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Original poster

Don't want to watch 'Friends' with DD. Any ideas?

131 replies

Ihatesandwiches · 18/10/2020 22:24

DD (9) wants to watch this with me. A couple of her school friends watch it with their mums. I loved Friends and watched it and ER with mum every week. But I was mid teens! We watched a couple of episodes but I felt it was very dated and I didn't enjoy it. Any ideas for a more modern, slightly grown up series for us to watch? We have Netflix and free view. TIA

OP posts:
Shinygoldbauble · 19/10/2020 08:15

The Middle is really enjoyable. I watched it all with my 11 and 13 year old dds and they loved it.

Thirtyrock39 · 19/10/2020 08:15

Agree re outnumbered

beansonbread · 19/10/2020 08:17

@Thinkingg

Not How I met your mother! Also full of sex references, and Barney's behaviour towards women is really dubious.
Totally agree with this! It’s way worse than Friends for inappropriate references. I’ve rolled my eyes at lots of the talk in recent years about how badly Friends has dated with regards to being anti-trans, sexist, racist and just generally being completely unPC but HIMYM is way worse, and even though I still love it, I’m shocked it hasn’t faced the same criticism as Friends has these days. Please don’t watch How I Met Your Mother with your young daughter!

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9 year olds TV
MerchantOfVenom · 19/10/2020 08:20

I just watched The One With the Fertility Clinic - there are several jokes about Chandler wanking in a car behind a Wendy’s (I think the joke is made three times, just to really, ahem, hammer it home). Then they run into Janice, and she makes a joke about ‘giving him a hand’.

Every episode is literally riddled with porn and causal sex references.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a massive fan. But no way will my 10YO be watching it.

There are a million and one other ways the OP and her daughter can enjoy some shared time, without porn littering their bonding experience... Hmm

midnightstar66 · 19/10/2020 08:23

I'd appreciate that she even wants you to be part of it all, another couple of years and that could well be gone. Dd is 10 and friends is super popular among her peers and she'd definitely be left out if she hadn't seen it (she has she watches it on repeat)

Lifeisabeach09 · 19/10/2020 08:30

@goisey,

Good for you. Feel free not to watch it with your child. We quite enjoyed the daftness, the porn refs went over her head and the sexism and relationship issues, we discussed.

Would you be ok if her teacher at school dropped in porn references during a English or PE class etc?

Depends on the context. Discussion in class on sexism and misogyny, sure. The parental relationship is quite different to the teacher one so, obviously, I can broach subjects with my child that they can't or wouldn't.

I find that a massive parenting fail and abusive.

Yeah, whatever. (LOL-sorry, can't do the laughing emoji)

Pringlemonster · 19/10/2020 08:36

Modern family is a 12
What about the virgin episode?
With Hayley and her dad and the broken doll..
I’ve watched all of that with my 11 year old ,and some of it I’ve thought,I realised why it was a 12

Pringlemonster · 19/10/2020 08:39

The middle is a better bet ,much more suitable .
But I think the point is ,she wants to be part of the discussion with her friends ,and to feel the same ,that she’s watched it with mum

mopphead · 19/10/2020 08:40

Another vote for Gilmore Girls! I loved it at her age and it's watchable as an adult. Nice that it's about mother and daughter bond.

Also Heartland. It's set on a ranch in Canada, very watchable as an adult too.

IfeellikeaJoan · 19/10/2020 08:43

Heartland?

AnneOfTeenFables · 19/10/2020 08:52

All TV has sexism. There are only a handful of programmes that pass the Bechdel Test and even then it's usually individual episodes not entire seasons. 9 is definitely old enough to be having conversations about sexism and storytelling.
There are over 200 episodes of Friends- some are fine to watch with 9-yr-olds.

Wtfdidwedo · 19/10/2020 08:56

I watched Friends in primary school as it was aired in the 90s. The sex jokes went over my head and each time I rewatched if realise more and more true meanings. I can't say I was scarred.

Love Gilmore Girls though, can't wait to try to share it with my daughters (currently sitting through Octonauts again...)

Notonthestairs · 19/10/2020 09:01

Heartland is fab - it does start with the loss of their mother so bear that in mind. The first few series of Gilmore Girls are great (went off it when Rory went to university).

We really loved The Middle (Sue Heck is a wonderful character) and Modern Family and Ghosts after watching Horrible Histories.

We've watched Friends and the Big Bang theory but fast forwarded lots of them. They definitely have content that didn't sit well with me.

yellowmaoampinball · 19/10/2020 09:08

Blimey the hysteria on here - from both sides of the argument. Poor OP. What's it to be, are you an abusive parent who will basically sit down and watch porn with your 9 year old or are you going to refuse to let her watch and damn her to a literally friendless existence as she struggles socially without being able to talk about friends. Could it BE any more dramatic??

I also vote for gilmore girls and malcolm in the middle. Free Reign on Netflix was a hit with my dd at that age - it's very horsey. We also loved Mallory Towers - think that's on bbc iplayer

micc · 19/10/2020 09:10

I second Gilmore girls!!!

NoSquirrels · 19/10/2020 09:13

We’ve just watched all of Modern Family with DC of this age. We’ve watched selected episodes of Friends - and have discussed that a lot is not appropriate, and why. We watched selected episodes so that we could filter out the really dodgy stuff, but so that they could still bond with their friends at school etc about knowing who the characters are and so on - like it or not, other parents are letting them watch it unfiltered so it’s not great to feel totally left out. This way they have boundaries. Same with Big Bang - a few episodes but certainly not all of them.

AnotherEmma · 19/10/2020 09:26

"Could it BE any more dramatic??"

🤣

Plussizejumpsuit · 19/10/2020 09:31

U think you're right in not wanting to watch it. There's a lot of problematic stuff in it. Eg Monica being fat, how they are about chandler's dad, various ways women are depicted. I watches it as a child/teen but feel on reflection uncomfortable with it.

Plussizejumpsuit · 19/10/2020 09:32

The good place is quite a fun but adult show.

RosieGirl27 · 19/10/2020 10:00

I use to watch Gilmore girls with my mum and it’s lovely!

GammyLeg · 19/10/2020 10:02

There's so much TV out there - why would you watch Friends with a nine year old?!

midnightstar66 · 19/10/2020 10:04

Heartland is fab -

@Notonthestairs it is but it depends how much time you have to dedicate to watching a series together- we started back in February and despite having ample time over lockdown we are still plugging through it now and apparently season 14 is due to drive soon. 😆

CrystalMaisie · 19/10/2020 10:07

Gilmore Girls

ApplePlumPie · 19/10/2020 10:14

Surely it’s better for you to watch it with her and then discuss if she has any questions about anything ?

It’s silly not to watch things because they depict attitudes you don’t like, isn’t it better for them to see those attitudes so you can talk through why you don’t agree with it ?

BigBadVoodooHat · 19/10/2020 10:14

@SylvanianFrenemies

Friends is full of porn and sexual references, I'm guessing that's why you dont want to? I'm far from a prude but there's zero chance of me watching it with my 9yo either! If others think episodes about free porn, sex with strippers, thinking about your parents during sex etc are the stuff for 9yos I'm clearly getting too old...
This, 100%.

I'm surprised there are so many people telling the OP to just suck it up and watch it anyway because her daughter wants to watch it.

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