Still Friends After All These Years: Celebrating 20 years

This hit sitcom may be on constant reruns but it’s fun to rediscover how funny it really is. The show’s creators share the secret to the show’s success

Here’s the thing about Friends that often gets forgotten in all the hoopla about Jennifer Aniston’s hair; the embarrassment of Jennifer Aniston’s hair scandal; catchphrases (“We’re on break!”, “Can you be any more annoying?”); plot of television series (Ross and Rachel! Monica and Chandler! Er, Rachel and Joey); excellent guest stars (Brad Pitt) and long-running roles (Tom Selleck, Kathleen Turner); the British cameos are always terrible (Tom Conti, Jennifer Saunders); and the ridiculous hoo-hah in the show’s final episode. The thing about Friends is that it’s so funny.

But Friends is a victim of its own success and, more specifically, its popularity. To mark the 10th anniversary of the final episode and the 20th anniversary of the first episode, some of the cast appeared on The Jimmy Kimmel Show in the US last week in a parody of the original episode and the skit appeared to be very nice. , tired. Sticky. Because the show is on cable TV constantly, it feels like an embarrassing giant of the ’90s that will never die, a supergroup that continues to tour long after it stopped forming record.