We’re going to talk about ‘Friends’, but don’t worry, —oh, surprise!— this time it has nothing to do with the lack of diversity in the show. Instead of continuing to spin around a controversy that has been on the table for too long, we are going to focus on the bright side of things and check why the series is worthy of the “television phenomenon” label.
more than a series
You know that an audiovisual production is much more than that when transcends the screen to take root in popular culture and become part of our daily lives. The case of the creation of David Crane and Marta Kauffman is a perfect example of this, even becoming a subject of study for psychologists.
In addition to influencing the way of communicating on the part of the English-speaking community, which came to be called “The Rachel” to the haircut of Jennifer Aniston’s character or to use the “How you doin’?” from Joey to pick up or say hello to his friends—I’m not going to deny that I’ve said “How’s that going?” on countless occasions, it is believed that ‘Friends’ came to modify the use of English.
According to a study by the University of Toronto, the characters in the series tend to use the word “so” to modify adjectives more frequently than usual. This ended up transferring to the public, in the same way that Chandler’s habit of leave sentences unfinished to give them a sarcastic meaning I also plead guilty to having absorbed this from the sitcom.
But ‘Friends’ not only modified, but helped extend the use and understanding of its original language. A survey of the Kaplan International English College carried out in 2012 collected in its data that 26% of its students mentioned the NBC production as the best television program when it came to helping them improve their English; proving that there are few things better than the original version to complement the language school.