Our parents grew up with the on and off relationship between Ross and Rachel, Chandler Bing’s unforgettable sarcasm, the constant gatherings at America’s favorite coffee shop, Central Perk, and they shared it with us. This beloved, iconic Warner Brothers show Friends turned 25 years old this September and the world demonstrated its never-ending love for the show through marathons and television specials. 

Friends surrounded six best friends and their challenges finding love and themselves throughout New York City. The show starred Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, and David Schwimmer as Ross Geller. For it’s 25th birthday, fans around the world showed how much Friends has impacted their lives. A marathon broke out on TBS, as well as having fans choose their favorite episodes for each character to show on September 22. Fathom Events hosted a showing at select theaters of various Friends episodes. Some of the Friends actors have gotten together to celebrate the anniversary, but there have been no talks of a reboot or reunion. 

The popularity of the show has increased since it ended, especially since streaming services like Netflix are options. According to Quartzy, along with The Office and Grey’s Anatomy, Friends is one of the most watched shows on Netflix, with viewers around the world spending 54.3 million hours watching it in 2018 (which is equal to around 6,200 years). Because of its success, Netflix paid $80 million to keep the show, but as of next year Friends will move to HBO Max. Even though the show premiered before many of it’s Netflix streamers were born, Gen-Zers say that they love the show because they can relate to the characters and can see themselves in the situations that the characters are in. 

Friends has changed the way many people see sitcoms. According to professor of American studies Elayne Rapping at the University of Buffalo, “the show changed the way young people acted, showing that your 20s were the prime of life and that the image of youth has become the dominant image of our culture.” Before Friends, many television shows centered around families. Friends showed media that for a show to be successful, it does not have to be about a family and children. The creators of the show said that they quickly realized that for the show to succeed, they needed to capitalize on cast chemistry.

Since the end of the show, the Friends actors have been in other movies and T.V. shows. Jennifer Aniston has been the most successful since the end of the show. She has starred in Marley and Me, We’re the Millers, and many more. Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc have had small roles in other shows and films. For David Schwimmer, instead of being on the big screen, he has been behind the camera directing films. The legacy of Friends will live on forever in the hearts of so many across the world.