Friends Crap not Crap?

[beeboo]

Whilst nowhere near the same league as Frasier, it was more often than not funny and well-written.

In terms of the acting, I thought the success was more in the dynamics between the characters rather than the characters themselves (which p'haps explains why none of them have been massively successful since).

The annoying bit is firstly how it was co-opted as an aspirational lifestyle thing (I'm sure the rise of Starbucks can be pinned on it somehow ) - frankly everyone was a characature and not particularly sympathetic, so why everyone wanted to be like them I'm not sure. And secondly that it absolutely repeated to death

 

[Orang Utan]

why?

Cos girls don't have a sense of humour
<ducks>

 

[Orang Utan]

Whilst nowhere near the same league as Frasier, it was more often than not funny and well-written.

In terms of the acting, I thought the success was more in the dynamics between the characters rather than the characters themselves (which p'haps explains why none of them have been massively successful since).

The annoying bit is firstly how it was co-opted as an aspirational lifestyle thing (I'm sure the rise of Starbucks can be pinned on it somehow ) - frankly everyone was a characature and not particularly sympathetic, so why everyone wanted to be like them I'm not sure. And secondly that it absolutely repeated to death

But the characters were so hateful!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

i think its great! No seinfeld but fairly reliable for a good few laughs...very fashionable to hate it though obviously...

and there was me thinking it was fashionable to like it

 

[story]

why?

Err... because generally speaking, I find that the straight girls I know like it and the straight boys I know don't like it. Generally speaking.

Amongst the gay people I know who have watched the show, there seems to be no gender consensus.

However, the sample being small, and the controls being poor, this study cannot be said to be representative of the general population

 

[story]

Cos girls don't have a sense of humour
<ducks>

They may argue the converse

 

[LDR]

They may argue the converse

Wrong thread. You want to go here.

 

[Doctor Carrot]

You forgot the 'Monumentally Shit' option.

 

[Geri]

I think it's funny. I must have seen every episode about a million times, but they still make me laugh.

Of course it's not realistic, what sit com is?

 

[beeboo]

But the characters were so hateful!

That's what I meant by 'not particularly sympathetic'

 

[mk12]

light hearted, accessible, funny stuff.

 

[King Biscuit Time]

Absolute shite.

 

[Cloud]

Fucking awefull. I could not possibly sit through a single episode.

One of the biggest nobs I ever met had the full boxed collection.

 

[story]

Fucking awefull. I could not possibly sit through a single episode.

One of the biggest nobs I ever met had the full boxed collection.

QED
Case closed

 

[stavros]

Fucking atrocious, and made all the worse every time Channel 4 stick another one of their 6 repeats a day on, especially when anyone who has the slightest interest in it has the box sets anyway.

Right, it's a sit-com about 20 and 30-somethings living in flats in New York City. Why in the name of all things fuck did they decide this was more worthy of our attention than the almighty Seinfeld? The latter got a few late night, moved-about showings on Beeb 2 a few years ago but other than that we get nothing. C4 also has the rights to the possibly-even-better-than-Seinfeld Curb Your Enthusiasm, but farms that out to More 4 with no advertising whatsoever. CYE even has the celebrity appearences which would seem to be right up C4's street. They flog Friends, S&TC, Desperate Housewives and The OC for all they're worth, but when it comes to good American imports, like CYE, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos they treat them like shite.

 

[MooChild]

Friends is utter unmitigated shit.

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

I don't dislike it. I think it's OK, if a bit predictable. It's a sit-com for everyone. All ages , male and female seem to like it.You don't have to understand it, it's just there with easy jokes and pretty people.

It certainly is no Seinfeld. I've often heard 'Friends v's Seinfeld' debates which I think are a joke.

Curb, I love it. So clever and so fucking funny.

Also love Arrested Development.

 

[futha]

its overplayed and im very bored of it but come on it does have funny moments. ross is hilarious.

 

[loud 1]

i liked it.

 

[equationgirl]

I liked it.

And sex and the city.

 

[scifisam]

I quite liked it. Not enough to watch it again, though, or to remember all that much about it.

It's hard to believe it was so BIG at the time.

 

[lostexpectation]

Unfunny shite - and way way past its sell by date when finally axed. The characters where also difficult to like - I never liked the schmalzy-ness of the storylines either. Michael Moore made a fantastic comment about when the scriptwriters introduced a tokenistic black character -

"What made me find Friends hard to believe as being a real social setting was that they introduced a black character. In real life, people like those on Friends don't know any black people, let alone have any black friends"

yeah but like she was hot and black and a rich professor

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Fucking atrocious, and made all the worse every time Channel 4 stick another one of their 6 repeats a day on, especially when anyone who has the slightest interest in it has the box sets anyway.

Right, it's a sit-com about 20 and 30-somethings living in flats in New York City. Why in the name of all things fuck did they decide this was more worthy of our attention than the almighty Seinfeld? The latter got a few late night, moved-about showings on Beeb 2 a few years ago but other than that we get nothing. C4 also has the rights to the possibly-even-better-than-Seinfeld Curb Your Enthusiasm, but farms that out to More 4 with no advertising whatsoever. CYE even has the celebrity appearences which would seem to be right up C4's street. They flog Friends, S&TC, Desperate Housewives and The OC for all they're worth, but when it comes to good American imports, like CYE, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos they treat them like shite.

Savage by your normall calm standards

 

[stavros]

I think what generates the verve by which I feel compelled to attack it is the fact that it omnipresent and has been for over ten years now. That's ten years where I've gone from child to adult, and in the future people will judge that decade in comedy by such standards. It seems symptomatic of how Channel 4 has betrayed its original remit to show programmes from outside the mainstream with the dawn of digital, and now goes for the most dumbed-down populaist shite they can wall-to-wall. C4 is bizarre, in that more or less everything they show is genius (Sopranos, CYE, their news is the best), or unmitigated shite (Friends, Big Brother, anything featuring Vernon or Peter Kay).

 

[The Groke]

I don't mind it.


How come Kripcat has managed to vote twice in the poll for the same option???

 

[ChrisFilter]

Not crap, the mostly reliable watchable stuff on TV. No matter what happens, it's always on.

 

[ska invita]

Hated it whenit first came out. Hate it now.

Tedious bollocks- not funny crap.

I saw it when it first came on tv and it was terrible - really fucking annoying. So I never watched it.

Then since it supposedly finsihed its run (now endlessly repeated) I have watched later episodes , from im guessing season 3 onwards and these are much better, much funnier, less annoying (relatively). By the end it seems to get a little soap opera-ish but there are some genuinely well written funny moments in there.

David Schwimmer does some great physical comedy and is the star of the show IMO.

Theres a lot to get annoyed by and the whole tone makes many people in Britain want to get violent and take up arms, but taken objectively I think it is a well written US sitcom and deserves credit.

People have criticised it for its Notting HIll style take on NY - only white people, lack of economic hardship loft living etc., - well, its not Hill Street Blues.

Easy to hate, but some fantastically well crafted episodes nonetheless - Im sure if you learn comedy writing there are episodes in there well worth studying.

The perfect antidote to Friends, and possibly the best US sitcom of alltime has to be LUcky Louis:
http://www.hbo.com/luckylouie/
clip:

Check it out if you can

 

[ska invita]

I used to live with a bunch of girls who loved it and every time it came on they used to wait and clap along with the hand claps. Aaarrgghhh!

sounds hellish.

The music is fucking annoying - If i watch it I have to hit the mute button.

 

[stavros]

Reignition of thread because I'm very pissed off. I went down to my Uni common room this evening at 5.35 like normal to watch Neighbours, only to find 2 girls watching the fecking thing on E4 so I missed my daily Antipodean treat.

Upon going back to my room I looked in the TV guide and worked out how much time C4 give to Friends on C4 and E4. I'm horrified to report that the current schedual works out at a total of over 33 days per year. That's right, over a month of total shite repeats that were total shite when they were first shown. Has OfCom not ever pointed out how they're abusing the viewing public?

 

[London_Calling]

I only saw clips of Friends but I'm fucking relieved people have stopped conversing as if they were channelling sitcom characters, was it Chandler ?