For over 26 years and across two entire generations, the impact of Friends cannot be understated. Whether on a DVD set in the early 2000s or streaming services today, countless evenings have been spent by millions of people on its 236 episodes - not an understatement to call it one of the most successful television shows of all time, then. 

So how does it hold up today? Interesting, to say the least. Perhaps itâs the era that the show captures or time itself, changing how we perceive television on a rewatch. Either way, thereâs a good number of inconsistencies that crop up while visiting the series, especially a good half-decade after you first discovered it. Here are a few of them.

1. Living Life Sitcom-Class

Friends is supposed to be a comedy of course, but looking at the gangâs apartments, thereâs a bit of fantasy at work. Living in Manhattan as you might imagine, is considerably expensive - the average cost of an apartment near âCentral Perkâ hovers somewhere around $4,200 or 3 lakh rupees. No spacey 1,500 sq ft apartment like youâd find on the showâs sets too - those could be twice as expensive.

Sure, Monica has fortune on her side as she shares her home with Rachel, and it happens to be in her grandmotherâs name. Still doesnât do much to explain how Ross, Chandler and especially Phoebe and Joey get along, particularly in the earlier seasons when their careers were shakier.

2. Permanent Vacation

Imagine if you could let go of your responsibilities and work, spending time with your best friends in a cafe everyday? Sounds familiar to any Friends fan Iâm sure, and hereâs why this amazing thought doesnât add up. First, Monica. According to the New York Times, even culinary students out on internships in the city have it rough, working for ânine to eleven hours a day, five to six days a weekâ. 

Considering that Monica eventually becomes a head chef for âAlessandroâsâ, a restaurant she works at from seasons 4-9, weâre sure that she realistically wouldnât have time for coffee shops. Those apartments wonât pay for themselves, Iâd imagine.

3. Chandler Isnât Actually That Nice

Bing fans might consider this heresy, after all - isnât everyone supposed to hate Ross by now? Sure, Ross isnât so innocent - weâll get to him in a minute. Curiously however, despite constantly winning polls for the publicâs âFavourite Friends Characterâ,

He can be quite a bit scummy, breaking the bro-code with Joey when he kisses his best friendâs girlfriend in season 4âs âThe One Where Chandler Crosses the Lineâ. 

4. Phoebeâs Dark History

Sure, the Friends characters donât get to worry about rent, hang out all the time and always look great - but not everything is that positive and funny in the show. Despite usually being in a happy mood, Phoebeâs backstory is particularly dark and tragic - the character not only grew up in poverty, but was abandoned at the age of fourteen on the streets when her father walked out - right before her mother commits suicide. Yikes. 

What makes this even more tragic is how despite the years, Phoebe seems to carry a lot of this trauma with her - sometimes spontaneously bringing up the topic of her parents and homelessness, even to one-up Monica and Rachelâs problems.

5. Joeyâs Lonely Ending

âHow you doin?â is my favourite catchphrase from the show, and for understandable reasons - being Joey sounds like a lot of fun. The guyâs an actor, incredibly charming and hilarious to watch - in the first half of the entire show, his life takes the shape of a rollercoaster alongside Chandlerâs, as the two figure their way out through the twenties. Joey also happens to get lucky more often than anyone else in Friends - he sleeps with a total of 51 confirmed partners by season 10. 

The sad thing is, through the years, Joey never finds someone he can stay with throughout. At the series finale, he remains the only person in the gang who isnât in a relationship, as Ross and Rachel get back together after Joeyâs brief time spent dating her.

6. All-White NYC

© NBC

True, the show was also made in the 90s when representation in media wasnât as advanced as it is today, but just having two people of colour in ten seasons worth of episodes? That seems quite an extreme, and those two actors themselves agree - Actress Aisha Tyler, who played Rossâs girlfriend and Cosimo Fusco, who starred as Rachelâs boyfriend Paolo, have both addressed the showâs lack of diversity, branding it âunrealistic.â After all, New York City is one of the worldâs most diverse places in the world - even back in 2000, only 36% of the population was white - with the remaining divided between black people, asians and hispanics, as well as smaller minorities.

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