Friends is one of the best sitcoms of all time, and, despite having premiered in 1994, is considered to be timeless. The series ended its run 20 years ago and is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
During an interview with Variety, Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachel on the show, got emotional about the show’s upcoming anniversary. The sitcom followed the lives of six friends in their 20s navigating life, friendship, careers, and love in New York. It had an ensemble cast featuring Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and the late Matthew Perry.
Jennifer Aniston has long moved on from Friends, becoming a beloved comedy queen, and returning to TV series with Apple TV+’s The Morning Show in 2019. During the interview with Abbott Elementary’s creator and star Quinta Brunson, Aniston also touched upon the upcoming important milestone. Aniston got emotional when she was asked how she felt watching the show after 30 years around the 31:50 mark. “Oh God, don’t make me cry,” she told Brunson. She needed a few seconds, but she handled herself with so much grace, although it was clear she was thinking about the late Matthew Perry, who passed away last October.
“I just started thinking about… Yeah, no. I’m okay. It’s a happy tear. It’s so strange to even think that it’s 30 years old. Because I remember the day that it was going to premiere on television, on NBC,” Aniston recalled. “Matthew Perry and I were having lunch somewhere, and we knew Lisa was getting her hair colored. So we ran into the hair salon, and I snuck up — she was in the sink — and I took the nozzle from the guy that was supposed to be doing it and just started washing her hair. It definitely flew out of control, and that was unfortunate,” the actress explained.
“But the excitement we had, it feels like yesterday. The fact that it’s had this long, wonderful life and it still means a lot to people is one of the greatest gifts I think all five of us — all six of us — we never could imagine. And we see each other. I talked on FaceTime with Court last night for an hour, and Lisa and the boys, and we just have a really — it’s a family forever.”
Jennifer Aniston Is Happy Friends Was Set in the ’90s
Although the show can be seen as timeless, it was also a product of its time. There are several controversial topics that Friends never addressed or could’ve done better, and not every joke aged well, but Aniston believes there was an advantage to having the series premiere before the internet.
“It was in the ’90s and 2000s, and we had a luxury of there not being social media or the internet, so we were so isolated and protected. You weren’t faced with what people are commenting and ripping you apart or whatever. It was really an innocent time, where we could roam about the world a lot easier. But again, there weren’t phones. It’s not like hundreds of screens telling you what it is.” Aniston previously addressed “cancel culture,” admitting that she thinks people are more sensitive nowadays.