Friends: parents' guide
Best for ages 13 and up. Rated TV-14.
A classic ensemble sitcom that works for many young teens, as long as parents are comfortable with a steady stream of sex jokes. Six friends in their twenties date, break up, marry and divorce in New York, and casual sex is treated as normal, though nothing explicit is shown. Drinking is frequent, some characters smoke, and language stays mild. Some humor has aged badly, with jokes at the expense of gay characters and Monica's childhood weight, and Phoebe jokes darkly about her mother's suicide. Early seasons aired as TV-PG; age 13 matches the TV-14 rating on later seasons.
What's in it
Violence
MildSlapstick only: pratfalls, a few comic slaps or punches, and plenty of squabbling. Nobody is seriously hurt, and no weapons or fights carry real threat.
Language
MildMild throughout: damn, hell, bitch and occasional name-calling. The reviews we read list nothing stronger, and the friends say "Oh my God" constantly.
Sex and nudity
ModerateSex is constant subject matter: characters hook up, are shown in bed together, and trade innuendo and jokes about porn and past partners, though nothing explicit appears. Joey's pursuit of women can cross lines by today's standards.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateThe friends drink socially at bars, parties and weddings, and several episodes get laughs from characters behaving badly while drunk. Chandler smokes cigarettes and struggles to quit. Ross's college pot smoking comes up as a story, but no drug use is shown.
Scary or intense scenes
NoneNothing scary. Emotional moments come from breakups, divorce, infertility and family tension, mostly played for laughs. Phoebe's mother's suicide and her teen years living on the street come up only as backstory and dark jokes.
Sensitive topics
- Suicide
Worth talking about
Some jokes about gay people, weight and gender land very differently today; ask your teen which ones they noticed and why attitudes have changed.
Similar picks around 13+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.