Jennifer Aniston says modern-day 'Friends' would just be the gang on their phones

"We were IN AN OPEN RELATIONSHIP ON FACEBOOK!"
 By 
Proma Khosla
 on 
Jennifer Aniston says modern-day 'Friends' would just be the gang on their phones
Jennifer Aniston at the Season 3 premiere of HBO's 'The Leftovers.' Credit: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock

20 years ago, Friends was dominating NBC's airwaves with the story of six pseudo-adults in New York City trying to find their way through life and love.

Though it continues to endure with a loyal fanbase, the world of Friends is undeniably analog; Its adorably archaic technology could and does fill lists. In an interview for Thrive Global Podcast With iHeartRadio, Jennifer Aniston told Ariana Huffington that if Friends happened today, everyone at Central Perk would just be staring at their phones.

"Now you have a computer, a television, and a phone. There's no room," Aniston said. "We were jokingly saying that if Friends was created today, you would have a coffee shop full of people that were just staring into iPhones. There would be no actual episodes or conversations.”

That seems contestable, since TV shows about adult friends struggling through life together are as ubiquitous as ever (New Girl, You're The Worst, Netflix's upcoming Friends From College). Or maybe Aniston was speaking to the actual characters on Friends, imagining they'd have low attention spans and be easily distracted (imagine Joey having constant access to mobile games).

Either way, don't hold out for a modern Friends adaptation.

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Proma Khosla

Proma Khosla is a Senior Entertainment Reporter writing about all things TV, from ranking Bridgerton crushes to composer interviews and leading Mashable's stateside coverage of Bollywood and South Asian representation. You might also catch her hosting video explainers or on Mashable's TikTok and Reels, or tweeting silly thoughts from @promawhatup.

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