It’s no stretch to say that ‘90s TV show Friends is one of the best TV series of all time. The New York-based sitcom starred Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc as the titular friends, and followed them through the ups and downs of their twenties and early thirties as they navigated life, love, and various other hijinks amid the backdrop of Central Perk: their favourite coffee shop.
Although the comedy series ended in 2004, many of the cast members have had brilliant film careers both during and after their stints on Friends. Jennifer Aniston, for example, continues to be the rom-com queen, while Courtney Cox became a horror movie icon after starring in all of the Scream movies. But according to Eddie Gorodetsky, who was the producer of recently-ended show The Big Bang Theory, the cast of Friends broke sitcom conventions in one significant way.
“The worst thing that Friends did was find six people who are really good-looking and funny,” Gorodetsky explained in an interview for a book entitled The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive Inside Story Of The Epic Hit Series.
“So, you went through this period of time on television where we kind of went backwards, and they just wanted to find good-looking people, and they didn’t care if they were funny for a while,” he said. “Thank God we’re coming out of that again. The idea of seeing people you can identify with and going ‘I’m not a freak. I’m not the only one who has to bleach my mustache’ is really important.”
With cable comedies now being overrun by streaming services, check out our guide to some of the best Netflix series available to watch right now, or take a look back at some of the best 2022 TV series. Anyway, I’m off to bleach my moustache.