Friends Discussion Thread

[Gothamite]

The movie thread was fun, but since that's not happening, let's talk about our memories of the show, here. The one with Alec Baldwin was on the other night and it's got to be in the running for the funniest of the later episodes.

"I want to take a mental picture of all of you...click!"

"I don't think the flash went off,"

:lol:

Plus, the sheer fact that his name was Parker was pretty funny as well.

 

[Planet-man]

As a life-long Baldwin fan(mainly because of The Shadow). If any guest-star character on the show could be named Parker, I've always been glad it was that one.

More on this subject to come.

 

[Victor Von Doom]

Wow. Short thread.


They've added the entire series to the server here so I've decided to watch it. I can definitely see what the obsession was all about....but sometimes the show feels really dated.

 

[ProjectX2]

I like Friends.

That's really all I can say about it.

 

[Gothamite]

Wow. Short thread.

They've added the entire series to the server here so I've decided to watch it. I can definitely see what the obsession was all about....but sometimes the show feels really dated.

The picture quality of the earlier episodes and the fashion is obviously extremely outdated, but the scripts (especially Chandler's dialogue) are as sharp as ever.

The newer episodes (the last three seasons) tend to be really, really bad, though.

 

[Planet-man]

The moment the series jumped the shark was when Phoebe dropped her long-lost, wonderfully quirky and hilarious Hank-Azaria-played David for boring, regular guy Mike at the last second.

The scene where it happens makes me so mad I literally turned the TV off with my mind one time while it was on. I swear to god this happened. I have witnesses.

 

[Gothamite]

Yeah, that was completely stupid. Hank Azaria had to just make some rubbish quip and wander off-screen, as if he was a bit character. He wasn't! They had set him up over ten years to be her eventual love-interest. That was really dumb.

 

[E]

EXTREMELY dated and incredibly annoying. Chandler was not funny. Neurotic does not equal funny.

It had its moments but it was waaaaay overrated.

 

[SSJmole]

The moment the series jumped the shark was when Phoebe dropped her long-lost, wonderfully quirky and hilarious Hank-Azaria-played David for boring, regular guy Mike at the last second

Oh it had jumped way before that. Season 1-4 = great 5+ = have fun moments but is way more cheap catchphrase humour and repetitive jokes. Even the characters from 5+ got horrible.

• Ross went from been somewhat unlucky and nervous but funny to been the punchline every single week :roll:
• Monica goes from the more grown up but slightly obsessive to been way to crazy and crazy was all she was in the end.
• Joey was no where near as dumb at the start as he was in the end.
• Phoebe was a little nutty at start but by end was doing thing like naming rat babies.
• Rachel had great growth but then they screwed it up by undoing it and making her almost as dumb as Joey for the "will they won't they" crap between Joey and her.
• Chandler is a mixed bag. Funny as hell at start but unfunny the more development he got. However his growth was good but ultimately made him less funny which is bad for comedy

The point where Phoebe chose Mike over David the show was already past it.


All the negativity aside I still love the series and watch my seasons 1-10 dvds from time to time.

 

[Random]

I remember at wizard world philly 07 I quote Friends without realizing it and MaxwellSmart quickly pointed it out. We all gave him a stare.

 

[Victor Von Doom]

The nostalgia factor for the show is starting to wear thin. I don't know if I can do 9 more seasons.

Chandler is sometimes funny....but really, the only ongoing joke that still holds up (to an extent) is Joey's "How yooooou doin'?"



On the other hand, I tend to dislike early seasons because the show has yet to find its footing. The first few seasons of Seinfeld aren't that funny....but the last 3-4 seasons are still hilarious.

I'm sticking with it mostly because what else do I got to do to pass time?

 

[SSJmole]

but really, the only ongoing joke that still holds up (to an extent) is Joey's "How yooooou doin'?"

I hate that line now after season 5+ it was used way to much and even sounded lamer when said.

 

[Planet-man]

Oh it had jumped way before that. Season 1-4 = great 5+ = have fun moments but is way more cheap catchphrase humour and repetitive jokes. Even the characters from 5+ got horrible.

• Ross went from been somewhat unlucky and nervous but funny to been the punchline every single week :roll:
• Monica goes from the more grown up but slightly obsessive to been way to crazy and crazy was all she was in the end.
• Joey was no where near as dumb at the start as he was in the end.
• Phoebe was a little nutty at start but by end was doing thing like naming rat babies.
• Rachel had great growth but then they screwed it up by undoing it and making her almost as dumb as Joey for the "will they won't they" crap between Joey and her.
• Chandler is a mixed bag. Funny as hell at start but unfunny the more development he got. However his growth was good but ultimately made him less funny which is bad for comedy

Phoebe was WAY weirder at the start of the series than at any other point. She was barely a functional member of society then. She got awfully twisted and became way more of a stealth criminal than an airy hippie by the 10th season, but she was still a sentient person, whereas she was almost certifiable in the first.

HOWEVER: I agree for the most part that the show had already begun to head downhill at that point, but everything you mentioned was just Flanderization - particularly bad Flanderization - but it hadn't Jumped the Shark yet. It wasn't irredeemable. Phoebe dropping David and the rest of the gang cheering about was the moment when they essentially became rotten people that I didn't root for anymore.

 

[SSJmole]

Phoebe was WAY weirder at the start of the series than at any other point.

I disagree she was weird yes but not too weird. Then later on we got things like the rat-babies. The whole crap when Chandler was buying his ring and she was in the little jail. The past life crap during the thanksgiving episode.

At the start her weirdness was more environmental from upbringing ect.. and had a naive and innocent quality to her. One the show started to go down hill it became more weird but also more forced like she was trying to be weird.

A great example of this is season 3 she plays with her doll-house and is very childlike in her way. That seems logical as she had no real childhood. Never thought I'd use this in a good way but, Look at michael jackson as an example. His child hood was horrible and then when he grew up he was said to be childlike at times.

Then we move on to near the end and something that is meant to be important to her, her marriage she goes down the office and changes her name to what? Princess Consuela Bananahammock! It seemed so weird and stupid that it was like she was going out of her way to be weird.

So to compare early seasons Phoebe = a little weird but understandably so. But a good hearted innocent woman.
Later seasons = Much more weird and not understandable. More of a selfish attention seeking ***** (I say ***** as later on the way she treated her friends was shocking)

It's almost like two separate characters. One is very likeable the other not likeable at all.

 

[Planet-man]

I'm not saying Phoebe didn't become a worse and less childlike person as the series went on - she definitely did - but I still think she was weirder in the earliest seasons. I don't see why rat babies are somehow far crazier than cleansing people's auras in public and becoming possessed by the ghost of an old woman.

 

[SSJmole]

I'm not saying Phoebe didn't become a worse and less childlike person as the series went on - she definitely did - but I still think she was weirder in the earliest seasons. I don't see why rat babies are somehow far crazier than cleansing people's auras in public and becoming possessed by the ghost of an old woman.

Because those two are common beliefs and practises. Ghosts and spiritual healing. While things like rat babies , dressing up in jewellery with a musket and naming yourself Princess Consuela Bananahammock is just weird pure and simple. Not more accepted.

 

[Planet-man]

Because those two are common beliefs and practises. Ghosts and spiritual healing.

Not the way she lived them.

In other news, I saw the episode the other day where Monica, age 26, sleeps with a high school senior, and then freaks out and compares herself, disgusted, to a cougar(without using the term, which I'm not sure was used then). Made me sad for a lot of reasons, but the main one was that Courtney Cox was just an incredibly lovely woman then and is now obnoxious and reptilian in comparison.

 

[Victor Von Doom]

Not the way she lived them.

In other news, I saw the episode the other day where Monica, age 26, sleeps with a high school senior, and then freaks out and compares herself, disgusted, to a cougar(without using the term, which I'm not sure was used then). Made me sad for a lot of reasons, but the main one was that Courtney Cox was just an incredibly lovely woman then and is now obnoxious and reptilian in comparison.

FALSE! To the 23rd power!


I just saw that episode a couple days ago. I completely forgot that the HS senior was Richie (from Highlander: The Series fame). She was an attractive woman back then....but she is even hotter now. So the idea that she freaked out over the idea of her being a cougar (not used back then) and now she is the star of CougarTown is ironic.

But Courtney Cox is still very hot.




God...movie debates...advice on women...jelly beans...cougar hotness...American/Canadian........WHY ARE YOU THE BIZARRO-DOOM!?!?!?!?

 

[Planet-man]

FALSE! To the 23rd power!


I just saw that episode a couple days ago. I completely forgot that the HS senior was Richie (from Highlander: The Series fame). She was an attractive woman back then....but she is even hotter now. So the idea that she freaked out over the idea of her being a cougar (not used back then) and now she is the star of CougarTown is ironic.

But Courtney Cox is still very hot.

Like I said: In comparison.

She's still very hot now, in general, and when I'm not thinking about how she used to look or if I hadn't seen her in anything else other than Cougar Town.... yeah.

But when I compare her from the Tom Selleck-dating days of Friends, with her thick shiny black hair and ivory skin and (oddly) perfect eyebrows to the years of tanning lotion and straightening irons and grating voice and eyebrows long since plucked away, as she appears on Cougar Town .... it's a downer.

God...movie debates...advice on women...jelly beans...cougar hotness...American/Canadian........WHY ARE YOU THE BIZARRO-DOOM!?!?!?!?

It's just a matter of taste.










































I actually have it.

 

[Victor Von Doom]

Like I said: In comparison.

She's still very hot now, in general, and when I'm not thinking about how she used to look or if I hadn't seen her in anything else other than Cougar Town.... yeah.

Honestly, she hasn't really done much since Friends ended. A couple small film roles here and there.

The most recognizable things she's done is FX's Dirt.

But when I compare her from the Tom Selleck-dating days of Friends, with her thick shiny black hair and ivory skin and (oddly) perfect eyebrows to the years of tanning lotion and straightening irons and grating voice and eyebrows long since plucked away, as she appears on Cougar Town .... it's a downer.

I don't know...save a few wrinkles here and there...she looks almost the same.

It's just a matter of taste.



I actually have it.

Oh....good one.

Your words....they hurt.