There’s been all sorts of hoopla in the media about this being the last season of “Friends.” I’ve been more or less ignoring it – although I watched the first several seasons, I gave up around the time Monica and Chandler got married and Rachel had the baby. (That was all the same season, right?)
Now, this breaking story has made the cover of “Newsweek,” and I’m left asking the question – who the hell cares?
“Friends” is a perfectly competent little sitcom. It’s a good sitcom. It isn’t the best freakin’ sitcom in the history of television. Life will go on for all of us after it’s over.
What’s with the hoopla? Are people really booking time with their therapists now to get through the separation anxiety?
I think the point is that we are slowly watching the death of the sitcom - Freinds last season, Frazier last season and maybe Raymond last season.
No sitcom is important in the grand scheme of things, but like a cold beer on the weekend, they are nice to have around. Have you noticed there aren’t exactly dozens of new ones- good new ones - waiting in the background to take over these slots?
Sure, there are still a few that are not horrible - but there doesn’t seem to be a Cheers, Seinfeld or Murphey Brown anywhere on the horizon.
I know that almost nobody here on the SDMB likes sitcoms…but as mindless fluff to watch after a crappy day at work, I like to watch a well-written, witty sitcom.
I will not be suicidal when Friends goes off the air - but it would be nice to see something else pop up to fill in the gap that does not entail a fat guy, gorgeous wife and a couple of bratty kids.
I’d say NBC has a real good promotional dept. Magazines don’t just decide to cover a show like that unless they are lured, baited and cajoled by the show’s PR flacks.
Don’t worry so much. Remember hindsight is 20/20. Cheers, Seinfeld, or (if you say so) Murphey Brown didn’t seem all that special to me they’re merely what survived and grew into their own show. I’m sure a new creative show is either already on or on someone’s drawing board. If not I’ll just re-watch my DVDs of Sports Night until something does come along
“Friends” has been unwatchable for at least three seasons; “Frazier” has likewise been unfunny for at least three seasons, but has hired back Christopher Lloyd in a desperate attempt to salvage something of the original; “Raymond” was DOA at the starting gate. All my HO, of course.
Well, my girlfriend is going though some trying times what with Friends and Sex in the City in their final seasons.
I guess Friends is notable as a sitcom because it set the standard for “hip good-looking but quirky single people sitcoms” and paved the way for shows like Will & Grace (AKA Gay Friends) and a dozen similar shows that never made it for more than a few seasons.
Seinfeld was and will always be a unique phenomenon. I don’t see any show duplicating the chemistry of bizarre characters (who have proven to suck independently) like Jerry, George, Elaine, Kramer and their friends and family any time soon. Well maybe Cheers was similar except that Frasier managed to create a show on his own.
Married With Children had the distinction of being the first “disfunctional” family sitcom. Now every sitcom family is disfunctional - fat alchoholic immature dad, overbearing (hot) wife, one cool but troublesome kid, one nerd kid, sometimes a middle kid, assortment of neighbors and family that no one likes no one can tell them to fuck off.
I think we are slowly but surely seeing the death of the sitcom. Part of it is the fault of Friends and their enormous salaries. Part of it is that there are so many funny ways to deal with Sally’s first date with Bill from marketing, Jimmy trying out for football, Steve’s womanizing, Mary’s problem with the school bully.
Why pay 4 people $250,000 an episode when you can pay some jerk off the street $1 M to dupe some hos or eat a bag of shit on top of the Luxor hotel and casino?
Hmmmm, I’m not bragging or anything but I have never even seen one episode of Friends (no, really) and how many people today can say that. Of course, I haven’t owned a TV for over 5 years which makes things a bit easier…
I agree that a sitcom is a sitcom is a… but this one had a noticeable effect on our (at least our American) society; what with the hairstyles, clothing, mannerisms and character-typing (I’m “like Ross”, so says everyone who finds out I’m a paleontologist, though I’m not exactly sure which character Ross even is) that someone such as I, never seeing the show, knows quite a bit about it anyway (except for that Ross thing of course). I would say that like it or not the show was influential, and as such, will go down in history as a big deal for popular culture.
so… can anyone tell me, is that “Knight Rider” still on?
NBC cares. NBC cares very much. They’ve spent millions in developing their Thursday night “Must See TV” lineup such that the final season of “Friends” and whatever replaces it are, in fact, going to be popular cultural watersheds and events whether we like it or not.
I don’t care about Friends, but Frasier is on its last season too? Wow, didn’t know that. Will actually miss that one, even if I haven’t caught it in a while.
I care, if only because I hold onto the (admittedly unlikely) hope that the writers will kill off the character of Ross.
If I had my way, there would be a “Very Special Episode” (they could even “Super-Size” it) which would start with Ross walking onscreen, only to have a number of thugs start wailing on him - punching, kicking, bashing, burning, pummeling, trashing and knocking him around. The viscous, unrelenting beating would continue on, uninterrupted and without commercial breaks, for the entire length of the episode. The wailing on that sorry creep’s ass would continue on throughout the closing credits.
The next episode would begin with the five remaining “Friends” sitting around the coffee shop and commenting about how much life is better without that annoying whiner Ross around!
Did I mention that I really hate Ross on “Friends”?