Do/did you like the TV show Friends?

Do/did you like the TV show Friends?


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I don't think I remember any individual episodes. Just broad themes and storylines.
 
"The one where they all realised they were terrible cunts and killed themselves" was easily my fave episode.
 
I always loved it and will often just stick Comedy Central on at the weekend in the background because they run all of them over and over again. I wouldn't buy any merchandise or go to the Trafford Centre to sit on the Friends sofa or anything but a woman I work with does at every opportunity. As our office is mainly populated by middle-aged women there are often Friends quotes bandied around the office like if a fit client comes in somebody will say "How you doin'?" after he's gone, the holiday armadillo has been mentioned on multiple occasions and the most used is "we were on a break!" which can be applied to almost anything.
 
As somebody who clearly remembers 70s television (Alf Garnett, Benny Hill, Robin's Nest off the top of my head) and the plethora of homophobia, racism, mysogyny, transphobia and pretty-much every other insulting behaviour/opinion you can think of Friends really isn't that bad. Phoebe was secretly married to a gay ice-dancer!
 
I remember watching MIND YOUR LANGUAGE as a family and LAUGHING HEARTILY
 
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I remember watching MIND YOUR LANGUAGE as a family and LAUGHING HEARTILY
I ended up on a YouTube loop of offensive dated comedy and saw this. Obviously offensive by current standards, but honestly just appallingly unfunny.
 
And the first episode appears to be on youtube for everyone to get offended by

 
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Like @dUb I have seen so many of these American sitcoms - when I would be in Sweden they would show so many that never made it to air in the UK, and the quality was in the absolute gutter that it would almost be a sport to watch. Pretend example I just made up:

'Rosie's Room!'

[scene 1]
TJ: hey Rosie!
Rosie: that's my name, don't wear it out :) :)
TJ: how's it hanging?
Rosie: that's what my date said last night :(
audience: LOL

So when you compare Friends to all those it really was top of its game. It did what The Simpsons did in that it created side-characters that you knew well enough for them to give you laughs in a scene, give the main characters continuity, but not necessarily missed if they weren't there (Jack and Judy Geller, Gunther, Janice) and the main cast were all likeable enough for them to survive any duff jokes
 
And the first episode appears to be on youtube for everyone to get offended by



I think they're ALL on there and yes I have watched and enjoyed them in recent years :)
 
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Everyone who voted NO on this basically has a more developed cultural palate.
 
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I remember watching MIND YOUR LANGUAGE as a family and LAUGHING HEARTILY

Oh I'd forgotten about that one. That was so bad with the racial stereotypes. I still remember the Indian bloke in the hat and the way he'd wave his head from side to side with that horrific accent. :(
 
I wonder how Watching has aged. And just whatever happened to that woman. I think she became a teacher abroad.
 
I don't think anything post 2000 has the same mass appeal as something like Friends. Media consumption is so fragmented

Game Of Thrones was actually bigger.

although that won’t have the longevity of Friends.
 
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I watched it when it was on. I will always like some of the individual performances , Mainly Jennifer Anniston, couldn’t stand Matt Le Blanc (don’t get me started on that “speaks french” episode)

Frasier was always better , Seinfeld too. Jesus I’d even take endless reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond over it now.

Also kudos to @dUb for the Nurses and Caroline in the City references
 
I’ll tell you one show that has aged brilliantly and is better than anyone realised, a little show called MOESHA. It’s on Netflix now and I would recommend
 
That’s what I loved so much about that Apple Docuseries called Visible: Out on Television. It really went through the evolution of representation on TV through the decades and how it was necessary to lead to acceptance.
Yes! I really enjoyed that programme, it was really well made and tracked the history of LGBT representation in television
 
Quite liked it at the the time for Friday night viewing but don’t watch it these days.
 
Hated when they paired Rachel and Joey together, spent a season and a half playing cat and mouse, and when it finally came to getting it on they broke them up because Rachel couldn't stop laughing.
 
I don’t mind it, Fraiser is obviously far superior and has held up very well, Friends is mainly used for comedowns now.
 
Ally McBeal was always my favourite Friday night show as a teenager. I need to rewatch them all.
 
I liked it first time I watched the whole thing and no doubt some of the cast had great chemistry but it hasn't aged too well.

Also, I had never watched Ally McBeal until I gave it a go last year. Didn't make it past the end of season three. That show does NOT hold up well 20 years later at all. Maybe it was very of its time but when I watched it.... I was troubled.
 
Frasier for me has held up well enough to rewatch it TWICE since the 90s. It's aged in bits, like all the jokes about Roz being a slut (but then she owns who she is and of course she is MY FAVOURITE :disco: ), and they really did jump the shark a lil bit getting Daphne and Niles together, but overall I think it's a much wittier show than Friends. It's also a lot more GAY-FRIENDLY, not in explicit gay storylines (although it has a few) but in WINKING AT GAY AUDIENCES without pandering.
 

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