Friends turns 25 this year, so get ready for a plethora of looks back and best-episode lists and retrospective articles examining the history of the hangout comedy. Like, say, this one, from the 20th anniversary. But not everyone harkens back to the days of Central Perk with inherent fondness—take BuzzFeed writer Scaachi Koul, who writes “Friends Hasn’t Aged Well,” and in fact “has always been awful.”
Koul herself was 3 when the series debuted, and says she watched the show all throughout her formative years. Like so many of us, Koul “wanted to be a Rachel, but I’d settle for a Monica, though I’d tell other people I was a Phoebe, when in reality I was a Ross.” But as Koul grew older, she grew ever more distant from her former favorite, now calling it “absolute garbage.” She calls out the fact that lobsters do not, in fact, mate for life, no matter what Phoebe says, and points to problematic Friends plots like Chandler’s transgender father played by cis actor Kathleen Turner, Monica’s fat suit, and the overwhelming whiteness of the cast. Also: a lawsuit brought by writers’ assistant Amaani Lyle against the show for sexual harassment in the writers’ room, years before the #MeToo movement. So, should you find yourself routinely ranting against the former Must-See-TV staple, rest assured that you’re not alone.
Read the blistering piece in full here.