friends forever: it never fails to bring a smile on our faces! - By Neha

the american sitcom 'friends' has become a global pop- culture phenomenon whose relevance and unprecedented popularity has endured over two- and- a half decades 

it's been 27 years since friends has aired and its still always on top 4or5 on netflix and it's an amazing show, and now its on top 3 because of the reunion, and i never thought that the reunion would make me cry but it did, the reunion is just so emotional, and truly amazing, and i've already seen the reunion 4 times now, and even writing this blog is making me cry, it's just that, when you don't have friends or whether you're in depression friends always makes you feel happy and smile until you cry. and when you don't have friends, you feel like the 6 of them are your best friends, which is why everyone loved friends so much, including me (definitely) and everyone are rewatching friends, well i always do, after watching the reunion, it makes you want to watch the series again, and the reunion just reminds you how amazing friends is, and the theme song (i'll be there for you) is such a popular and amazing song, and reminds you of all the wonderful things in life and makes you smile all the time and smelly cat is also a very famous song sung by lisa kudrow herself, smelly cat has been streamed on spotify 1.5 million times 

its crazy how such a simple story  can be so amazing and meaningful, this cast and tv show will stay in my heart forever, and it will always be my favourite show ❤️

its about love, relationships, careers, a time in your life when everything's possible, and its about friendship because when you're alone and in the city your friends are your family

 A little more than 25 years ago, when Rachel Green, a runaway bride, barged into a Manhattan cafe named Central Perk in her wedding dress, looking for her high school friend Monica Geller, only to eventually move in with her and set off a six-pronged tale of friendship, few could have predicted that Friends would not only play out for 10 years and over 236 episodes, but also become one of the most successful sitcoms in television history. Today, more importantly, the show has become a global pop-culture phenomenon whose relevance and unprecedented popularity has endured over two-and-a-half decades. 

a story of six pals finding their way through the ups and downs of life in the 90's,  friends is a rare tv show, its so much more than a show and the 6 of them (jennifer anniston, courtney cox, david schwimmer, matthew perry, matt leblanc and lisa kudrow) they're so much much more than just a cast to us, and it attracts viewers across generations, case in point, ahead of the much anticipated friends reunion which aired on 27th may, the netflix top 10 chats in many countries, saw friends make a comeback, with fans tuning back in to journey once more with Rachel and Monica, Phoebe and Ross, Chandler and Joey 

Staying with Netflix, let’s look at some figures to illustrate how Friends continues to be a money-making marvel for global television. Along with The Office and Grey’s Anatomy, Friends has remained one of the most-watched shows on Netflix, with viewers around the world spending 54.3 million hours (the equivalent of 62,000 years) watching it in 2018. The streaming service reportedly paid $80 million to the show’s producers to keep it streaming throughout 2019. Even now, Friends reportedly earns Warner Bros $1billion in syndication revenue. The series finale, broadcast on May 6, 2004, notched up a viewership of 52.46 million viewers. The series, during its 10-season run, was nominated for 62 Primetime Emmy Awards.

The numbers, of course, are mind boggling. But the reason why Friends has endured through the ages is simple — its inherent simplicity. Friends harks back to a less complicated time, a time where we didn’t have social media and smartphones and where having friends meant having them in life, and not just as a Facebook statistic.

Originally titled ‘Insomnia Cafe’ and with the plan to set it solely in a coffee shop, creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman decided to expand its arc to make Friends into a show in which friends represented family in young peoples’ lives, a fact that resonates even today. “This was one of those things where the idea was very clear to us,” Crane told Dateline in 2004 on the occasion of the show’s 10th anniversary. “And the writers still make fun of us because it’s like, ‘Oh, when you’re in your 20s, your friends are your family’. But for us, that’s the show!”

for everyone, then and now, friends is a feel good show, representing a life which is far more carefree than it is now, it plays out mostly in an insulated world, showing the six principle characters living in a version of new york where they inhabit rent-controlled swanky apartments "look around you guys" says chandler to his newly adopted twins, as his friends and his family left the Apartment for the last time, "this was your first home, and it was a happy place, filled with love and laughter, but more importantly because of rent control, it was a freakin steal!" and have all the time to just hang out with each other. stuff that may not be a realistic dynamic in many friendship circles, but never fails to bring a smile on the faces of its audience, cutting across generations,

this was a sitcom which showed usna world where parents were largely out of the picture, through sunshine or storm, the six friends learned to rely on each other, and even if slightly clueless, they more or less found their way. 

A big reason why Friends has held on — and also built on — its popularity over the decades is that its devoted fan base of nostalgic 30 and 40-somethings not only go back to the show, or at least a few episodes or seasons now and again, they have now started introducing their children to the show, in what can be considered everything from a nostalgic full-circle moment to an obligatory rite of passage.

No other show has perhaps influenced pop culture in quite the way Friends has. From giving a boost to the culture of buddies crowding coffee shops for hours as a hangout (Friends-themed cafes, with or without that familiar orange couch, are found in all corners of the world) to inspiring the haircut that’s gone down in history as ‘The Rachel’. First debuted in 1995, the bouncy, face-framing layers of the hairstyle, sported by Aniston on the show, was one of the most trend-setting looks that was not just limited to the ’90s. ‘The Rachel’ became an overnight sensation, with Aniston herself surprised at its popularity. In 2010, ‘The Rachel’ was declared the most requested hairstyle of all time, with almost 11 million British women alone trying out the look. The haircut has now made a comeback, with actor Renee Zellweger sporting a version of it as recently as this year’s Golden Globes red carpet.