'Friends' Co-Creator now wishes she made the show more diverse

[Cookie Tookie 10,546]

30 minutes ago, Lucas said:

People who hate on this show need to buy a sense of humour, harmless jokes and being straight up offensive to try to hurt people are 2 different things

What do you expect from a bunch of teens who find everything offensive  I actually found the show to be whatever. I enjoyed some of the humor, but I could never get into the show growing up. I found most other 90s shows to actually be quite funny though, because they weren’t trying to be completely PC about everything. 

[Doot 2]

1 hour ago, Dramatica said:

A show where the only LGBTQ+ character is Chandler's transgender father who is made fun of all the time

Ross's ex wife is a lesbian. That's a fairly large plot point on the show. Rachel's former college roommate is a lesbian and is in love with her. 

[Bolkins 4,125]

I’ve been rewatching friends recently for the first time in 10 years and it’s kinda crazy how out of touch it is with today’s values. Also, Ross was such a psychopath. 

[audrey horne 1,180]

I bet she would, this show is so bland. I've never found the appeal nor the humor watching this show as a kid and I understood why later. It's a festival of uninspired, repetitive and simple minded jokes based on mocking physical appearance, lifestyle choices or sexuality, full of racism, misogyny and LGBTQphobia. A really toxic representation of friendship imo. Overrated af.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Adakam said:

Forced diversity can really hurt a show if not done properly.

[Dramatica 13,685]

1 hour ago, Doot said:

Ross's ex wife is a lesbian. That's a fairly large plot point on the show. Rachel's former college roommate is a lesbian and is in love with her. 

Rachel's former roommate is an awkward woman and everyone makes jokes about how they were "Lovers" as if that's something funny, and at then end she married a guy.

And Ross's ex wife is allegedly bisexual who hid her feelings towards women and married Ross and then cheated on him with her gym female partner.

Don't let me pull out the receipts, I've watched that show sweetie

[gag 22,449]

ITT: I miss when we could freely mock queer people and POC and no one would hold us accountable 

[berlinforme 5,267]

1 hour ago, justhislife said:

Orange Is the New Black is based on a true story of a white woman though. I don't think it has much to do with them pitching it like that on purpose. It's always been an ensemble cast from the start, Piper is just the way in and the beginning. 

There could always be the token black character. 

I read an interview once, where the producers (or anyone from production) said, they always wanted to tell the stories of marginalized groups in prison. But they wouldn't get a show just for that, so they pitched the story of a bougie white woman being put into jail. The true story is great source material but not as good as the other characters' arcs imo and apparently the writers agree on that. Can't find the interview anymore though, just found it very interesting at the time. 

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

2 hours ago, Dramatica said:

A show where the only LGBTQ+ character is Chandler's transgender father who is made fun of all the time. Where Monica's past obesity is laughed about, and the one non-white character (Charlie) appeared on the season finale as Ross's ephemeral girlfriend.

Didn't she know back then that LGBTQ+, POC are not a joke?

Heck, even Phoebe's vegetarianism is made fun of.

Call it "Basic Stereotypes" instead of "Friends"

Ross's ex wife was a lesbian. I never liked the show and even I know that. 

But the rest is right. I don't even think there were black or Asian or Hispanic people ever at the coffee shop they met at. 

It's NY for Christ's sake.

I've been saying this on every Friends thread there is and I always got shít for it. 

[berlinforme 5,267]

13 minutes ago, Dramatica said:

 

And Ross's ex wife is allegedly bisexual who hid her feelings towards women and married Ross and then cheated on him with her gym female partner.

 

So what...? She's portrayed much more reasonable than him and is quite a cute character. And in reality, I think, that's not a story thaaat uncommon? Imagine all the gay guys in straight marriages you find on Grindr. 

[Dramatica 13,685]

1 minute ago, berlinforme said:

So what...? She's portrayed much more reasonable than him and is quite a cute character. And in reality, I think, that's not a story thaaat uncommon? Imagine all the gay guys in straight marriages you find on Grindr. 

I'm talking about the fact that all we got as LGBTz is a secondary cheater () character. Jeez, give us at least Monica as a lesbian character and I'd be happy

[Franch Toast 26,581]

12 minutes ago, JusKeepBreathin said:

Ross's ex wife was a lesbian. I never liked the show and even I know that. 

But the rest is right. I don't even think there were black or Asian or Hispanic people ever at the coffee shop they met at. 

It's NY for Christ's sake.

I've been saying this on every Friends thread there is and I always got shít for it. 

Ross briefly had an Asian girlfriend, Julie, whom he met on his trip to China, but yeah, they lived in a very white version of New York, kind of like the Sex and the City girls. Although I can believe that the characters in both shows lived in their lily-white bubbles, not having more POC in the background at least made it feel very unrealistic for Manhattan in the late 1990s early 2000s. Of course, being able to afford those nice apartments with the salaries they had was also very unrealistic. 

[Brecht 7]

Except she already knew better, even when the show aired there was already criticism about that, they even cast Charlie as Ross' girlfriend to shut the critics up. I call bullshit.

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

9 minutes ago, Franch Toast said:

Ross briefly had an Asian girlfriend, Julie, whom he met on his trip to China, but yeah, they lived in a very white version of New York, kind of like the Sex and the City girls. Although I can believe that the characters in both shows lived in their lily-white bubbles, not having more POC in the background at least made it feel very unrealistic for Manhattan in the late 1990s early 2000s. Of course, being able to afford those nice apartments with the salaries they had was also very unrealistic. 

Sex in the City had Drag Queens and people of color at least in the back ground and they had  Mario as the gay reoccurring roll. But yeah most if those shows back then were pretty white washed. 

[ilocorB 548]

Friends is a problematic show overall, there are lots of homophobic jokes, fat shaming, misogyny, vegan/vegetarian shaming. It’s really a show from an other century and should stay there.