10 things that wouldn't fly if Friends debuted in 2016
Yeah! The Friends cast is reuniting 12 years after its final episode. The two-hour NBC special is scheduled to air on Sunday, Feb. 21.
Alas, it's not going to be a complete reunion without Matthew Perry, who had to bail because he'll be busy rehearsing for a play, The End of Longing, running in London from Feb. 2 to May 14. (Couldn't they have just made it work?) But all is not lost. Perry's spokesperson said "he may tape something." So, Chandler Bing could still make a small, remote appearance.
Debuting in 1994, Friends was considered progressive for its time: Chandler's transgender dad, Susan and Carol's lesbian wedding, Phoebe's surrogate pregnancy, not to mention a bunch of adults in their late 20s and early 30s unmarried with no kids. But the show definitely didn't cover gay couples as sensitively as today's Modern Family, or come close to honouring body diversity like Orange is the New Black.
Indeed, from fat jokes to technology that's gone the way of the dodo, there are several things that just won't fly for Friends in 2016.
1. The fat shaming.
2. That giant NYC apartment.
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3. The homophobic jokes and Chandler's obsession with proving he was straight.
4. This phone.
5. Or that answering machine. ("Noooooo!")
6. Tom Selleck's moustache (it would have to be a beard).
7. Brad Pitt.
8. Joey's kinda creepy womanizing.
9. The lack of diversity in casting.
10. All of the trans jokes.
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