Jerry Seinfeld is still haunted by his TV mother's words -- "How could anyone not like him?" No wonder Seinfeld has been all over social media in recent months. He forgoes his usual stoicism and criticizes everything in sight, from critics of his movie "Unfrosted" to Howard Stern, college campuses, and even the cast of Friends. In a recent interview, Lisa Kudrow stated that Seinfeld tried to take credit for Friends' success and implied that if not for Seinfeld laying the groundwork for a quirky New York group of misfits, the show would never have made it.
To this day, many fans think Friends was a rip-off of Seinfeld that just happened to inherit a cushy Must-See TV time slot. However, Friends fans, and even some Seinfeld fans, quickly point out that Friends' humor is nothing like Seinfeld's outlook. The issue may be confusing when one tries to break down each show into a generational zeitgeist.
Seinfeld is blatantly a Boomers-era show, created by two of the Boomer generation's most outspoken and influential minds, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, who wrote their show for young-at-heart, 35+ demographics. Friends was marketed at a younger demographic as if to say this was a New York-based comedy about finding and avoiding love, but it was one aimed at Gen Xers rather than Boomers. What I remember most about Friends is that it lacks a clear cultural identity.
It's one of the very few shows that feels timeless and utterly oblivious of what generation it's in. Friends is decisive.
