Friends forever.

[Gandalf]

In the few days to come we'll know how much people tuned on to NBC for the finale,and if M.A.S.H. will stay the champion in the highest rating series finale in history.

I hope M*A*S*H keeps it's spot. Although it wasn't as funny, it was the better show.

[Admiral Valdemar]

In the few days to come we'll know how much people tuned on to NBC for the finale,and if M.A.S.H. will stay the champion in the highest rating series finale in history.

I hope M*A*S*H keeps it's spot. Although it wasn't as funny, it was the better show.

I see being funny isn't actually an important attribute of American comedy now. I find that... odd.

[Gandalf]

In the few days to come we'll know how much people tuned on to NBC for the finale,and if M.A.S.H. will stay the champion in the highest rating series finale in history.

I hope M*A*S*H keeps it's spot. Although it wasn't as funny, it was the better show.

I see being funny isn't actually an important attribute of American comedy now. I find that... odd.

It wasn't really much of a sitcom in the end though. But it was still a better acted/written show.

Will Friends be as well remembered in 10 years as M*A*S*H is now?

[Admiral Valdemar]

Will Friends be as well remembered in 10 years as M*A*S*H is now?

Will what be remembered?

[Jim Raynor]

Friends sucks.

The characters are flat two-dimensional cardboard cutouts, no one can name a single new or original thing it brought to the world of sitcoms, none of the characters really resemble anyone you could ever know in real life or relate to, and the show is only popular for 3 reasons:

1. Its competition is "reality TV".
2. People like the way some of the actors/actresses look.
3. Males who are afraid to admit they like soap operas.

Hell, of the few episodes that I watched, half the humour came from poking fun at Monica for being obsessive-compulsive or poking fun at Joey or Phoebe for being stupid. Real sharp comedy there, and when they try to put a little more depth into the stories, they make it into a goddamned soap opera.

While I don't share the same level of dislike for the show as you, I have to say that your criticisms are right on. Friends is possibly one of the most overrated shows in TV history. The characters are 2-dimensional, the humor is simplistic, and the soap opera plots are infuriating.

The thing is, the show wasn't always like that. I never watched a lot of the early episodes in their first run on NBC, but I did see a lot on sindication. In the beginning, the characters had the same personalities and traits, but they were a lot less extreme and a lot more normal. Monica was simply uptight rather than obsessive compulsive. Joey and Phoebe were dumb, but they were believably stupid, the kind of people who just weren't very knowledgeable or bright. Ross was a geek, but was still a relatively normal guyl. However, popularity made this show "Must See TV" and kept it on air longer than it should have been on. As the show dragged on, quality dropped off.

The characters degenerated into caricatures of themselves. Monica turned into some kind of control freak, who would flip out if a single small detail wasn't perfect. Joey and Phoebe became complete freaking retards. Lots of shows have stupid characters who screw up and don't know things that everyone should know. However, these two were pushing it. I found it hard as hell to suspend disbelief over just how dumb they were.

The plots were the worst. This was a show that was ready to end two or three years ago. The last couple of seasons have been nothing but drawn-out soap opera filler crap to extend the life of the show by one season at a time. Rachel gets pregnant with Ross's baby after a drunken one-night stand, and we get a whole season of devoted to her pregnancy. The season (possibly series) finale comes, with Rachel having her baby and Ross trying to finally get back together with her. Only something screws up and he doesn't! The new season starts (with lots of commercials telling everyone to watch, because this WILL be the last season), and it quickly becomes obvious that the whole pregnancy storyline was just a filler excuse with no meaningful ramifications. Rachel doesn't have to put up with any of the responsibilities of having a child, and the baby hardly even shows up. There's a lot of mixing and matching lovers (similar to stupid teen dramas) for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, the show is renewed for another season. The cliffhanger season finale comes, and Rachel and Joey are seen about to hook up! When the next, honest-to-God last season starts, this stupid storyline is quickly dropped with no effects, just like the whole baby thing. This isn't before the entire cast gossiped, eavesdropped, and got excited over these mix and match relationships like they were in God damn middle school, which they had been doing for a while. Thankfully, everybody knew by now that the show had run its course, and the final season was devoted to wrapping things up and reaching a conclusion.

The show had jumped the shark at least a couple years ago, and wast just finding ways to drag itself along. A lot of the people I know are big fans (watching TV with them is how I know all this) and were really hyped up about the big finale. To me, it was about damn time.

[Jim Raynor]

One thing I don't get about the spinoff Joey show. Joey had been portrayed as the most loyal of the Friends. He had a childlike attachment to them, and couldn't even understand Chandler and Monica's decision to move out to the suburbs. In the finale, Joey told Chandler to come by and visit him occasionally, and they had an emotional good-bye. But the premise of the Joey spinoff is that he moves from New York to Hollywood to further his acting career. How the heck does this make sense? He has a hard time accepting Chandler's decision to move to a suburb that's at most a few hours of driving away, but he'll move himself to a city thousands of miles away? Looks like continuity and staying true to the character aren't as important as milking the Friends franchise.

[Col. Crackpot]

I'm with Mike and Raynor. The show may have been fresh and different when it started, but that was 10 years ago!! The first few seasons were very entertaining, but the jokes got old after a few years. Yeah, Joey is dumb Monica is a headcase and Rachel is the slut with the heart of gold, i get that,as a matter of fact i got that joke 10 fucking years ago. It was funny THEN. Now it's just stale. So long shallow world, but never fear. I'm sure the wise sages at the networks will bring us a new batch of self-absorbed millionares to fawn over soon enough.

and alyeska, if you delete my friggn post, i swear to christ.......

[Bob McDob]

...And if anyone saw the Dateline special last night, there was a blurb in there about how many people finish off a joke like Chandler Bing (The answer-almost everyone, now) I know I do. I've even done his sort of "Talking with his hands" things

"Okay, *Hand in a fist* rock *Otherhand palm open towards fist* Hard place, *Pinky finger in between there hard place was* me"

Could I BE anymore sad? Yes I could. I'm going to go now.

Hmm, I've stolen that kind of humor secondhand from people who watch the show, what would that make me?

Remember the big disapointment that was Seinfeld last episode.

But ... but ... I liked Seinfeld's last episode

SPOILER ALERT

I was really hoping that Rachel wouldn't come back. Say what you will about Seinfeld, it had the balls to maroon its characters shit deep in the middle of ass-rape country without a paddle or a creek. Seeing her come back at the end smacked of deus ex machina, for me - Ross standing alone at the airport was easily the most powerful moment in the entire episode.

They didn't even have to break up - it could have just been her calling from France, talking about how she misses him and wishes he could be there. IMHO that would be more realistic, but more importantly it would have felt like something I could relate to. Some people use entertainment as a way of vicarious living - I don't, and I get mad when that sort of thing happens.

(Then again, I never really followed Friends. I have an unwritten rule that I never watch a show through until it goes into syndication. That and I have a thinly veiled dislike for all television, network or otherwise).

[SylasGaunt]

Thank God the finale is over and done with..

Not that the show isn't entertaining mind, I never really watched it regularly but what I saw was funny, however all the TV stations have been going on and on and on about this being the last episode, I swear if I hear one more clip from that theme song I'm going to go mad.

[General Zod]

In the few days to come we'll know how much people tuned on to NBC for the finale,and if M.A.S.H. will stay the champion in the highest rating series finale in history.

I hope M*A*S*H keeps it's spot. Although it wasn't as funny, it was the better show.

I see being funny isn't actually an important attribute of American comedy now. I find that... odd.

M*A*S*H* wasn't a comedy. it was a political satire of the time period. the fact that it happened to have humorous moments was only secondary for everything else.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I enjoyed the early years of friends, but stopped watching when it became a soap opera.
For me, the best parts were the guest characters, like Chandler's crazy roommate. Having had a crazy roommate in college, I was able to laugh my ass off in sympathy. Especially the scene in which the roommate tells Chandler why he didn't move out yet. "I thought we were cool. We worked out our problems on that road trip to Vegas." "What roadtrip?"

Ben stiller had a funny character on the show, too.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

M*A*S*H* wasn't a comedy. it was a political satire of the time period. the fact that it happened to have humorous moments was only secondary for everything else.

The movie or the show? Because the TV show most certainly was a comedy, albeit one that occasionally had a good deal of dramatic plotting.

[Mlenk]

Well, the results are in. 51.1 Million tuned in for the finale. I guess M.A.S.H. keeps its #1 spot.

[Alyeska]

and alyeska, if you delete my friggn post, i swear to christ.......

Sod off you little pissant.

[Mayabird]

Well that's that. Now I can say I went through my life having never seen a single full episode of it. (I say "full episode" because undoubtably I saw tiny bits of it as I flipped through the channels.) Considering how many people are taking time to talk about how much they hated the show, I guess I should be glad I never wasted any time watching it. *shrugs*

[Gandalf]

M*A*S*H* wasn't a comedy. it was a political satire of the time period. the fact that it happened to have humorous moments was only secondary for everything else.

The movie or the show? Because the TV show most certainly was a comedy, albeit one that occasionally had a good deal of dramatic plotting.

I think it was at it's best when they had Trapper/Blake. For some reason Hunnicut brought too much seriousness.

[General Zod]

M*A*S*H* wasn't a comedy. it was a political satire of the time period. the fact that it happened to have humorous moments was only secondary for everything else.

The movie or the show? Because the TV show most certainly was a comedy, albeit one that occasionally had a good deal of dramatic plotting.

eh, actually just checked the IMDB and according to that it fits alot of categories. so i suppose either category works to describe the movie and the show.

[Darth Wong]

This thread has severely lowered my impression of Chardok's manliness

[Rye]

Hrm, I've always had mixed feelings about Friends, and the Adam & Joe toy version was better, I found it mediocre at best, but with a few good parts, not enough to spur any kind of loyalty, but enough to appreciate the times it made me laugh. Sort of like Slipknot.

The trouble with sitcoms was the sudden spurge in Marta Kauffman Crane formula clones. I could go into this but I really cannot be arsed.

So, in some ways, I'll be sad to see it go, considering I used to watch it quite alot several years ago, but have gradually grown apart from it as time went on. This is sort of like hearing about hearing someone from school who i've not seen in years dying, when i was never really all that sociable with them.

I'll probably watch it though, "for old times' sake."