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They might have been younger than you are now!
If you grew up watching NBC’s Must-See TV lineup, all those sitcom characters were adults, because you were growing up and they looked old. Maybe not like your parents, exactly, but definitely like, old. Stream an episode of Seinfeld today and you might be surprised by how fresh-faced those New Yorkers now seem:
Seinfeld ran for nine seasons (1989–1998)
Jerry Seinfeld was age 35 when it began and 44 when it ended.
Jason Alexander (George) was ages 30 to 39. George was in his 30s the whole show!
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine) was the baby of the crew from 28 to 37, and Michael Richards (Kramer) was the elder statesman (40 to 49).
The cast of Seinfeld always seemed to present as particularly indepenent and adult, so these mostly seem surprising to me.
Friends ran for ten seasons (1994–2004)
Jennifer Aniston (Rachel) was ages 25 to 35. Courteney Cox (Monica) was 30 to 40. Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) was 31 to 41. Matt LeBlanc (Joey) was 27 to 37. Matthew Perry (Chandler) was 25 to 35, and David Schwimmer (Ross) was 28 to 38.
