People that like the series FRIENDS are too braindead to even take seriously

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Export them.

― Chantel,Taylor, Thursday, 11 November 2004 11:58 (twenty years ago)

first two/three series provided many laughs.

diminishing returns thereafter.

then the writers began reaching like all comedies do when they pass their best - giving their characters bizarre new habits and personal histories to squeeze some more humour out of a tired formula.

its appeal was more that of a soap opera than a comedy by the end - i tuned in to see how things turned out for the 6 friends - not to laugh.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:07 (twenty years ago)

weisel pretty much otm except that i think it rallyed in the last two series

― lukey (Lukey G), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:09 (twenty years ago)

i'm sure i've told this story already, but the thread title reminds me of the pain. one of my roommates at my first year at uni was mad. her name was natalie (or 'natalia' if she wanted to sound more 'ethnic')

after a few weeks of telling callers asking for rachel that they had the wrong number, she overheard this and grabbed the phone.

turns out that she and her friends had decided they they looked JUST LIKE THE FRIENDS! and so phoebe and joey called my room for rachel all the time! it was so cute and funny!

oh god, i hated her. this was one of many reasons.

i was unable to watch friends for several years following this trauma.

― colette (a2lette), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:10 (twenty years ago)

i'm sorry to say i pretty much agree with "chantel taylor" on this one.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:11 (twenty years ago)

yeah, i agree with calum about this.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:14 (twenty years ago)

Of course the idea that "Friends" might suck has never before been mentioned on ILX, and since the show is at its highest peak of popularity right now, it's quite brave (and necessary!) to point this out.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:23 (twenty years ago)

Quit using that sarcasm you!

― Tim Phunt, Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:27 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I know, stating the obvious, whaddyagonnado.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:32 (twenty years ago)

(colette's post does redeem this thread fwiw)

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:33 (twenty years ago)

I always liked it, personally. An interesting thing is that many long-running sitcoms water their characters down as time goes on, smooth off their less likeable edges. Friends went the other way, with characters becoming more extreme as it continued, albeit quite quietly. It was always well written and acted with a reasonable number of good jokes.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:35 (twenty years ago)

Yeah me too, I like "friends", but then I guess a lot of you knew that already!

― PinXorchiXoR (Pinkpanther), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:37 (twenty years ago)

i am becoming paranoid - not from the pot heh - because you are invading my life with friends, pot and d'n'b. what next? pissing on the fast show?

― jesus nathalie (nathalie), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:38 (twenty years ago)

Friends has funny lines, often.

There have been threads about the TV show Friends in the past though. It's perhaps a shame that calum didn't think to search for these and revive them rather than start a new one.

― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:39 (twenty years ago)

cor but chantel that phoebe was quite fit inntshe!

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:41 (twenty years ago)

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:43 (twenty years ago)

I like "export them" - like they're valuable commodities that other countries may find useful rather than undesirables we'd rather returned to their homeland.

I don't mind Friends. I'm a little bit suspicious of anyone who'd entertain the idea of owning several series on DVD.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:44 (twenty years ago)

i was asking c-girl

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:45 (twenty years ago)

AND I'M TELLING YOU

― Tiger Tim Stevens, Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:46 (twenty years ago)

i think Andrew should demand DVD series of "Friends" as an appreciation of his running of ilx.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:46 (twenty years ago)

I'm a little bit suspicious of anyone who'd entertain the idea of owning several series on DVD.

sorry but i just HAD to see the Rachel 'match the hair to the episode' featurette

― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Thursday, 11 November 2004 12:47 (twenty years ago)

People really take "Friends" seriously in Britain. I mean, I know it was a huge smash hit in the US too, but what did they call it on the London Underground posters, when the final episode aired? "Black Wednesday" or something, just white type on a black background and the name of the channel, and you were just expected to know what they were talking about.

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:33 (twenty years ago)

I just dug the idea that the US would produce a sitcom where all the main characters were ones you weren't meant to be sympathetic too.

Then I fould out that this is not how it went down, at all!

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:38 (twenty years ago)

Tracer it was Black Friday partly because it was the last Friends ever and partly because EVIL Big Brother was starting that same night. Big Brother being the bigger phenomenon by some distance.

― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:41 (twenty years ago)

incidentally, Daphne from Frasier did quite good presenting Have I Got News For You last week

― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:42 (twenty years ago)

"I just dug the idea that the US would produce a sitcom where all the main characters were ones you weren't meant to be sympathetic too."

they did that already-seinfeld!

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:43 (twenty years ago)

I just dug the idea that the US would produce a sitcom where all the main characters were ones you weren't meant to be sympathetic too.

That was Seinfeld.

(x-post!!!)

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:44 (twenty years ago)

1. Friends was first.
2. Never watched/dug seinfeld. My loss.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:47 (twenty years ago)

"Friends" good. I always accidentally call it "Cheers" though. I guess because both were pretty good examples of White America Loves Itself. (Also see "Seinfeld," "Frasier," 99% of all other shows.)

But they're funny and I like the characters, and my self-loathing cannot withstand "How YOU doin'?"

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:00 (twenty years ago)

you might've seen friends first, but Seinfeld was first. early episodes of seinfeld, before the characters got *really* repulsive and the plots really surreal, closely resemble the better-scripted Friends episodes.

Cheers is better than both

― stevie (stevie), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:00 (twenty years ago)

The Bernie Mac Show is better than I tend to think it is

― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:02 (twenty years ago)

Bernie Mac is the best show I always forget to watch.

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:06 (twenty years ago)

Regardless of whether they were meant to be sympathetic or not, I had great affection for (perhaps identified more with) the characters on Seinfeld, whereas those on Friends just seemed like annoying yuppies.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:06 (twenty years ago)

Like, it just seemed like everyone on Friends was in a fraternity or sorority at a large state university, you know?

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:07 (twenty years ago)

NB: I've only seen the show a handful of times.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:11 (twenty years ago)

People that like the series FRIENDS are too braindead to even take seriously
THANK YOU! I TOTALLY AGREE!
I had two female housemates in college who would tape it each week and watch it over several times, all the while talking as if the characters were REAL PEOPLE that they knew personally. Eventually my VCR broke from their abuse...

― 57 7th (calstars), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:19 (twenty years ago)

Chandler is the worst TV character in history. Discuss.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:33 (twenty years ago)

Dom you misspelled "Frasier."

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:34 (twenty years ago)

Chandler is the worst TV character in Frasier. Discuss.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:35 (twenty years ago)

I like Friends very much.

― Cathy (Cathy), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:38 (twenty years ago)

I love Friends!!! They were my friends!! They were there for me!!!

I liked the guy on the radio who said that the theme song was actually directed at the audience and that they needed to watch the friends so that they could see pretty people who were NOT broke, and whose love lives were decidely NOT D.O.A. Which was fine with me. I prefer imaginary friends to real ones most of the time.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:42 (twenty years ago)

Friends is pretty funny. It's fine to like it as long as you realise it in no way reflects real life. Lots of people don't seem to realise this.

Phoebe is a much worse character than Chandler. If you knew her you'd just have to tell her to shut up the whole time.

― Wooden (Wooden), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:43 (twenty years ago)

Chandler gets at least one good lol line every episode. Yes his character is annoying but no more than the others can be really. I blame the writers for making too much of his 'feminine quality'/masculinity crisis for cheap laughs. of course ADMITTEDLY (i'm going to write that in capitals always from now on) it's annoying because the 'sweet, caring guy' thing strikes too true a chord for some dudes (bah)

― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:46 (twenty years ago)

i suspect friends is perhaps dud in some deep, existential capacity, but it had its moments, no doubt.

― m. (mitchlnw), Thursday, 11 November 2004 17:00 (twenty years ago)

Why are people calling out Phoebe and Chandler as the annoying ones you'd hate in real life? Ross Geller, people?! Would you want that annoying overacting asswipe anywhere near your circle of friends?

Saying that, I like "Friends". It's very well-written, well-acted (with the exception of the often-horrible Schwimmer), not always so cosy, pretty much consistent with teh funny, and a perfectly acceptable way to pass half an hour. I guess it's one of the "use other targets please" shows, but there are far far worse things on the telly.

I've never thought to compare it to Seinfeld oddly enough, though the similarities are totally obvious.

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 11 November 2004 17:54 (twenty years ago)

The show ruled.

― Face It, Thursday, 11 November 2004 19:07 (twenty years ago)

Coincidentally, I borrowed a friend's "Best of 'Friends': Season 1" DVD and watched four of the five episodes last night. They weren't quite as funny as I had remembered them being, but they were warm and quaint (and, strangely, almost low-budget looking). It's strange to see the clothes/props looking totally outdated in something that aired seemingly not all that long ago.

Also, I was never big on Phoebe, but watching this again now, it strikes me that she was really an inspired character - they really nailed it with her, both the writers and Lisa Kudrow. She has a few lines in each episode that are funnier than everything else, and in a subtler way than the rest of the show operates.

Still, I think I may have been overrating the first few seasons of "Friends" in my head just a bit.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Thursday, 11 November 2004 19:36 (twenty years ago)

Exporting them is too good!

― Simon Green (fatmancunian), Thursday, 11 November 2004 23:06 (twenty years ago)

Regardless of whether they were meant to be sympathetic or not, I had great affection for (perhaps identified more with) the characters on Seinfeld, whereas those on Friends just seemed like annoying yuppies.

I feel exactly the opposite. I loathe the Seinfeld characters - they are unfunny, self absorbed and annoying.

Friends is fun, because it allows itself absurdity at times, rather than just run of the mill laugh track comedy. I mean sure, the fact they all live in fancy apartments in NYC and all spend time with each other and no one else and never seem to work much etc is totally unrealistic and stupid, but that isnt the point of the show - its escapist fun.

Though I really don't like Jennifer Anniston, so that's a minus. But the others are all neurotic stupid fun. Phoebe and her bizarre folk songs, especially!

"Oh the cow in the meadow goes moo
Oh the cow in the meadow goes moo
Then the farmer hits him on the head and grinds him up
And thats how we get hamburgers.
nooooowww.... chicken!"

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 11 November 2004 23:57 (twenty years ago)

i hate to join thw quire, but yeah. just got the seinfeld dvd, tho (seasons 1 thru 3). it's very yummy, even though the show dodn't really come into shape until the fourth or fifth season ... get it!

― Jay Kid (Jay K), Friday, 12 November 2004 00:10 (twenty years ago)

I love the early seinfelds because Jerry has a different dad. Thats about it.

― still bevens (bscrubbins), Friday, 12 November 2004 00:41 (twenty years ago)

People who start threads insulting others just for liking something that they do not are too braindead to even take seriously.

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Friday, 12 November 2004 03:41 (twenty years ago)

Welcome to ILX! ;-)

― PinXorchiXoR (Pinkpanther), Friday, 12 November 2004 09:04 (twenty years ago)

i never go out of my way to watch friends, but i find it weird that everyone talks about it as if it's the nadir of all sitcoms. sure, it's completely dopey and unbelievable, but so was i love lucy besides, as mentioned upthread, lisa kudrow rules.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 12 November 2004 09:27 (twenty years ago)

damn, there should be a "!" and a new paragraph between "lucy" and "besides."

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 12 November 2004 09:28 (twenty years ago)

Oh damn I just realized I spend way more time reading about other people watching TV than I do watching TV myself.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Friday, 12 November 2004 09:38 (twenty years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.