Is anyone rewatching Friends on Netflix?

[QueenOfTheAndals]

I was a big fan back in the day and thought Ross and Rachel were so romantic but upon rewatching, he's really unpleasant isn't he? Controlling, manipulative, gaslighting - I bet she lived to regret not taking the job in Paris!

And Joey is meant to be a big stud but he's just a bit of a sex pest and extremely stupid!

And yes I know it's "just a tv show" but it's funny how I'm noticing these things now and didn't when I first watched it.

There have been many, many threads like this about Friends on MN over the years. It's nothing new at all. Netflix may have kicked off a new wave of them but if you search, you'll see one every few months or so.

I'm not really understanding the sudden interest in friends tbh its on comedy central on a loop and has been for years but anyway I like friends but it was first shown 24 years ago it will be dated

A lot of people don't have Sky or Comedy Central but it's now on Netflix which, I imagine, a lot more people have. Plus Netflix only started showing it a couple weeks ago. I've not seen an episode since E4 stopped repeating it years ago.

shocked to hear Del Boy refer to his local shop as the 'paki shop'! I never remember this being a racist show,

That's because it wasn't

A lot of lines in Only Fools and Horses are cut now because of the use of terms such as 'Paki' and 'Chinky' which leads to random jokes with no punch lines or lines that no longer makes sense.

Of course at the time it wasn't seen as racist because that is how people spoke in the early 80s (ashamed to admit as a child I used these terms all the time as my parents did and I thought that was what they were called!!). So cringey looking back at what was acceptable 30 years ago...

Choccy I remember going to England in the 80s (as a child) and all my cousins and aunt and uncle referring to the Paki shop. I had no idea it was racist until years later!

I'm pretty sure for those who were called "Paki" it's never not been racist...

I grew up in a diverse bit of London. I still remember referring to someone we passed on the street as a 'dirty Paki', because I'd heard the phrase at school, and my mother immediately told me those were horrible words that I should never use. That would have been early 80s. So I think there's no way to argue that they weren't offensive EVEN to a white person back then.

Dd, 16 is watching it now, she loves it but does pick up on things that weren't a big deal at the time.
It's great that we can share a love of something, but also great that she knows casual body shaming/homophobia/controlling behaviour is not ok.
It shows how things have moved on.

I’m not sure we were all dreadfully ignorant in the 90s. The porn stuff has always made me uncomfortable, as has the laughing at Fat Monica.

But the transphobia and the homophobia aren’t terrible are they? It is funny that chandler’s Dad is now a woman - it’s laughing at chandler not his dad, isn’t? And similarly Carol and Susan is a dig at Ross, not at lesbians.

I remember the Friends being OLD when I used to watch it, I am at least 4 years older than the actors were in the first episode now .

I rewatched the first couple and just couldn't believe how outdated it seems and the story lines are just rubbish.

I still love Friends (as do my children now) , but it just doesn't compare to the wonder that is Frasier.

The age gap between me and Jennifer Aniston has been getting smaller over the years.

I can't stand it nowadays but then I was never that fussed for it when it was current either. It was too smug for me then and it's wrong in so many ways now. I tried to watch it during the holidays but it annoyed me so much I gave up.

@Unnoticed, Frasier is actually the only American comedy that I ever thought was actually funny. Niles in particular.

See I absolutely love Frasier. I could watch it all day! Also if it's time but doesn't get up my nose as much as those 6 smug gits on Friends, which is strange considering how smug Frasier and Niles are 😂

Niles is a genius - if they could remove Daphne's family it would be perfect. I think it has aged well and is my go to programme if I've had a bad day.

I adored it first time round, although even at the tender age of 14 I was very uncomfortable with how much porn was normalised. I'm even more so now. Yes, some of the earlier ones are really dated, but there are still plenty of laugh out loud moments. I'm loving the nostalgia of rewatching it but it is quite a different experience this time around.

Aww I thought Phoebe was funny back in the day! And Joey was the eye candy obvs... will have to re-watch & see what my thoughts are now....

Love friends...does anyone remember when Ross made a pass at his cousin?!

It's still very very funny. Makes me laugh no matter how many times I watch it.

My girls love it, I still
Love it, and I also love Ross-I find him the funniest tbh...as it's a now very old sitcom I don't really feel the need to overthink his or any of the others behaviour...I know I should be bothered. But I can't get exercised about something that was made 20 years ago. There is far worse going on in the world right now!

Did we all wear such hideous shoes?! I’ve yet to see a pair that isn’t a variation on low platform mules. Yuck!

See also: roll neck jumpers with necklaces on the outside.

I've always thought Ross was horrible.
Felt so gutted that Rachel never found someone else so had to just hook up with him.
Thought Rachel was a twat too, but at least her character developed.