Seventeen years after the show finished HBO Max has released Friends: The Reunion, it is not a reboot like many other series. Friends Reunion is literally the entire cast of the series and a number of creatives sit down and go over aspects of the famed show.
Friends for a number people, myself included, represented a time in life where each week you made sure you were home to watch the series. This was before the advent of On Demand tv or any type of streaming service. As there was something very familiar about the group of six people and how you could relate to aspect of their lives as you slowly learned things about yourself.
Friends: The Reunion delves into the creative process of the series and memorable moments for the cast including interviews with previous guest stars including Reese Witherspoon and Elliot Gould, be sure to look out for the appearance of Lady Gaga and her rendition of Smelly Cat.
The remarkable thing about the series is the popularity, even to this day. Pre-pandemic there was a time when you could go down to the West Village in New York and see the building that was used as the facade of the Friends apartment building.
The fame of the show caused the building to become a tourist site. You would see people crowding the street to have their picture taken with the building in the background. Sometimes you would also hear the themed music playing with people recording themselves on their mobile devices as they danced to the music with the building in the background. Given this was happening fifteen years after the series concluded, you knew that it was a huge ongoing success even after it had finished.
But there are some things about the show that haven’t aged well and are glaringly obvious when you consider the series.
The lack of people of color to feature in the series. People of color or someone of a mixed race background did not featured in the series in any predominant ongoing role. A person of color occasionally appeared, as a minor supporting role, but looking back at the series it does appear to be glaringly obvious.
But for me the big standout issue that even has been raised by the actor who played the role, Kathleen Turner, is the storyline for Chandler’s Dad. The story is that Chandler’s father is a drag queen, identifies as female but still goes by the pronoun of “he” and this causes issues for Chandler resulting in the character becoming the butt of numerous jokes, some almost skirting on being transphobic. Kathleen Turner has even gone on to say she wouldn’t play the role now, if a reboot ever came around.
But the issues aside, there is something comforting about watching a series from your childhood that brings memories flooding back, especially as we continue to endure this ongoing pandemic. Chandler, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Ross and Joey, all these remarkable characters in a series that ran for ten seasons, finishing up in 2004. The final episode being watched by over fifty-six million people. It was just a fun series that will make you smile, even when watching reruns for the fifteenth time.
Friends: The Reunion is easy to watch and is a delight to share in the memories, getting to hear your favorite actors from the series retell stand out moments from the show. A must for any fan of the series. It is also fun to watch James Corden interview the cast on the Warner Bros backlot with the famed fountain appearing in the background.
Friends: The Reunion is currently available on HBOMax.
