When one thinks of sitcoms in the 90s, they don’t go any further than thinking of Friends. This series started out in 1994 and it ended in 2004. Friends was really all about what the title offers, it was all about friends getting through life together. It was really an icon of its age as it showed and captured the angst and ambition of a generation, fluid notions of family and America’s cult of youth (McCarroll, 2004). The series followed the stories, misadventures and growth of 6 individuals in their quest through life. These individuals are Rachel Green, Phoebe Buffay, Monica Geller, Ross Geller, Joey Tribbiani and Chandler Bing.
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| Rachel Green |
Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) was first seen in the series wearing a wedding dress as she had just ran away from her wedding. She was the typical rich little daddy’s girl at first. She relied on all of her father’s credit cards, she adored her father and her marriage was supposed to be with a doctor who could support her just like her father did. But as fate would have it, she realizes that she did not want to marry this man and became a runaway bride. Because of this, she was not to be supported by her father anymore and like a slap to the face, she was thrust out on the real world, on her own with only herself to rely on, but thankfully, her friends were always there to support her.
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| Phoebe Buffay |
Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) is the loveable and quirky member of the group. She lost her mother and her father left her so she had to fend for herself for most of her life but that didn’t seem to slow down her fun and quirky side. She works at a massage parlor and is known to dabble in the music business with one of her best hits, “Smelly Cat.” She is also one who stands firmly in her beliefs, she loves to help out others and she is always willing to try out anything. No one will ever know what to expect from this girl for she is very unpredictable and that is what her friends love about her.
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| Monica Geller |
Monica Geller (Courtney Cox) is the high-maintenance member of the group and you could say she is a bit of a mother figure to them all. They all usually hang out in her apartment and almost every bash they throw is thrown there. Being formerly obese and neglected by her parents, Monica has developed an inclination for wanting everything perfect but not only is she a perfectionist but she is a high-level neat freak as well. Also, that obesity gave her the desire to become a chef and she became pretty successful in that field. Her being a neat freak and perfectionist may bother her friends at times but they know whenever there is a problem to solve, and food for a party they want to eat, they would gladly have Monica by their side.
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| Ross Geller |
Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) is the smart and successful member of the group and he is the older brother of Monica. He works as a paleontologist in a museum. What stems from being smart and successful though is that he is a magnet for bad relationships. In his 30 years of life, he has gotten married three times and got divorced three times. This bad luck in love tends to give him a bit of a reserved demeanor and a fear of trying out crazy things most of the time. Another thing that stems from his being smart and successful is that he sometimes has a tendency to condescend his friends, which makes him the perfect target to be made fun of, and that’s why they love him.
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| Joey Tribbiani |
Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) is the dumb but loveable member of the group. To be frank, Joey definitely is not the sharpest tool in the shed but I guess he does make up for it in his good looks and charming personality. He works as an actor and has been in many roles such as “Dr. Drake Ramore” in the hit TV soap opera, “Days of our Lives.” He puts those good looks and personality to good use as he can constantly “score” with women he goes out with. Suffice to say, Joey has an active sex life and he enjoys it. One thing you can’t deny about Joey though is his big heart and no matter how much he loves food and sex, he still loves his friends more.
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| Chandler Bing |
Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) is Joey’s roommate and Ross’ college buddy. He is the funny man of the group and no one really knows what his job is but only that it entails crunching numbers. The thing about him is that he uses his humor as a defense mechanism for all the problems he faced when he was a child. His mom and dad got divorced because his father was actually gay and to fuel that traumatic experience, his father went off with their pool boy and his mother started writing sex novels. At one point in the series, he admits that he may be nothing without his humor. Another thing to note about him is that he has a huge commitment problem, which may have stemmed from his mother and father getting divorced. All things aside, his humor keeps everyone in the group lose and they love him no matter what.
The characters are only one part of the success of Friends. It was actually more on how they related to the generation they were portraying. Their generation, Generation X particularly, related to the theme of Friends as a drifting and soul-searching ensemble who drift through many jobs, change many of their goals and search for the ideal relationship (McCarroll, 2004). All in all, one of the main success factors was also that the people who watched the series actually grew up with the characters. They all felt what each character whenever they got in a new relationship, got fired from a job and looked for apartments because they all could relate to what they were going through. These were all very real-life situations for people at the time.
As time went on and the series continued, the topics that they portrayed also changed with the characters. Some notable topics would be surrogate motherhood, adoption, infidelity, out-of-wedlock births, lesbian parenting, interracial dating, premarital sex and even impotence (McCarroll, 2004). The writers of this series, recognizing the changing state of the world around them, used these topics, and got more relatable. Amidst all of these instances, this group of friends continued to learn more about life and what they wanted in the end. They changed with the times and grew up along the way.
When the 10th season of Friends was running during 2004, people knew that the end was near for their favorite group of people. In the season finale, they were all seen in Monica’s apartment just reminiscing on all the times they had together there but they knew that it was time to move on with their lives. Chandler and Monica were married and two adopted children, Phoebe was married to Mike Hannigan (Paul Rudd), Ross and Rachel were getting back together and had a child to take care of and Joey was Joey. When they left that room together, a lot of emotions ran through not only their characters but for the people who grew up with them as well. The Friends finale was actually the most-watched series finale of the decade getting 52.5 million viewers (Chicago Tribune, 2009) and Time TV has named Friends one of the 100 best TV shows of all time (Poniewozik). This shows that Friends was really one of the greatest sitcoms in history, let alone the 90s.
Friends has actually paved the way for other sitcoms that utilize their style of putting a group together. A group of friends who go through life while at the same time coping with where they want life to take them and also dealing with the different problems in everyday life. Two such shows are How I Met Your Mother and the Big Bang Theory. Both of these shows are centered on a group of friends, each with their own quirk or personality and the misadventures they go through in life. Friends truly was a cultural icon during its time.
And now, some funny quotes from the series Friends:
o Rachel: You know, Ben, I was your daddy's girlfriend.
Ben: But you're not anymore. Because you were on a break.
Ben: But you're not anymore. Because you were on a break.
o Chandler: All right, look if you absolutely have to tell her the truth, at least wait until the timing's right. And that's what deathbeds are for.
o Ross: Chandler entered a Vanilla Ice look-alike contest and *won*!
Chandler: Ross came fourth and cried!
Chandler: Ross came fourth and cried!
This has been your homie, Mark Javellana, keepin’ it real.
Sources:
McCarroll, C. (2004, May 6). A 'family' sitcom for gen x –
'friends' cast a new tv mold. Retrieved from
Chicago Tribune. (2009, December 4). Retrieved from
04/entertainment/0912030239_1_joe-millionaire-series-
finale-grey-s-anatomy
Poniewozik, J. (n.d.). The 100 best tv shows of all-time.
Retrieved from
,1651341,00.html
IMDB. (n.d.). Memorable quotes for "friends". Retrieved
from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108778/quotes
(2010). Friends! [Photograph]. Retrieved from
http://nickshell1983.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/the-ethnic-backgrounds-of-the-
cast-of-friends-and-seinfeld/
Rachel Green [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://onken.com/classroom/policy/board.htm
Phoebe Buffay [Photograph]. Retrieved from
http://onken.com/classroom/policy/board.htm
(2010). Monica Geller [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://candidly-me-
viji.blogspot.com/2010/07/dost.html
Ross Geller [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://onken.com/classroom/policy/board.htm
Joey Tribbiani [Photograph]. Retrieved from
http://onken.com/classroom/policy/board.htm
Chandler Bing [Photograph]. Retrieved from
http://onken.com/classroom/policy/board.htm
Friends Wallpaper [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.thewallpapers.org/tv-
series/friends.php
Good ol' days :))
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