Friends

[Stumpy Pepys]

Still currently the most-watched Netflix show in the UK (and #2 in the US, behind The Office).

I remember the show generally getting a kicking on this forum, but I'll defend it. Of course you have to tolerate its central conceits—a group of beautiful people who apparently can't get dates and the fact that they all have cool Manhattan apartments despite few of them even having steady jobs. Plus the somewhat tedious Ross-Rachel story arcs.

Having said that, the writing's top-notch and the six are all fine comedy actors. I'm just curious why it resonates among millenials so much.

[Sits]

Ross used to annoy me a bit, I found the character too needy, if that’s the right word. And the less said about his monkey in Series 1, the better. But other than that it was pretty good, we watched it all the way through first time around.

[Ginger Yellow]

Still currently the most-watched Netflix show in the UK (and #2 in the US, behind The Office).

You keep seeing stats like that, but I wonder how that's measured. Because, for instance, it doesn't even feature in the top 10 of most watched shows week-by-week.

1. Top Boy 2. Power 3. Tall Girl 4. Unbelievable 5. The I-Land 6. Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father 7. Suits 8. 13 Reasons Why 9. The Spy 10. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

Maybe it's widest audience reach total? Maybe it's most aggregate minutes watched?

[Stumpy Pepys]

Maybe it's widest audience reach total? Maybe it's most aggregate minutes watched?

Maybe, but it's still surprisingly popular for what's now a twenty-year-old show.

[Simon G]

I love it - I'm not sure I'm considered a millennial at 35 though.

Chandler, up to Series 5, is by far the best character. Also, the one with the embryos is a fantastic episode. My favourite sitcom is Only Fools and Horses, but that particular episode rivals anything by John Sullivan.

They should have ended it at Chandler and Monica's wedding, and maybe even before then. The last two series were truly dreadful - with the odd funny skit thrown in. Monica just becomes horrible, Chandler becomes whiny (and not in a funny way), Joey becomes uber-stupid (don't get me started on the learning French episode) and the other 3 almost become support acts.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

It was all too twee for me. Like an American version of the Good Life only with a couple of extra characters. Comfortable viewing and good acting (inasmuch as they were all playing very one dimensional characters) but did I ever, ever either laugh out loud once? No. Nor did I ever shed a tear of either happiness or sadness, once, which I certainly remember doing at certain moments in Only Fools, or the Royle Family, or Early Doors. It was just too safe and sterile and 'clap along, because everybody's happy'.

[Stumpy Pepys]

It was just too safe and sterile and 'clap along, because everybody's happy'.

I don't agree with that. Some episodes were quite dark. Ross hitting on his cousin? Plus a lot of Phoebe's backstory. Monica is a control freak and Ross is a borderline psychopath.

[E10 Rifle]

It was nowhere near as good as the Good Life. I enjoyed it a bit at the time, but they were all pretty dislikeable characters leading gilded un-admirable lives, and for all the occasional sharp dialogue I wouldn't describe it as memorable or groundbreaking in any way really

[ad hoc]

I quite liked it, though I hated Ross. The whole show would have been improved immeasurably if they'd removed that character. Don't imagine I'd want to watch it again, and am pretty sure I missed the last 2 or 3 series altogether, but that aside, I thought it was pretty funny at times.

[WOM]

I remember watching the first episode (back in 90-whatever) and being completely prepared to hate the fuck out of it. Then I watched it and found it really well written, which I still do. My daughter has done the whole run probably twice over on Netflix and she thinks it's the best thing going. I don't think it's outrageous to say that Schwimmer was just a poor casting choice. He's really not very funny nor very likable / sympathetic. Lisa Kudrow was an absolute diamond, both there and on Mad About You.

[Ginger Yellow]

And in The Opposite of Sex, and Romy And Michelle's High School Reunion.

[WOM]

Never even seen a single episode of Sex and the City.

[ursus arctos]

I could never get beyond the complete suspension of the reality of living here in either of those shows.

But then I'm not an entertainment television person at all.

[E10 Rifle]

Every single character in Friends would have supported the Democratic candidacies of, first, Hillary Clinton and then Joe Biden. With the possible exception of Joey (who probably wouldn't have voted)

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I don't agree with that. Some episodes were quite dark. Ross hitting on his cousin? Plus a lot of Phoebe's backstory. Monica is a control freak and Ross is a borderline psychopath.

Yeah, but rather than ever exploring the pain or issues those things cause they just made it "Oh Monica, you've got, like OCD" and Monica would shriek and go "I know, aren't I awful!", and they'd all laugh and go for a fucking coffee. About the only episodes, actually, I do recall that I did like were the ones centred around Joey and his acting exploits, especially the one with Gary Oldman as the drunk star of the show.

[E10 Rifle]

Both

[Stumpy Pepys]

I've never really understood the notion of sitcom characters having to be 'likeable'. Many of my favourite comedy characters—Tony Hancock, George Constanza, Frasier Crane, Basil Fawlty—were all loathesome, albeit funny.

Even the ones I liked usually suffered from chronically poor decision-making.

[caja-dglh]

I love it - I'm not sure I'm considered a millennial at 35 though.

Sorry to break it to you, but you are a millenial.

[WOM]

I've never really understood the notion of sitcom characters having to be 'likeable'. Many of my favourite comedy characters - Tony Hancock, George Constanza, Frasier Crane, Basil Fawlty -were all loathesome, albeit funny.

Maybe not likable. But there's an empathetic quality to each of them. Ross is just a putz, and not even a funny putz. Just an annoying one.

[ad hoc]

I've never really understood the notion of sitcom characters having to be 'likeable'. Many of my favourite comedy characters—Tony Hancock, George Constanza, Frasier Crane, Basil Fawlty—were all loathesome, albeit funny.

Even the ones I liked usually suffered from chronically poor decision-making.

That doesn't appear to be anyone's criticism of the show though.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

My daughter has done the whole run probably twice over on Netflix and she thinks it's the best thing going. I don't think it's outrageous to say that Schwimmer was just a poor casting choice. He's really not very funny nor very likable / sympathetic. Lisa Kudrow was an absolute diamond, both there and on Mad About You.

Mine's the same (think we've covered this previously) - she can watch them again and again. In fact we can be watching something else and she'll spot a bit part actor and describe which bit part they played in Friends. She is almost as enthusiastic about How I Met Your Mother.

The popularity of Friends amongst this demographic came up on the podcast Martin Kelner does with his (18 year old) daughter, in which it was said it was the most watched programme by the 5-15 age demographic in the UK, and discussion ensued as to why that is. It was mentioned how the language was very carefully pitched and e.g. in an episode about who got to use the last condom remaining in the apartment, the word condom or similar was never used, and the joke was skirted around enough that the adults would get it but younger viewers wouldn't be confused by it.

Despite its age it doesn't look that much different from a modern multi camera comedy, and subject matter wise if it was made today the only major difference would be to incorporate social media into the story lines, so for our kids and their age group, it doesn't look like old telly - which say Cheers now does.

[ad hoc]

Maybe not likable. But there's an empathetic quality to each of them. Ross is just a putz, and not even a funny putz. Just an annoying one.

Yes, this. Ross is just tedious beyond measure. He's not "unlikeable" in the sense you mean. He's simply fucking boring as hell.

[Simon G]

Ross is meant to be an unlikeable know-it-all who gets dragged down a peg every now and then. The episode where Phoebe disputes evolution is a case in point, as is the episode where she believes the spirit of her mother is in a cat. Ross being the know-all is completely unlikeable and he gets laughed at when Phoebe (metaphorically) pulls his pants down.

[Freestyling buck wilding Stijn Stijnen]

I loved it when it first appeared. I was 13 going into 14 in 1994, and it felt as though it had been made for our generation.

Soon enough my peers and I would debate as to who it was we most resembled from friends:
'I'm Chandler with a twist of Joey!' I can hear the 14 year old me say... Except, we were nothing like these characters, and these characters were nothing like real people, yet that didn't stop most of us hurtling into our mature years being fitted into a sitcom box or attempting to fit others into similar boxes, and God fucking help you if you didn't resemble a character from everybodies favourite show(s)!

Ever had that? You say something, an independent thought, and suddenly some fucker is going 'Oh YoU'rE jUsT lIkE zAk FrOm My FaVoUrItE sHoW!'
Now, that alone is harmless, but these same people will freak the fuck out if you say anything that they can't cross reference against one of the various shows that comprises their universe, and that shit is harmful! it muddles a persons ability to think, and I think that sitcoms like friends with it's very 2-dimensional characters with fixed traits, no nuance and no development has directly fed into the minds of a very large number of people within society, and it, well it freaks me the fuck out, I see so many people living inside a reduced version of themselves, afraid that anything said slightly out of turn will have their peers turn around bodysnatcher style and start pointing and screaming.

The characters! Joey with his silly goofs, Pheobe also with her silly goofs, ooh actually perhaps they are a bit similar to justify having two pigshit thick characters...
Moving on to the rest of the cast, there was Ross with his neurosis/borderline psychotic behaviour, Monica who was quite nice at the start, certainly the more agreeable of the female cast, which leads to Rachel, the entitled girl with a new image in the big city via the medium of plastic surgery.
Finally, we had Chandler, the one that they did develop somewhat in shining a light upon his more idiosyncratic behaviour, and the one whose mannerisms and timing did make me laugh throughout the early seasons.

Yet, watching friends was like eating a lovely meal that was almost always delicious yet always left me feeling empty, and occasionally contained something that made me want to puke.

In comparing friends to my favourite comedies, the largest difference is sheer number of writers involved in the show. 58 people contributed to friends in one way or another, and when you've got that many people involved, and you're attempting a tonal shift to something more serious or dramatic, it's only ever going to be clunky, and I recall wanting to chew my own hands off when friends tried to do serious. The Simpsons being run on similar lines, yet working says all you need to know about the versatility of animation. I also think it says something about development of character, or that the characters in the simpsons were more identifiable, which is a compliment to the writing, I guess.

Finally, I've grown to like swearing more and more as time passes, there is no way to substitute good uses of swearing, try and make the restaurant opening scene in curb your enthusiasm at the end of season 4 as good without swearing... Yet there seems to be an increasing aversion to profanity - in all circumstances - from many within the emergent generation, and think it's general inoffensiveness is appealiing.

[Stumpy Pepys]

it doesn't look like old telly - which say Cheers now does.

That might be because Friends was shot on 35 mm film (and probably in 16:9). As was Seinfeld, which also hasn't aged that badly (Jerry's jeans aside).

I suspect Cheers was shot on video in 4:3.