NDSU Spectrum: TV review
‘Friends’ or ‘Survivor?’ I choose ‘Gilmore Girls’
By JOHN HANSEN
March 2, 2001
Well, I finally stopped watching “Friends.” The reason is only partially due to what you’re thinking: that I’m sick of the “Friends” vs. “Survivor” hype.
That’s about five percent of the reason. Fifteen percent is because the show has slowly been declining in quality and two percent is because I thought it would draw readers if I started an article with “I finally stopped watching ‘Friends.’” But 78 percent of the reason is purely personal: I’ve lost my taste for fluff.
“Friends” is still one of the best sitcoms on television, and it might even deserve a top 10 spot among the best sitcoms ever. But I’m just not laughing anymore, because too often the writers think we should care about the characters, when they give us no reason to.
Rachel breaking Joey’s armchair, then framing Chandler for the act — this is funny stuff. Ross buying a sports car, then getting pinned into a parking space, leading the whole group to attempt lifting the car out — also highly amusing.
However, Chandler and Monica’s romance is not funny. Joey’s attempts to cheer up an aging soap actress — also not funny. Rachel breaking up with Tag because he’s five years younger — still not funny.
Of course, these plot lines aren’t supposed to be funny, they’re supposed to be dramatic. Problem is, they aren’t. “Friends” does comedy well, but it falls flat on its face as a drama.
When a character dies on a dramatic show, it’s a tragic moment. If Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Joey, Ross and Chandler were to drop dead, I really wouldn’t shed a tear (except maybe for Joey). Not because I am callous and mean, but because it wouldn’t fit with the show.
Furthermore, the dramatic scenes are often cliche-ridden and forced into the show’s gratuitous need for running storylines. The only reason Rachel broke up with Tag was because all the jokes for the boss-secretary relationship had been used up. Issues of whether the two actually loved each other weren’t a concern, nor should they be — it’s a sitcom. On the other hand, it was a little distressing the Rachel-Tag relationship was about as genuine as that of a couple who chooses to take a vacation on Temptation Island.
The best live-action sitcom of all time is “Seinfeld.” Through nine seasons, there wasn’t a single scene played for drama. It was all about the laughs. Jerry Seinfeld’s mantra that the show should be about “nothing,” with no warm fuzzy feelings, was often bandied about as a joke, but it was actually a stroke of genius.
We weren’t supposed to care deeply about Jerry’s problems with his imperfect girlfriends, Elaine’s struggles to design a catalogue, George being broke and living with his parents or Kramer spilling hot coffee in his lap.
But because “Seinfeld” featured everyday situations we’ve all experienced (in exaggerated form) and because it was rolling-on-the-floor funny, we cared. When Jerry and company had their final episode, we felt a pang of loss. Appropriately, the series finale tried to get us wrapped up in the courtroom fate of the foursome, and it was one of the series’ weakest episodes.
“The Simpsons,” the best TV comedy ever, occassionally makes us feel warm and fuzzy towards its characters — as when Homer gets a crayon removed from his brain and becomes smart for a day, thus bonding with his daughter — but it’s largely for the sake of social commentary and laughs, so we forgive it.
“Friends” should take a lesson from these superior shows and play to its strengths.
OK, I’ll wrap things up by admitting that I find the “Friends” vs. “Survivor” hype (it was recently the cover story on Entertainment Weekly) annoying. It erroneously suggests that people have to choose between the two shows. First of all, people can watch both thanks to the VCR (Video Cassette Recorder), an old but reliable piece of equipment that allows both shows to draw well over 20 million viewers each week.
As a second option, people can watch neither show. And thirdly, “Friends” and “Survivor” are (thank God) not the only two options at 7 p.m. on Thursdays. Personally, I’ve switched over to “Gilmore Girls” — the most critically-acclaimed show on this rather weak night of TV — and I don’t regret my choice all that much. My brain cells are thanking me.
What: “Friends” Season 7
When: 7 p.m. Thursdays on NBC
Starring: Courteney Cox Arquette, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer
Executive Producers: Kevin Bright, David Crane, Marta Kauffman
Grade (episodes 1-16): B-