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Friends wouldn’t have an all-white cast if it was made today, says Lisa Kudrow

By FanSided

BURBANK, CA - SEPTEMBER 12: (EXCLUSIVE, NO U.S. TABLOID SALES) Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow crack each other up on the set of the hit NBC series "Friends" during one of the last shows filmed on the Warner Bros lot Sept. 12, 2003 in Burbank, CA. "Friends," which is in its ninth and final season, debuted in 1994, has won 44 Emmys, and is one of the biggest successes in television history. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images) This image is not included in any subscription deal. Use of this image will incur a charge.
BURBANK, CA - SEPTEMBER 12: (EXCLUSIVE, NO U.S. TABLOID SALES) Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow crack each other up on the set of the hit NBC series "Friends" during one of the last shows filmed on the Warner Bros lot Sept. 12, 2003 in Burbank, CA. "Friends," which is in its ninth and final season, debuted in 1994, has won 44 Emmys, and is one of the biggest successes in television history. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images) This image is not included in any subscription deal. Use of this image will incur a charge. /
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Even though Friends has been off the air since 2004, the comedy series is still making people laugh today. There was even a reunion special on HBO Max this year that was filmed on the original Friends soundstage, which fans were extremely happy to watch.

At Friends: The Reunion, the six main cast members — Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Matthew Perry — all came together to talk about their time on the iconic show.

And although Friends continues to see success, it also receives backlash for some of its choices, namely not having a diverse cast.

Lisa Kudrow, who played the songwriting masseuse Phoebe Buffay, spoke with British newspaper The Times ahead of the reunion special in 2020 about the show’s success and what the series would be like if it were made today.

Lack of diversity in Friends

“Oh, it’d be completely different,” Kudrow said. “Well, it would not be an all-white cast, for sure.” The actress remarked that the series “should be looked at as a time capsule, not for what they did wrong.”

Though admittedly there are some aspects of the show that could be updated, Kudrow stands by what was created. “This show thought it was very progressive,” she said. “There was a guy whose wife discovered she was gay and pregnant, and they raised the child together? We had surrogacy too. It was, at the time, progressive.”

Kudrow believes that part of the show’s continued success has to do with feeling disconnected from the close relationships in our lives.

“Part of what appeals about [Friends] now is that young people have this unconscious nostalgia for personal connection. And not just right now during the pandemic, but before that,” the actress explained. “I don’t see a reality where Friends was anything but good.”

The star also joked about what Phoebe and her husband on the show, Mike Hannigan, played by Paul Rudd, would be doing while quarantining during the pandemic. “I feel like if they’d had kids, she would be militaristic about creating art,” Kudrow said. “So their place would be overrun with huge, outlandish projects.”

Even though Friends would definitely need some updates to bring it into the 21st century, we’ll always have the timeless classic “Smelly Cat.”

Keep up with us at Hidden Remote for all of our Friends coverage! You can stream all 10 seasons and the reunion special on HBO Max right now.

Next. 10 great family Christmas movies (and where to stream). dark

This article originally appeared on Floor8 and is written by Mae Harrington O’Neill.

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