That's why we still look at Friends - 25 years after the premiere

Now, the television series Friends turns 25 and even though it ended 15 years ago, it still has the power of enchantment. According to figures from the analytics company Jumpshot - Netflix does not like to share statistics - last year, after the American The Office, the series was the most viewed on Netflix in the US. This led to the streaming service coughing up the equivalent of SEK 1 billion to retain its rights in 2019.

Of all the popular sitcoms from the 90s, no one has made a bigger impression than the one about the six friends Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler and Joey. An unscientific but good proof of that is how the comments box on the British Blackpool Police Department's Facebook page was completely swamped by Friends references last fall when they posted a picture of a suspected thief who was eerily similar to Ross.

Friends-fans around the world went bananas, and over 170,000 more or less obscure quotes from the series were published and the film of the poor thief spread all over the world.

At the Cultural News editorial, we are at least three who have seen all the Friends sections plenty of times, and one who, despite the colleagues' glowing eyes, tourlets-like reels out at least one Friends reference a day. I also know that it is neat that when I was told that I landed my first journalist job , I stretched my arms in the air and exclaimed I am an assistant buyer! But it is just as neat that you who read this understand the reference. (If you do not understand, see section S04E9)

And we are many who have a messy relationship with Friends. My sister for example. Long into the 00s, she put on a section every night when she was going to sleep. It doesn't matter if I close my eyes, I see what they do anyway , she said and then sweetly kissed.

Another one who has the series stuck in the cerebral cortex is writer Jack Hildén who recently in a text on Aftonbladet's culture page told us that he can basically all replica exchanges in Friends by the way.

- I gathered on all VHSs when I was a kid and used to watch a few episodes every day after school. Four to five in a row when it was worst. I bought the DVD box then and I have it left. Me and my girlfriend are actually watching the series right now. We are in season three.

For Jack Hildén, the friends offered companionship and warmth. Something that shines with its absence in most of the new popular series that the streaming services are showing. Not so much fun heart room in either, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things or Big little lies, to name a few.

An article in The Guardian entitled The age of comfort TV speculated that the new heyday of emotionally heavy drama series, stories of war and dragons and violent crime series, also led to more and more being drawn to their old, nicer, sniff blankets from 90s and 00s. Like the Friends and The Office, but also shows like Gilmore Girls, Parks and Recreation and The Big Bang Theory.

- I think that's right, says Jack Hildén. In Friends there is a security that is not present in today's series. It depicts a fairly conflict-free friendship and they have a nice dynamic between each other. It's really something you can see before you go to bed.

Cultural journalist Adrianna Jalming also belongs to the group that has seen all 236 friends sections over and over. She believes much of the series' popularity is about being right in time.

- It was still quite new with a series where they just interacted with each other and had a good time. And so it was perfectly cast and with a light but smart humor.

When talking about which comedies most characterize the 90s, it is mainly Friends and Seinfeld that are mentioned. Most often, the analysis lands in that Seinfeld is best kept while Friends is more dated. Something Jack Hildén is facing.

- I think they are equally dated in that case. The criticism has been about the fact that there is sexism and homophobia in Friends, but that is true in both cases. In Friends, those scenes also often feel misplaced and poorly shaped than the rest of the series. Like Ross neither wants to hire a male babysitter or his son to play with a doll. Why would he think so? You do not believe in him. At the same time, Ross's ex-wife Carol and her relationship with Susan are lovingly portrayed in Friends, I think.

"You have to be able to hold two thoughts at the same time," says Adrianna Jalming. It is clear that there was homophobia and sexism in Friends, but it was there to the same extent as in the rest of society as it looked then. That's a fair criticism, those pieces are frivolous today, but Friends wasn't a great sinner. Most was kind.

"That's one of the reasons why Friends are better than Seinfeld," says Jack Hildén. It goes deeper. One really cares about how things are going for all six. And so it was a good script from the first season, that in a simple and obvious way they conveyed the characters' background stories from the beginning. Then you could almost directly write sections that referred to past events, such things usually can't be done until a couple of three seasons into a comedy series

For many, Friends was a series shared with family and friends. One of the last campfire TV series that you solemnly, once a week, sat down on the sofa to watch the new episode together. While certainly binge-watching the old sections of video or DVD every other day of the week.

Both Adrianna Jalming and Jack Hildén were Friends-obsessed with their siblings and they always clash with friends quotes and references when seen.

- That's what I think of when I see it again today, says Adrianna Jalming. I nostalgically look back at totally worry-free 22-minute bits of my youth.