I loved Friends during its run. So many great quotes…
Toss up between two Ross quotes for my favorites: “MYYYYYYYYY SANDWIIIIIIIIICH!!!” and “PIVIOT! PIVOT!”
Or Chandler: “Handle is my middle name… Actually, it’s the middle part of my first name…”
And lots of unforgettable stuff like Smelly Cat, “He’s Her Lobster,” “Look at me, I’m Chandler, Could I BE wearing anymore clothes?”, “And also, the robots…” and on and on and on…
yes. That’s why I gave up on Seinfeld. George would have been funny if his character was 20 years old. But at 40 he was just pathetic.
Friends had the same problem.
Friends is a weird show in the regards of best or good or whatever. I don’t think it was a good show in the general aspect of likeable characters or a compelling underlying storyline, etc. However, the writers did manage to create some very funny scenes, bits and whole episodes. I think it really missed the emotional aspect. I mean the whole Ross and Rachel thing never was that strong emotionally and that was the main string. It wasn’t that it wasn’t funny, it was that it wasn’t anything else but funny.
Even a show like 30 Rock that is almost intentionally set up after set up for gags, has quite a bit of emotioanl appeal (at least I think so).
He’s a… transpondster!
I agree with the general tenor of the comments here. Not the greatest show of (really, anything), but genuinely very funny at its best.
I am not sure if “hasn’t aged well” is accurate though. Certainly for those of us who watched it first-run it seems “old” so when watching reruns we find much of it dated and no longer relevant.
But I think part of aging well is the current appeal (if any) to those who may not have seen it before. My kids like Friends. Particularly my youngest (just turned 14) and her friends. To them it is a brand new show since they were all mere babies when it was in prime time. They get the jokes and enjoy the storyline. They don’t find the fashions, mannerisms, speech or anything like that to be “old” or outdated.
So based on that, I’d have to say Friends aged very well indeed. But it is not a show that holds up to repeated viewings (and should have ended the first time a few seasons before it actually did) and suffered from growing pains in the first run.
My favorite’s the scene were Chandler and Phoebe are about to have sex, and Phoebe states she’s “very bendy.”
I catch the reruns several times a week and still like it almost as much as I did when it was first run. That being said, I’m sure I watched it from the very first show yet when I see shows from the first season I kind of find the actors annoying (especially Courtney Cox) and can’t remember why I stayed with it. I was just thinking how much better all of them got (especially Jennifer Aniston) even though I hated some of the storylines. It definitely remains one of my favorite shows.
Speaking of Friends, I was recently surprised to learn that the show was an all-out ripoff of the Cameron Crowe film Singles, reset from Seattle to NYC:
My wife is one of the biggest Friends-heads on the planet, and has all 10 seasons on DVD. It’s become kind of the default viewing option at my house when nothing else is on that we want to watch. I usually don’t protest or go to another room (though I do often have a crossword puzzle or something handy) because, well, I like it too.
IMO, Friends is one of the better sitcoms, and stands up well to repeat viewings. I think a big part of the reason is the creative team of David Crane and Marta Kauffman. Crane brought the funny and Kauffman brought the emotion, and each kept the other from straying too far into outrageous wackiness or sappy sentimentality, respectively. It made for a very good balance.
After Friends, Crane went on the create The Class, which had a few things going for it, but believable and relatable characters wasn’t one of them. Conversely, Kauffman produced the horribly maudlin sister drama Related. It illustrated where each of their strengths lay and how their partnership made them both better.
So you had snappy, funny writing with just the right amount of feeling to keep you invested in the characters. Add a telented cast who learned to work that balance to maximum effect, and you have a winning formula on your hands.
I will add that when I happen to catch an episode in syndication, it doesn’t scan quite as well as the DVD version. Content is cut for time and edits come in weird places to cram in all the local carpet warehouse commercials. That tends to negatively impact any show.
It was always just candy and not vegetables. It was NEVER the best show on television, despite winning the Emmy (which rarely means anything anyway). I watched in every week even before DVRs (which was a big deal for me as I had like two or three “appointment” shows pre-DVR), but it was on par with a show like That 70s Show. Good, but not great.
ETA: I just read Andre Aggassi’s autobiography. He despises Friends and rips them throughout the entire book.
I never got “Friends”-a bunch of mentally retarded people who have no jobs…they just sort of hang around.
That’s a little odd. What does he have against the show, besides the fact that his ex-wife guest-starred on one episode? I gotta say from everything I’ve heard about Agassi, he seems like a total pill.
There are still some classic episodes of Friends, but generally I don’t think it’s aged well.
“Who have no jobs”???
Have you even seen the show?
I can answer the question in five notes: http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2mob314&s=5
I was also recently surprised to hear that, from the same article you cited. Aside from the basic idea of several hip, attractive young people living in the same apartment complex, I don’t think they’re really that much alike. So I can see why Crowe would be annoyed, but I think his lawyer was right – he wouldn’t have had much of a case. The characters in Friends and their initial relationships with each other were pretty different from in Singles, with the exception of Joey. I can see him as being modeled on the Matt Dillon character Cliff in Singles, only changed to an aspiring actor instead of an aspiring musician. Rachel worked as a coffee shop waitress like the Bridget Fonda character Janet in Singles, but they otherwise have little in common.
I don’t think it has the “timeless” quality some sitcoms have, such as I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, Dick Van Dyke, etc. have. It’s totally an artifact of the 1990s. So am I though, and the show takes me back to my high school years every time I watch it. I enjoy it now because I enjoyed it then. If it was a new show done exactly the same way, it would be too juvenile to draw my interest.
“It’s like a cow’s opinion… it doesn’t matter!”
I’d forgotten that (where it came from) but that expression has actually worked its way into my normal everyday speech. My husband and I haven’t used “moot point” in ages. Even when we argue one of us will invariably claim the other has a “moo point”, usually followed with “like a cow’s opinion…”
Could anything be any funnier than “Yes, that’s how they measure you for pants…IN PRISON.”
Paper!! Snow!! A ghost!!!