Associates stays probably the most rewatched—and extremely quoted—sitcoms of all time. However a few of its 10 seasons have aged poorly for the reason that collection led to 2004, a reality star Jennifer Aniston identified in a current interview.
“There’s a complete era of individuals, children, who at the moment are going again to episodes of Associates and discover them offensive,” she informed the Related International Press (by way of Yahoo!). “There have been issues that have been by no means intentional and others…nicely, we must always have thought it by means of, however I don’t suppose there was a sensitivity like there may be now.”
Whereas selling Homicide Thriller 2, her upcoming Netflix sequel with Adam Sandler, Aniston spoke of the methods “comedy has advanced,” including, “Now it’s slightly difficult as a result of it’s important to be very cautious, which makes it actually exhausting for comedians, as a result of the fantastic thing about comedy is that we make enjoyable of ourselves, make enjoyable of life.”
Regardless of the present’s beloved standing in TV historical past, a lot of its storylines veered into territory that’s turn into much less extensively accepted with time—together with a mess of homophobic and fatphobic jokes.
One of many present’s creators, Marta Kauffman, has acknowledged that her collection was a product of its time. Final 12 months, she informed the Los Angeles Instances she regretted the near-erasure of Black characters on Associates, and stated that she’d given her alma mater, Brandeis, $4 million to endow a professorship in its African and African American Research division. Kauffman then appeared on the BBC World Service present The Dialog and apologized for misgendering the character of Chandler’s trans guardian, Helena. Kathleen Turner, who performed the function, stated in 2019 she wouldn’t have taken the half in the present day as a result of there are different “actual individuals in a position to do [the part].”
Though Aniston wasn’t requested about any particular episodes, she did defend her present by asserting that bigots have been usually the punchline. “You may joke a couple of bigot and have amusing. That was hysterical. And it was about educating individuals on how ridiculous individuals have been, and now we’re not allowed to do this,” Aniston stated. “Everyone wants humorous! The world wants humor! We will’t take ourselves too severely. Particularly in the US. Everybody is much too divided.”
