Thirty years ago in September 1994, Runaway Bride Rachel Green broke in Central Perk in a blind panic searching for shelter and the long lost friend who would give it. Participation in the long lost friend and her gang on the couch who were always mysteriously accessible to them at a packed café, Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler and Joey threw a spell in the form of Friends It would last ten seasons and stretch on what is starting to look like the end of time.

Ditzy Rachel, Neurotic Monica, Flaky Phoebe, Nerdy Ross, Charming Joey and Funnman Chandler: Could the combination be Is there more potent? What was it about this sitcom that sets it apart from the other forgotten names of the nineties? When you are looking for our solution of nostalgic humor you would be hard pressed to find a great lot of millennia, Everyone loves Raymond or flows to The King of Queens. So what was it about Friends It turned effectively immortally?

The winning formula

Maybe it was their unexplained transcendent good appearance of women that made the rush. Or maybe it was that the lives of core figures remained firmly intertwined, giving us not only a solid set of friendships, but also a hopeful love story. Chandler and Monica or Mondler, which they are lovingly known together as a couple and prevailed through the challenges of infertility, real estate and nasal ex-boyfriend. They proved that an adult relationship can survive not only the big guns, but also the small battles without any of the parties ever need to pause. Although the topic of breaks towards relationships has inevitably come up, let me just get my unpopular opinion out of the way: Yes, Ross was right, they were on the break, and yes, Rachel is holding on to a nag. As it is super glue.

But Friends was about so much more than lessons in love and friendship. A sitcom might never endeavor after putting iconic tilable moments but Friends cemented his place in TV history by giving us an abundance of them. For starters, this beloved show learned us that when we took a couch up the stairs, we always have to hire movements. If we do not hire movements, we will be doomed to “turn” around corners with helpers who do not seem to know the dictionary definition of Pivot. It taught us that when you pause, it is always best to prepare a legal document that outlines the conditions and conditions of the said break.

It also taught us that the route to Parenthood doesn’t always have to be what you expect. Phoebe steps up to be a surrogate mother of her brother’s children and shows us how heartbreaking it can be to give away these babies. Chandler and Monica find love in their hearts to become adoptive parents of twins after a violent infertility journey. Even Ross and Rachel find a way to raise Emma without complying with societal norms, although here I am afraid that there must have been an element of dark magic involved. As a person who has spent many years circleing around babies and toddlers, the most unrealistic TV moment I’ve ever witnessed when Rachel announced: “I put emma down for a nap” and appeared up baby-free five seconds later. No one in parental history has ever achieved this. But Hi Ho. We don’t go to sitcoms for realism!

Plays Devil’s Advocate

Not everyone shares my rosy and forgiving view of this show of six attractive people whose jobs allow them to spend all day in a coffee shop. When Netflix pulled out Friends By 2020 to throw the pain of a global pandemic, it wasn’t long before the vultures fell on Ross Geller for his burning desire for Rachel to leave from a Paris-bound aircraft.

“Ross is so problematic,” notes a fan in disgust on Reddit. “Rachel shouldn’t have come off the plane.”

“Problematic” is the chosen label for fictional characters that make questionable choices and few have been pushed under a microscope that is harder than Ross. Modern viewers find him jealous, manipulative, controlling, immature and an absent father of his firstborn, legs, and not very devoted to his second -born, Emma.

But Friends Was not the first sitcom with problematic people. Seinfeld did it a few years before FriendsWith four core characters who made some very dubious choices. No one in Seinfeld has ever been crucified as ross – although it may be because in SeinfeldThe joke is on the characters: We, the audience, all knew they are terrible people and our jobs are laughing at them. Never with them. IN SeinfeldAmong the many crimes explored in depth, George inadvertently kills his fiancé, Elaine is openly disgusted by his friend’s baby, Kramer repeatedly destroys the business with a trial, and Jerry screws into the immigration process of the Pakistani man he had sworn up help. IN SeinfeldHowever, all their comeuppance in a series final, Mete’s most glorious punishment for their crimes in the last nine seasons. If you want a show heavy on laugh and devoid of heart, go to Seinfeld immediately.

IN FriendsA show that focuses on both laughs and hearts gets ross no such combinations. As a protagonist, we are encouraged to empathize with him and not laugh at him for too long, which is something that nitpicky viewers have difficulty forgiving. Other viewers, however, are happy not only to focus on poor Ross, but also includes the rest of the role crew in their damn judgment. Sin? To be too white, too rich (how could Monica can afford that apartment on her own?) Too centrally located in New York and too successful (how did Chandler get an office with that view in their twenties?). In addition, it is impossible for six people to always find an empty sofa at a cafe. How do they do that? These are the burning questions that the viewers at Reddit will have answered – but not me. I’m not going to sitcoms to get answers. I go to sitcoms for the same reason that I avoid horror movies and thrillers involving blood emit: I will be entertained. I will go away and feel happy. Friends It cannot pass the wiser test of the 21st century, but those of us who devoured it back on the day do not care. We came to laugh. We stayed in the heart. And we’re not going anywhere.

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