If you ask a millennial to name the best sitcom that has ever or will ever be , the vast majority will throw out Friends , no questions asked.
But as much as we want to believe that our favorite TV shows can withstand the test of time , this often isn’t the case.
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So if you want to feel old, have a look below and read all about how one mother had to explain cultural things from Friends to her Gen Z daughter.
What is the greatest sitcom of all time?
It’s a bit of a loaded question. If you asked your grandparents, they’d probably say something along the lines of The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy , or perhaps even The Andy Griffith Show.
Your parents, on the other hand, would likely have an altogether different answer.
If push came to shove, they’d likely begin extolling the merits of classic series like M.A.S.H., Taxi , or the place where everybody knows your name — Cheers.
When it comes to Millennials, the answer to the question of “What is the greatest sitcom ever?” is readily apparent — it’s ‘Friends’.
The point I’m trying to make is that very few series, especially sitcoms, possess a staying power that transcends generations.
This is because humor is largely referential and topical, meaning that if you didn’t live through it, you often won’t get the joke.
This is a fact that Pulitzer Prize finalist, Rebecca Makkai , learned all too well after sitting down to watch Friends with her 14-year-old daughter.
As the two of them began watching, Rebecca noticed that she’d have to stop and explain a lot of the jokes along the way.
It got to the point where she decided to make a running tally , in order to keep track of all the humorous bits that have been lost as one generation gives way to another.
One of the first things Rebecca noted was that her daughter had no idea who Dudley Moore was.
When Monica is getting her haircut by Phoebe, she asks her to style it just like Demi Moore’s. Phoebe gets mixed up and instead cuts her hair to look like the English actor/comedian, Dudley Moore .
In the episode titled “The One With The Birth,” Rebecca’s daughter didn’t understand what the small beeping black box in Ross’ hand was.
That’s because Ross was using a beeper. At the time, this precursor to the cellphone was considered to be a huge technological leap forward. However, companies stopped manufacturing beepers in 2001 .
The young teenager didn’t seem to grasp how it was possible for Janice to see Chandler off at the airport.
For someone born in a post-9/11 world, it isn’t hard to understand why. But prior to the World Trade Center attacks, there were no long checkpoint lines and families could walk all the way to the gate together .
Rebecca’s daughter also didn’t get why Rachel was so eager to get a job at Bloomingdales.
Bloomingdales was one of the most popular department stores in all of New York City. However, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and was already out of business by the time Rebecca’s daughter had been born.
Something else that went right over the teen girl’s head was when certain cast members would put their lighters in the air.
This happens multiple times throughout the series, usually when Phoebe is playing her acoustic sets. When Rebecca was forced to communicate that this is what people used to do at concerts before cellphones , it made her feel ancient.
Certain jokes that occurred throughout the series also seemed to have lost their muster.
In an effort to make Phoebe feel better about herself, Joey tells her “When I first met you, do you know what I said to Chandler? I said ‘Excellent butt, great rack .'”
Not only did Rebecca’s daughter not understand why Joey would be commenting on his friend’s posterior, but the girl had no idea what a “great rack” was!
I think it goes without saying that certain terminology and slang from the ’90s needn’t ever be repeated again.
Rebecca also had to go into detail as to why all of the characters seemed to have their friends’ phone numbers memorized.
Before cellphones came around, you really didn’t have much of a choice. Unless you wanted to lug around a heavy Rolodex, memorization was the only option.
Finally, Rebecca’s daughter stumbled upon the burning question that all ‘Friends’ fans ask themselves sooner or later:
Just how in the hell was Monica able to afford a gorgeous sprawling two-bedroom apartment in downtown Manhattan when she spends the bulk of the first two seasons unemployed?
The answer, Rebecca revealed, all boiled down to two simple words — rent control.
Friends fans will no doubt recall that Monica’s apartment used to belong to her grandmother. It was passed down to Monica and because the building was rent-controlled , the youngest of the Gellars was able to live there for a fraction of the cost.
