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| Closure at last: there will be no Friends reunion, so let’s deal with it | Closure at last: there will be no Friends reunion, so let’s deal with it |
| (7 months later) | |
| Our obsession with Friends is real and ongoing. Almost as real as our obsession with a Friends reunion. Those of us high on 90s-era nostalgia, our debates on whether Ross and Rachel were on a break (it was bad form on Ross’s part, but they totally were), and cries of “Chanandler Bong” want nothing more than to see our favourite sitcom characters appear onscreen together again. Even if it won’t be in the form of an actual special. And even if the stars of that show don’t feel the same way. | Our obsession with Friends is real and ongoing. Almost as real as our obsession with a Friends reunion. Those of us high on 90s-era nostalgia, our debates on whether Ross and Rachel were on a break (it was bad form on Ross’s part, but they totally were), and cries of “Chanandler Bong” want nothing more than to see our favourite sitcom characters appear onscreen together again. Even if it won’t be in the form of an actual special. And even if the stars of that show don’t feel the same way. |
| Last week, Matthew Perry laid down the facts during his appearance on Graham Norton, making it very clear that what we wanted to be a Friends reunion is ultimately just the cast participating in a larger TV event. “It’s not the reunion everyone is hoping for - they are celebrating Jim Burrows, who was a director of Friends,” he explained (crushing all of our spirits). “The other five are going to be on this special and I am going to introduce them from London. I’m doing a play here so I can’t be there.” | Last week, Matthew Perry laid down the facts during his appearance on Graham Norton, making it very clear that what we wanted to be a Friends reunion is ultimately just the cast participating in a larger TV event. “It’s not the reunion everyone is hoping for - they are celebrating Jim Burrows, who was a director of Friends,” he explained (crushing all of our spirits). “The other five are going to be on this special and I am going to introduce them from London. I’m doing a play here so I can’t be there.” |
| So it’s not going to happen, and it’s all kind of a buzzkill. Why, 12 years after the series ended, are some people still so thirsty for a Friends reunion? Especially as we know the show was a beautiful, terrible lie. Life doesn’t actually look that way, friend groups should never be that insular, and Gunther was absolutely a predator. And despite knowing this, a Friends reunion is relentlessly discussed. | So it’s not going to happen, and it’s all kind of a buzzkill. Why, 12 years after the series ended, are some people still so thirsty for a Friends reunion? Especially as we know the show was a beautiful, terrible lie. Life doesn’t actually look that way, friend groups should never be that insular, and Gunther was absolutely a predator. And despite knowing this, a Friends reunion is relentlessly discussed. |
| Just so we’re clear, this isn’t an anti-Friends manifesto. As a teen (and beyond), I lived for Ross’s whining, Rachel’s short-lived quest for “closure”, Phoebe’s attempts to seduce and break Chandler, and the stark realisation that beef doesn’t belong in the trifle. Friends is magical, and it’s funny, and I will never deny the lasting impact on anyone who believed they could also afford a Manhattan apartment by the age of 25. (I will also never forget watching Monica and Chandler’s wedding episode while my own friends bleached my hair, but that’s a story for another day.) I’ve written endlessly about Friends and why it still matters, but you can’t force six people to recapture fictional magic. It will never be 1994 again. | Just so we’re clear, this isn’t an anti-Friends manifesto. As a teen (and beyond), I lived for Ross’s whining, Rachel’s short-lived quest for “closure”, Phoebe’s attempts to seduce and break Chandler, and the stark realisation that beef doesn’t belong in the trifle. Friends is magical, and it’s funny, and I will never deny the lasting impact on anyone who believed they could also afford a Manhattan apartment by the age of 25. (I will also never forget watching Monica and Chandler’s wedding episode while my own friends bleached my hair, but that’s a story for another day.) I’ve written endlessly about Friends and why it still matters, but you can’t force six people to recapture fictional magic. It will never be 1994 again. |
| Heartbreakingly, Friends is just a TV show, starring a cast who’ve since moved on, the way all actors should. And if we’re all riding the reunion train, there were other shows within that era that depicted the realities of adulthood in equally heartwarming and hilarious ways that deserve just as much reunion rallying. In Murphy Brown, Candice Bergen’s character navigated the ins and outs of being a woman in the male-dominated sports industry, while Newsradio embodied the camaraderie of the broadcasting world (before the broadcasting world changed so dramatically). Ally McBeal – at least in the first few seasons – delivered a trailblazing heroine who refused to be defined by her wardrobe (or the ability to see dancing babies), and My So-Called Life ended after only a season and some of us aren’t over that and feel like we deserve more. (I’m hoping you’re reading this, Claire Danes.) | Heartbreakingly, Friends is just a TV show, starring a cast who’ve since moved on, the way all actors should. And if we’re all riding the reunion train, there were other shows within that era that depicted the realities of adulthood in equally heartwarming and hilarious ways that deserve just as much reunion rallying. In Murphy Brown, Candice Bergen’s character navigated the ins and outs of being a woman in the male-dominated sports industry, while Newsradio embodied the camaraderie of the broadcasting world (before the broadcasting world changed so dramatically). Ally McBeal – at least in the first few seasons – delivered a trailblazing heroine who refused to be defined by her wardrobe (or the ability to see dancing babies), and My So-Called Life ended after only a season and some of us aren’t over that and feel like we deserve more. (I’m hoping you’re reading this, Claire Danes.) |
| To acknowledge these facts doesn’t mean we have to love Friends any less. To accept that the show is over for ever doesn’t mean we don’t value Ross, Rachel and the rest of the gang, or that we need to stop screaming “Pivot!” any time we help a pal move. Instead, acknowledging the spoils of 90s series that were equally impactful will help us all see Friends for what it is: a terrific TV show. But to hold it up as the perfect encapsulation of 90s culture makes just as much sense as introducing ourselves to prospective employers today by telling them about what marks we got in year 10 maths. | To acknowledge these facts doesn’t mean we have to love Friends any less. To accept that the show is over for ever doesn’t mean we don’t value Ross, Rachel and the rest of the gang, or that we need to stop screaming “Pivot!” any time we help a pal move. Instead, acknowledging the spoils of 90s series that were equally impactful will help us all see Friends for what it is: a terrific TV show. But to hold it up as the perfect encapsulation of 90s culture makes just as much sense as introducing ourselves to prospective employers today by telling them about what marks we got in year 10 maths. |
| The cast has grown beyond it. Our society has grown beyond it. In 2016, Monica and Rachel would need about six more roommates, and they’d probably need to work two jobs. We don’t need to see them outside the bubble of the mid-1990s – especially since they themselves don’t seem particularly jazzed to reunite. Maybe Drake said it best: no new Friends. Not when we’ve already got 10 series of perfection. | The cast has grown beyond it. Our society has grown beyond it. In 2016, Monica and Rachel would need about six more roommates, and they’d probably need to work two jobs. We don’t need to see them outside the bubble of the mid-1990s – especially since they themselves don’t seem particularly jazzed to reunite. Maybe Drake said it best: no new Friends. Not when we’ve already got 10 series of perfection. |
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