With How I Met Your Mother premiering this week, I got to thinking about other shows that feature hangouts such as MacLaren’s as a key component.  In most shows it’s a bar, but others opt for less booze or more nudity.

Hangout:  MacLaren’s
Show: How I Met Your Mother
MacLaren’s is the site of most of Barney’s antics and where the slap bet and “haaave you met Ted?” were started.  It’s the type of local bar most people wish they had right down the street.

Hangout:  Cheers
Show: Cheers
Rather than being an afterthought whose name only serious viewers would know, this bar nabbed the show’s title, forever cementing it in TV Bar history.

Hangout:  The Max
Show: Saved By The Bell
The Max provided so many Saved By The Bell memories, like AC Slater’s reverse-chair-sit and Lisa Turtle’s dance “The Sprain”.  I’d forgotten that Max looked like Screech’s dad.

Hangout:  Central Perk
Show: Friends
Central Perk was the adult version of The Max and likely took some inspiration from it.  You know the story of the hangout that was in nearly every episode.

Hangout:  Moe’s
Show: The Simpsons
Moe’s Tavern is the pinnacle of local regular’s-only hole-in-the-wall type bars.  It seemed every time Homer went, his degenerate buddies were always there.  Also, can’t forget when Bart would have some fun and prank call Moe.  Good stuff.

Hangout:  The Drunken Clam
Show: Family Guy
Known as “The Clam” to the regulars, it was once taken over by British people, but Peter and friends managed to reclaim it.  That neon sign would rank in the top 5 of a Top Neon Signs list.

Hangout:  Bada Bing!
Show: The Sopranos
Leave it to a mob boss to have his office at a strip club.  Bada Bing was the setting for plenty of intense moments, such as Paulie seeing the Virgin Mary, Silvio getting shot, and Tony showing he’s still got it by beating up his bad ass driver.

Hangout:  Enterprise D’s Ten-Forward
Show: Star Trek:  The Next Generation
Even traveling through space in search of new worlds and civilizations makes you want to take a break and have a drink once in awhile.  Ten-Forward was the place where the crew of the Enterprise would kick back and crack Klingon jokes.

UPDATE:  Thanks to the commenters for suggesting a few I missed.  Those are below.

Hangout:  Monk’s Cafe
Show: Seinfeld

Hangout:  Peach Pit
Show: Beverly Hills 90210

Comment below which Hangouts you think should have made the list…  

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