David Schwimmer defends 'Friends' against millennials; argues how it was ahead-of-its-time

Friends star David Schwimmer, in a candid conversation with an English newspaper, spoke about a possible Friends reunion onscreen and also revealed some interesting details about the perception of the show back in the 90s and now.

Even after 15 years of the show's last run on-air, Friends has had an excellent afterlife on the digital platform with audiences from the younger generations also taking on the cultural influence of the show. However, the show has also met with a lot of criticism among millennials in terms of the themes of sexism, homophobia and body shaming through Chandler's worry about being perceived as a homosexual, Ross' disbelief that a nanny could be a man's job or the jibes at Monica's weight in the flashback episodes. 

David Schwimmer addressed this backlash in his conversation by stating that the show had been groundbreaking in so many ways during the time when it was made. He recalled that the pilot episode itself had his character's wife leaving him for a woman with a same-sex wedding later in the show.

The actor stated that the problem with the millennials' opinion of the show is that they have not been taking the show in the context of the time of its conception, i.e., the 1990s. The show had been ahead of its time in so many ways that, in fact, added to its popularity and its relevance even today.

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David recalled that he did everything possible to address any issue that seemed inappropriate or insensitive at the time. He revealed that it had been on his insistence that his character Ross had dated an Asian American woman- Julie - in the first season and later included an African American actor Aisha Tyler to play Charlie Wheeler. He also spoke about the inclusion of religious differences through the portrayal of Judaism in a few episodes like The One With The Holiday Armadillo.

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The actor, who will be seen in the upcoming comedy-drama Intelligence along with comedian Nick Mohammad, recalled the ten year run of the iconic TV sitcom and revealed that he had been typecasted during and post the show which led to a lot of creative frustration as an actor. The actor is synonymous with his Friends character of the geeky paleontology professor Ross Geller and had been pigeonholed in the sitcom genre even after the series ended.

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Reunion on the cards?

Schwimmer also revealed that the chances of an onscreen reunion of the cast are extremely thin as all the actors are opposed to the idea of reviving their iconic characters as they're all on different career trajectories now and wouldn't want to mess with something that ended on the right note. A creative reunion of actors David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry, Matt Le Blanc, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow has been making the headlines of late and has the fans of the popular show in high anticipation.

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