From September 1994 to May 2004, Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry starred in the wildly popular sitcom, 'Friends', little did they know that they weren't just shooting a show but were building a universal 'happy place' for generations to come.
Such is their impact, that when the makers decided announced a 'Friends Reunion; special, which was released on May 27, 2021, Gen Z simply could not contain their excitement. This is evident from the 3.5 times increase in mentions of "Friends Reunion" on dating platform Tinder in April 2021 as compared to April 2020. It is interesting how a show, premiered 25 years ago, is still able to claim such a high degree of relevance among audiences of each generation, including Gen Z!
'Friends' is more than just a show for the Indian Gen Z and they are not shying away from highkey stanning in their Tinder bios.
* With almost 93 per cent of the mentions in Tinder bios (in April 2021) coming from Gen Z members, we know that the champions of binge watching have left the other generations of 'Friends' fans far behind
* Chandler rules on Tinder. When we ranked Friends characters in order of mentions amongst Tinder members, in April 2021, it was Chandler who bagged the top spot. Then came, Joey, Ross, Monica, Rachel and Phoebe.
* Rachel and Joey too have a remarkable Gen Z fan base on Tinder. Going by percentage, Rachel (62 per cent) and Joey (58 per cent) have higher Gen Z mentions compared to Chandler (55 per cent).
* But what about Ross? We did come across a ton of Ross mentions in nearly all bios, especially 'Unagi' and 'My Lobster'.
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Much like Ross, the rest of the cast also features time and again in various Tinder bios, showing how most members of the Tinder community identify themselves with the show's characters. Here's what some of our members are saying:
* Let's be Monica and Chandler in a world full of Ross and Rachel
* Sarcastic like Chandler, innocent like Joey, funny like Phoebe, organised like Monica(not), serious like Ross Rachel is love!
* Waiting for a Joey to come by and say, "how you doing?"
* Looking for Monica, but only coming across Janices :/
* Contrary to Joey, I do share my food
Maybe it's the complex yet simple comedy that fills the characters' lives or perhaps the practical lessons in gems like -- "Nobody's going to read your letter if you'll go 'on for 18-pages. Front and back!'. F.R.I.E.N.D.S remains timeless.