It was something Phoebe said ..
She was berating Joey and Chandler for spending way too long inside watching T.V without leaving their very looking comfortable looking lazy-boy chairs.
"You guys need to go hang out with the real 3D people " or something like that.
Now, two things struck me about that line.
One: how long friends has been finished and how long repeats will be shown and how easy it is too use their names under the assumption that everyone will know who you are talking about. ( Much the same way i refer to Simpson's character by only their first names as if they are family and friends).
Two: The comment about "real 3D people". It shows how friends is beginning to show its age. In this year and last we had the semi-mainstream arrival of 3D televisions and shows. The joke would not be written for a newer show.
Technically that's four things but Im not gonna get pedantic on it.
But we will continue to have friends repeated to us (despite news of cutting back repeats). Its a widely syndicated show that has a universal appeal. I've often thought as to why the show originally titled (amongst others) Insomnia cafe, 6 of 1 and Friends like us had/has such a massive appeal.
Well, as Producers of the show Brightman,kaufman and crane have pointed out, a lot of us who watched the show had either lived through their twenties or were approaching them/in them. The show focused on a time where nothing in a persons life is certain and to a certain extent many of us could relate to that feeling of unfocused direction.
A theory that ive always had is that due to the ensemble nature of the main cast no one character is the protagonist of the story. Essentially the six friends are six sides or personality of one complete character. each of them on there own would probably fail ( joey, take a bow) but because its a buffet of character archetypes and personality's each of us can relate to at least one of them.
Friends plays the odds and knows that even if you cant stand Ross's geeky demeanour, you will dig chandlers wit and series by series yo-yo weight loss. Besides although they didn't push the characters as much as they could have, 5/6th's of them matured and evolved into something more like a real person.
Its a smart move by the creators. Six main character's!? your bound to get behind one of em.
Thirdly it was popular because it was cool and at the time sexy. Young Manhatta-nites with a revolving door of partners and jobs? it keeps it interesting.
Friends is one of the shows that people have on just to have it on now, its like a comforting friend next to you on the sofa. Hey did i just get reflexive?.
Will it ever die? surely not until most of the principle cast have passed on. Its a scary thought but I reckon friends could outlive me. Having said that the way we are watching TV (DVR Sky plus, catch up services etc) these days its unlikely repeats will be shown in the background in the future with us as an audience picking specific shows to watch and at a specific time.
But regardless, friends remains a pop-culture landmark and a testament to the growing idea of the death of traditional family and the adaptation of our friends as the new nuclear family.
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