Fast-forward 10 years, and I've rewatched the series more times than I can count. The characters' familiar faces, the routine storyline, and the inseparable friend group served as my source of comfort throughout college and into my adult life, playing in the background as I prepped dinner. Watching Friends instantly took me back to that basement after school spending time with my own friends. Friends is very much a product of its time — the show premiered in the '90s, long before these issues were widely addressed and acknowledged in pop culture. Does that mean it's time to say goodbye?
Lately I've found myself struggling to enjoy the show, and instead of reveling in the nostalgia, I focus on its problematic elements, questioning how a storyline filled with blatant sexism, body-shaming, and homophobia could be heralded as the best of its time. TV has changed along with the times, and the nostalgia factor could only keep me holding on for so long. I'm no longer that 12-year-old girl watching with her friends after school. I'm a woman in 2019 who views Friends from a different lens, a critical one, able to recognize its flaws and out-of-place stale jokes no matter how loud the laugh track is.
