0:00

Hey there, it's Kathy. I just wanted

0:02

to let you know that you can

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listen to History of the 90s early

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and ad-free on Amazon Music, included with

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Prime. Max

0:30

Bankman, I'm the new doctor. Welcome aboard the Odyssey.

0:32

ABC Thursdays. This ship is heaven. We're attending to

0:34

our past news.

0:48

I'm in. From 911 executive producer Ryan

0:50

Murphy comes a splashy new drama on

0:52

a luxury cruise ship with Joshua Jackson

0:55

and Don Johnson. It's your

0:57

job to keep everyone alive. She's in

0:59

the pit. One, two, three. Clear. I

1:02

have a pulse. You're going to be okay. Dr.

1:04

Odyssey. Thursdays, nine, eight central

1:06

on ABC and stream on Hulu. This

1:10

year marks 30 years since a

1:12

new sitcom debuted on NBC that

1:14

changed the face of television. The

1:16

show quickly became a cultural phenomenon

1:19

as millions tuned in each week

1:21

to watch as 620-somethings living in

1:23

New York navigated that unique time

1:25

in your life when friends are

1:27

family. In 2019, we

1:29

marked the 25th anniversary of Friends with

1:32

an episode of History of the 90s

1:34

that dove deep into the making of

1:36

the iconic sitcom and tried to answer

1:39

the question why it endures despite having

1:41

obvious flaws. Since recording

1:43

that episode, sadly, we lost

1:45

Matthew Perry in 2023 from

1:47

an accidental overdose following a

1:49

lifelong battle with substance abuse.

1:52

Before Perry died, the entire cast of Friends

1:54

filmed a reunion show which aired in May

1:57

2021 on Max. It

2:00

was also around that time that reruns

2:02

of Friends moved to Macs from Netflix.

2:05

But one thing that hasn't changed is

2:07

the lasting obsession for a show that

2:09

is tied to the 90s like almost

2:11

nothing else. I'll be back in

2:13

two weeks with a brand new episode. Until

2:15

then, I hope you enjoy The One About Friends.

2:45

So how did a show about 20-somethings in New York become a global

2:47

phenomenon and a certified

3:04

classic? I'm Cathy

3:06

Canzora and this is the History of

3:08

the 90s, a podcast about

3:11

a decade that changed the world. On

3:14

this episode, we're taking a look back

3:16

at a TV show that has come

3:18

to symbolize the 90s. And

3:21

we'll try to understand why, despite

3:23

its flaws, the show

3:25

continues to capture the hearts of

3:27

fans around the world. This

3:30

is The One About Friends. Kevin

3:38

Bright, David Crane and Marta Kaufman

3:40

were in their office at Warner

3:42

Brothers when they came up with

3:44

the idea that would eventually become

3:46

friends. Another

3:48

show they created, called Family Album,

3:51

had just been cancelled by CBS

3:53

and their future was uncertain. The

3:56

three ex-New Yorkers were nostalgic for

3:58

the days before they came to

4:00

Hollywood, when they were just

4:02

out of college and felt a little lost,

4:04

but not alone. They had a

4:07

great group of friends going through the same thing,

4:09

and they became family. They remembered

4:13

it as a time when their future

4:15

was uncertain, just like now, and

4:18

they thought, well, everybody knows that feeling.

4:21

Out of that feeling came a seven-page

4:23

pitch in December 1993 for

4:27

a show called Insomnia Cafe.

4:29

It was a show

4:31

about six people in their 20s who

4:33

hang out at a Manhattan coffee shop. The

4:36

pitch went something like this. It's

4:39

about sex, love, relationship, careers,

4:42

a time in your life when everything is

4:44

possible, which is really exciting

4:46

and really scary. It's

4:48

about searching for love and commitment

4:50

and security, and

4:53

a fear of love and commitment

4:55

and security. And it's about friendship,

4:57

because when you're young and single and

5:00

in the city, your friends are your

5:02

family. NBC liked the

5:04

idea, and they ordered a pilot episode. Kaufman

5:07

and Crane wrote it in just

5:09

three days. In

5:12

an interview with the Television Academy Foundation,

5:15

Crane said it was just another pilot,

5:17

and like most pilots, there was a

5:19

pretty good chance it would get cancelled.

5:22

So they didn't fully flesh out the details

5:24

of the show's characters. They figured

5:26

they could do that later, if the

5:29

show got picked up. In

5:31

her recent book, I'll Be There for You, author

5:34

Kelsey Miller says there was a lot

5:36

of buzz about the show right from

5:38

the beginning. There was a lot of

5:40

attention, and people were really excited

5:42

about it, because at the time, everybody

5:44

was looking for like the Gen X comedy. Everybody

5:47

was looking for that, and nobody was hitting

5:49

it right. And this show came

5:51

along, and it's super, super low concept, and it

5:54

really had to be well cast. And

5:56

of course, it was miraculously cast. You have this

5:58

cast that's lightning in a

6:00

bottle as everybody said. And not only

6:02

are they very good at this particular kind of comedy but they're

6:04

very good at working together. Okay so

6:08

let's talk about that cast. Putting

6:10

together this magical combination took

6:12

quite a bit of work

6:15

and quite a bit of luck. David

6:17

Schwimmer is the only cast member

6:19

who the writers already had their

6:21

eye on before they started writing

6:23

the pilot. Schwimmer

6:25

had auditioned for another sitcom that

6:27

Crane and Kaufman were working on

6:30

before Friends. He didn't get

6:32

that job but the writers

6:34

loved him. So when

6:36

they sat down to write the

6:38

Friends pilot they actually created the

6:40

Ross character based on his performance

6:42

at that audition. Ironically

6:45

when they contacted Schwimmer he said

6:47

no at first. He

6:49

was just coming off a bad experience

6:52

on another sitcom with Henry Winkler called

6:54

Monty and he did not

6:56

want to do any more sitcoms. But

6:59

he was a theater kid and he

7:02

loved ensemble acting and so that helped

7:04

him to eventually change his mind. Originally

7:08

for Phoebe the creators wanted

7:10

Ellen. Yes the Ellen. But

7:13

when she turned them down casting director

7:15

Ellie Kanner turned to Lisa Kudrow.

7:19

Kanner said in an interview with

7:21

the Huffington Post in 2015 that

7:24

Kudrow was a no-brainer for the role of

7:26

Phoebe because of her work on the popular

7:28

TV show Mad About You. As

7:31

you may or maybe you don't remember

7:33

Kudrow had a reoccurring role as Ursula

7:36

on Mad About You before she was

7:38

cast in Friends. To

7:41

solve the problem of having her on

7:43

two shows set in Manhattan that aired

7:45

on the same night on the same

7:47

network they used some

7:49

sitcom magic and they made Phoebe Ursula's

7:52

twin sister. Matthew

7:55

Perry was one of a few actors that

7:57

creators had their eye on for the role

7:59

of Chan. handler. Perry

8:01

would have jumped at the chance, but

8:03

regretfully, he was tied up with a

8:06

pilot for a Fox sitcom about

8:08

airport baggage handlers at the Los

8:10

Angeles airport in 2194. The

8:14

role of Chandler was offered to actor

8:17

Craig Birko, a friend of

8:19

Perry's who he helped coach for the audition.

8:22

Birko, however, turned it down. Eventually,

8:25

Matthew Perry was released from that

8:27

Fox pilot and was able

8:29

to join the cast. When

8:32

Courtney Cox auditioned, she

8:34

wanted to play Monica. But

8:36

that's not what creators had in mind

8:38

for her. They wanted Cox as Rachel.

8:41

Co-creator David Crane told Vanity Fair

8:44

in 2012 that they initially wrote

8:46

the role of Monica with

8:48

the voice of reality bite star

8:51

Janine Garofalo in mind. Crane

8:54

said they wanted Monica to be

8:56

darker and edgier and snarkier and

8:59

they already had Nancy McKeon, who played

9:01

Jo on the facts of life, read

9:03

for the role and she was great.

9:07

It wasn't until Courtney Cox nailed her

9:09

audition and brought a whole

9:11

bunch of other colors to the role of

9:14

Monica that they decided week after week that

9:16

would be a lovelier place for the character

9:18

to go. When

9:20

Jennifer Aniston read for the role of

9:22

Rachel, co-creator David Crane said

9:24

she was head and shoulders the best

9:27

one. But like

9:29

Perry, Aniston wasn't available for the

9:31

role. She had

9:33

already been cast in another sitcom called

9:35

Muddling Through set to air in the

9:37

summer of 1994. If the

9:40

network decided to pick it up for a second

9:42

season, Aniston would be obligated

9:45

to continue work on that show. The

9:48

producers of Friends liked the chemistry

9:50

so much between Aniston and Schwimmer

9:53

that they decided to take a gamble.

9:56

They convinced Aniston to film both

9:58

shows and so she did. and

10:01

thankfully for the friends crew, the gamble paid

10:03

off. Muddling through was

10:05

cancelled after the first season and Aniston

10:08

was good to go on friends.

10:11

Joey was the last role cast. They

10:14

had seen Hank Azaria and almost

10:16

cast Vince Vaughn, but

10:18

Matt LeBlanc was able to put

10:20

a different spin on Joey than

10:23

what Crane and Kaufman originally intended

10:25

when he auditioned. LeBlanc

10:27

made the choice to play Joey as

10:30

dim-witted even though they hadn't written it

10:32

that way. Kaufman and

10:34

Crane loved it, but

10:36

they were hesitant because LeBlanc was

10:39

young and fairly inexperienced. That's

10:41

when the head of casting at Warner Brothers stepped in

10:44

and said, this is an actor who

10:47

will get better every episode. And so

10:49

he got the part. With

10:54

all the friends in place, they had their

10:56

first table read at NBC in early 1994,

11:00

and those who were there said the chemistry

11:02

could be felt right away. It

11:04

doesn't always translate to screen that way,

11:07

but in this case, they were all

11:09

pretty excited. Shooting

11:11

began that summer, but suddenly NBC got

11:13

a bit nervous. Executives

11:15

now worried that the

11:17

coffee house setting was too hip and

11:20

they wanted the Central Perk coffee shop to

11:22

be swapped out for a diner, like

11:25

on Seinfeld. Starbucks wasn't really

11:27

a thing yet, and

11:29

the network worried the audience wouldn't understand

11:32

coffee house culture. In an

11:34

interview with the Television Academy, Kevin Bright

11:36

said the creators pushed back and they

11:39

got their way. With

11:41

one minor concession, the

11:43

network wanted the colour of that

11:45

famous couch changed. It

11:47

went from beige to burnt orange. The

11:50

network was also worried the cast was too young.

11:53

NBC wanted an older character

11:55

who could give sage advice

11:57

to the kids. Writer

12:00

David Crane told Dateline that they tried

12:02

it. At one point, there was

12:04

a draft of an early episode of Friends

12:07

that had a cop in it. Pat

12:09

the cop. You know, the kids book Pat

12:11

the Bunny? Well, Friends almost

12:13

had Pat the cop. Thankfully,

12:16

NBC dropped the idea. But

12:19

there was one more lingering problem.

12:22

In the pilot episode, Monica sleeps with

12:24

Paul the wine guy on their first

12:26

date and then she gets dumped. In

12:30

an interview with the Television Academy Foundation,

12:32

Crane and Kaufman tell the story

12:35

of an NBC executive who

12:37

was worried about Monica sleeping with a man

12:39

on her first date. Crane

12:41

said the executive said, doesn't that

12:44

say she's a whore? Eventually,

12:46

the executive came to terms with

12:49

Monica's transgression but only

12:51

because she ended up feeling hurt

12:53

and humiliated afterward. He

12:55

felt she got what she deserved. Crane

12:59

and Kaufman were livid, but they believed

13:01

in the script and they wanted to

13:03

get the pilot shot without making any

13:05

changes to Monica's storyline, so

13:07

they allowed the comment. Crane

13:10

and Kaufman recall in the interview with

13:12

the Academy that this executive

13:15

still worried about how Monica would

13:17

be perceived and he

13:19

forced them to hand out a

13:21

survey to test audiences asking if

13:23

the storyline was offensive or should

13:25

be changed. The

13:27

survey asked, what do you think of Monica

13:30

for sleeping with a man on the first

13:32

date? Is she A,

13:34

a whore, B, a slut, C,

13:37

too easy? Crane

13:39

says the audience responded with a

13:41

resounding, who cares, we like her.

13:49

Despite these reservations, the network must have

13:51

had a pretty good feeling about friends.

13:55

They placed it in the Primo 830 spot

13:57

on Thursday night between Madam

14:00

about you and Seinfeld. It

14:02

was the beginning of the must-see TV

14:04

era. And it paid off.

14:06

It was a hit. The pilot

14:08

was seen by nearly 22 million people. Viewers

14:12

were falling in love with the friends gang

14:15

and their crazy shenanigans. It

14:17

was simple, clean, fun. It

14:20

reflected real life, but a real

14:22

life that was better than yours. Some

14:25

critics weren't as impressed though. A

14:27

review from 1994 in the Washington Post called

14:30

it a 30-minute commercial for

14:33

Dockers or Ikea or light

14:35

beer, except smuttier. The

14:37

more popular it got, the more it

14:40

was mocked for being unrealistic. Everyone

14:42

was just too darn pretty. And

14:44

why were they never at work? And

14:47

there was also the issue of

14:49

diversity or lack of it. Something

14:52

Oprah brought up when the cast appeared on

14:54

her show in March 1995. Oprah

14:58

coyly said, "'I'd like

15:00

y'all to get a black friend. "'Maybe I can

15:03

stop by.'" Outside of

15:05

that one comment by Oprah, the rest of

15:07

the show was basically a love fest. Kelsey

15:10

Miller says the cast had no

15:12

idea how popular they had become

15:15

until that moment on the Oprah show. And

15:19

you have to remember, of course, since 1994 and 95, nobody's

15:21

going on Twitter every single day and looking

15:23

at audience reaction. And when you are a

15:26

young cast of a new show, you're

15:29

really focused on just like not getting

15:31

canceled. Well, they

15:33

didn't get canceled. They were picked up

15:35

for another season. And in

15:37

the meantime, the show took off in

15:39

summer reruns. Millions of

15:42

people who missed it the first time around

15:44

tuned in over the summer to see what the

15:46

fuss was about. It made

15:49

friends the number one show on TV in

15:51

the summer of 1995. And

15:54

then, of course, the theme song certainly, certainly

15:57

helped because that was like a big song

15:59

of the summer. And then, of course,

16:01

the Rachel haircut started to take off right around that

16:03

time as well. So it was kind of like every

16:05

time you walked out the door or got in your

16:07

car, Friends was kind of in your face. And

16:10

of course, it hadn't gotten totally overexposed

16:12

yet at that point, so people were

16:14

still really, really excited. The show's theme

16:16

song, I'll Be There For You, was

16:18

co-written by Friends creators David Crane and

16:20

Marta Kaufman. It was

16:22

originally under one minute long, but

16:25

as popularity for the show exploded,

16:27

it was re-recorded by the Rembrandts as

16:30

a three-minute pop song. It

16:32

stayed at number one on the Billboard charts

16:34

for 11 weeks. It

16:37

was also included in the Friends

16:39

original TV soundtrack, which cracked

16:42

the top 50 charts in the U.S. The

16:44

soundtrack also included bits of spoken dialogue

16:47

from the show's first season and

16:49

music that was used on the show or

16:51

inspired by the show. I'll

16:54

be there for you, cause

16:56

you're there for

17:01

me too. Friends

17:03

popularity continued to grow in season

17:06

two. By the time

17:08

Ross and Rachel finally got together, it

17:10

had exploded into a cultural

17:12

phenomenon. It hit

17:14

a high point in January 1996 when

17:17

Ross's ex-wife got remarried to

17:20

a woman. The episode was

17:22

called The One With a Lesbian Wedding, and

17:25

Friends was number one that week as 32 million

17:28

people watched the first lesbian

17:30

wedding on primetime TV. It

17:34

generated a bunch of press before

17:36

it even aired because

17:38

the officiant at the wedding was

17:41

none other than Candice Gingrich, an

17:44

LGBTQ advocate and the

17:46

sister of U.S. House Speaker

17:48

Newt Gingrich, who was a

17:51

Republican opposed to gay marriage. You

17:54

know, nothing makes God happier than when

17:56

two people, any two people, come together

17:58

in love. Friends,

18:00

family, we're gathered here today to

18:02

join Carol and Susan in holy

18:04

matrimony. A same-sex wedding on TV

18:06

was a bold move in the

18:08

90s. This

18:10

episode aired a year before Ellen's

18:13

Coming Out episode and

18:15

two years before Will and Grace premiered

18:17

on NBC. And

18:19

in fact, two NBC affiliates refused

18:21

to air the episode. But

18:24

Friends wasn't entirely waving the

18:26

rainbow flag. In fact,

18:29

one of the show's writers, David Crane, is

18:31

quoted in the official Friends Till the

18:34

End companion book that they

18:36

weren't trying to make a point with

18:38

the episode. It wasn't political. For

18:41

Crane, gay people have lives

18:43

like everybody else, and weddings are a

18:45

part of those lives, and

18:48

they just thought it was good material. Kelsey

18:51

Miller says the episode was

18:53

a really fascinating combination of

18:56

envelope-pushing and fear. Because

18:58

yes, you do have two women getting

19:01

married, and you do have

19:03

Candice Gingrich officiating the wedding. But

19:06

you also see an exact

19:08

replica of a heterosexual wedding,

19:10

with some notable exceptions. Including

19:14

the fact that they're wearing these very, very traditional

19:16

gowns, but they're not white because it can't be

19:18

too close. They're not

19:20

going to, you know, that kind of thing. One of

19:22

them is being walked down the aisle by like a

19:24

member of the military. One of their parents is like

19:26

in full navy garb. And

19:29

then you have things like the fact that they couldn't

19:31

kiss at their wedding. And of course, that was not,

19:33

you know, that wasn't a network decision. As far as

19:35

I know, based on my research, that was something that

19:37

the producers of Friends really did not feel

19:40

they could do. In

19:45

recent years, as Friends has made its

19:47

comeback thanks to Netflix, there

19:49

has been a lot of discussion about

19:52

whether the show was homophobic or just

19:54

a product of its time. In

19:57

2011, filmmaker Tiana Mola,

20:00

uploaded a short film to YouTube

20:02

that got quite a bit of

20:04

attention. The film

20:06

is called Homophobic Friends, and

20:09

it's an edited compilation of nearly

20:11

every gay joke made on Friends.

20:14

It's almost an hour long. I

20:17

think it's sort of...it's letting people off the hook

20:20

a little too easily when we just say it

20:22

was a product of its time, because it is.

20:24

But that was a time that

20:26

was a lot less inclusive, a lot less representative.

20:29

And a lot less concerned

20:31

with diverse or respectful

20:34

representation. And that's

20:36

what I mean when I say that Friends

20:38

has become a historical marker in many ways,

20:40

because when you can really look back and

20:42

see how much things have changed. And of

20:44

course, we still have quite a long way

20:46

to go in terms of fair

20:49

and respectful representation. But

20:51

things have changed drastically since Friends was on the

20:53

air. By the end

20:55

of season two, Friends had gone from a

20:57

cultural phenomenon to a national

21:00

epidemic, thanks in part to

21:02

a bad case of overexposure. The

21:05

cast members were everywhere. Courtney

21:08

Cox was on the cover of

21:10

People magazine's annual 50 Most Beautiful

21:12

People issue. Matt LeBlanc

21:14

and David Schwimmer were in their first

21:16

major films. Jennifer Aniston

21:19

and Lisa Kudrow did a Got

21:21

Milk ad together. And

21:23

Aniston and Matthew Perry appeared

21:25

in a super cheesy instructional

21:27

video for Windows 95. Then

21:32

in January 1996, Friends signed on to a $30 million ad

21:34

campaign for Diet Coke. It

21:55

was a huge deal, on a level

21:57

never seen before. In

22:00

addition to old school product placement on

22:02

the show, Diet Coke

22:04

produced calling cards, sponsored

22:06

viewing parties on college campuses, and

22:09

one of the earliest internet campaigns

22:11

on Diet Coke's website. And

22:14

then of course, there was the contest. You

22:17

might remember the phrase, who's going to drink

22:19

the Diet Coke? The

22:22

TV ads explain that someone stole

22:24

a Diet Coke from Monica and

22:26

Rachel's apartment. Match

22:28

the name under the cap with a friend's character

22:30

who drinks the Diet Coke in the Diet Coke

22:33

commercial each week and you're a winner. To be

22:35

part of the contest, each week

22:37

viewers were instructed to grab a Diet

22:39

Coke and tune in to watch Friends.

22:42

During the show, a Diet Coke ad

22:44

would air with one of the characters

22:47

drinking a bottle. If

22:49

the name under your cap matched the character

22:51

in the ad, then you won a prize.

22:55

It culminated with an ad on Super

22:57

Bowl Sunday and a grand prize trip

22:59

to watch a taping of Friends in

23:01

Los Angeles. That

23:03

final ad ran in an hour-long

23:06

Friends episode after the game and

23:08

it revealed that Rachel was the

23:10

Diet Coke thief. The

23:13

episode was a watershed moment for the

23:15

show. According to the Nielsen

23:17

Company, nearly 60 million

23:20

people watched the episode, called the

23:22

one after the Super Bowl. And

23:25

to this day, it remains

23:27

the most-watched Super Bowl lead-out

23:29

program in television history. But

23:32

it came with a price. Critics

23:35

called the Super Bowl episode a

23:37

shameless cash grab. The

23:39

Chicago Tribune dubbed it the one

23:41

where the show crosses the line

23:43

from promiscuity into prostitution.

23:47

At the end of season two, Friends

23:50

still had great ratings, but the

23:52

numbers had started to drop. According

23:55

to author Kelsey Miller, NBC put the

23:57

word out that there would be no

23:59

more endorsement deals for the time being

24:02

and a lot less press for the actors.

24:06

And the producers, you know, and the writers as

24:08

well, really recognized that like what

24:10

was happening was not sustainable and it wasn't what they

24:12

set out to do. So they pulled back and I

24:14

think season three is when friends becomes

24:16

good. Season

24:23

three was a landmark season for friends

24:25

for a few reasons. For

24:27

one, the show made a

24:30

turn towards a significantly greater

24:32

serialized format. But

24:34

also, it's when the

24:36

cast members began negotiating their

24:38

salaries together. The bond

24:40

between the six actors was tight, on

24:43

and off the set. And right

24:45

from the beginning too, thanks to

24:47

Courtney Cox. And so

24:49

she was the one who went to them when they were shooting

24:51

the pilot and said, listen, you know, I did

24:53

Seinfeld and one thing that really helped is the

24:55

fact that they give each other notes,

24:57

which is usually just not okay, you know, on a set.

24:59

You don't do that with your peers. And

25:01

so, but she said it really helps because it

25:03

makes them makes them all better. So if we can

25:06

all agree to give each other notes, if you give

25:08

me notes, then then I will definitely

25:10

do. I will follow your lead. I will give it a

25:12

shot. And I think that

25:14

gave everybody permission to really to do

25:17

that. This team mentality came into play

25:19

in season three when it was time

25:21

for the cast to negotiate new contracts.

25:25

Season one, they all reportedly made $22,500 an

25:27

episode. Season

25:31

two salaries varied for cast members

25:34

with David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston

25:36

reportedly making the most at about

25:38

$40,000 an episode. When

25:42

it came time to negotiate salaries

25:44

before season three, Schwimmer's agents were

25:46

pushing him to go for more

25:48

money. But he had

25:50

another idea. In

25:53

a book written by former NBC

25:55

president Warren Littlefield called Top of

25:57

the Rock, inside the rise and

25:59

fall of must. CTV, Schwimmer is

26:01

quoted as saying he went to

26:04

his castmates and suggested they all

26:06

ask for the same raise. $100,000

26:09

an episode across the board. Plus

26:13

a share of revenue when the show

26:15

went into syndication. It

26:17

worked. In the end, they

26:20

signed for four more seasons. Everyone

26:22

would make the same amount, starting at

26:24

$75,000 an episode in season 3 and ending at

26:29

$120,000 an episode by season 6. Miller

26:34

says this deal changed everything.

26:37

It set a precedent for future negotiations

26:39

on other shows and it

26:41

solidified Friends' staying power. As

26:44

long as Friends was popular, they had

26:46

job security if they worked as a

26:48

unit. As individuals,

26:51

producers could fire any one of them,

26:54

but they could never fire all six.

26:57

They now fully realized the power they had

27:00

as a group and they agreed

27:02

that from then on that it

27:04

was one for all and all for one. When

27:07

it came to money, publicity or the continuation

27:09

of the show. Even

27:12

when it came to awards, they

27:14

would all submit themselves in the same

27:16

category. Supporting, not

27:18

leading. By

27:20

the time the show ended, the Friends actors

27:22

were making a reported $1 million each per

27:26

episode. It was

27:28

the most expensive half hour on television

27:30

at the time. Kelsey

27:33

Miller says the money made by the

27:35

cast has become part of the show's

27:37

legacy. And it's

27:39

an incredible legacy. As

27:42

of 2018, it's reported the show

27:44

brings in about $1 billion per

27:46

year for Warner Brothers. That's

27:49

right, $1 billion. For the

27:51

cast, it means each member

27:53

receives $20 million per

27:55

year all because of that

27:57

one incredible decision. By

28:02

the end of season three, the impact of

28:04

Friends was being felt around the world. Friends-type

28:08

shows popped up in other countries. Britain

28:11

had coupling, India had hello

28:13

friends, and Spain had seven

28:15

vitas. Miller says

28:17

coffee house culture also took off.

28:21

Everybody wanted the big giant coffee cups. Everybody was looking for

28:23

like a coffee house where somebody was playing a guitar. And

28:26

you'll even see it in countries that

28:29

are traditionally like tea drinking cultures like

28:31

England and India and Russia. The

28:34

coffee became like kind of like the chic thing

28:36

to drink. This cultural phenomenon

28:38

is called the Friends Effect. It

28:41

started in the 90s and thanks

28:43

to reruns and streaming platforms, it's

28:45

still being felt today. First

28:48

there was the haircut, the Rachel. It

28:51

became one of the most imitated looks of the

28:54

90s. Watch any

28:56

movie that was filmed between say 1994 and 1998 and

28:58

you're likely going to see

29:02

a version of the Rachel. If

29:05

you didn't have it, you probably wanted it.

29:08

Jennifer Aniston's shaggy layered hairstyle was

29:10

an instant hit when the show

29:12

debuted. Women around the

29:15

world, including celebrities like Meg Ryan

29:17

and Tyra Banks, marched into

29:19

hair salons and asked for the cut. Aniston

29:23

has said she didn't really like the bouncy

29:25

cut that helped make her famous because

29:28

as many regular ladies soon

29:30

discovered, it was just

29:32

too hard to maintain without some professional

29:34

help. Then

29:36

there's the fashion. Each

29:39

character had a slightly different style,

29:42

but they were all pretty casual. They

29:44

were trendy, but not too trendy. There

29:47

was definitely no 90s grunge

29:50

or club kid fashion on Friends.

29:53

Lots of cropped t-shirts, khaki pants,

29:56

strappy black dresses, jeans and

29:58

running shoes. Not super

30:00

cool, but people around the

30:02

world started dressing like them anyway. In

30:06

a 2014 Vice article, Clive Martin

30:09

and Natalie Ola wrote that the

30:11

show was supposed to be about

30:13

sexy young urbanites, but the

30:15

writers made no effort to really reflect

30:17

the times. Instead, they

30:20

gave the characters a cozy

30:22

middle-aged take on modern culture

30:24

that just didn't gel. In

30:28

recent years, 90s fashions have

30:30

made a comeback as a new

30:32

generation of viewers have become obsessed

30:34

with Friends. Urban

30:36

Outfitters, Gap and American Eagle started to

30:38

carry little white t-shirts like the ones

30:41

worn on the show, along

30:43

with chunky sold sneakers, fanny

30:45

packs and high-waisted mum jeans.

30:48

Plus there's plenty of tees with the Friends

30:50

logo printed on them. When

30:53

Netflix added all 10 seasons of Friends

30:55

in 2015, people went crazy for the

30:58

show. It's now watched in

31:00

more than 130 countries in about 40 different languages. In

31:05

2018, it was the second most

31:08

watched show on Netflix. And

31:11

this led to another unexpected impact.

31:15

According to Kelsey Miller, Friends has

31:17

become a popular tool for learning

31:19

English. I was reading

31:21

about people who were literally put in front of

31:24

it as children the way that we watched language

31:26

learning tapes and things like that. And

31:28

a lot of people learned English from that show. And

31:31

a lot of people would use it also

31:33

to perfect it, their conversational English and things

31:35

like that. I found that really fascinating. In

31:38

an episode of Ellen that aired in 2017,

31:41

RM, a member of BTS, revealed

31:43

that he taught himself English by

31:46

watching the iconic series. RM

31:49

said he started watching the show

31:51

with Korean subtitles before switching over

31:53

to English subtitles and

31:55

eventually removed all the subtitles completely.

31:59

And he's not the only one. The New

32:01

York Times reported in a 2017 feature that there

32:03

are a whole bunch of major leaguers who

32:06

learned English by watching the sitcom. And

32:10

it's not limited to baseball. Legendary

32:13

basketball player Paul Gasol credits friends

32:15

for helping him learn the language

32:17

as well. Kind

32:19

of like a Rosetta Stone

32:21

disguised as six 20-somethings hanging

32:23

out in Manhattan. As

32:33

Friends was regaining popularity in recent

32:36

years, more attention has been

32:38

paid to an older legal case involving

32:40

the show, which

32:42

made some pretty disturbing allegations about

32:44

the writers' room. A

32:46

writers' assistant, who was fired after working on

32:49

Friends for four months in 1999, filed

32:53

a wrongful dismissal suit against the

32:55

writers and producers of Friends, in

32:57

which she claimed she had been subjected

33:00

to both racial and sexual harassment. In

33:03

court documents, Amoni Lyle stated that

33:06

she was constantly being exposed to

33:08

writers and producers, making

33:10

racist, sexist, and obscene statements and

33:12

comments that had nothing to do

33:14

with the show. Basically,

33:17

all of Hollywood sided with the writers.

33:20

They said that anything that takes place in the room has

33:23

to take place in the room because it's what they refer to

33:25

as creative necessity. Lyle detailed

33:27

in court documents the kind of

33:29

behaviour she allegedly witnessed in the

33:31

Friends writers' room. She

33:34

said, writers and producers

33:36

would recount personal stories about

33:38

their sex lives, pretend to

33:40

masturbate, make racist jokes,

33:43

and gossip about one of the

33:45

cast members' alleged fertility problems. Lyle

33:49

said one writer in particular would

33:51

frequently fantasize about an episode where

33:53

Joey would sneak up on Rachel

33:55

in the shower and rape her.

33:59

While Lyle said, case was in court, it

34:02

got very little coverage from the media. A

34:05

story that ran in Entertainment Weekly in April

34:07

2004, just

34:10

before the Friends finale, summed

34:12

up the case by saying Lyle

34:14

was offended by off-color banter among

34:16

the writers. In

34:19

documents filed with the court, the

34:21

defendants insisted if Lyle succeeded, it

34:23

would be an assault on freedom

34:25

of speech, destroy

34:27

creative expression, and lead

34:30

to censorship on a massive scale.

34:34

A brief sign by more than 100 film

34:36

and television writers, including Norman

34:38

Lear and Larry David, said

34:41

group writing requires an atmosphere

34:44

of complete trust. Writers

34:46

must feel not only that it is

34:48

all right to fail, but

34:51

also that they can share

34:53

their most private and darkest

34:55

thoughts without concern for ridicule,

34:57

embarrassment, or legal accountability. In

35:01

the end, the California Supreme Court sided

35:03

with the writers, and it became known

35:05

as the Creative Necessity Defense. And

35:08

that became something that was integrated

35:11

into HR paperwork in basically any

35:14

kind, any creative industry, education,

35:17

journalism, everything like that. Now

35:19

just imagine that case today,

35:22

in light of the Me Too

35:24

movement. Miller thought about it

35:26

too. Would the findings by the

35:28

courts be the same? But

35:31

looking through the eyes of the Me Too

35:33

movement now, it's hard to imagine

35:35

that the case would have ended the same way. Completely

35:38

hard to imagine. And what's even more

35:40

shocking is that so many people who

35:42

have been vocal supporters of Me Too

35:44

were people who actively opposed this woman,

35:46

who put their names on letters that

35:49

were presented by the entire Writers Guild,

35:51

saying that not

35:54

only were the writers right, but she was absolutely wrong

35:56

and it was outrageous, which she was claiming. While

35:58

researching for her book, Miller's spoke with

36:01

Lyle, who said the producers of Friends

36:03

did reach out to apologize for their

36:05

behavior. They knew it was

36:07

wrong, but they were worried about the

36:10

courts censoring the creative process. Since

36:12

then, there's been a slow evolution

36:15

by studios and networks to

36:17

make an effort for gender parity and

36:19

diversity in writers' rooms. In

36:22

an article in The Hollywood Reporter

36:24

from 2018, Liz Merriweather,

36:26

creator of Fox's New Girl,

36:29

agrees that there has been an

36:31

evolution, albeit a long

36:33

overdue one. So

36:39

why is Friends so popular?

36:42

How is a show that

36:44

premiered three decades ago so

36:46

influential today, even with its

36:48

flaws? Kelsey Miller says

36:50

Friends is like watching an old,

36:52

outdated movie that brings you back

36:54

to a simpler time. All

36:57

its dated flaws are covered in

37:00

thick layers of buttercream nostalgia. I

37:03

really love the way young people watch it that

37:05

way, in that they really take a much sort

37:07

of deeper view on it and they recognize the

37:09

problems with it while also appreciating it. And I

37:11

think that appreciation comes, you

37:13

know, not only from the fact that the

37:16

writing is still quite strong, especially when you

37:18

look at other shows from that era. Wow.

37:20

It's like it's head and shoulder above. But

37:23

the fact is, this is a show

37:25

ultimately at its core. It's not about

37:27

like the 90s. It's not about New

37:29

York. It's about friendship. It's about

37:32

friendship. That's it. Friends

37:34

really is about friendship and about

37:37

a time when it matters the

37:39

most. When you left

37:41

home, but before you've settled down to make

37:43

your own family that sweet

37:45

spot when friends are your

37:48

family. Thanks

37:55

for joining me on this look back at

37:57

Friends. And thanks to

37:59

Kelsey Miller for sharing her knowledge about

38:01

the show. Her book

38:03

is called I'll Be There For You, The

38:05

One About Friends, and it's

38:07

available now wherever you buy your books. If

38:11

you haven't already, make sure to subscribe so you

38:13

never miss an episode. And while

38:15

you're there, don't forget to rate and review us.

38:18

It helps us spread the word and get more

38:20

people to find the podcast. We're

38:23

available for free at Apple

38:25

Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere else

38:27

you get your streaming audio. You

38:30

can also listen at curiouscast.ca.

38:33

Be sure to check out the show notes for more

38:35

information about what you heard today and a link to

38:37

our guest. If you want

38:40

to reach out to me, you can

38:42

find me on Twitter at 1990shistory, on

38:44

Facebook and Instagram, and you can

38:46

always email me at 90s at

38:49

curiouscast.ca. That's 90S

38:52

at curiouscast.ca. This

38:55

show is hosted and co-written by

38:57

me, Kathy Kinsora, and Dila Velasquez,

38:59

our producer. Sound design

39:01

and final production is by Rob Johnston.

39:04

See you next time for more History of the 90s.

39:11

You're a bad boy, Will Smith.

39:13

This summer on Showcase. The dynamic

39:15

duo back for the summer. Got

39:18

any ideas? A

39:20

million. The boys of Bel Air are back.

39:22

There's no way you're winning this race without

39:24

my help. I know I can't make you trust me.

39:26

So you chose to lie. You put on a lie.

39:29

We're about to have a summer on the line. Do

39:31

you feel me? I'm afraid, Phil. Let's

39:33

go get our hands dirty. Bel

39:35

Air, all new Mondays on

39:37

Showcase. Stream on Stack

39:39

TV.