'Friends' Co-Creator Marta Kauffman Hopes To Fix This One REGRET From The Show

When "Friends" premiered in September 1994, co-creators David Krane and Marta Kauffman had no idea it would be the phenomenon that took the world of sitcoms by storm.

The television sitcom which lasted for ten seasons between 1994 to 2004 had an undeniable cultural impact on pop culture.

However, with how much the world has evolved in topics like sexuality, race, inclusion, diversity, and the likes, the show’s creators are looking back at some things they might have gotten wrong.

During an appearance on "BBC World Services' The Conversation," Kauffman opened up about how the show handled the character of Chandler's father Charles Bing, played by Kathleen Turner, who was a transgender woman.

The famed show writer revealed that it was wrong to refer to Charles as Chandler's dad despite his transition to a woman.

"We kept referring to her as Chandler's father, even though Chandler's father was trans," Kauffman confessed. "Pronouns were not yet something that I understood. So we didn't refer to that character as 'she.' That was a mistake."

For those familiar with the beloved sitcom, Turner's character who had the alias Helena Handbasket appeared in three episodes of season 7 and was portrayed as a drag queen who regularly performed in Las Vegas.

As Chandler and Monica Green were preparing for their wedding, Monica convinced him to reach out to his estranged parent and they decided to travel down to Las Vegas to catch Helena.

Kauffman during an interview went down memory lane and confessed that she is learning from her time on "Friends" and wants to do things differently now.

She shared that she now approaches her professional environment in a more inclusive way and this is evident in her Netflix show which she also created, "Grace & Frankie."

"Grace & Frankie" is about two aged women — Grace played by Jane Fonda and Frankie played by Lily Tomlin — who have to navigate life as single seniors after their husbands become gay lovers.

Speaking about the Netflix series during a former interview, Kauffman noted," I like very much to create an environment where we have a happy set and a happy crew. It's very important to me that where we are is a safe place, a tolerant place, where there's no yelling. I fired a guy on the spot for making a joke about a trans cameraperson. That just can't happen."

It seems Turner who played the role of Helena Handbasket shares the same thought as Kauffman. During a 2018 Gay Times interview, the award-winning actress said:

"I don’t think it’s aged well. It was a 30 minute sitcom. It became a phenomenon, but no one ever took it seriously as a social comment."

She recalled that when she first got the role, saying the creators approached her about becoming "the first woman playing a man playing a woman" on screen. Turner wasted no time taking the role because "there weren’t many drag/trans people on television at the time."

She recalled that during the 10 seasons, Charles was portrayed as a man dressing up, hence the viewers saw the character as some sort of cross-dresser.

Despite some of the backlash "Friends" has received, Turner revealed that she wouldn't replay the role of Helena Handbasket now as there are now people who would fit more into the role.

This isn't the first time Kauffman has opened up about something she wished she did differently with the award-winning sitcom. Last month, she sat down with The Los Angeles Times and express disappointment at how the show addressed diversity.

"Friends" had a major all-white cast, with little to no Africa-American representation, as well as characters of other races.

"I've learned a lot in the last 20 years," Kauffman disclosed to the outlet. "Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy. It's painful looking at yourself in the mirror. I'm embarrassed that I didn't know better 25 years ago."

As a result, Kauffman is hoping to do better and pledged $4 million to the African and African American Studies department of her alma mater, Brandeis University.

"In this case, I'm finally, literally putting my money where my mouth is," declared Kauffman. The television writer shared that she wants to be "conscious in hiring people of color and actively pursue young writers of color."