Saturday, Sep 6, 2008
Breathy hype and uninspired finale aside, "Friends" will still be remembered as a fresh, intelligent snapshot of the times.
May 7, 2004 | What is it that makes us love NBC's "Friends" so very much? Is "Friends" just a funny soap, or a soapy sitcom? Did "Friends" capture the self-absorption of Generation X? Was "Friends" truly a good show, or was it just popular? Is the end of "Friends" the end of the sitcom? Do we love "Friends" or hate it? Are the "Friends" really good friends? What will Jennifer Aniston do next, and what does she use to make her skin look so soft and dewy?
With all of the frenzied punditry and hoopla surrounding the last episode of "Friends," is it really possible to know -- or care -- how we feel about the show's leaving the air after 10 years? Complicating matters is the fact that this season of "Friends" has been alarmingly awful, far worse than you would ever imagine a show that was once so good could be.
It's not surprising, then, that last night's final episode was not only predictable but seemingly interminable. Packed though it was with Big, Life-Changing Events, the finale still felt like a half-hour show pointlessly stretched out over the course of an hour. Plus, something about the sappy, "I'll be there for yoooou!"-style weight of it all made the whole exercise feel like self-parody.
How about this for a paint-by-numbers final plot: Rachel is going to Paris. Ross suddenly realizes he loves her! Why won't he tell her and keep her from leaving? Because he's Ross, damn it! He needs to get all shy and whine and be coaxed into it for the next 20 minutes like a forlorn puppy, even though he's pushing 40 and has spent every day of the past 10 years or so in this woman's company. So Rachel leaves for the airport, and then Ross and Phoebe drive all the way to JFK to find her! But Rachel is at Newark!
They speed across town and catch up to her nonetheless. Ross: "I love you! Do not get on this plane!" Rachel: "You're confusing me!" She gets on the plane anyway! Ross runs home with his tail between his legs, sad-puppy style! But ... there's a message on his answering machine! It's Rachel! She loves him! She wants to get off the plane, but she can't! But suddenly she's there in the doorway! They embrace!
And then my TiVo stopped recording.
The times sure have changed since "Friends" began back in 1994. But even with all the nauseating hype and the disappointing season and the lackluster finale, it's important to remember what a great show this was for such a very long time.
Even during the first season, when the prospect of a show about 20-something hipsters with great hair and perky breasts living in unrealistically massive New York apartments made those of us 20-somethings huddled in drafty stank-holes cringe and roll our eyes -- even then, we sort of liked the show in spite of ourselves. For all of its dorky sitcom-meets-soap fumbles, with Rachel gazing out rainy windows at night and Ross losing his nerve over and over again, the characters were well formed and undeniably charming.
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