Slough, England:
Thirty years ago, in September 1994, the bride in fugue Rachel Green broke out in the center of the advantage in blind panic in search of a long -lost shelter and friend who would provide him. Joining the lost friend for a long time and her gang on the sofa which was always mysteriously at their disposal in a crowded cafe, Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler and Joey threw a spell in the form of Friends It would last ten seasons and extend over what is starting to look like the end of time.
Ditzy Rachel, Névotic Monica, Flaky Phoebe, Nerdy Ross, Charming Joey and Funnyman Chandler: the combination could she be More powerful? What is it in this sitcom that distinguishes it from other forgotten names from the 90s? When you are looking for our correction of nostalgic humor, you would find it difficult to find a large mass of millennials that meet for Everyone loves Raymond or flow THE King of queens. So what was it Friends Who transformed it, effectively, immortal?
The winning formula
Maybe it was their inexplicably going beyond the good appearance of these women who did the trick. Or maybe that was how the life of the main characters remained firmly intertwined, not only giving us a solid set of friendships but also a budding love story. Chandler and Monica – or Mondler, as they are now known – have grown up together as a couple and prevailed by the challenges of infertility, the purchase of properties and ex -gutters. They have proven that an adult relationship can survive not only big guns, but also small fights without one or the other party ever having to take a break. Although now that the subject of breaks vis-à-vis the relationships is inevitably occurred, allow me to withdraw my unpopular opinion: yes, Ross was right, they were on break, and yes, Rachel holds a grudge as if it is was super glue.
But Friends was much more than lessons of love and friendship. A sitcom may never endeavor to define emblematic learning moments, but Friends has cemented its place in the history of television by giving us an abundance. To start, this darling show taught us that by taking a sofa on the stairs, we must always hire movers. If we do not engage in movers, we will be condemned to “rotate” in the corners with aid that does not seem to know the definition of the pivotal dictionary. He taught us that by taking a break, it is always preferable to write a legal document describing the terms and conditions of said break.
This has also taught us that the road to parenting should not always be what you expect. Phoebe is intensifying to be a mother of substitution for her brother’s children and shows us how heartbreaking he can give these babies. Chandler and Monica find love in their hearts to become adoptive parents to twins after an exhausting infertile trip. Even Ross and Rachel find a way to raise Emma without complying with societal standards, although here, I am afraid that there was an element of black magic involved. As a person who has spent many years orbiting around babies and toddlers, the most unrevuristic television time I have ever seen was when Rachel announced: “I put Emma for a nap” and a emerged without baby five seconds later. No one in the history of parenting has ever reached this. But Hey Ho. We are not going in sitcoms for realism!
Play the devil’s lawyer
Not everyone shares my pink and indulgent view of this show on six attractive people whose jobs allow them to spend the whole day in a cafe. When Netflix trotted Friends In 2020 to alleviate the pain of a global pandemic, it was not long before Vulture descended on Ross Geller for his burning wish for Rachel to land from an airplane to Paris.
“Ross is so problematic,” notes a fan of disgust on Reddit. “Rachel shouldn’t have come down from the plane.”
“Problem” is the label of choice for fictitious characters who make dubious choices, and few have been pushed under a microscope harder than Ross. Modern viewers find him jealous, manipulator, controlling, immature and a father absent from his firstborn, ben, and not particularly devoted to his second born, Emma, either.
But Friends was not the first sitcom with problematic people. Seinfeld did it a few years before FriendsWith four main characters who made very questionable choices. Person Seinfeld has already been crucified like Ross – although it may be because in SeinfeldThe joke is on the characters: we, the public, we all knew that they are horrible people, and our work is to laugh at them. Never with them. In SeinfeldAmong the many crimes that are explored in depth, George inadvertently kills his fiancée, Elaine is openly disgusted by his friend’s baby, Kramer ruins the affairs of a dispute on several occasions, and Jerry bursts the immigration process For the Pakistani man whom he had sworn, and Jerry threw the immigration process for the Pakistani man whom he had sworn, and Jerry threw the immigration process for the Pakistani man whom he had sworn, and Jerry scholarships The Immigration process for the Pakistani man whom he had sworn, and Jerry threw the immigration process for the Pakistani man whom he had sworn, and Jerry threw the immigration process for the Pakistani man that he had sworn, and Jerry is screwed up to help. In SeinfeldHowever, everyone gets their co -leaflet in a standard final that resolves the most glorious punishment for their crimes in the last nine seasons. If you want a heavy show on laughter and devoid of heart, go immediately to Seinfeld.
In FriendsA spectacle that focuses on laughter and heart, Ross does not receive such a co -pump. As a main character, we are invited to sympathize with him, and not to laugh at him for too long, which is something that viewers who find it difficult to forgive. However, other viewers are happy not only to focus on poor Ross, but also the rest of the distribution in their overwhelming judgment. Sin? Being too white, too rich (how could Monica alone afford this apartment?) Too centrally located in New York, and too successful (how did Chandler get an office with this view in their twenties?) . In addition, it is impossible for six people to always find an empty sofa in a cafe. How do they do it? These are the burning questions that viewers on Reddit want to answer – but not me. I will not go to sitcoms to get answers. I go to sitcoms for the same reason that I avoid horror films and thrillers involving blood effusions: I want to entertain myself. I want to leave by feeling happy. Friends May not succeed in testing the contradiction of the 21st century, but those of us who devoured it during the day do not care. We came for laughter. We stayed for the heart. And we are not going anywhere.
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