FRIENDS - In Retrospect
 

Whilst the show was airing, the stars were excessively overexposed to the extent it was nauseating.

Now the show has been off the air for a few years , how is it being remembered ?

I watch repeats on the show on cable and i tell you what, i absolutely crack up laughing throughout most episodes. Not many current shows make me do that. The chemistry between the characters is better than any comedy sitcom in the last 5 years and the writing, whilst predictable in places is pretty sharp overall.

I do think give it another 10 years, Friends will become a comedy classic.

I kind of have the opposite feelings. Friends was my favorite show for its first 5 or 6 years but I think the last few seasons began to slip (I think I missed the last season completely as well as the finale).

When I flip by it on TV, it holds no interest for me at all anymore, I usually don't stay with it for more than a minute or two.

Maybe taking a few years off and then revisiting it again will renew my love for it but as of right now, I couldn't care less if I never saw it again.

I really enjoy this series even to this day. Eventhough I was only 8 when the series came out, somewhere along the way I caught on and I never stopped watching. Today 'friends' like 'angel' and 'gilmore girls' are the first thing i look for when watching reruns... and I think that in 25/30 years it will have earned its place on TVLand.

In relation to the actors 66% of them seem to be doing rather well (David Swimmer and Matt LeBlanc haven't ended up so well, but theres still time). I'm really looking forward to Courtney Cox's (or is she using the third name again) new series 'dirt' on FX sounds amazing...

To me, hands down, the best comedy ever written. I can watch any episode again and again, and never get tired of it. My daughter and I quote it to each other, and there usually is FRIENDS on in the backround at some time.
The writing amazes me...its intelligent, quick witted, and timeless.

With any show of that magnitude, the detrators will always be louder than the fans. I think it will go down as one of the greats, but I do have to agree about overstaying their welcome. Probably 2-3 seasons too long. It was still funny, but look at the contrived plots they had to eek out to get those seasons. Ross & Rachel's baby? Joey & Rachel? :wtf: was that? All jump the shark material. I'll still watch them all, but those seasons were scraping the barrel creatively.

I agree it went on a couple seasons too long. There's also one thing I've noticed: ever since both this and Frasier left the air, there hasn't been a single "three camera, studio audience" comedy I've watched. It's all the likes of Scrubs, The Office and Simpsons, South Park now.

While that honor goes to Seinfeld for me, Friends is a truly great show. It pioneered the "serial comedy", which is quite impressive for a show of its kind. The chemistry was great, casting was terrific for almost every character and guest star, writing was clever without being smarmy, and there is a classic line or gag almost every single episode.

Friends is a once in a generation show that deserves all of its accolades.

I agree. I owe the entire series, but those last seasons were rather ridiculous. While the show did a great job at maintaining the characters' backgrounds (e.g. fat Monica, Joey's love of sandwiches, Phoebe's music, etc.), they started getting so sloppy that they never really referred to Ben once Emma was born (they're step brother and sister!).

IMO they should have ended it at the latest with Joey ending up with Rachel at the end of season 9. Season 10 was certainly a "tack on", agreed to 2/3rds of the way through season 9 just as they were starting to sew things up. It really showed. They were all out of ideas by then. And had they done that then, Joey might not have ever happened - which would have been a blessing.

overated...all 10 years!

In your (ridiculous) opinion.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108778/awards

Clearly not universally shared.

Emma and Ben are actually half brother and sister - they share the same dad.

Never liked it... never will.

I lost interest after Season 2 as I got tired of the same crap every week. My wife watched it all the way through, though, and has all the DVD's.

It will be interesting to see if it achieves legendary status, a la Seinfeld, or becomes one of those shows that we loved at the time, but we cringe at now, a la Three's Company and Cheers.

Who the hell cringes at Cheers?

That's a show I still watch on a regular basis :up:

Exactly. Cheers is the definitive comedy of the 80's. cdollaz is off his rocker. ;)

50's - I Love Lucy
60's - Andy Griffith
70's - M.A.S.H.
80's - Cheers
90's - Seinfeld
00's - ? Still waiting...

Everyone I know.

I'll take a cheers episode over a friends episode anyday.

I only cringe at the sight of Shelley Long. Always have.

I enjoyed watching Friends, though I was not really a fan. I don't go out of my way to watch it, but if it is the only thing on and my cable happens to be out so that is the only channel I get, I will watch it.

I'm sure it will, in time, be a comedy classic.

Although I agree it went on a few years too long (most do anyways), its one of my all time favs...I prefer it even to Seinfeld. I catch it on re-runs now, and still crack up at it eventhough Ive seen it all 1000 times.

I agree with you on all counts except the 70s. I think ALL IN THE FAMILY tops MASH.

I'm hoping THE OFFICE will become the comedy of the 00s, but it will probably never have a big enough audience...it's an acquired taste.

One of my faves. Actually just last week I started watching the series again on DVD.

It'll definitely hold up for me.

[Ron Howard voice]It was Arrested Development.[/Ron Howard voice]

This show was a home run right out of the gate. Great cast and chemistry. But like most good series, it overstayed it's welcome. During the last two seasons, the writing was abysmal (IMO). And the cast looked like they were sleepwalking through each episode. But if I'm flipping the channels, and an episode from S1-8 is on, I'll stop. And laugh.

I don't know anyone who dislikes "Cheers". And "Roseanne" needs to be on that definitive TV list. Well, again, save for the last two seasons. Woof!

Great for a couple of seasons. Good for many years after. Really, really annoying and repetitive at the end. The show itself was only a small part of the annoyance, though. NBC's incessant promotion is what made it intolerable.

das

That is a solid point.

How many people tuned in to the final episode of AitF? Great show, but not the same amount of mass appeal the other shows on the list attained. Same with Rosanne. Had a huge following the first few seasons then dropped substantially each season thereafter. People didn't have send off parties where everyone came over to watch those finales like the other big shows on the list. Nor was there a media circus around the time of their ending. Cheers, Friends & Seinfeld were on EVERY magazine cover at their finale time, on every talk show even had special send off shows seperate from the finale. Hell, Dharma & Greg even had an episode about having sex in public during the night of the Seinfeld finale because everyone would be at home watching it. :lol: I just don't think Rosanne ever reached that iconic stage.

I'd love to give Arrested Development the coveted 00's title, but I was looking more at the mass appeal shows that defined the decade. I guess you could look at Frasier or Will & Grace, but I think they both still far short of the caliber of show and appeal the previous shows on my list attained. With the growth of cable and their own shows splitting the audience, it may be hard to attain such a following that captures the entire nation again. If push came to shove and you add reality shows(and I hate them), but if anything, I think American Idol is the frontrunner for the 00's. Survivor would be close, but it has lost steam where American Idol seems to have grown.

But those are my opinions of course...

I could never get into Friends, or even watch it for more than a few minutes at a time. I'll catch Cheers every now and then, and the writing is still great. I can't pass by M*A*S*H without watching some of it, and I usually have to finish the ep.

Friends is still one of my favorite all-time sitcoms. The last two seasons had a definite dropoff in quality though. It beat too many of the best gags into the ground. Like the prom video episode. That was a classic to see Rachel with her old nose and fat Monica. Then they revisited Fat Monica several more times in later seasons, making her into more of a cartoon each time. Or how they beat the Janice character over our heads so many times. Some of the last season episodes are virtually unwatchable unfortunately.

Regarding some other sitcoms mentioned in this thread, I also loved AitF, Seinfeld, M*A*S*H and Roseanne (pretending the last season doesn't exist). Never a big fan of Cheers. It was just okay. I like W&G for the most part, but absolutely loathe Frasier with all the venom my soul can muster.

M*A*S*H's finale was billed much more as an event than AITF's. It was what, an hour and a half long? While the finale's audience clearly dwarfs that of AITF's, AITF is the definitive sitcom of the 70s as it was the first sitcom to really deal with contemporary social and political issues in a humorous way, plus it directly and indirectly led to Maude, The Jeffersons, and Good Times, 3 more sitcoms that dealt with everything from abortion to interacial relationships to lower class struggles and even death (which of course M*A*S*H dealt with constantly, but not within the nuclear/extended family). M*A*S*H helped pave the way for successful "dramadies" like Scrubs, but AITF broke away from the escapist comedies of the 50s and 60s (Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Munsters, My Mother the Car) and paved the way for the rise of sociopolitical and satirical sitcoms. Without AITF, there is no Roseanne, no Simpsons, no Seinfeld.

I'd also nominate The Mary Tyler Moore Show as a definitive 70s sitcom over M*A*S*H, but the title still belongs to AITF in my opinion.

Each of those sitcoms mentioned def. has their own demographics...I'm not sure the MASH crowd would be the same one watching F*R*I*E*N*D*S anyway. You have to relate to characters and situations to truly appreciate the humor.

This is how I feel. It just doesn't make me laugh at all. Maybe I'll try to watch a few more episodes before giving up on it completely.

As for the definitive comedy of the 00's, as long as it's not limited to network shows, I would nominate "South Park" (athough it started in the 90's). As much as I liked "Arrested Development," it just didn't last long enough to be considered.

Michael, "All in the Family" never had a "final" episode since it segued into "Archie Bunker's Place". And "Roseanne" was in the Top 10 consistently up until it's final year. It dropped way way down in the ratings during it's final season because of the ridiculous storyline. However, the last episode was number #1 for the week.

LOL! Yeah, any real "Roseanne" fan does not count that last year. It truly was like a different show. Even the film looked different. I didn't like the season before that either. I'll stop buying the boxsets there. I guarentee the last season will be the lowest selling season of all the boxsets. If it sells at all.

"Will & Grace" unfortunately suffered from piss poor writing during it's last two years. Once in a while there'd be a glimmer of greatness (maybe a line or two here and there). But overall, P.U. The episodes with Taye Diggs were among the worst writing and acting of any sitcom I've ever endured.

Originally Posted by Michael Corvin 00's - ? Still waiting.

That 70's Show - best comedy of the new millenium. It went on for an extra year or so, but captured the teenagers in boring small town perfectly.

i love friends. i have all 10 seasons on DVD.

i do have gripes though. i loved chandler in the first couple of seasons. he would crack me up in almost every episode. (the 5th dentist finally caved in?) but then when he started dating monica, the writers seemed to forget about giving him good lines.
and why did every episode seem to want you to sympathize with the girls? i hated monica. she was annoying in the beginning and EXTREMELY annoying after she got married and kept trying to have kids. and the obsessive compulsive behavior got old after a while.
same with rachel. i felt sorry for Ross. they would always play it to be his fault. like in the 2nd season when rachel found out ross loved her (after 15 years?) but he's dating julie because he's given up on rachel so now she wants him and she hates julie and she acts like it's ross's fault for not liking her anymore? I mean wtf. she could only get away with it b/c she was cute. arrrghhh.

i did say i loved friends right?

Friends along with Everybody Loves Raymond & Smallville are my top 3 favorite shows.

You need to get started on Buffy & then Angel then if Smallville is still in your top 3. :) They both blow Smallville out of the water (coming from someone who owns all of the Smallville seasons). Add Veronica Mars & Alias to the list and by the end of watching them all you will most likely be forced to drop all three below the third spot. :)

Friends was once one of my favorite shows. I was always forced to sit through it because my mom watched it and it grew on me. Definitely one of the best sitcoms ever. I'm not much of a sitcom fan myself, but like Seinfeld and Married with Children Friends was a gem that stood out from the pack of generic sitcoms. It's been forever since I've seen an episode though.

My Favorite Sitcom of all time..Just beating Three's Company and Cheers.

I can't tell you why it beats them. It's funny on so many levels. There is smart humor (Chandler), dumb humor (the antics that happen to Ross) really really really dumb humor (Joey), zany humor (Phoebe), bitchy humor (Monica and Rachel)

I love the show..still do. Thank God I have them on DVD