10 Reasons Why Friends SHOULDN'T Do A Reunion
Against a reunion of Friends? Seriously, could this BE anymore controversial?
It’s everyone’s favourite nostalgic, albeit potentially problematic (we'll touch on that later) millennial comfort blanket. Friends, which premiered in 1994 - yes 25 years ago - was a wildly popular, harmless sitcom about a group of white, middle class 20 somethings drinking coffee and falling in and out of love. Nothing groundbreaking, but the charm of the characters, insanely quotable scriptwriting and relatability of it all, made us feel like we knew Chandler, Monica, Ross, Rachel, Phoebe and Joey.
The mundanity of it all was a bizarre comfort that many still hold a flame to. What will Monica complain about this week? Will they play on the clichéd trope that she is a woman who likes to clean? You bet they will. And will you tune in and watch it without fail? Of course you will.
All this was wrapped up perfectly in 2004. They all had their happy endings. It was emotional, but it was right. There are only so many ways you can tell the same story over 10 years and it was apparent that the gang had run their course. And now, in the year 2019, of course there are murmurings of a special one-off reunion.
But should there be? Probably not. Here's why.
10. It Won't Be As Good
The original series racked up an impressive
number of accolades, including, but not limited to: Golden Globes; Emmys and Guild
awards for both writing and acting. The finale had an impressive 52.46 million
viewers at the time of airing, making Friends the toast of the primetime tv
town, and rightfully cementing its place amongst other heavy hitters of the
time.
So, it’s fair to say that there’s a lot to live up to and a lot of pressure to get it right. Particularly, compounding pressure from legions of the show’s fans, who have been begging for a reunion for years now, and no doubt fantasising of how it should be played out.
You can sympathise with the creator's reluctance to steamroll ahead with a reunion, as the track record for late '90s reprisals isn't great. See Sex and the City 2, touted by many to be a flop and having just a 15% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
It’s hard now, in retrospect, to look back at
the original series without it feeling slightly tainted and being reminded of
what it became.