10 TV Friendships That Wouldn't Work In Real Life
With friends like these, who needs friends?
Friends are a crucial part to our existence. Whether it's to have someone with whom to share the latest gossip, go for a few drinks, or just hang out cause we like their company - they're an important addition to our lives.
Which is why it comes as no surprise that popular media puts huge emphasis on strong friendships in their narratives. TV shows in particular have more time with which to embellish such relationships.
Unfortunately, that is not always the case. While there are many healthy and supporting dynamics on TV from completed as well as currently airing shows, there is a fair share of ones that make you shake your head and question why on Earth those people stay friends. Yet somehow they're still portrayed as 'goals' within the narrative and by parts of the fandoms. Guess everything works in fiction if the writers want it to.
10. The Basement Gang (That '70s Show)
The period sitcom which aired from 1998 to 2006 is centered on six teenagers in a fictional town of Point Place, Wisconsin. The group deals with various teenage struggles such as first relationships, sexual experiences, absent or overbearing parents, and future prospects. It's often emphasized that the friendship between them is the heart of the show both by the fans and the narrative.
However, if one looks deeper, their friendship is far from perfect. A lot of it comes down the writers' choice to put cheap laughs above consistent character development, which is common in sitcoms. But when people who are supposed to be seen as best friends constantly put each other in jeopardy for the fun of it, forget each other's birthdays and graduations and view the girls in the group as sexual objects, it's quite hard to buy into it.
That barely scratches the surface. Back in Season 1, there is a budding Eric/Donna/Hyde love triangle where Hyde shamelessly goes after Donna even though she is clearly interested in his best friend. And who could forget the whole Season 2 debacle where Kelso cheated on Jackie with Eric's sister Laurie and no one in the gang, even Donna, told her about it for pretty much the entire season? Not to mention that Kelso had the audacity to try and cause rifts between Jackie and Hyde's new relationship as soon as he realized she moved on from him (twice).
The fact that they're still friends at the end of the show despite all of this is astounding.