I think this has changed but is still very present in US culture among young men, but now it is a sort of over the top homoerotic joking to prove you’re not gay. Like hey man…wanna suck my dick? Hah nah man jking sort of thing.
Ross was a terrible father because the roughly nine and a half hours a year that we saw of him didn’t include more of Ben? A sitcom should have acknowledged 9/11?
Watching these four idiots attempt to act their way through this stupid skit makes me appreciate real shows like Friends all the more.
I think this was absolutely the best sitcom ever, by miles. It always made me laugh, and I am a tough audience.
I agree about Kudrow, but I had a real weakness for Perry/Chandler. Cracked me up.
I had a really nice encounter with Perry… it was shortly after the show went off the air, he was playing in a poker tournament that I was also playing in. He kept getting up to go outside to smoke, and everyone was remarking that he was really unhappy about people bugging him for autographs. He would keep his head down and try not to be noticed.
I never ask for pictures or autographs when I see or meet celebrities, and i don’t understand why people do it. But I will tell them I like their work. In Perry’s case I was, as I say, a huge fan and the show had not been over long. So I decided I wanted to tell him how I felt, and I got up and followed him outside. When I first spoke, he got this pained look on his face, like “PLEASE don’t…” But I said “I don’t want to ask you for anything, but I had to take this opportunity to thank you, because the show overall, and you particularly, have brought me so much pleasure for so many years.” His face lit up with a huge smile and he thanked me back, very sincerely. I felt really good about that.
(It’s my karmic balance for the time I told the Richard Pryor fire joke while Richard Pryor was listening, fresh out of the hospital, and I had no idea until he cornered me…ouch)
I watched a Behind the Scenes show (on E!, I think) and David Schwimmer did something very smart. Both of his parents are attorneys, and he convinced the rest of the cast that they should agree to be paid the same amount of money per show right from the beginning. That way, Warner Bros couldn’t play one against the other, swapping out characters who demanded more money to bring in cheaper actors.
Really? I’d heard that Cox was paid more than everyone else the first season (40k per ep vs 25k) as she was the “star” of the series (if you watch, the first few eps were focused on Monica) but as the show evolved to more of an ensemble thing and gained popularity, she was fine with everyone making the same (80k per ep) when season two started (unlike, say, Rob Lowe). I think season three is when they held out for megabucks as a group, as word got back that syndie rights were going for crazy money.
As you might guess, I was a big fan of the show early on. To me, one of the best elements was the sibling relationship between Monica and Ross, which seemed funny and yet realistic for 20-something siblings. (“Mom and Dad are coming over for dinner. Are you going to mention the whole pregnant-lesbian-ex-wife thing? 'Cause that could really take the pressure off.”)
Cox was the star when it started? All she had was that Springsteen video going for her, right? I figured Perry and Kudrow were the stars. Perry had appeared in a lot of sitcoms by then and Kudrow had been and still was the Ursula character in Mad About You.
Clarification…in season 2, Aniston and Schwimmer were paid more, then starting in season 3 they took a pay cut and would only negotiate salary as a group.
I never saw it, but I’ve heard that Cox fronted a failed sitcom called the Misfits of Science, and she had done a popular turn before that in a recurring role at Alex Keaton’s girlfriend on “Family Ties” (19 episodes), as well as a feature film (“Masters of the Universe”). Aside from Kudrow’s hilarious bit as Ursula, Cox is the only one I’d ever seen. Before it became the Ross and Rachel show (the reason I stopped watching about five seasons in), the A plots were about Monica and the B plots about the others.
Something that always distracts me when I watch the shows now is how much Jennifer Aniston changed over time. Or actually, it’s more like trying to put my finger on exactly *what *changed. Something about her face is different, starting I think, in the third season. Obviously weight loss will change one’s face, but it’s more than that. I can’t remember if I actually heard she’d had plastic surgery or if I’m confusing it with the Rachel character. Her voice seems to have change in some way also, though again I can’t quite pinpoint how. Does anyone else know what I’m talking about?
She totally had a nose job. Not that I’ve seen it confirmed, but her nose is way different in 04 than 94.
The hardest thing I have about rewatching is just how terrible Monica looks in the first few seasons. She looks older in S1 and 2 than she did in the last two. Her hair was a nightmare. It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with Wendy Malick and the terrible, outdated hair.
Courtney Cox was the only semi famous name in the cast at the start. Mostly because of the Springsteen video (it was VERY popular) and a memorable run as one of Alex’s girlfriends on Family Ties.
::coughs:: Ace Ventura ::coughs::
A deleted Friends scene, about Chandler and Monica leaving for their honeymoon, has been released: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/19/entertainment/friends-deleted-scene-feat/index.html
I was never a fan of the show. Between me and my friends, we had nicknames for it:
The Crap after Seinfeld
Sex and the City for people who couldn’t afford HBO
Another show about nothing, but dumb
Everybody Hates Ross
The show only one guy has a job
That was on the DVDs like 15 years ago.
The actress who played Susan, Jessica Hecht, also played Gretchen on Breaking Bad.
Can’t click the link at the moment but I remember they had a sub plot about Chandler making a bomb joke in an airport and cut it because it was right around 9/11 so they cut it. I suppose that is what this is?.
Really? Odd that CNN wouldn’t mention that.
Yes. It would’ve aired about two weeks after 9-11.
Do you really find it odd that CNN would fail to do the most basic of research?
Here’s the scene on YouTube, uploaded way back in the wild days of 2007.
ETA: Jeezus fuck. Now that I look again, that’s the same fucking youtube video that’s embedded in the CNN story!