is Friends still that popular?

don ramo

D.Q wrote: »

Seinfeld.

yeah thats probably the one show that would challenge friends in pop culture and quotability, but seinfeld while very popular never got the international traction that friends did, which is why id put friends ahead of it, i love friends over seinfeld, but it has to be said that friends wouldnt have existed if it were not for seinfeld,

Liam O wrote: »

I think it's definitely a show that rewards following a season arc. There are stand alone episodes that are fantastic but some of the running jokes while not laugh out loud funny help endear the characters.

As for the drop after season 4, not something I overly noticed, though without Chandler and Joey being the mid-late 20s odd couple it lost an element that took a season or 2 to adapt from. I think it ended a lot stronger than pretty much every long running sitcom I've seen.

thats why i loved friends, the dynamics were always changing, maybe there was a few missteps along the way, but what 200 episode show didnt,

Twiki

don ramo wrote: »

it has to be said that friends wouldnt have existed if it were not for seinfeld

Only in the sense that Friends was the Bizarro Seinfeld.

don ramo

Twiki wrote: »

Only in the sense that Friends was the Bizarro Seinfeld.

i dont think so myself, both shows were great in their own right, seinfeld just showed that there was a demand for a show like friends, but i think friends done more than enough to distinguish itself in its own right,

lm01

I'm always baffled by people who say "it should have ended at point x" when the show kept on going for years after. Obviously it continued to appeal to enough people to keep it profitable so no: it shouldn't have ended. If it lost its appeal to you, just stop watching. It can still exist for everyone else and nobody is making you watch.

I enjoy Friends well enough for nostalgia appeal, but I bet a big part of the appeal for people too young to catch it first time around is that it's easy, limited viewing. Limited number of characters, possibilities and plots. Nobody dies. If you tune out for five minutes or miss an episode, it doesn't really matter. The feel-good factor is huge.

Sometimes all people want at the end of a hard day is something familiar and comforting to make them laugh. Something that they can talk over or look away to check their phone and not miss too much. Something that doesn't ask too much of them emotionally or intellectually. It wouldn't surprise me for it to be a favorite especially since it's never really been off the air in the last twenty years so exposure to it is still huge.

Katielanie

if i'd known i'd still be watching friend 20 years later i'd have given up!!

Katielanie

it's still one of the old reliables that you know will be funny!

TheEnigma

Yes it would be my favourite show but I would be a bit of a woman in my tv viewing, I watch home & away.
There are so many episodes of friends so you usually forget what happens in them by the time you next watch them.

Something I notice about friends is that those episodes from 2002-04 look as though they could have been shot yesterday, there is very little major changes in fashion and hairstyles compared to 1994 but maybe that's the case in most shows

efb

The show dipped with Emily it could have ended at their marriage where Ross and Rachel ran off together

don ramo

efb wrote: »

The show dipped with Emily it could have ended at their marriage where Ross and Rachel ran off together

i dont think it declined from there, yes it was the lowest point in the show, but it didnt stay down very long, the chandler and monica story did kind of hinder both characters, but when they initially got together after ross and emilys wedding there were some great episodes in there, when they were hiding it, and joey finding out first, then rachel and pheobe toying with them, yeah they went stale but not for 2-3 seasons, and even then they had their moments,

FunLover18

colinod0806 wrote: »

I quote friends probably once or twice a day on average and I watch most sitcoms that are on T.V at the moment. I have my favourites but nothing has ever knocked Friends off its perch in my heart.

I was talking about the Friends fans I know. None have them would watch as much TV as I do, so as someone who thinks Friends is just above average in the sitcom stakes I can't help but be slightly exasperated. But I'm well aware that they could watch every sitcom ever made and still think Friends is the best … I'd just have to disagree.

john the one

I can still put on an episode of friends and it might be one I have never seen before. Good shoe but didn't follow it.

Kirby

It's a brilliant show. Very funny. I know every episode backwards and just like the simpsons, it still makes me laugh.

It might be cliché to say that the quality dipped after season 4 but people say it because its true. Up until that point though, its one of the greatest. "The One With The Embryos" in season 4 where they bet the apartment still makes me laugh so hard.

Tipsy McSwagger

It's a show that wouldn't be popular if you took the laugh track out.

walshb

Chandler was Friends. He drove the show and was by far the best comedy actor. When he got with Monica he weakened, as did the show.

walshb

Kirby wrote: »

It might be cliché to say that the quality dipped after season 4 but people say it because its true. Up until that point though, its one of the greatest. "The One With The Embryos" in season 4 where they bet the apartment still makes me laugh so hard.

Exactly. Chandler was no longer Chandler from season 4 onwards.

Kirby

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

It's a show that wouldn't be popular if you took the laugh track out.

The show was popular because it was exceptionally funny. A laugh track doesn't make a joke work. The show has the same laugh track in season 9 and nobody was laughing at the poor jokes.

Tipsy McSwagger

Kirby wrote: »

The show was popular because it was exceptionally funny. A laugh track doesn't make a joke work. The show has the same laugh track in season 9 and nobody was laughing at the poor jokes.

It was popular because women liked it and were more interested in a hairstyle or a will they get together story than any of the jokes in it.

FunLover18

walshb wrote: »

Chandler was Friends. He drove the show and was by far the best comedy actor. When he got with Monica he weakened, as did the show.

Chandler was definitely always my favourite and Joey was the perfect foil for him. When they split them up the show as a whole suffered.

I agree with a previous poster about The One With The Embryos. Another great episode is The One Where No One's Ready. The show worked best when the group was together.

IvySlayer

I love Friends, it's easy/safe to watch if that makes sense :P You know what to expect.

Chandler/Ross make the show though!

Ross has all the best moments, Ross was totally right to sleep with someone else, they were on a break after all!!

FunLover18

IvySlayer wrote: »

I love Friends, it's easy/safe to watch if that makes sense :P You know what to expect.

Chandler/Ross make the show though!

Ross has all the best moments, Ross was totally right to sleep with someone else, they were on a break after all!!

We may disagree about Ross having the best moments but they were definitely on a break

IvySlayer

FunLover18 wrote: »

We may disagree about Ross having the best moments but they were definitely on a break

Unagi
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:pac:

krudler

Ross was definitely the best thing in the show after they stopped writing him as a drip and turned him mental in the later seasons. The character I couldnt stand was Phoebe, she's a horrible person in it and was always the weak link story wise. Monica and Rachel are far better comedic actors too, Jennifer Aniston's comedy timing is brilliant and she's never really been given enough credit for it.

IvySlayer

I agree about Phoebe, and I hated Mike too. Much prefer David.

I was surprised with the Top 20 episodes on Comedy Central, number 1 was The Last One, a lot of the Top 10 were Season 9/10

D.Q

Friends as a comedy isn't anything particularly spectacular. Its not laugh out loud funny most of the time, or particularly smart. But as a full package it just works. I can understand the mass appeal but for me, in terms of me actually laughing, Seinfeld destroys it. Frasier destroys it.

Acedia.

IvySlayer wrote: »

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:pac:

Karate!

Phoebe wasn't that bad. The ongoing storylines about her parents and siblings were great. I thought Mike was very cute and their wedding was lovely. There were some great episodes in the latter years.

FunLover18

OK, I'm just going to say this and get it over with … Phoebe definitely gets more annoying in the later seasons but *deep breath* she is easily the female character I'm most attracted to especially in the first season with the curly hair and don't get me started on the hooped onesie

walshb

Phoebe was sh1t! OTT stupid. They made her out to be far too unrealistic.

_Kaiser_

Another person here who never got into Friends - either during the original run or the constant repeats since. I've seen a few of them over the years and I still don't get it.

I've never watched Revenge and only started Breaking Bad though (watched the pilot the other night and it hooked me enough that I'll keep watching) so I'll come back to you on that one later

recyclops

fraiser which essentially ran parallel to friends is a far superior show in my opinion, it was consistantly funny unlike friends

don ramo

recyclops wrote: »

fraiser which essentially ran parallel to friends is a far superior show in my opinion, it was consistantly funny unlike friends

and thats exactly why the american tv studios make over 400 different tv shows a year, cause not everyone will like the same thing,

walshb

Apart from Chandler in Friends I find no comedy in any U.S. shows. How the fcuk did some of them ever see the light of day? Big Bang, 2 and half men, and some others. Garbage!

Padraig Mor

It's perhaps hard for "de young people" today to understand just how popular Friends was in its original run. I was in college at the time and would have been one of very few who didn't like it (always thought it was a bit **** TBH). It was so big that it used to be shown live on big screens in pubs around Cork - only show it used happen for.

cloud493

I'm not a fan of friends, never really watched it, but everyone in my house watched the last episode, as did everyone I knew pretty much.

whomitconcerns

Its quite simple. Friends is not the funniest or cleverest or anythingist show ever.
But it is one of the easiest to pick up and put down and thats why its lasted so long.

I have probably seen every episode at least twice over the years, but I can tell you that our tv is on friends at least a few times a week as a filler. I am sure that this is the same in a lot of households. You can watch get a few laughs and turn off and not wonder what happened afterwards. Its the definition of easy viewing.

Liam O

whomitconcerns wrote: »

Its quite simple. Friends is not the funniest or cleverest or anythingist show ever.
But it is one of the easiest to pick up and put down and thats why its lasted so long.

I have probably seen every episode at least twice over the years, but I can tell you that our tv is on friends at least a few times a week as a filler. I am sure that this is the same in a lot of households. You can watch get a few laughs and turn off and not wonder what happened afterwards. Its the definition of easy viewing.

I thought it lasted long because it was one of the funniest shows of all time. For some it just wasn't cool I think is the problem. I think because everyone has seen it so much it's been downgraded to filler. I watched the final season as a 13 year old and thought it was hilarious. For a show that was as mainstream as it was it remained funny while not really falling into the trap of trying to be edgy like a lot of shows. It stayed original and true to what made it popular right up to the end imo which is what was great about it.

JP Liz V1

walshb wrote: »

Chandler was Friends. He drove the show and was by far the best comedy actor. When he got with Monica he weakened, as did the show.

David Schwimmer was quite underrated as a comedic actor imo

kryogen

Friends just had that magic, right place, right time, right cast, right script.

Timeless

FairytaleGirl

IvySlayer wrote: »

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The leather trouser/talc fiasco?

#dead

I love friends! I have all ten seasons on DVD but haven't watched it in ages. The only character I didnt find funny was Pheobe - her humour was too stupid. Granted, Joeys was too but his delivery was much better!

Frank Lee Midere

The thing about Friends is that it was a mainstream comedy. Everybody watched it. That kind of show can't be too risqué. I prefer edgier comedy in general but as a mainstream show it won't be beat. It's probably harder to do straight comedy than the edgy stuff like "Curb" which i love.

Look at the flat share comedies out now. Not a laugh between them all. I think it was the ensemble cast really. I didn't much care for Ross but the leather trousers scene was great. I didn't care for Monica/Chandler but the arc about how they hid the relationship was great. Chandler was great all the way through. Joey was great. Jennifer Annistons comic timing is amazing.

So for a mainstream flatshare comedy it was better than you could expect.

Tarzana

krudler wrote: »

The character I couldnt stand was Phoebe, she's a horrible person in it and was always the weak link story wise. Monica and Rachel are far better comedic actors too, Jennifer Aniston's comedy timing is brilliant and she's never really been given enough credit for it.

Agree that Phoebe was awful but disagree that Lisa Kudrow was an inferior comic actor. She's very talented but Phoebe was such a bitchy, dislikeable character that it was hard to see sometimes. Jennifer Aniston is great, but I'd consider Lisa Kudrow more talented than Courteney Cox.

Tarzana

D.Q wrote: »

Its not laugh out loud funny most of the time, or particularly smart.

Disagree with all this sentence really, but especially the last part. There are tonnes are smart jokes in this show, both overt and subtle, that it has never got any credit for.

I love Frasier but I've been watching a lot of it on Netflix lately and it has gone down a bit in my estimations. A lot of really set up storylines that you see how they will unfold long before the punchline, a lot of embarrassing clichés and stereotyping. I would have long said before that Frasier is smarter than Friends but on reflection, not really. And both make me laugh out loud a lot.

Tarzana

Also, everyone seems to dislike Mike and love David. I'm the opposite. What an irritating character David was. Milquetoast whiner.

Tarzana

Liam O wrote: »

For some it just wasn't cool I think is the problem.

Bingo.

paleoperson

Tarzana wrote: »

Disagree with all this sentence really, but especially the last part. There are tonnes are smart jokes in this show, both overt and subtle, that it has never got any credit for.

I love Frasier but I've been watching a lot of it on Netflix lately and it has gone down a bit in my estimations. A lot of really set up storylines that you see how they will unfold long before the punchline, a lot of embarrassing clichés and stereotyping. I would have long said before that Frasier is smarter than Friends but on reflection, not really. And both make me laugh out loud a lot.

yeah, long ago when I was younger I liked Frasier. As I've grown up and become more wise to the world, I've realized how unrealistic and silly it all is. I no longer find it funny at all. You can be unrealistic and good, but with something like The Big Bang Theory the joke is supposed to be on their exaggerated personalities. Frasier is just unrealistic in places there is no joke.

3rd Rock from the Sun is for me the best American sitcom of all time.

Tarzana

paleoperson wrote: »

yeah, long ago when I was younger I liked Frasier. As I've grown up and become more wise to the world, I've realized how unrealistic and silly it all is. I no longer find it funny at all. You can be unrealistic and good, but with something like The Big Bang Theory the joke is supposed to be on their exaggerated personalities. Frasier is just unrealistic in places there is no joke.

Well, I still really enjoy Frasier. I just think its place as one of the smartest sitcoms isn't wholly deserved.

Hate TBBT though, I'm afraid, it rarely raises a titter in me. I also don't enjoy Curb Your Enthusiasm at all, but Seinfeld was great.

Comedy really is an individual thing, isn't it?

Dirty Dingus McGee

paleoperson wrote: »

yeah, long ago when I was younger I liked Frasier. As I've grown up and become more wise to the world, I've realized how unrealistic and silly it all is. I no longer find it funny at all. You can be unrealistic and good, but with something like The Big Bang Theory the joke is supposed to be on their exaggerated personalities. Frasier is just unrealistic in places there is no joke.

3rd Rock from the Sun is for me the best American sitcom of all time.

Every comedy is somewhat unrealistic.If they were realistic we wouldn't need to be watching them as our lives would be hilarious already.

JP Liz V1

Tarzana wrote: »

Also, everyone seems to dislike Mike and love David. I'm the opposite. What an irritating character David was. Milquetoast whiner.

Who were they in Friends

Tarzana

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Who were they in Friends

Mike was the dude Phoebe married, David was her boyfriend briefly before he went off to Minsk.

JP Liz V1

Tarzana wrote: »

Mike was the dude Phoebe married, David was her boyfriend briefly before he went off to Minsk.

Paul Rudd was awesome as Mike, love him he is a great comedic actor

FunLover18

IvySlayer wrote: »

Unagi
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:pac:

FairytaleGirl wrote: »

The leather trouser/talc fiasco?

#dead

I hate the tan and leather trousers! That contrived, embarrassing situation humour really doesn't work for me.

Tarzana wrote: »

Disagree with all this sentence really, but especially the last part. There are tonnes are smart jokes in this show, both overt and subtle, that it has never got any credit for.

I love Frasier but I've been watching a lot of it on Netflix lately and it has gone down a bit in my estimations. A lot of really set up storylines that you see how they will unfold long before the punchline, a lot of embarrassing clichés and stereotyping. I would have long said before that Frasier is smarter than Friends but on reflection, not really. And both make me laugh out loud a lot.

Is not every single character in Friends a cliché stereotype? Bimbo waitress, good looking actor, woman obsessed with cleaning and having babies, the kooky hippy, the nerd who gets the girl, the funny one. And Friends has its fair share of set up storylines.