1994年誕生 不老的《老友記》
If a sitcom that lasts for 10 years is considered popular, then surely one that still stirs up emotions after 20 must be considered a classic. Friends first aired in the US in 1994, featuring a cast of six young men and women in New York. In the time since, it’s become one of the most famous titles in the sitcom genre, aired in over 100 countries and regions in the world.
如果一部情景喜劇播出10年堪稱流行，那麼播出20年後依舊令無數人掛懷的電視劇則是經典。《老友記》1994年在美國首播，講述了六個生活在紐約的青年男女的故事。現在，該劇已經是最著名的情景喜劇之一，在全球超過100多個國家和地區播出。
The show is iconic among those who grew up in the 1990s because it explores core themes like friendship, struggling to survive in a big city, and finding independence and identity, all of which are still relevant to young audiences today.
《老友記》是成長在90年代的小夥伴們心中標誌性的存在，因爲它的主題：友誼、大城市生存的不易，發現自我、尋求獨立，與年輕人息息相關，如今亦是如此。This is a story about six friends with precarious love lives who spend their days sitting in a cafe sipping coffee from oversized mugs. Who’d have thought this premise would go on to become one of the most influential sitcoms of all time?
該劇講述了6位男女和他們飄忽不定的愛情，還有他們在咖啡店中享用超大杯咖啡的時光。而誰想到這竟成爲情景劇中最具深入人心的場景之一？
Twenty-something show
20多歲的故事According to Brett Mills, senior lecturer in film and television studies at the University of East Anglia in the UK, Friends was the first sitcom that directly addressed the problems faced by twenty-somethings. Watching the show feels like reading the story of a young person’s life.
正如英國東安格利亞大學影視高級講師布霄特•米爾斯所言，《老友記》是首部講述20來歲年輕人所面臨的問題的情景劇。而看劇就像在讀一個年輕人的人生故事。“The key thing about Friends is that it’s about people working out how they are going to live their lives — what kind of relationships are they going to have, what kind of job, and the difficulties of settling down,” says Mills to the Daily Mail. “You’re engaged in all those questions about escaping from your family, becoming an adult and working out what you want to be.”And that’s one of the key issues in the youth culture of the 1990s.
米爾斯在接受《每日郵報》採訪中說，“《老友記》的核心是關於人要如何生活，他們想要怎樣的友誼，找一份怎樣的工作，以及尋找安定的不易。這些問題都是你在離開家、成長爲大人、實現夢想之時所面臨的。”而這也是90年代青春文化的主要內容。Friends count too
朋友很重要It is also argued that Friends came about as the family unity of small-town America was being replicated in major urban centers as young people migrated without the maturity or streetsmarts to live alone. Before Friends, sitcoms tended to focus on family dynamics, with parents being the central characters. But when young people strike out on their own in the big city, who do they have for support? They must rely on each other to endure through the overwhelming confusion of youth.
《老友記》播出之時，正值來自小城鎮的美國年輕人向大城市轉移的時代，而初到大城市的年輕人既不夠成熟，也缺乏獨自生存的能力。在此之前，情景喜劇都以展現家庭百態爲主，父母是劇中的主要人物。但是，當年輕人獨自在大城市生活時，他們不得不依靠彼此，一起度過迷茫的青春。Still relevant
依然年輕Most of Friends was shot before cellular phones and Google were ubiquitous. The clothes and gadgets seem a bit outdated these days. Despite this, the show’s key elements still hold up remarkably well in the eyes of young viewers.
《老友記》大部分劇集拍攝之時，手機和Google都還未普及，劇中的服裝和道具現在看來也有些過時，但是，劇中的主題卻依舊深得現在年輕觀衆的心。The issues addressed in friends — relationships, careers, and friendship — continue to be relevant to today’s youth.
其關於朋友間愛情、事業、友誼的主題仍然與今天的年輕人息息相關。In 2011, some seven years after the last season of Friends, over 36 million tuned into Comedy Central, a US satellite TV channel, to watch the show. The main demographic for this channel is 16 to 34 year olds, and viewing figures spiked during holidays, when extra episodes are also shown.
2011年，在《老友記》最後一季播出7年之後，美國衛星電視頻道Comedy Central再次播放該劇，觀看人數超過了3600萬，而觀衆的年齡主要分佈在16歲至34歲之間。假期時，看劇人數更是由於播放集數增加而飆升。The show’s sense of humor remains keen without relying on nudity, swearing and sexting. This gives the show a refreshing aura in an age where shows are constantly trying to push the envelope in terms of racy content.
《老友記》中沒有露骨的內容、不乾淨的臺詞或是黃段子，但它的幽默感卻絲毫不減，爲這個電視劇總喜歡裹挾着露骨內容的年代帶來一陣清新之風。
