Reboots are all the rage these days, especially if the original property in need of rebooting was from the 1990s. Hell, even Mad About You is getting a reboot of its own this fall. But one show synonymous with the 90s and still remarkably popular is also the most unlikely of 90s classics to get a reboot: Friends.
The show has been off the air for quite some time, but it’s still one of the most popular things on Netflix (for now). Countless people binge watch the show on Netflix, and it’s reached new generations of fans that continue to enjoy the exploits of a group of pals in New York City. And while the most obvious reason a Friends reboot won’t happen — the original cast hasn’t wanted to do it — is the whole story when it comes to it being unlikely to reboot. Not even, it seems, the people who created the show want to bring it back.
Friends‘ popularity decades after it last aired, in part, is one of the reasons why it would be so difficult for the crew to get back together. It still makes plenty of money, and that’s hard to want to go back to a well that’s already highly successful. According to a piece in the New York Times, which included interviews from those who created Friends, only “greed” could get the show back on the air for another season.
“It’s like winning the lottery and then buying more tickets,” Friends executive producer David Crane told the Times. “Why? You won!”
There were a number of other reasons why even considering a reboot is tough for those that created it. The fear of not ending on a high note is definitely high on the list.
“You’re just going to get slammed, criticized and hated,” the longtime “Friends” writer Greg Malins said. “The headline for every review [would be] ‘This Is No “Friends.”’”
The article also introduced a pretty bleak thought about a show that, to some, hasn’t held up as well in the modern television landscape. While fans of the show would want to explore the lives of characters now much older, would a modern version of the show need to address modern concerns or would it ruin what the show was in the eyes of many?
“We set out to make a show about people in their 20s,” said Kevin Bright, a “Friends” executive producer. “And I hate to break the news to you, they’re not 20 anymore. They’re 50.”
…
“What happened to the twins? Is one of them a drug addict?” Bright said of the possible new story lines. “Is one of the six of them divorced? Because they have to be. No 100 percent of friends’ marriages last.”
Oh well, we’ll always have Marcel’s reboot.
[via The New York Times]
