Friends Reunion on HBO Max is out today - tell me your thoughts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The teens I know watch it. My 15 year old and her best friend love it. Mine even picked a shirt for Election Day that was Friends inspired.

Save some of the unfortunate gay jokes (product of the times), I don’t think it’s all that bad. Am I missing something?

Well, there's the lack of diversity, for one thing. Apparently Schwimmer had to beg for girlfriends of color, and even then, Julie and Charlie were shallow characters with no substance to them whatsoever. There's a reason Aisha Taylor, Lauren Tom, and hell, even Christina Applegate and Paul Rudd didn't guest star.

I wondered why none of the minority actors returned for this. Aisha Taylor and Lauren Tom were great, among the more dimensional guest star characters. I didn’t think they were shallow, but rather more logical choices for Ross. Rachel made no sense on paper, was a “heart wants what the heart wants” thing.

By shallow, I meant that we never got to know them very well. This article in Marie Claire of all places explains it pretty well: https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/a36522146/friends-women-of-color-romantic-racism/

That article is RIDICULOUS, IMO. Ross and Rachel had known each other their whole lives. Yes, Julie and Charlie were his professional peers, but that's not always how life goes. And this line:

Shows like Friends have told Black women, time and time again, that you can be the most accomplished, beautiful, funny, stellar person and you won’t get your Happily Ever After. Because there’s a white person out there the audience believes should have it more.

If I recall, at least one of these women dumped Ross. And that white person was his lifelong love. Give me a break.

Both Charlie and Julie DID get their happily ever after! Charlie dumped Ross because her true love was Greg Kinnear. And remember how Julie fell in love with Russ? Russ was her true lobster!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The gay jokes are so interesting to me now knowing now that one of the creators was gay - one of the creators talked about his husband being on Mad About You.

I suspect you are younger than me. In the context of the times, I think it was actually moderately progressive, especially with the Chandler dad being trans. (played by a woman), which now would be weird. Most gay guys I knew back then made a fair number of jokes that might be considered a little surprising now—humor being a way to deal with the oppression. (Look at the old Will and Grace episodes.) I think there was also probably an element of making fun of a certain type of guy that was very common in the 90s—when even pretty nice and tolerant straight guys had a lot of internalized homophobia based in insecurity. (Eg the “not that there’s anything wrong with that” jokes on Seinfeld.). So the creator was probably reflecting that in the characters.
For me, the fat suit stuff was and remains pretty cringey.

Agree totally. The trans dad, the gay couple (Ross's first ex), etc were actually pretty progressive compared to other shows at the time. Yes there were no diverse main characters, but Aisha Taylor's character was a PhD who was a colleague of Ross's at the university where he worked, Chandler had a number of black bosses, etc. That's not unrealistic for the early 90s (that a close group of young 20s friends wouldn't include any black friends, but they'd have black people as part of their larger social/professional circles).

Agree also that the fat stuff is BAD and did not age well.

I feel like it says a lot about you that you are more concerned about the fat shaming than the lack of diversity on the show.

What is that supposed to mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter and I had Friends on yesterday as we were doing some mindless work. It was the time period around the wedding/Rachel’s surprise pregnancy. Ross started seeing Mona. She was very cute and a better match for him than Rachel

I was actually mad when they forced them together with a kid and the stupidity in the finale. They no longer made sense.

I would have been pissed if Ross and Rachel did not end up together. It's escapist entertainment. I want the happily ever after.

[Anonymous]

I don’t remember Julie getting with Russ. Rachel dated Russ briefly. Did we ever see Julie again after they didn’t get the cat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter and I had Friends on yesterday as we were doing some mindless work. It was the time period around the wedding/Rachel’s surprise pregnancy. Ross started seeing Mona. She was very cute and a better match for him than Rachel

I was actually mad when they forced them together with a kid and the stupidity in the finale. They no longer made sense.

I would have been pissed if Ross and Rachel did not end up together. It's escapist entertainment. I want the happily ever after.

I understand the sentiment, but somewhere around season 4/5, Ross became nothing more than an annoying whiner. Rachel had amazing career growth and was going to move to Paris. Go to Paris, woman! If it weren’t for the kid, there was zero reason for them to be together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t remember Julie getting with Russ. Rachel dated Russ briefly. Did we ever see Julie again after they didn’t get the cat?

Sorry, I just looked it up - apparently it is an end credits scene that I had completely forgotten

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter and I had Friends on yesterday as we were doing some mindless work. It was the time period around the wedding/Rachel’s surprise pregnancy. Ross started seeing Mona. She was very cute and a better match for him than Rachel

I was actually mad when they forced them together with a kid and the stupidity in the finale. They no longer made sense.

I would have been pissed if Ross and Rachel did not end up together. It's escapist entertainment. I want the happily ever after.

I understand the sentiment, but somewhere around season 4/5, Ross became nothing more than an annoying whiner. Rachel had amazing career growth and was going to move to Paris. Go to Paris, woman! If it weren’t for the kid, there was zero reason for them to be together.

Honestly I thought the Paris storyline was dumb. Why would it be okay for Rachel to move to Paris with their daughter? Wouldn't both of them want it to be a priority for Emma to have both parents in her life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The gay jokes are so interesting to me now knowing now that one of the creators was gay - one of the creators talked about his husband being on Mad About You.

I suspect you are younger than me. In the context of the times, I think it was actually moderately progressive, especially with the Chandler dad being trans. (played by a woman), which now would be weird. Most gay guys I knew back then made a fair number of jokes that might be considered a little surprising now—humor being a way to deal with the oppression. (Look at the old Will and Grace episodes.) I think there was also probably an element of making fun of a certain type of guy that was very common in the 90s—when even pretty nice and tolerant straight guys had a lot of internalized homophobia based in insecurity. (Eg the “not that there’s anything wrong with that” jokes on Seinfeld.). So the creator was probably reflecting that in the characters.
For me, the fat suit stuff was and remains pretty cringey.

Agree totally. The trans dad, the gay couple (Ross's first ex), etc were actually pretty progressive compared to other shows at the time. Yes there were no diverse main characters, but Aisha Taylor's character was a PhD who was a colleague of Ross's at the university where he worked, Chandler had a number of black bosses, etc. That's not unrealistic for the early 90s (that a close group of young 20s friends wouldn't include any black friends, but they'd have black people as part of their larger social/professional circles).

Agree also that the fat stuff is BAD and did not age well.

I feel like it says a lot about you that you are more concerned about the fat shaming than the lack of diversity on the show.

What is that supposed to mean?

The show was diverse for it’s time. I believe it had the first lesbian wedding, Ross and Joey dated a black person. Julie was Asian. And even in today’s social circles, POC do not mix that much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter and I had Friends on yesterday as we were doing some mindless work. It was the time period around the wedding/Rachel’s surprise pregnancy. Ross started seeing Mona. She was very cute and a better match for him than Rachel

I was actually mad when they forced them together with a kid and the stupidity in the finale. They no longer made sense.

I would have been pissed if Ross and Rachel did not end up together. It's escapist entertainment. I want the happily ever after.

I understand the sentiment, but somewhere around season 4/5, Ross became nothing more than an annoying whiner. Rachel had amazing career growth and was going to move to Paris. Go to Paris, woman! If it weren’t for the kid, there was zero reason for them to be together.

Honestly I thought the Paris storyline was dumb. Why would it be okay for Rachel to move to Paris with their daughter? Wouldn't both of them want it to be a priority for Emma to have both parents in her life?

Which was why I was annoyed with the Emma storyline. It was only a plot device to keep them tied to each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The teens I know watch it. My 15 year old and her best friend love it. Mine even picked a shirt for Election Day that was Friends inspired.

Save some of the unfortunate gay jokes (product of the times), I don’t think it’s all that bad. Am I missing something?

Well, there's the lack of diversity, for one thing. Apparently Schwimmer had to beg for girlfriends of color, and even then, Julie and Charlie were shallow characters with no substance to them whatsoever. There's a reason Aisha Taylor, Lauren Tom, and hell, even Christina Applegate and Paul Rudd didn't guest star.

I wondered why none of the minority actors returned for this. Aisha Taylor and Lauren Tom were great, among the more dimensional guest star characters. I didn’t think they were shallow, but rather more logical choices for Ross. Rachel made no sense on paper, was a “heart wants what the heart wants” thing.

By shallow, I meant that we never got to know them very well. This article in Marie Claire of all places explains it pretty well: https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/a36522146/friends-women-of-color-romantic-racism/

That article is RIDICULOUS, IMO. Ross and Rachel had known each other their whole lives. Yes, Julie and Charlie were his professional peers, but that's not always how life goes. And this line:

Shows like Friends have told Black women, time and time again, that you can be the most accomplished, beautiful, funny, stellar person and you won’t get your Happily Ever After. Because there’s a white person out there the audience believes should have it more.

If I recall, at least one of these women dumped Ross. And that white person was his lifelong love. Give me a break.

Both Charlie and Julie DID get their happily ever after! Charlie dumped Ross because her true love was Greg Kinnear. And remember how Julie fell in love with Russ? Russ was her true lobster!

Also, Charlie and Julie were two of the most accomplished, intelligent characters on the show. Just because they didn’t marry one of the main characters doesn’t mean they didn’t portray minorities well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The teens I know watch it. My 15 year old and her best friend love it. Mine even picked a shirt for Election Day that was Friends inspired.

Save some of the unfortunate gay jokes (product of the times), I don’t think it’s all that bad. Am I missing something?

Well, there's the lack of diversity, for one thing. Apparently Schwimmer had to beg for girlfriends of color, and even then, Julie and Charlie were shallow characters with no substance to them whatsoever. There's a reason Aisha Taylor, Lauren Tom, and hell, even Christina Applegate and Paul Rudd didn't guest star.

I wondered why none of the minority actors returned for this. Aisha Taylor and Lauren Tom were great, among the more dimensional guest star characters. I didn’t think they were shallow, but rather more logical choices for Ross. Rachel made no sense on paper, was a “heart wants what the heart wants” thing.

By shallow, I meant that we never got to know them very well. This article in Marie Claire of all places explains it pretty well: https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/a36522146/friends-women-of-color-romantic-racism/

That article is RIDICULOUS, IMO. Ross and Rachel had known each other their whole lives. Yes, Julie and Charlie were his professional peers, but that's not always how life goes. And this line:

Shows like Friends have told Black women, time and time again, that you can be the most accomplished, beautiful, funny, stellar person and you won’t get your Happily Ever After. Because there’s a white person out there the audience believes should have it more.

If I recall, at least one of these women dumped Ross. And that white person was his lifelong love. Give me a break.

Both Charlie and Julie DID get their happily ever after! Charlie dumped Ross because her true love was Greg Kinnear. And remember how Julie fell in love with Russ? Russ was her true lobster!

Also, Charlie and Julie were two of the most accomplished, intelligent characters on the show. Just because they didn’t marry one of the main characters doesn’t mean they didn’t portray minorities well.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

I thought the reunion was cringey. And Matthew Perry looked drunk - not just the slur but the empty gaze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter and I had Friends on yesterday as we were doing some mindless work. It was the time period around the wedding/Rachel’s surprise pregnancy. Ross started seeing Mona. She was very cute and a better match for him than Rachel

I was actually mad when they forced them together with a kid and the stupidity in the finale. They no longer made sense.

I would have been pissed if Ross and Rachel did not end up together. It's escapist entertainment. I want the happily ever after.

I understand the sentiment, but somewhere around season 4/5, Ross became nothing more than an annoying whiner. Rachel had amazing career growth and was going to move to Paris. Go to Paris, woman! If it weren’t for the kid, there was zero reason for them to be together.

Honestly I thought the Paris storyline was dumb. Why would it be okay for Rachel to move to Paris with their daughter? Wouldn't both of them want it to be a priority for Emma to have both parents in her life?

Which was why I was annoyed with the Emma storyline. It was only a plot device to keep them tied to each other.

Friends was suppose to end with season 8. I am sure the Emma storyline was started before the two year, million dollar per cast per episode, extension. Season 8 would have ended with baby and marriage. The Joey/Rachel and Ross/Charlie stories were just to drag out the last two years. Never liked either story.

Season 10 was cut short by 5 episodes, Ross was suppose to follow Rachel to Paris and fall in love again with each other.

At least, that is what I have read on the series.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the reunion was cringey. And Matthew Perry looked drunk - not just the slur but the empty gaze.

No way he wasn't on something. He slurred in the interviews as well. You could see the other two guys were a little nervous/uncomfortable about him when it was just the three of them. He made some inappropriate jokes, was slurring, gazing ahead with an empty gaze, slow response time (a full beat behind the others). If you pay attention to the reunion, he hardly said anything. Some was probably cut to keep his participation minimal. Poor guy did not seem up to this at all. It was pretty awful to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the reunion was cringey. And Matthew Perry looked drunk - not just the slur but the empty gaze.

No way he wasn't on something. He slurred in the interviews as well. You could see the other two guys were a little nervous/uncomfortable about him when it was just the three of them. He made some inappropriate jokes, was slurring, gazing ahead with an empty gaze, slow response time (a full beat behind the others). If you pay attention to the reunion, he hardly said anything. Some was probably cut to keep his participation minimal. Poor guy did not seem up to this at all. It was pretty awful to see.

It was awful to see and also awful that he presumably showed up on set in that condition and every one of his cast mates and the producers said, “let’s carry on with filming”. He shouldn’t have been on the show in that condition and it’s sad that his costars - supposes buddies - were complicit in pretending there was nothing wrong.