is Friends still that popular?

john the one · 29-09-2014 2:38am

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 · 29-09-2014 9:39am

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 · 29-09-2014 9:52am

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

walshb · 29-09-2014 11:58am

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 · 29-09-2014 11:59am

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 · 29-09-2014 12:19pm

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 · 29-09-2014 1:14pm

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 · 30-09-2014 1:33am

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 · 30-09-2014 2:10am

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 · 30-09-2014 2:12am

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 · 30-09-2014 2:32am

FunLover18 wrote: »

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

Unagi
Pivot
Keyboard
Bagpipes
Suntan
British Accent

:pac:

krudler · 30-09-2014 2:36am

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 · 30-09-2014 2:46am

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 · 30-09-2014 2:55am

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. · 30-09-2014 3:29am

IvySlayer wrote: »

Unagi
Pivot
Keyboard
Bagpipes
Suntan
British Accent

: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 · 30-09-2014 3:41am

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 · 30-09-2014 10:52am

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

_Kaiser_ · 30-09-2014 11:19am

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 · 30-09-2014 11:21am

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

don ramo · 30-09-2014 11:31am

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 · 30-09-2014 12:13pm

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 · 30-09-2014 2:08pm

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 · 30-09-2014 2:10pm

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 · 30-09-2014 2:22pm

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 · 30-09-2014 3:50pm

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 · 30-09-2014 3:56pm

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 · 30-09-2014 4:04pm

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

Timeless

FairytaleGirl · 30-09-2014 4:34pm

IvySlayer wrote: »

Unagi
Pivot
Keyboard
Bagpipes
Suntan
British Accent

:pac:

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 · 30-09-2014 5:23pm

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 · 30-09-2014 7:15pm

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.

is Friends still that popular?

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