NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Fox News host Jesse Watters paid a beautiful homage to late actor Matthew Perry on his primetime show while putting forth a significant commentary about American culture.
While naming ‘Friends’ as a “cultural phenomenon” that swept the entire nation, Watters told his viewers that that spirit of togetherness brought to life by the hit sitcom “doesn’t exist” anymore.
The conservative political commentator hailed Perry as the “comedian of the franchise” praising him for his acting chops and dry humor.
Jesse Watters talks about America’s cultural problem while paying tribute to Matthew Perry
After detailing Perry’s death at his Los Angeles house, Watters moved to explain to his viewers what made Chandler Bing, the character played by the later actor, truly legendary.
“Chandler was the comedian of the franchise. His humor, his timing, the way he teased his friends, imprinted itself on our culture.”
However, Watters expanded on the notion that ‘Friends’ became a cultural phenomenon because everyone in America used to watch it together on Thursdays at NBC.
“Friends did 10 seasons from mid 90s to 2000s and the show averaged 25 million viewers per episode. Today’s sitcoms don’t even crack 10 million per episode.”
He added, “The final episode was watched by 53 million Americans. It was the last golden age of TV. Family and friends, brothers and sisters, boyfriends and girlfriends, gathered around the TV on Thursday and watched friends together. The entire country shared the experience together.”
Watters exclaimed that now the only thing that everyone watches together is “football.”
Jesse Watters claims ‘shared cultural media experience’ is gone after ‘Friends’
Watters claimed that the entertainment industry is “fractured” at the moment.
“There are thousands of different shows on hundreds of platforms that are available on demand on multiple devices. There is no shared cultural media experience anymore.”
The Fox News star gave examples of ‘Cheers’ and ‘The Cosby Show’, informing the viewers that the Americans used to watch these shows together as a family.
“62 million people watched The Cosby Show, 93 million Americans watched the final episode of Cheers. It’s almost half the country experiencing the same thing at the same time. Seinfeld was huge. Friends was huge.”
Watters concluded, “America lacks this kind of campfire where the country sits around and enjoys it together.”
He also stated that to overcome this disconnect among themselves and to move past their isolation, people started experimenting with drugs.
