Sitcoms like ‘Friends‘ and ‘The Office‘ are still popular and re-watched by many across the world. These shows are generally labeled as the comfort series along with ‘How I Met your Mother’. While the debate of which is better still goes on, both ‘Friends’ and ‘The Office’ have been deemed offensive on several accounts.
While ‘Friends’ was set in the late 90s and ‘The Office’ in the 2000s, both series were committed to offering humor, sarcasm, and even many meme templates. Chandler’s sarcasm and Michael’s “That’s what she said” are now added to our everyday vocabulary. But if these two shows were to be released today, they probably would have not been a huge success as they were in the bygone years. This is because of the increasing awareness regarding fat-shaming and the growth of the LGBTQ+ community, among other factors.
Related: 10 Reasons Why Friends Is The Most Popular Sitcom
Is ‘Friends’ Appropriate For The Modern Age?
While re-watching ‘Friends’ in the recent era, it becomes clear how problematic the show is. There are many instances when Ross is portrayed as homophobic as he wasn’t comfortable with his wife getting married to another woman. The show was progressive in developing the character arc of the female leads – Rachel as a single mother, Monica opting for surrogacy, and Pheobe being okay with having no child of her own. The show was also ahead of its time as it telecasted the first-ever lesbian wedding.
But apart from that, the show made recurring fat-shaming jokes about high-school Monica. Ross is uncomfortable with hiring a ‘male nanny’ because of the gender-assigned jobs. Chandler’s homophobia and jokes about his transgender parent were bland and offensive. Ross just didn’t understand consent, he also did not respect boundaries especially when he was with Rachel.
While the old shows were termed problematic, racist, and homophobic, they were also solely for entertainment and should be treated like one. And more importantly, it should also be understood the timeline in which these series were scripted and directed. It is only now that the awareness has been spread alerting the audience to the seriousness of these issues.
In case you missed it: How Old Was The Cast Of Friends When They Started Filming? How Old Are They Now?
How ‘The Office’ Actors Feel About The Show’s ‘Offensive’ Nature
Steve Carell played Michael Scott for seven of the nine seasons of ‘The Office‘ until he made his emotional exit from the show to focus on spending more time with his family. Reflecting on the show’s ‘wrong-minded’ nature, he said, “The climate’s different. I mean the whole idea of that character, Michael Scott, so much of it was predicated on inappropriate behavior. I mean, he’s certainly not a model boss. A lot of what is depicted on that show is completely wrong-minded. That’s the point, you know? But I just don’t know how that would fly now.”
Even one of the co-writers Mindy Kaling, who played the role of Kelly Kapoor added, “The writers who I’m still in touch with now, we always talk about how so much of that show we probably couldn’t make now. Tastes have changed, and honestly what offends people has changed so much now.” She believes the show would have been inappropriate.
Micheal Scott the boss of Dunder Mifflin has definitely no sense of boundaries. He invades privacy and compromises the work environment making it toxic for colleagues to work. In the context of its workplace setting, Scott’s recurring jokes and mimicry would be classified as racist or sexual harassment, while certain instances of discrimination and fat-shaming are blatant. Especially in the Michael Scott roast session, he called out Oscar for being gay, Angela for being petite and Stanley for being fat. All these jokes might as well be funny then, but they don’t work for the current generation.
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