Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 15:48     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
Anonymous wrote:The laugh track is impossible to ignore. I tried to watch Friends and the laugh track was just so distracting!


It's not a recorded laugh track, it's filmed in front of an audience who is laughing. I know this kind of comedy has fallen out of favor but I miss them. Recently read James Burrows' memoir and it was interesting to hear about his work in sitcoms (including Friends-he directed the pilot and a lot of the episodes) and how he liked its similarity to theater in that they filmed in front of an audience, unlike a movie or today's single-camera comedies.

https://www.amazon.com/Directed-James-Burrows-Legendary-Director/dp/0593358244
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 15:11     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These plot elements wouldn't play today:

Fat Monica
Ross's ex-wife lesbian Carol
Chandler's Trans father
Joey's experience being molested by his taylor (Chandler told him)
Monica's OCD cleaning
Monica's boyfriends like alcoholic Fun Bobby




I remember how powerful it was to see a lesbian wedding on tv for the first time.


Yeah I actually disagree that all these couldn't be plot points now. Chandler could definitely have a trans dad - though it would be treated differently. Ross could absolutely have an ex wife married to another woman. The OCD cleaning is fine. Fun Bobby might even be fine. Being bad touched by a tailor might be ok, depending on how it's handled.

I think the only one that really wouldn't fly is fat Monica.


Chandler's trans dad was Morgan freakin' Fairchild! An icon of the 70s and 80s.
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 15:04     Subject: Re:Why was "Friends" so popular?
These actors were comedic geniuses and in particular, their physical comedy skills were outstanding.

The episode with Ross and the leather pants is physical comedy perfection.
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 13:45     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These plot elements wouldn't play today:

Fat Monica
Ross's ex-wife lesbian Carol
Chandler's Trans father
Joey's experience being molested by his taylor (Chandler told him)
Monica's OCD cleaning
Monica's boyfriends like alcoholic Fun Bobby


Because we somehow lost the ability to laugh at anything, everything is taken just a bit too seriously.


+1
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 12:04     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
Anonymous wrote:It started while I was a college freshman. Everyone had viewing parties in the dorms. It was a big deal.

Threes company airs on IFC on Sundays. My Teenager seems to like that one too, along with Friends.

She also watched Cheers and Wings with me, as well as many episodes of Night Court (which I binged earlier this year)

Does anyone remember Courtney was actually the biggest name because she played Alex’s girlfriend on Family Ties?


Yes! And she was famous before that for being the girl pulled out of the audience by Bruce Springsteen in the Dancing in the Dark video.
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 11:40     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
It always seemed like the show was so basic and unfunny compared to the other smarter sitcoms of the time. I never understood the appeal. This is a time when TV was covered with these.

Today, even the few basic sitcoms out there have smarter humor here and there.
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 10:44     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These plot elements wouldn't play today:

Fat Monica
Ross's ex-wife lesbian Carol
Chandler's Trans father
Joey's experience being molested by his taylor (Chandler told him)
Monica's OCD cleaning
Monica's boyfriends like alcoholic Fun Bobby




I remember how powerful it was to see a lesbian wedding on tv for the first time.


Yeah I actually disagree that all these couldn't be plot points now. Chandler could definitely have a trans dad - though it would be treated differently. Ross could absolutely have an ex wife married to another woman. The OCD cleaning is fine. Fun Bobby might even be fine. Being bad touched by a tailor might be ok, depending on how it's handled.

I think the only one that really wouldn't fly is fat Monica.
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 10:23     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
The laugh track is impossible to ignore. I tried to watch Friends and the laugh track was just so distracting!
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 10:22     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
90s aesthetics are trendy. Friends and Seinfeld just look perfectly vintage, with the benefit of good production, so they don't look too "classic".

I personally think Frasier is a much funnier and far sharper show than both. But Frasier looks a little older, production-wise, for some reason.

And I wouldn't conflate popularity with genius. Big Bang Theory is one of the most popular shows of all time -- but it is pure cringe and unwatchable, to me.
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 10:11     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
Anonymous wrote:These plot elements wouldn't play today:

Fat Monica
Ross's ex-wife lesbian Carol
Chandler's Trans father
Joey's experience being molested by his taylor (Chandler told him)
Monica's OCD cleaning
Monica's boyfriends like alcoholic Fun Bobby




I remember how powerful it was to see a lesbian wedding on tv for the first time.
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 10:10     Subject: Re:Why was "Friends" so popular?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wow, the comic timing and chemistry of the actors was awesome. Friends was a great show! There were so many laugh out our moments — Ross with the leather pants? Gets me every time, it’s clean, unpretentious funny. Everything is so contrived now.


I laughed just reading your post. Love this episode!


Ross’s leather pants scene is total ripoff of “Dumb and Dumber’s” (1994) toilet scene. And Jeff Daniel’s didn’t require a laugh track.


So what? David Schwimmer was hilarious in that scene. You must be so much fun.


Also, laugh tracks were normal for sitcoms then. I remember watching Sports Night, and they started it out with a laugh track, but then dropped it partway through the first season. So much better, but we were more used to it back then.
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 10:02     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The show was consistently funny for many years. The only character who wasn't particularly funny was Phoebe. The rest were funny in the following order: Chandler, Rachel, Ross (awesome physical humor), Monica/Joey (tie). The show has held up...my high schooler loves the show and has watched it more than once. There were many great guest stars (Tate Donovan, Bruce Willis, Tom Selleck, Christina Applegate, Jon Favreau, Giovanna Ribisi, etc.). The show was also sweet. Haters need to just accept that it was an excellent sitcom...an artform that has been lost today for whatever reason...


It was the Panera of sitcoms


Is this supposed to be a putdown because Panera is so basic? Panera is popular because it appeals to a broad range of people...that's not a bad thing. I'm sure the people putting down Friends are the ones who think the only good sitcoms are It's Always Sunny, Brooklyn 99, and whatever other "edgy" sitcom you think is cool enough to admit you watch. Please stop trying so hard and just admit that Friends is good. Or at least stop trying to convince others it's not...

I don't like IASIP, but Brooklyn 99 is hilarious. It's often very silly and goofy.
Anonymous
Post 08/30/2022 09:55     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Now it may seem hackneyed but at the time there was nothing like it. It was the first show that spoke to young twentysometbings in a way that wasn’t condescending. and the characters/ actors were cool and we all wanted to be there or be friends with tbem. I remember thinking it was the first show “for me”


Also the first show with a true ensemble cast AND EACH cast member had a storyline in EACH episode. I think up until then the storyline usually was around 1 to 2 people and everyone else was filler.


Nope not the first, also Living Single did Friends better and a year earlier. That said, I watched and laughed. Monica with those beads and braids. WE WERE ON A BREAK!!


Living Single not listed on IMDB as ensemble show,.

“ Echoing Latifah’s comments, Coles recently recalled to ET how the president of NBC said he wished he would have bought Living Single. “And strangely, a year later, Friends came on,” she says, adding “the big difference is the melanin.”

https://www.etonline.com/how-living-single-influenced-everything-from-friends-to-insecure-151597
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2022 22:47     Subject: Re:Why was "Friends" so popular?
“Oh Ross it’s okay.”
“No you just rolled over on the juice box.”

My college roommates on the floor laughing harder than anything I’ve ever seen in my life. Honestly. Will never forget that moment.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2022 22:29     Subject: Why was "Friends" so popular?
Hated