By Elizabeth Eckhart
With a cult-like following still active today, Friends was and has remained an incredibly popular 90’s television show. It is a simple premise: six friends in their 20’s looking for romance and careers in New York. The show is an attempt to capture the frustrating, yet carefree years right after college. Its popularity is definitely something that can hardly be matched. Netflix even released every single episode of its ten seasons back in January and PopTV hosted a behind-the-scenes special on the sitcom (details here). However, just because it was popular doesn’t mean it was actually any good!
Let’s take a look at the top reasons why Friends was actually a terrible show.
The characters were shallow, boring, and thinly constructed
The show did not reflect 90’s culture in the least, especially not young 90’s culture. These were supposed to be 20-somethings, right out of college, their fingers on the pulse of everything trendy and edgy. Yet, the group behaved like middle-aged people with a strange predilection for safe radio rock. Every single character was also ridiculously self-obsessed. Witness Monica as she tries to hide the fact that she hit her nephew’s head on the ceiling, rather than make sure he wasn’t injured, or Chandler (having given up smoking) as he tries to convince Rachel to start smoking simply because he likes the smell of it.
It painted men and women in a simplistic, unappealing light
Friends helped perpetuate, or maybe even create in some cases, a trite sitcom and TV advertising stereotype of men as largely pathetic, insecure, and jealous, and women as shallow, whiny, and neurotic. One such instance is when Rachel spreads a rumor around her office that a guy she’s interested in is gay in order to keep other women from hitting on him. Another example is when Monica starts dating a man who is a recovering alcoholic – she then decides he isn’t fun enough and starts drinking heavily whenever they go out together. Joey’s constant game-playing and sexual harassment to get women in bed and Chandler’s mistreatment of Janice so he can get the occasional hook-up made men seem less than appealing, and showed how women were treated as objects throughout the show.
The Ross and Rachel plotline was overly used
Although some might argue that this was the most memorable relationship in sitcom history, the Rachel and Ross story was probably Friends’ worst legacy. Their relationship was meant to produce drama and excitement in order to get viewers to keep watching in hopes for a happy ending. However, their relationship is probably one of the most toxic out of anyone’s relationships in the group. This taught viewers that breaking up and getting back together was normal in any healthy relationship. It also seemed like nearly every season ended on a Ross and Rachel cliffhanger, adding nothing new to the show.
It never made a lasting impression
Ultimately, Friends never made a lasting impression on the television world despite its reputation for being influential. The show never inspired any trends in sitcoms, its characters were forgettable and shallow, and it seemed to continue with the same plotlines for decades. Even by the end of its run, the sitcom scene was already dominated by “mockumentary” style shows like The Office, which are not at all inspired by Friends type shows, and embody a totally different approach to humor (not to mention that they have the advantage of actually being funny!).
Friends may have been the most popular sitcom of its time, but it certainly will not be as memorable as many think it will be. One thing’s for sure, though – we probably will never forget that awful 90’s theme song.
Elizabeth Eckhart is a film and entertainment writer. She has written for Thunder Treats before and currently her home base is in Chicago. You can follow her on Twitter at @elizeckhart.
