North Texas Daily

“Friends” has officially turned 25.

The sitcom aired on Sept. 22, 1994 and ran a total of 10 seasons before it ended on May 6, 2004. Since then, “Friends” has brought in about $1 billion each year for Warner Bros.

The show is based around a group of six individuals that stars Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Courtney Cox as Monica Geller, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbianni and Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing.

The six-pack always got into crazy shenanigans which made the show undeniably hilarious. There’s no surprise as to why “Friends” was considered as one of the most successful sitcoms from the ‘90s.

To honor and celebrate the quarter-century of the show, many places have made sets similar to Central Perk, the coffee house featured in the show, into a cutesy photo op for die-hard fans.

During season five, Rachel gets a job with Ralph Lauren and to commemorate her time working at there, Ralph Lauren has released a line based on Rachel Green’s iconic outfits. Prices are a bit steep but who wouldn’t love to be Rachel for a day?

Pottery Barn also released a “Friends” collection of furniture pieces that were featured on the show such as Phoebe’s infamous apothecary table from Yore.

It’s amazing to see how much of an impact the show has made on millions of people. The episodes were different and always unique which helped to solidify the classic status the show has today.

To this day, I am still quoting “Friends” or referencing an episode from the show. I remember watching “Friends” when I was in grade school and although I may not have understood all the jokes they made, my 10-year-old self was still able to catch a couple of the jokes and adapt to their quirky attitudes.

Some may argue that “Friends” was a terrible show and did not age well, but “Friends” I still watch it religiously to bring back the early days of my childhood when cable wasn’t an option.

It was an easy show to watch because it was hard not to grow an attachment to the characters. As ridiculous the humor could get sometimes, I also appreciated being able to see the humanity within the group of six. Some of the characters had interesting backstories and some had dealt with trauma from their childhood which helped make the show pack an emotional punch.

For example, it was really enlightening when Phoebe was a surrogate for her brother and his wife. They also made Rachel into a single mom and since Monica and Chandler were unable to have children, adoption was mentioned during the later season. Chandler’s dad was also a transgender woman and Susan and Carol, who are the mothers of Ross’s sons, were openly lesbian.

“Friends” helped shed light on the different forms of motherhood and even included LGBTQ characters, which was rare for the time. I admired their efforts in highlighting that. It’s important to have these characters since most people go through similar experiences and representation always matters.

A lot of the “Friends” episodes were iconic and memorable, too. Many of the iconic ones were “The One Where Ross and Rachel Take a Break,” “The One with the Unagi,” and the most iconic one of all, “The  One With The Cop,” also known as the “pivot” episode where Ross, Rachel and Chandler struggled to lift his couch all the way up to the third floor.

It’s awesome to see how versatile the actors on “Friends” were. Their chemistry was always dynamic and unforgettable.

I feel that with all these brands honoring the 25 years of “Friends”, it means that it definitely made a huge impact.

I will always be appreciative of the times “Friends” has made me laugh. I’ve seen it over 20 times already and can easily say that “Friends” would be considered one of my all-time favorite sitcoms.

To quote Chandler Bing, “Can we be any more excited?”

Featured Illustration: Kylie Phillips