'Friends' producer doesn’t regret all-white cast

[PunkTheFunk 122,452]

15 hours ago, PunkTheFunk said:

The show is simply a product of its time. As it says in the article, the show would look a lot different if it was made today and that's what matters.

@Roughhouse Dandy what's so funny?

[Roughhouse Dandy 6,569]

3 hours ago, PunkTheFunk said:

@Roughhouse Dandy what's so funny?

The fact that y'all are acting like the show was 17 generations ago. As people already said in this thread, there were plenty of non-white people on television at the same time, so that's not really a valid excuse. 

They knew they wanted to make a white version of an previously established hit show and pretend that black people didn't exist in their New York for several, SEVERAL seasons. Just like they know that mess wouldn't fly today. 

So, so funny. 😂

[PunkTheFunk 122,452]

Just now, Roughhouse Dandy said:

The fact that y'all are acting like the show was 17 generations ago. As people already said in this thread, there were plenty of non-white people on television at the same time, so that's not really a valid excuse. 

They knew they wanted to make a white version of an previously established hit show and pretend that black people didn't exist in their New York for several, SEVERAL seasons. Just like they know that mess wouldn't fly today. 

So, so funny. 😂

Huh? I said the show was a product of its time. What is so funny about that? 
This is not a question of whether there were non-white people on TV. As someone who grew up watching classic sitcoms (and especially as a POC) I am well aware of that fact. The truth is, most of the sitcoms of that time either had all white or all black main casts. Seinfeld, Frasier, Full House, Roseanne -- all white. Martin, Fresh Prince, Family Matters, Living Single, Sister Sister -- all black. TV was largely segregated. This is the context that Friends was created in, and so it isn't that surprising that it had an all white cast to appeal to a mainly white audience. Does that make it right? No. Would this fly today, in 2021? No. But there's not much we can do about it now except call it out and learn from the mistakes of the past.

I'm not exactly understanding the outrage in your post. What are we supposed to do now that the show is off the air? Execute the producers?

[Roughhouse Dandy 6,569]

29 minutes ago, PunkTheFunk said:

Huh? I said the show was a product of its time. What is so funny about that? 
This is not a question of whether there were non-white people on TV. As someone who grew up watching classic sitcoms (and especially as a POC) I am well aware of that fact. The truth is, most of the sitcoms of that time either had all white or all black main casts. Seinfeld, Frasier, Full House, Roseanne -- all white. Martin, Fresh Prince, Family Matters, Living Single, Sister Sister -- all black. TV was largely segregated. This is the context that Friends was created in, and so it isn't that surprising that it had an all white cast to appeal to a mainly white audience. Does that make it right? No. Would this fly today, in 2021? No. But there's not much we can do about it now except call it out and learn from the mistakes of the past.

I'm not exactly understanding the outrage in your post. What are we supposed to do now that the show is off the air? Execute the producers?

There's no outrage at all. I'm chillin and laughing. 

Like I said, the whole "it's a product of its time" excuse is funny to me because it's ridiculous; they know what they were doing. Almost all those shows you mentioned may have an all black or all white main cast, but they showed plenty of other races as guest stars. Whereas you gotta search long and hard to find one in FRIENDS. At a certain point, it stops becoming coincidental. 

[TimisaMonster 31,073]

Trying to judge a show from 25 years ago based on current civil rights and racial movements is just plain silly...

The show wasn't racist and it was a light hearted show...the dynamics of the cast is what made the show popular...not that they were all white 

[ceminay 251]

I hope we come to a point where words like “white” aren’t used anymore. I’m Turkish/Caucasian, my family is from Caucasia, but most people wouldn’t necessarily consider me “white” if they saw me, even though I am literally Caucasian. I don’t think I’m white either, I don’t relate to that cultural group, it’s just a stupid term.

If Europeans are “white” andAfricans are “black”, is everyone else “brown”/“yellow”/“mixed”/“other”? It’s so orientalist and euro-centric. Where I’m from, in Turkey, these terms are considered racist. We have people with so many different skin colors/looks living here (similar in other countries). Yes we do have racism like anywhere, but people don’t do it based on skin color or categorize each other because of it, and I find it really weird that these terms are used so widely in the US, especially by liberals.

Sorry if a bit off-topic/rant. I know the point is to create more diversity. But maybe not using terms like “white” could be a step forward? I’m saying this as someone who always selects “other” in questionnaires because I don’t feel “white” or want to put myself in a box according to skin color.

[NCgaga 4,225]

This is so dumb. Some of y’all are so offended by a show filmed in a different cultural era 25 years ago. THE REACH Is real. It’s like y’all are sitting around waiting to be offended by something. Oh there is nothing today? Lets go back 25 years and cancel Friends. I can’t lol. It’s not rocket science to know that television was much more segregated back then.

[gumzy3000 6,662]

Unpopular Opinion: Friends is one of the most overrated shows ever made ! 

[Aphasic 4,033]

Seinfeld says hello

Both were great and no harm was intended. They literally started more than 25 years ago.

[Benji 20,113]

6 hours ago, ceminay said:

I hope we come to a point where words like “white” aren’t used anymore. I’m Turkish/Caucasian, my family is from Caucasia, but most people wouldn’t necessarily consider me “white” if they saw me, even though I am literally Caucasian. I don’t think I’m white either, I don’t relate to that cultural group, it’s just a stupid term.

If Europeans are “white” andAfricans are “black”, is everyone else “brown”/“yellow”/“mixed”/“other”? It’s so orientalist and euro-centric. Where I’m from, in Turkey, these terms are considered racist. We have people with so many different skin colors/looks living here (similar in other countries). Yes we do have racism like anywhere, but people don’t do it based on skin color or categorize each other because of it, and I find it really weird that these terms are used so widely in the US, especially by liberals.

Sorry if a bit off-topic/rant. I know the point is to create more diversity. But maybe not using terms like “white” could be a step forward? I’m saying this as someone who always selects “other” in questionnaires because I don’t feel “white” or want to put myself in a box according to skin color.

America’s hang up on race is weird.  I’m British and I say I am white British for ease but I’m a real mixed bag of various European countries and Russian where my family traveled across Europe before settling in England.  One part of my family were still travellers / “gypsies” until two generations ago.

Like many other people in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, regardless of skin colour we tend to all say our heritage is where our parents are from because we have such complex backgrounds from hundreds of years of history.  In America, it seems it’s just white or black… very strange.

[caulixtla 2,170]

9 hours ago, Roughhouse Dandy said:

the whole "it's a product of its time" excuse is funny to me because it's ridiculous

So, are you arguing that we should judge TV shows from three decades ago by 2021 standards? It’s hard to tell what exactly you’re trying to say here, so please be more direct. Are you arguing to somehow punish the makers of all TV shows ever made with an all white cast, even though that was how things were done? That would retroactively Ex Post Facto pretty much any TV series made in the 20th century, with the exception of some Science Fiction. [1] 

The very unfortunate fact of the matter is that if Friends had a person of color as part of the main cast, they probably would had lasted less than one season; “Rob” attempted to have both a white and Latin-American cast in a sitcom as recently as 2012, but only lasted 8 episodes. 

In terms of people of color as guest stars on Friends, as just one example, the Asian-American Lauren Tom was cast as Julie in the first season.

[1] Star Trek was racially diverse back then, yes, but the show only lasted three seasons. “The Lathe of Heaven” even had an interracial marriage, amazing in 1980, but that was a one-off TV movie. The 1980s to 1990s incarnation of Star Trek had only one (well, two, if we count the Klingon with the big forehead, more if we count recurring guest stars) non-white regular cast member. Also, an honorable mention for the 1978-1981 British show Blake’s Seven, but even with Blake’s Seven they had to make the Black person a caricature to get a non-white regular cast member on the show.

[Googoo GAGA 220]

I never liked that show so this doesn't matter to me. What he said was stupid and unreasonable. Not saying it wasn't insensitive. He's just another irritating person in life and i ignroe h!es like that. 

[Pharamon 6,828]

Wtf is this... people getting triggered over a decision made 25 years ago? lmao what