I am always surprised how beloved Friends is all over the world (like how many people watch it over and over). I haven't watched it since it was first on tv. Maybe I should.
― Yerac, Thursday, 27 June 2019 13:39 (four years ago) link
no don't do it
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 27 June 2019 13:40 (four years ago) link
yeah, I have never felt the desire. Another person (Italian millennial) was just telling me how he has watched it three times over now.
― Yerac, Thursday, 27 June 2019 13:49 (four years ago) link
I find it to be a very effective soporific. I've used it on more than one occasion to send me off to dreamland when I was suffering insomnia.
― I Ate Those Food (Old Lunch), Thursday, 27 June 2019 13:50 (four years ago) link
Sometimes when I am around someone will ask me where I am from and I will say US and then New York and they always go "FRIENDS!" no one says "SEINFELD!" or some other show.I also had a japanese roommate once who would only watch Friends, baseball and South Park.
― Yerac, Thursday, 27 June 2019 13:52 (four years ago) link
I didn't like Friends in its initial run but I've seen a couple partial episodes while on the elliptical machine at the gym this year and it's... ok? I mean, it doesn't have the really insipid laugh track-baiting of Chuck Lorre sitcoms and it's almost quaint to have a show that *does* have a laugh track and isn't cynical
― mh, Thursday, 27 June 2019 14:10 (four years ago) link
I'm never gonna rep hard for it because it is pretty MOR but I think it holds up, and moreso if you watch it as a serial rather than just disparate episodes.
― I Ate Those Food (Old Lunch), Thursday, 27 June 2019 14:17 (four years ago) link
friends is good when it doesn't lean too hard on schwimmer's schwimmer-iness
― old cloud yells at man (voodoo chili), Thursday, 27 June 2019 14:20 (four years ago) link
imagine if netflix got the rights to newsradio and got everyone to watch newsradio instead of friends. mostly i wish newsradio was streaming somewhere.
― na (NA), Thursday, 27 June 2019 14:25 (four years ago) link
I wholeheartedly concur even though I own it. My brother just started watching it recently and got hooked. Would that everyone had the easy opportunity to do so.
― I Ate Those Food (Old Lunch), Thursday, 27 June 2019 14:28 (four years ago) link
Primark (uk cheap clothes emporium) is selling F*R*I*E*N*D*S tshirts now and i keep seeing people wearing them, often young kids. it's odd.
― koogs, Thursday, 27 June 2019 14:31 (four years ago) link
xpost a couple of seasons of NewsRadio were on Sony's Crackle service a while back
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 27 June 2019 15:45 (four years ago) link
wrt Friends it's been interesting to see it from today's perspective. Ross is a sociopath.Matt Leblanc and Lisa Kudrow are excellent comedic actors
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 27 June 2019 15:46 (four years ago) link
Hate to say it but friends is better than newsradio
― VAR me to the end of yawn (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 June 2019 15:51 (four years ago) link
i am enjoying everyone being "ACTUALLY it's pretty GOOD!" about the most popular sitcom of all time
― na (NA), Thursday, 27 June 2019 15:56 (four years ago) link
There are many most popular things that aren't pretty good, so it does seem worthy of note.
― I Ate Those Food (Old Lunch), Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:04 (four years ago) link
yeah, i mean big bang theory is the most watched sitcom of the last decade at least and it's basically unwatchable.
i want to love newsradio - ignoring the forgettable joe rogan and unlikeable andy dick it has a great cast (dave foley is one of my favourite comedic actors ever, what can you say about phil hartman? etc.) - but it's a fair to middling 90s sitcom to my eyes and ears. better than mad about you, not as good as frasier.
― VAR me to the end of yawn (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:09 (four years ago) link
NewsRadio is so good, it veers off in such weird directions from it's base standard 90s sitcom setup
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:11 (four years ago) link
Totes bogus take, jim. Totes bogus to the max.
― I Ate Those Food (Old Lunch), Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:13 (four years ago) link
Now I am looking at lists of the most popular, watched, profitable sitcoms of all time, realizing I have never watched a lot of these. Like any Chuck Lorre ones or Modern Family, Raymond, Raymond-like shows. I made fun of my spouse for watching all of Big Bang Theory but supposedly he watched for the caltech adjacent jokes.
― Yerac, Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:13 (four years ago) link
Called the "King of Sitcoms" during the 2010s,[4][5][6][7][8] he has created and produced sitcoms including Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly, Mom, and The Kominsky Method.
omg first against the wall
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:14 (four years ago) link
Lorre is only redeemed by having worked on Roseanne.
― I Ate Those Food (Old Lunch), Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:15 (four years ago) link
let's be real, all sitcoms are bad except for the first five seasons of Cheers
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:19 (four years ago) link
I've never been more ashamed of my parents than i was when i realized they habitually watched two and a half men
― VAR me to the end of yawn (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:19 (four years ago) link
Wow, Dharma & Greg is a show I have not thought of in years.
Do sitcoms become dated the fastest of any kind of entertainment?
― jmm, Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:20 (four years ago) link
http://www.vulture.com/2015/02/two-and-a-half-men-finale-review.html
i highly recommend reading about what happens in the 2 1/2 men finale
― na (NA), Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:25 (four years ago) link
is this seriously what 2 1/2 Men was about??? I kind of want to watch it now if I ever get a bacterial/viral infection in my brain.
― Yerac, Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:33 (four years ago) link
― na (NA), Thursday, June 27, 2019 9:25 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark
holy shit
― VAR me to the end of yawn (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:43 (four years ago) link
in fairness to chuck lorre charlie sheen was a real anti-semitic POS to him in public statements at the time he had his little implosion so it's understandable that he was bitter but what a nihilistic finale to a show that ran for 11 years
― VAR me to the end of yawn (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 June 2019 16:51 (four years ago) link
wrt Friends it's been interesting to see it from today's perspective. Ross is a sociopath.
this is not today's perspective
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Thursday, 27 June 2019 18:00 (four years ago) link
ross isn't really a sociopath he is just quite typical of the male romantic hero of the 90s - mopey, jealous, sad-case dickhead. it's instructive to remember that while the cast of friends are gen x the creators and writers were more baby boomer, and the social mores and attitudes really reflect that (not that gen x didn't also have a similar tolerance for awfulness in their romantic heroes - see ethan hawke in anything).
― VAR me to the end of yawn (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 June 2019 18:06 (four years ago) link
Ross was definitely being written as a non-hero and terrible person by the second half of the series, it's just that his friends and family couldn't quietly and slowly ostracise him as they might in real life bcz the actor was still one of six leads
dude pursued and dated one of his underage students
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Thursday, 27 June 2019 18:26 (four years ago) link
I was just gonna say, I hate Chuck Lorre and think 2 and a half men and Big Bang are the worst things in the world...but I always thought Dharma and Greg was decent.
― dan selzer, Thursday, 27 June 2019 19:16 (four years ago) link
hard disagree
― VAR me to the end of yawn (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 June 2019 19:26 (four years ago) link
Xps to yerac: I’m from nz and used to get ppl yelling BRITT! BRITT! at me (it was the hey day of flight of the conchords) - at that point I hadn’t even seen the show.
― just1n3, Thursday, 27 June 2019 19:31 (four years ago) link
My neighbor's 16 year old daughter carved the Friends logo into a pumpkin for Halloween, and she and her crew dressed up as the characters from the show. Separately another friend's daughter had a big banner made up for their 16th birthday in Friends logo font that spelled out "The one where X turns 16".
It's fucking weird, I never really watched it and had sort of forgot about it and had no idea kids these days etc.
― joygoat, Thursday, 27 June 2019 19:46 (four years ago) link
My gf's niece is on the same trip (somewhat recently binged the series, had some hs graduation thing similarly themed 'The One Where...'). I guess it's weird but then I guess it's also like that thing where I was thrilled to inherit my mom's Monkees records ca. '87.
― I Ate Those Food (Old Lunch), Thursday, 27 June 2019 19:52 (four years ago) link
i was finding the zoomer love for the office kind of weird recently until i remember i love the show cheers which started 2 years before i was born and ended when i was 8
― VAR me to the end of yawn (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 June 2019 19:55 (four years ago) link
This looks terrifying:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1JdWOqc9Q8
― DJI, Thursday, 27 June 2019 19:58 (four years ago) link
so many people my age love cheers xp
and i assume i would too
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 27 June 2019 19:58 (four years ago) link
cheers has a lot of timeless elements, like talking to people at a bar
― mh, Thursday, 27 June 2019 20:02 (four years ago) link
the sexual politics of cheers are pretty of their time. like my woke gf won't watch it with me
― VAR me to the end of yawn (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 June 2019 20:04 (four years ago) link
but there's a lot to love about it (i kind of get off the bus after diane leaves)
that's maybe fair? I feel like a lot of the interactions would play out differently in 2019 and the different aspects of feminism you get from Diane/Lilith/Rebecca have modern analogues but the portrayals and outcomes would have to play differently
early seasons Sam's a womanizer of the type that doesn't play well in that there are occasional "women are crazy" tropes when obviously he's treated women badly or led them on only to ghost
Norm's boilerplate wife jokes are buffered by the fact that he obviously really loves her and doesn't really take it when other people say things about her, iirc
― mh, Thursday, 27 June 2019 20:10 (four years ago) link
yeah lots of:
Sam: women are crazy, Diane.Diane: You're a pig, Sam Malone!
― VAR me to the end of yawn (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 June 2019 20:11 (four years ago) link
Friends debuted 25 years ago. When Friends debuted, The Brady Bunch had debuted 25 years before.
― omar little, Thursday, 27 June 2019 20:15 (four years ago) link
The Brady Bunch was similarly a "thing" with my generation I guess.
― omar little, Thursday, 27 June 2019 20:16 (four years ago) link
yeah Norm's zings on Vera are a performative mask for self-loathing
and Sam's sluttiness was played as a non-positive more often than not
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Thursday, 27 June 2019 20:20 (four years ago) link
hard disagree. it's remarkably progressive for 1983.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 27 June 2019 20:22 (four years ago) link
"progressive for 1983" is still timely
― VAR me to the end of yawn (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 June 2019 20:22 (four years ago) link