Friends: TV Show 1994 - 2004 (Sitcoms)

[BigFatCoward]

2 hours ago, DMC said:

Pitt's turn as the guy from the I Hate Rachel Club was pretty fun.  Their holiday episodes - Thanksgiving or Christmas - are generally the most rewatchables.

 

 

Rachel, no you weren't supposed to put beef in the trifle. It did not taste good. 

One of the best lines of delivery in the whole show. 

Edited March 3 by BigFatCoward

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

44 minutes ago, DMC said:

Honestly based on the depiction I wouldn't have been surprised if it turned out Ross was actually a serial killer in comparison.

So he's the show's Dennis? I once heard a great pitch they should make a movie that's a murder mystery when one of the main cast dies at a party Clue style. 

Quote

HIMYM is a poor man's Friends at best.  Which means decidedly unwatchable.

Idk, Barney is better than any Friends' character and the rest hold their own. Ted and Ross cancel each other out. 

[Werthead]

7 hours ago, DaveSumm said:

It was weird how this caught fire in the UK but stuff like Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond never made a dent, they rarely got a better slot than Saturday mornings before most people were out of bed.

That was Channel 4's marketing. They advertised the hell out of it and aired it on Friday evenings with a repeat on Sundays (IIRC) for the people who were out on Fridays. They also made it a back-to-back "event" thing with Frasier, the two shows airing together for six months solid, every year for the better part of a decade, and C4 was clever in blocking Sky's attempts to steal either show away. A lot of big US shows started well by airing on the BBC or Channel 4 but when they became big, Sky stepped in with much bigger moneybags and and stole them away, immediately removing them from the zeitgeist (the fate of Star Trek: The Next Generation, 24 and Lost, among many others).

Seinfeld suffered from airing on BBC2 late-ish at night. Me and my mum used to watch Seinfeld on the BBC and then switch over to ITV where they were airing Beauty and the Beast (the GRRM one), around 1991 (might have been the other way around, actually). The BBC had very strong rules about only airing British shows in primetime, so US imports were shunted to BBC2 or could only air midweek on BBC1. The only US show I recall the BBC really doing well with at the time was The X-Files.

6 hours ago, Heartofice said:

At that age I had a real issue with Friends and it annoyed me how popular it was. At the time there were so many amazing UK comedies like Alan Partridge and The Office, which were ground breaking and unique, but was Friends that everyone talked about at school. 

The Office was a fair bit later (its two seasons aired in 2001 and 2002, with Christmas specials in 2003). Friends started airing in the UK in early 1995, IIRC. Must have been, since they didn't air it with breaks so had to wait until the US had enough episodes in hands so they could air it straight through.

The UK sitcoms also did hugely well at the time, but they had that issue of only airing 6 episodes a year, or airing in odd formats which puzzled people or made them harder to follow than they should have been. Partridge didn't have one show, as such, appearing as a character in various formats in The Day Today, Knowing Me Knowing You and I'm Alan Partridge, so you had to stay on it to know where he was showing up next (the BBC marketing was pretty good at the time, though, and obviously little internet and no streaming to distract people).

There was also a ubiquitous appeal to the US sitcoms, especially Friends and Frasier, that wasn't there with a lot of the "edgier" or more niche appeal of UK shows. The Fast Show could be quite offbeat and weird in its humour in comparison.

I always thought the closest thing to a UK version of Friends - before Coupling came along (which was very hit and miss) - was actually Spaced. You had a bunch of friends, four of them housemates, getting into weird hijinks in a major city. It was infinitely better-written and directed than Friends, but by tapping heavily into geek culture years before it was mainstream it never quite got the same level of mass appeal (also, only 14 episodes rather than two hundred and whatever).

I also maintain that Episodes is a sometimes-brilliant (sometimes terrible, but still) deconstruction of Friends, with the same writers and even sometimes the same actors basically tearing the earlier show apart and taking full advantage of cable to do so: LeBlanc and Schwimmer being paid ludicrous money to attend a sheikh's birthday party somewhere in the Middle East and not knowing what to do with themselves is far funnier than anything in actual Friends ("I blew up a jeep!").

Edited March 3 by Werthead

[DMC]

28 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

So he's the show's Dennis?

I’ve always compared Always Sunny to the next generation of Seinfeld, definitely not Friends.  I know the Dennis-as-serial-killer eps are incredibly funny, but well before they conceived of that they had an entire episode devoted to and titled Mac as a serial killer.  In short, all five Always Sunny characters could easily be serial killers, so the comparison breaks down quickly.

28 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

Idk, Barney is better than any Friends' character and the rest hold their own.

Chandler >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Barney.  Hell, Joey > Barney.  From what I watched, Barney woulda/shoulda been #metoo’d.

Edited March 3 by DMC

[Heartofice]

50 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I always thought the closest thing to a UK version of Friends - before Coupling came along (which was very hit and miss) - was actually Spaced. You had a bunch of friends, four of them housemates, getting into weird hijinks in a major city. It was infinitely better-written and directed than Friends, but by tapping heavily into geek culture years before it was mainstream it never quite got the same level of mass appeal (also, only 14 episodes rather than two hundred and whatever).

Spaced was also 1999 so long after friends. It’s not really a complete  comparison to Friends because the humour is so unique and almost subversive of mainstream.

The UK at the time had quite a few mainstream sitcoms, but they generally centred around families or some quirky situation. I always remember Fist of Fun making a joke about the sitcom trope of the time where a character would buy a pub / shop / cafe and the pub that would arise from that and be the title of the show. There were a lot of these middle of the road shows going on, but also the more edgy BBC2 stuff and then crossover stuff like Father Ted and Ab Fab.

I can only think of something like Game On that might be a decent comparison to friends, but the difference in tone is stark, the main character being agoraphobic, the female character having some quite major issues with her sexual relationships. You wouldn’t ever have that level of depressing content in Friends. But it does show the different approaches to comedy at the time.

Edited March 3 by Heartofice

[A True Kaniggit]

1 hour ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

Idk, Barney is better than any Friends' character and the rest hold their own. Ted and Ross cancel each other out. 

Well is was funny when Barney lost the slap bet, then made the wrong decision. 

[mormont]

2 hours ago, DMC said:

The three women also live with each other throughout the show.

They did not. Phoebe mostly lived alone. This is a big part of the Phoebe theory, that the whole series is her fantasy of being friends with these folks she sees in the Central Perk. Also it's the apogee of the 'how the hell did these people afford to live in New York?'

ETA - although on the latter point, I forgot she was subletting from her grandma and later inherited the place.

Edited March 3 by mormont

[DMC]

24 minutes ago, mormont said:

They did not.

Rachel moved in with Phoebe at the beginning of season six when Monica and Chandler moved in together.  This mostly went without incident until the end of the season, where in which there was a fire in Phoebe and Rachel's apartment that led to the latter moving in with Joey.  Also, of course, Phoebe was Monica's roommate immediately before the timeline of the show.

As for the Phoebe "theory," I hadn't heard that one before.  It's pretty entertaining to think about -- especially imagining the flashbacks of her having conversations in Central Perk with herself.

[drawkcabi]

For the ten years Friends was on...it was appointment television for me. I was devoted to it. I think I managed to watch every episode as new episodes, as they were broadcast for the first time.

Then the show ended and I was just done too. I never watched it again unless it was on someone else's TV and they were watching it.

Both Seinfeld and Friends were in my top 5 favorite shows while they were on, and now I really never want to watch episodes of either of them again. The magic I felt when watching those shows, just wore off pretty fast.

I did also watch the show Episodes and really enjoyed it. I'd do a rewatch of that before I'd do a rewatch of Friends.

After Friends, Mathew Perry tried a bunch of different series that only lasted 1 season, until he ended up doing the Odd Couple reboot.

If one of those shows could have lasted more than one season, I wish it had been, well... Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

But if TWO of those shows could have lasted longer, the other one I would have wanted would be Go On, where he played a guy going to am emotional support group after losing his wife. That show had a fantastic cast and had zany humor, wry wit. and heart aching/warming moments. I thought it was going to last longer than it did.

 

My Friends ranking though is

1. Chandler 

2. Joey

3. Rachel

4. Monica

5. Phoebe

6. Ross

 

Can we talk 90's televsion? I'll limit it to just NBC sitcoms in the 90's...

There were the time slot hangers-on shows. Series that lasted longer than they should have because they aired after Friends or Seinfeld and fed off their ratings. Shows like The Single Guy, Suddenly Susan, and Caroline in the City. I tolerated these shows back in the day, but now I would rather watch paint peel.

Boston Common, which lasted 2 sessons, wasn't great but was pretty okay, definitely would have enjoyed more of that and less of the three shows just mentioned above.

There was a Fred Savage series though that also lasted only 2 seasons that I really liked, called Working. I wouldn't mind rewatching that.

Dabney Coleman had a new sitcom that debuted the same year Friends did, called Madman of the People. It was touted to be that year's break out hit series. It didn't make it through it's first season, even when it was time slotted to air right after Seinfeld.

Another series that was supposed to be a hit Stark Raving Mad, starring a post Wings and Pre Monk Tony Shaloub and a post Doogie Howser and pre HIMYM Neil Patrick Harris also only lasted one season.

NBC actually gave two seasons though to the Rob Schneider led American version of Men Behaving Badly. Ugh!!!

A Jeff Foxworthy sitcom kept popping up during this time for a couple sessons. Kept bouncing around on different networks. I never really watched it, I just know Haley Joel Osment and Jonathan Lipnicki (the kid from Jerry McGuire) played his kids.

A couple other network hoppers around this time, a Tea Leoni sitcom called The Naked Truth and a blended family sitcom called Something So Right.

The heavy hitters other than Friends and Seinfeld and/or the workhorses of 90's NBC prime time...

Mad About You I think is one of the lasting really good shows! I've rewatched it several times and still find it quite enjoyable. I really enjoy Lisa Kudrow playing Phoebe's sister, Ursula, on that show, a whole bunch more than I do Phoebe. Also helps she comes in smaller doses.

Wings, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Just Shoot Me, NewsRadio, and Frasier are all fantastic shows I'm happy to rewatch. The latter two are in my top 10 favorite sitcoms of all time.

Will and Grace was a good show but I wasn't as into it as the others. I still haven't seen any of the reboot series.

Blossom and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air were also on at this time, I watched them but they were never appointment televsion.

The Cosby Show, A Different World, Cheers, Night Court, and Family Ties were all great shows and I think most made it into the early 90's, but they will always be quintessential 80’s shows to me.

Edited March 3 by drawkcabi
Can't believe I forgot about Just Shoot Me! (Maybe most of us did?)

[mormont]

8 minutes ago, DMC said:

Rachel moved in with Phoebe at the beginning of season six when Monica and Chandler moved in together.  This mostly went without incident until the end of the season, where in which there was a fire in Phoebe and Rachel's apartment that led to the latter moving in with Joey.  Also, of course, Phoebe was Monica's roommate immediately before the timeline of the show.

I wouldn't count that as justifying the original comment, particularly as the whole reason Phoebe moved out of Monica's place was that she couldn't tolerate living with Monica, but sure, for a small period compared to the whole run, Rachel lived with Phoebe.

Quote

As for the Phoebe "theory," I hadn't heard that one before.  It's pretty entertaining to think about -- especially imagining the flashbacks of her having conversations in Central Perk with herself.

It's one of those dumb faux-deep sitcom 'theories' but yes, fun to think about!

[DMC]

1 minute ago, mormont said:

I wouldn't count that as justifying the original comment, particularly as the whole reason Phoebe moved out of Monica's place was that she couldn't tolerate living with Monica, but sure, for a small period compared to the whole run, Rachel lived with Phoebe.

I think the distinction between Ross and Phoebe in terms of living with the rest of the group is with the former there was clear problems depicted among his roommates.  Whereas with Phoebe, Rachel had no problem living with her - and nor did Monica based on the flashback episodes - and the change was just due to circumstances.  There's literally an entire episode devoted to Rachel feeling guilty about wanting to continue living with Joey rather than moving back with Phoebe after the apartment is repaired.

[DMC]

40 minutes ago, drawkcabi said:

There were the time slot hangers-on shows. Series that lasted longer than they should have because they aired after Friends or Seinfeld and fed off their ratings. Shows like The Single Guy, Suddenly Susan, and Caroline in the City. I tolerated these shows back in the day, but now I would rather watch paint peel.

Boston Common, which lasted 2 sessons, wasn't great but was pretty okay, definitely would have enjoyed more of that and less of the three shows just mentioned above.

Should be noted Frasier took over Seinfeld's time slot after the latter ended, which was pretty significant as the full latter half of Frasier's run.  I liked Boston Common too.  Don't remember it being on Thursdays.  Looking up wikipedia, it apparently was moved to Sundays in its second season and that's where it died.

[Heartofice]

What I always hated about Friends was how the characters being extreme versions of themselves in later seasons, Ross and Monica in particular were just absolute gargoyles. 
 

As far as I’m aware that was partly due to each actor demanding more screen time and ‘funny’ lines. It’s one of the reasons the later seasons became completely unwatchable for me.

[drawkcabi]

22 minutes ago, DMC said:

Should be noted Frasier took over Seinfeld's time slot after the latter ended, which was pretty significant as the full latter half of Frasier's run.  I liked Boston Common too.  Don't remember it being on Thursdays.  Looking up wikipedia, it apparently was moved to Sundays in its second season and that's where it died.

I remember Frasier taking over Seinfeld's time slot for one season, the season right after Seinfeld ended, then it was moved back to Tuesday and Will and Grace took that slot.

Many of the shorter lived shows like Boston Common, I remember just as much from watching on USA than NBC.

In the late 90’s? Maybe early 2000's, the USA network bought up a whole bunch of 90's series that lasted 2 seasons, or at most 3 abbreviated seasons.

They were aired on a 2 hour block weekdays from 8am - 10am, enough time to air 4 different shows. They showed Boston Common, Working, The Single Guy, Something So Right, The Naked Truth, Almost Perfect, Ned and Stacy, Hope and Glory, and some others. When one show would run its course they'd replace it with another short lived series.

[DMC]

3 minutes ago, drawkcabi said:

I remember Frasier taking over Seinfeld's time slot for one season, the season right after Seinfeld ended, then it was moved back to Tuesday and Will and Grace took that slot.

Ah, my bad.  I just remember it taking over Seinfeld immediately after it ended.  After that my memory..goes away.

[mormont]

2 hours ago, DMC said:

Whereas with Phoebe, Rachel had no problem living with her - and nor did Monica based on the flashback episodes - and the change was just due to circumstances.

Again, canonically Phoebe couldn't stand living with Monica.

[Craving Peaches]

1 hour ago, Heartofice said:

What I always hated about Friends was how the characters being extreme versions of themselves in later seasons,

That happens for many characters unfortunately.

Flanderization - TV Tropes

(I'm not usually a great fan of this website, but in this case I think it has the right idea).

[DMC]

1 minute ago, mormont said:

Again, canonically Phoebe couldn't stand living with Monica.

Right.  Which is why I ranked Monica fifth in my original post.  My point was more that, obviously, Rachel and Phoebe could deal with her foibles as a roommate for a considered period - whereas none of them really could with Ross.  Dunno why we need to continue to belabor this point.

Another thing I'd emphasize - and @Heartofice kinda alluded to - is as the show aged it increasingly depicted the two *explicitly Jewish characters in such negative stereotypes.  I mean, there's a lot to criticize with Friends when we get into this, and I suppose I just take the others for granted.  But this one really stands out as like WTF?

Ross is routinely depicted as cheap.  With the hotels, with the lottery, basically any time money is brought up.  And Monica is increasingly depicted as this anal-retentive householder that will not allow you to eat cookies unless over the sink.  These are really dumb stereotypes that frankly are the opposite in my experience.

*I say explicitly Jewish because it's never made clear if Rachel is Jewish or not as far as I can recall.  She's kinda like Elaine from Seinfeld in that way.  Her parents are Marlo Thomas - a legend in her own right - and the great, late Ron Leibman, the husband of Jessica Walter.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

One of the best lines of delivery in the whole show.

Joey liking the Triffle made that episode for me. “Custard, good; jam, good, beef, good!”

[BigFatCoward]

If you asked 100 people in the UK what religion the gellers were, your average response would be I have no idea/who cares.