The 5 Times "Friends" Got the '90s Ridiculously Wrong
Friends had no shortage of comedy, but the show missed or messed up some crucial 90s details.
This feel-good sitcom followed a tight-knit group of young adults living in Manhattan, New York from the 90s to the 2000s, but left out some key components of that time period.
We're still scratching our heads as to why they chose to exclude these truly 90s elements.
No Internet Revolution
We would have given anything to see Phoebe trying to figure out the internet, but sadly Friends made no mention of the crazy and exciting technological advances of the late 90s, which included the birth of the Google search engine, the first online dating site and The Dancing Baby becoming one of the first viral videos.
Fell short on scandal
We get it, Friends wasn't about drama, but the show completely avoided talking about two massive scandals that happened during its run.
There was a time when literally everyone was talking about the OJ Simpson trial and Bill Clinton's scandalous affair with his intern. These scandals were literally the talk of the town, but there wasn't a peep about them on Friends. It would have been nice to hear about these relevant and real events, but they weren't even mentioned as juicy gossip.
No AIDS Awareness
We’ll emphasize again that Friend’s wasn’t a drama, and we get that AIDS may be a sensitive topic, but it really should have been addressed.
However, the AIDS epidemic peaked in the mid-90s, and not only did Friends avoid addressing it, it almost seemed to encourage bed-hopping, with Joey's promiscuous, womanizing antics at a time when the death toll was steadily rising.
Whitewashed
The Friends cast and guest stars were all white, and everyone in Manhattan seemed to be white. Buzzfeed counted a total of 27 black people in the show's entire 236-episode run, most of them extras.
The show's complete failure to be inclusive was not only frustrating, but also completely inaccurate. From the 90s to the early 2000s, the Big Apple was vibrant and diverse, but you wouldn't know it from watching Friends.
The show's co-creator, Marta Kauffman, has acknowledged and apologized for the show's shortcomings, saying, "It’s painful looking at yourself in the mirror. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know better 25 years ago.”
Gen X fashion
Many of us use Friends as a blueprint for our 90s fashion inspiration boards, but that could be a big mistake. The cast wore plenty of stylish, iconic looks, but the show didn't do justice to some of the most relevant 90s fashion trends, such as chunky combat boots, grunge outfits, flannel and just plain dressing down. All we can say is don't use Friends as your 90s fashion blueprint.