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Was "Friends" considered a "white show"?
- Thread starter UnemployedVillain
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Cindi Mayweather
Member
Non-white hispanic doesn't include Brazilians and Haitians. Which is why I don't use hispanic, but latino.
Why feel bad
You feel bad about people consciously noticing how popular culture treats race?
gutter_trash
Banned
Dash_Riprock
Member
#AllLivesMatter in a nutshell.
A Link to the Past
Banned
But it's not equivalent. Fresh Prince and Family Matters are black shows in an industry where black roles are stagnant. Friends is a white show in an industry where white roles are abundant. The former encourages other shows to be more racially inclusive, the latter suggests that shows can get away with not caring.
Hellsing321
Member
Please turn in your white person card to the nearest North Face store.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
You're like one big step away from understanding how privilege is invisible.
This reminded me of RuPaul's video for Supermodel of the world.
The dancing in a fountain was a 90s thing, not a race thing.
Seinfeld's NYC isn't mono-white people.
Errrr....Family Matters really isn't what I' d call a good comedy. Maybe for families with young children, but otherwise that show would've died had it not been for Urkel.
what's so white about Fraiser though? I mean, other than the fact they're all white. I found it a lot more relatable than Friends.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
I think a lot of people don't go past 5 minutes of Frasier to see it's a social commentary on the ridiculous lives of the wealthy, not just a story about rich white people. It's a wonderful farce.
Agreed. Their father was anything but rich, and forced to live with Frasier. I always thought of him as "the viewer". He had real world problems and was usually the one to laugh at and then comfort Frasier and Niles when their schemes blew up in their faces. I don't think it catered to wealthy whites at all.
Megadragon15
Member
If Friends was created today, it would be like How I Met Your Mother.
blankempathy
Member
Did you even watch the show?
regularly? hell no. I've been trapped in places like friend's houses and been forced to watch. why do you ask?
easterislandhead
Member
What a great thread. Simple question, even simpler answer yet much discussion.
Master_Funk
Member
Growing up I never really thought about 'black' or 'white' shows, but i tended to gravitate toward so called black shows, like sister sister, Kenan and kel, fresh prince , moesha etc. Now grown up , I think that being a minority myself had a significant affect on pulling me towards watching those shows and liking them significantly more than shows like friends .
UnemployedVillain
Member
It was never anything that I consciously registered growing up either. I just knew some shows seemed alien and others more familiar without really thinking about it, and Friends was definitely the worst of the "alien" shows. It's only now that I'm older looking back that I can start to reason why that was the case (I also watched all the shows you mentioned)
Zoe
Member
Ross had two multi-episode arcs with minority girlfriends.
ldcommando
Banned
It would be Happy Endings. Still super white but infinitely more diverse than Friends.
I thought one of Ross's girlfriends was Asian, and she played a pretty big role in the show?
Friends was lily white considering it supposedly played in New York. Though I don't know how multiracial groups of friends living in the Village were at that time. (Monica's apartment has been estimated at $3.5M)
The "I can't relate" seems like weird posturing though, this show had over a billion viewers or something and was even more popular in Asia than in Europe. It's the Mr. Bean of sitcoms.
The "I can't relate" seems like weird posturing though, this show had over a billion viewers or something and was even more popular in Asia than in Europe. It's the Mr. Bean of sitcoms.
Insert Coin
Banned
The whole "white" thing never bothered me so much; it was the constant melodrama and self-importance of a whiney, unlikeable cast that put me off. I come from a simple town in Wales and thought that whole group of them needed to get a grip and stop being so useless.
Go tell that to the Italians and see how many will call you ignorant. Especially Sicilians.
Thats Miss Chanandler Bong to youCould the main and recurring cast of Friends BE any more white?
Thank you. I'll be here all night. Chanadaler Bong out.
Angelus Errare
Banned
Italians think they're latino? Or are you saying that Italians think it's ignorant to suggest that both black people and white people can be "latino"?
I'm confused.
Big Bang Theory?
Full House also had Denise and Teddy. Stephanie was also married to Harry, who was Asian.
Happy Endings also pokes fun at this where Brad hangs out with his black frends.
It would be Silicon Valley
I don't know about that one. The places aren't really nice. And they're not really well off either.
Monica's co-worker at the restaurant she was fired from in season 2 or whatever it was (maybe even 1?)
Yeah you're right. I was joking.
excelsiorlef
Member
Michelle's two best friends throughout the show were black. Stephanie's best friend in the early seasons was asian
And they had minorities play small one episode parts every so often.
Definitely a overtly and unnaturally white show but I'd definitely say it was easily less white than Friends
Man, do I hate Napoleon the third.
How about Girls?
Yup.
They have well paid jobs, except for Penny. And the two main dudes live together, the other one with his mom and the last one lives off the wealth of his parents. Its relatively reasonable, last time I checked.
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