocks' and Eric's G.I. Joes as 'dolls'.

8) First Crush & Marriage

Ross liked Rachel since high school and he eventually dated her, just like Eric had a crush on the girl next door, Donna, and eventually went out with her too. Ross and Rachel also got married for a short period of time, but Donna and Eric never went through with their marriage.

9) On/Off Relationship

The two guys were in an on and off relationship all throughout their TV series.

10) Jealous and Possessive Boyfriends

In 'Friends', when Rachel started working at Bloomingdales with Mark, Ross became insanely jealous of him. He accused Mark of trying to steal his girlfriend which was the only reason why Rachel was offered a job in the first place. Rachel didn't believe it until Mark admitted that Ross was right. It's the same scenario for Eric Froman. In the episode "A New Hope" in season 1, David, an old friend, made a move on Donna causing Eric to be jealous. David was only being nice to win her over, but Donna wouldn't see it until he admitted it. In the two cases, the situation backfired for Eric and Ross as both their girlfriends were mad at them for lack of trust. Ross' lack of trust even made Rachel take a break with him which prompted the famous "we we're on a break" line.

11) The Cousins

In "The One with Ross and Monica's Cousin", Ross forced himself on his cousin because apparently "she totally [wanted] it" and it was seriously disturbing. In 'That's '70s Show', Eric was tricked into thinking that his cousin Penny was actually adopted. He found her hot so he was willing to try to 'get' with her. Unfortunately, it was just a part of Penny's revenge for a prank he did back when they were children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me6Y16NpDug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPhO8j4Tg0k

Joey Tribianni and Michael Kelso

12) Handsome Idiots

The two guys are portrayed as the typical good looking guy with no brains. Joey and Kelso are considered to be the idiot of their friend group and they often find themselves not comprehending others. For example, in "The One with the 'Cuffs'", there are multiple flashback scenes showing Joey not understanding words that his friends are using and therefore, he buys an Encyclopedia to educate himself.

13) Immaturity

The two guys are also immature. In "The One Where Ross Moves In", Joey made a fort out of Ross' boxes. As for Kelso, he often did immature things such as pull pranks on his friends as seen in episode 21 of season 4.

14) Modeling Career

They had a short modeling career. Joey posed for an STD poster in the episode "The One Where Underdog Gets Away" in season 1. Kelso posed as an underwear model in the episode "Leo Loves Kitty" in season 4.

15) Big Families

They come from big families. They both have 7 siblings each, Joey having only sisters.

16) Problem with Age

In 'That '70s Show', the gang discovered, in season 2, that Kelso was actually older than he was. He failed first grade and was ashamed about it, so he pretended to be a year younger to hide it. In the beginning of the 7th season of 'Friends', Joey forgot that he was actually 31 and thought that he was 30 years old.

Phoebe Buffay and Fez

17) Unclear Background

There's not much information about their background. We

know Pheobe lived on the street for a while where she mugged people and somehow learned French... She also said in "The One With the Home Study" that on her sixteen birthday she was being chased around in a tire yard by a mental patient. It's the same for Fez, it is a running gag to cut him off every time he's about to tell his friends where he's from. We only know a few bits and pieces about his past, for example, we found out in episode 10 of season 7 that he has a sister. A sister he keeps in a jungle so guys like Kelso can't find her.

18) Weird, but Unique.

They are both weird in their

own way, but it is what makes

them unique. In season 2, the gang found a Keg in the middle of the street. Hyde started saying "when God gives you a Keg you gotta...", but then Fez finished his sentence by saying "kill a virgin", which is weird and doesn't make any sense. In the same episode, he refused to get in an empty pool because he was afraid of getting a cramp and drowning. As for Pheobe, she believed in all sort of weird stuff such as auras and ghosts. She was even once possessed by one of her recently deceased client and she believed that a cat was her mom.

19) Gullible Characters

It is shown on multiple occasions that Phoebe believes in pretty much anything. She believed Santa Claus was real until Joey ruined it for her in season 5, episode 4. She also believed her bike had a spirit that would die if she didn't ride it in "The One with All the Candy". Fez, being an exchange student, doesn't know much about America and therefore he easily believes anything Hyde tells him, such as how to pronounce words. While eating at the Hub, Hyde once told Fez that virgin was actually pronounced vir-GIN and he believed him.

20) Masseuse/Messeur

They were both massagers for a while - Phoebe did back massages and Fez worked

as a shampoo boy at a hair salon and gave amazing hair massages. In "Beast Of Burden", season 7, Donna even tells Jackie that "[Fez's] fingers were amazing [...]".

Chandler Bing and Steven Hyde

21) Makes fun of their friends' misfortunes

Steven Hyde is known to laugh at his friends whenever they get 'burned' or hurt. Like that time Kelso fell off the water tower and broke his arm. Even Chandler loves making fun of his friends. He laughed when Ross was over-tanned in "The One with Ross' Tan". He even made a New Year Resolution in season 5 that he wouldn't make any jokes about his friends anymore, which he obviously failed.

22) Sarcastic and brutally honest.

The two characters are known for being sarcastic whenever they get the chance and they aren't afraid to speak their mind freely.

23) Absent Fathers

Hyde and Chandler were both abandoned by their father. Chandler's dad ran off to Las Vegas where he became a drag artist. Hyde's father, Bud, also skipped town when Hyde was only a child. However, we later figure out that Bud wasn't his real father.

24) Always Ready to Help

Hyde was grateful that the Forman gave him a place to stay and so he helped them around the house and even helped pay the bills, while Chandler helped Joey a lot with his financial troubles too. He paid for Joey's headshots, and lend him money for food and dates.

25) Never Cries

In the two TV shows, the men said that they didn't cry. In 'That '70 Show', Hyde often pretends to cry, but never actually show any real tears. In 'Friends', Monica can't believe that her husband can't cry so she tries to make him tear up in season 6. She eventually succeeds.

Monica Geller and Donna Pinciotti

26) Unfortunately saw their Parents 'doing it'

At the very end of "the One with the Prom Video" in season 2, Monica watches an old VHS tape of her Prom night. In the tape, she is dancing with her father when suddenly the video skips to her parents doing it. She quickly turns it off in disgust. Unfortunately, she also catches them in the act a second time when she's hiding out in the shower in "The One Where Joey Moves Out". In 'That '70 Show', Donna tells Eric that she once saw her parents doing it in a hammock in broad daylight and it scarred her for a long time.

27) Competitive when it comes to sports

In "Battle of the Sexists" (S1, EP4), Donna shows her competitive side when it comes to sports, and since she's winning a lot, it makes Eric feel insecure about his manliness. As for Monica, she's known for being quite competitive in everything she does, including sports such as Pigskin. She was ready to do anything to win that "Geller Cup".

28) Feminine and Sporty

The women are often dressed more 'tomboy-ish' than the other female characters, but they aren't afraid to dress up and be more feminine on occasions.

29) Independent

The two characters are portrayed as strong and independent women. They know what they want and they aren't afraid to do what it takes to achieve their goals. They're also determined and hard working. Even though Rachel and Phoebe could also fit this description, they needed Monica's help when they had no place to stay.

Bonus

30) The Sprouse Twins

The twins appeared on both TV Shows. Cole Sprouse played Ben, Ross' son in 'Friends'. In 'That '70s Show', Cole, along with his twin brother Dylan, played two annoying little boys at Funland in episode 20 of season 4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9ZRCubnshM

Obviously, there are more similarities between the characters, but that will be for another article. I hope you enjoyed my post! Like and feel free to comment :)