More than 15 years after wrapping its 10 season run, Friends inexplicably remains one of the most popular series on television. To that point, look no further to the reaction to the news that the NBC sitcom was leaving Netflix earlier this week, which caused the streaming giant to bend to fan pressure and shell out a reported $80 million to keep it on through 2019.
What can we say? People really, really love Friends. Maybe because it hearkens back to a time when life was simpler, pre-screens and dating apps — and when Ross and Rachel’s entire “we were on a break” miscommunication crisis could have easily been averted with a simple text message when cooler heads prevailed. In any case, it’s not without a note of irony that Friends reigned supreme on Tinder’s end-of-the-year 2018 Year in Swipe data.
The Year in Swipe® brings you what’s trending on Tinder across the globe—from top Anthems and favorite foods to celebrity crushes, most talked about TV, swipe-worthy events and the most popular slang. What they say is true: If you want to know a generation’s true character, give them Tinder. Are we serious? Deadass.
And indeed, at the top of the list of most popular TV show/terms, was Friends, followed by Netflix (presumably often followed with “and chill”), and then The Office, Game of Thrones, and Hulu to round out the top five.
Not for nothing, the findings also pointed out that the most popular Tinder GIF used in the U.S., U.K. and Australia was Joey’s “How You Doin?” — which, honestly, seems just as appropriate a way to approach a member of the opposite (or same) sex in 2018 as it was in 1995.
In summary, as stated by the Year in Swipe, this generation’s true character, according to Tinder, is a TV show that premiered before many members of said generation were even born. Cool cool, now someone just try explaining to Chandler and Joey what “deadass” means.
