Interesting that a high proportion of those tiny Black parts feature professionals and people in authority.

I love Friends, and I'm currently rewatching all ten seasons right now.

But it really, really bothers me how white and straight this show is. Lauren Tom as Ross' girlfriend Julie was the only recurring person of Asian descent on the show, and Aisha Tyler (another girlfriend of Ross) was the only majorly recurring African American character (I'd ay only recurring, but I'm not sure how many times the divorce lawyer shows up). It's a pathetically white show, taking place in NEW YORK CITY. I mean, seriously!

And it's not like people who aren't white aren't funny. Lauren Tom and Aisha Tyler, for example, happen to be extremely funny people, who were used as placeholders in the Friends plot to create conflict. AWESOME. :(

The show's pretty straight, too. The treatment of the characters Carol and Susan is really, really disappointing, and for the rest of the time, LGBT characters are often played as jokes. While it's true that the reason why Chandler is upset with his father has more to do with how his parents' divorce happened than his father's gender identity, the fact that his father is a MTF transsexual is often played for huge laughs.

This reminds me of how I grew up watching american shows on TV, and realized that the cast either was black or white. On Friends, everyone except people in the background were white. In Fresh prince, everyone except people in the background were black. I thought it was very odd and racist how they didn't seem to interact on tv - because surely they did in real life? Or is the US this segregated?

And we haven't learned. :( "How I Met Your Mother", which shares a premise very similar to that of "Friends" and debuted in 2005, probably has just as few characters of color. There are no characters of color in the main cast and none of the love interests have been of color.

"Perfect Couples" will debut on NBC soon, and its just the same -- white couples being white together (okay - Olivia Munn is biracial; hopefully this will be part of her character's identity, but we'll see.)

While TV has been getting better in some respects ("The Killing", soon to debut on AMC, features a sole female lead and a female show runner on a show that's not centered around the domestic or romance, yay), it has not become a better place for people of color. While POC are featured more in ensemble shows, they still can't be the main lead or the sole lead. And they certainly can't have shows that are about them. Not even comedies anymore -- the black comedies that used to be on UPN had died since the CW was born, and nothing's replaced them. So sad.

Just an interesting note on the "evolution" of races. The discussion here is about an all white cast yet Ross and Monica are Jewish. David Schwimmer is actually Jewish. There was a time in our history when Jews were not seen as white.

I really loved Friends, although I was also in middle school when I was watching it regularly, and I also loved Britney Spears and all other things that were mainstream, required no thinking, and were socially deemed as cool. But even as a 13-year-old, I remember being shocked any time I saw someone who wasn't white. I do like that there were very often black one-time characters who were bosses and lawyers and in positions of power, but that doesn't erase the fact that it's inaccurate, insensitive, and pandering to the norm to have the cast like that. It was the same with Sex and the City, and both of those shows are considered to be the quintessential New York City television shows.

"It's not like its Frasier" Hahaha

@Uly, hurrah! Hanukkah is so boring compared to Purim or Passover.

ultimately, it's a production choice, as the producers can overrule the writer's vision and intention for the script. the producers choose to go forward with an unbearably white cast, when ANY american story can (and probably should) include black and brown people.

for example: in deadwood, the writers and producers included black and asian characters that were nuanced, important to the story, and appeared in several episodes. milch et al. could have made the story totally white, with some indigenous folks in the background, like so many many many other westerns, but made production and script choices that were more inclusive. the same can be said of boardwalk empire -- lots of prohibition stories, save for those that exoticise harlem -- totally exclude african americans. while nucky remains the focal character, the character played by the actor who portrayed omar little in the wire is well written and his story is an important part of the overall narrative.

and the wire...easily one of the best-written and most integrated casts ever on tv, along with homicide: life on the street and oz, all three out of the levinson/fontana production company from baltimore. contrast the wire and h:lots to he's just not that into you (which also takes place in balto) and you would think that you were looking at two entirely different cities.

so back to my point; i do have one. the question isn't whether one character is, for example, sufficiently jewish, but rather why producers and some writers choose to depict a world (nyc, baltimore, san francisco, wherever) that's all white, when that depiction is so far off the mark? is this a matter of straight-up capitalism exerting itself on the production of entertainment, or is there something else in play?

Lisa, apparently the whiteness of the television show "Friends" wasn't "unbearable" for lots of people since that show was very popular in the USA-at least with some people.*

Personally, I've never watched an episode of "Friends", but then again, I used to watch hardily any television and still don't. But as an African American it particularly bothered me that a series set in as racially and ethnically diverse a city as New York City had a cast that was so White. That says something about the powers that be in the media.

And Lisa, I really didn't think that video was meant to be hilarious ha ha funny. I'm glad that almost all of those who commented in this thread didn't focus on how funny the video was but were serious in their discussion about the subject that video raised.

* I wonder if any research as ever been done on who watched "Friends". I bet that tnat series' viewers were White in a disproportionate percentage to their population in the USA.

did we mention joeys "good morning" singing neighbor?

This is a tv show meant to entertain and induce laughter... if you want social commentary then go watch a documentary or something.

I guess TV is doomed for those of us who believe in the sanctity of marriage. It's getting so crazy that there is now a same sex couple on Disney Jr. There are plenty of shows with homosexual people please do not keep attacking Friends and Fresh Prince for not representing more gay people. This is messed up its considered wrong for us to force our beliefs on others which in which I used forced sarcastically because spreading the word of God is not forcing our beliefs on you. Taking away people's jobs and businesses is however forcing your beliefs on us. I have a homosexual brother but I live him and we don't berate him he comes over with his partner and no one says anything mean or tells they're wrong we spend time together and tell them both we love them. It is not right to make it impossible to findicate a show that does not condone homosexuality.