I usually don't pay much attention to the news from the world of celebrities, but the death of Mathew Perry last weekend touched me.
He was a great actor and an amusing comedian, and will be remembered for many outstanding roles and well-played characters. He'll also be remembered for his tough battle with addictions, which he bravely made public, by his own example and openness affecting many lives.
But for me, as with millions of others, he'll be most remembered for his Chandler Bing. And it's not that the character was my favourite, it's the entire sitcom that became a phenomenon and allowed many people to feel like they have friends with them in their living rooms, throughout their ups and downs, for decades.
I learned English through Friends and learned about many American things and traditions. I made some friends when I quoted the catchy phrases or tried to reproduce Janet's laugh and had many great hours discussing the show. When I watched the sitcom in my late teens, the six friends were all a bit older than me and I, to a point, looked up to them.
What was so unique about it? I think it was the first sitcom to depict a very different family and lifestyle. That family consisted of friends who lived together, shared financial responsibilities, celebrated family holidays, grew personally and professionally, all like a family would do. Within its plot, the show also brought up such things as same-sex relationships and marriage, surrogacy, shared childcare and much more. All of that was also happening within that 20-year-old friends' family.
Another thing was humour. The jokes from Friends were great despite the laughtrack typical for the genre and which I never liked, and they didn't get old for almost 30 years. Sense of humour is a personal thing, but the showrunners and actors managed to make the show funny for millions of people from different continents.
And the characters were relatable. Sometimes exaggerated but known to everyone, they also were beautifully played by great actors.
Friends was really big in the States when it first aired and in many other countries. "The Last One", also known as "The One Where They Say Goodbye" aired on big outdoor screens all over the U.S. on May 6, 2004, and was viewed by over 52 million people there. More than another five million watched it that day here, in Canada. With that episode, the new era began for the grown-ups, now in their 30s; characters for whom for a decade friendship was the main bond and the centre of their lives. It was a fresh look at what family may be like, and it sure picked up the public's interest all over the world.
Friends was the show of its time, the show of the '90s and early 2000s. For today's viewer, there are many rough edges and non-politically correct moments from sexism to animal abuse that are not acceptable anymore. But at the same time, the friends live in a world where the U.S. isn't politically divided, the economy is working and characters are make ends meet if they had any job. (It's hard to imagine how it can be possible to live in downtown Manhattan even with a roommate when working as a waitress at a bakery or being a mostly jobless actor).
In that world, while discussed, mental health problems don't navigate their lives, health care is available when needed and there is no climate crisis. All that probably makes it popular among younger fans.
The show exited when the family took that central role for most of the characters. I believe it was perfect timing and the right move. It's been almost 20 years since the last episode, and the show is still among the most popular series, with a big chunk of the fans being in the age of 18-24. The actors had many great roles after that, they grew professionally, but the show about the characters' young life in New York remains appealing.
While Friends had just one spin-off or other form of continuation, along with the documentary reunion in 2021, it still felt alive. On a rainy day, Friends with Chandler's jokes, Ross' lectures, Phoebe's songs were a sweet and easy escape from daily problems. Friends served as a cozy blanket that could for 20 minutes per episode protect anyone from the real world.
Friends still does its magic. But now that Matthew Perry passed away, I felt the story of young friends indeed came to a wrap-up for me. It just became real. The sitcom may pick up popularity over the next few weeks and, hopefully, will remain popular for decades to come, but with just five of them left – it's still "the end of the era."
