In a new interview, Lisa Kudrow, star of Friends discusses the lack of “diverse representation” in the hit NBC TV show.
Lisa Kudrow had a recent talk with The Daily Beast, where she reflected on the ongoing criticisms surrounding the lack of diversity on the hit TV show, Friends, in which she played the beloved role of Phoebe Buffay for 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004.
As die-hard fans would be aware, none of the six main stars of the program — Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Lisa herself – were people of colour. Looking back, the 59-year-old Emmy-winning actress explained why this may have been the case.
“Well, I feel like it was a show created by two people who went to Brandeis and wrote about their lives after college,” she stated. “And for shows especially, when it’s going to be a comedy that’s character-driven, you write what you know.”
Lisa continued, “They have no business writing stories about the experiences of being a person of color. I think at that time, the big problem that I was seeing was, ‘Where’s the apprenticeship?'”
During the interview, the actress was also asked what it would take for the highly successful sitcom to make a comeback: “I think if there would ever be anything like that, if [creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane] ever signed off on anything like that, it would have to be a different cast at that age.”
Lisa Kudrow added, “I think it would need to be more current — and more diverse representation is not a bad idea, you know?”
