if the stories were universal

[KLPNO]

Hello everyone,

From the book Friends forever:

The show wasn’t a hard sell. In a 2019 interview, Kauffman said, “We had competing offers, but [NBC] gobbled it up. The only change they wanted us to make was they wanted us to add an older character in the coffeehouse, who we jokingly used to call Pat the Cop. But we explained that we thought the show worked with just young people, and that if the stories were universal, the show would be watched and people would feel things for it, even if they weren’t twenty years old. It certainly worked out that way.”

I'm not sure what "if the stories were universal" means in the cotext above.
Does "universal" imply uniform, i.e. if all characters in the show were more or less of the same age?

Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

I'm not sure what "if the stories were universal" means in the cotext above.
Does "universal" imply uniform, i.e. if all characters in the show were more or less of the same age?

Have you found a definition that suggests it could mean that?

 

[KLPNO]

Have you found a definition that suggests it could mean that?

Well, I haven't. It's a contextual guess and the logic behind it is as follows: All 6 characters in Friends are of approximately the same age, i.e. the structure of the series is uniform.
The studio wanted the authors to add an older character. The authors rejected this suggestion, so what could "and that if the stories were universal, the show would be watched and people would feel things for it" imply? In my opinion it could imply that if the stories were uniform, the show would be watched and people would feel things for it.

I don't think that "universal" is used in the sense of "suiting for all purposes (in this case for all audieces)" because the studio wanted to add an older character to attract older audiences.

 

[emsr2d2]

Whenever you ask us "Does XXX mean YYY?", please give us your reasons for thinking so, including a link to a dictionary definition that backs up your thoughts.

In the context of post #1, the specific change the studio wanted to make is irrelevant. The word "universal" refers only to "stories". The writers are simply saying that if the themes resonate with people all over the world and of all ages, it doesn't matter that the characters happen to be young.