12.23.02
You know, I like the show Friends. I don't love it, but I like it.
The actors have great chemistry - probably from having been on the air for the last 9 years together, and the jokes are usually pretty funny.
However, it really needs to end.
After so much time has passed, the characters have become caricatures of themselves, if that's even possible.
Ross used to be nerdy, awkward, extremely put-upon, but also fairly endearing. Now he's a whiny, obnoxious weenie who seems to exist solely to: petulantly stomp out of the room if someone makes a crack at his expense -- usually having something to do about marriage; provide sperm for a stupid plot line; and apparently to make the other characters look less weenie-ish.
Rachel used to be a spoiled rotten bitch, but she found her soul, became a fairly likeable character, and discovered what it is like to work your way up from the bottom instead of having everything handed to you on a silver platter. Now she is whiny, obnovious and obsessive. She exists solely to provide a receptacle for Ross's sperm, and act as an incubator for their offspring. She is also more manic and horrid than Monica ever thought of being.
Chandler used to be the funniest character on the show. He was also awkward, nerdy, sweet, and a little bit charming all at the same time. Now he is Monica's punching bag and wannabe sperm donor, the base for another even stupider plot line than Ross and Rachel's, and lame. Lame lame lame, and also freakishly tan.
Monica. Oh, poor Monica. She was always the obsessive compulsive highly competitive overachiever with a heart of gold. She was sweet, a little tart, and actually knew how to relax and let her guard down once in a while. Now she's a harpy, a shrew, a nag, freakishly paranoid, and the character that I most wish would get hit by a bus.
Joey was clumsy, oafish, lucky with the ladies, a little bit vague, and often unintentionally funny. He had morals, and all, but you had to look pretty deeply past the shallowness to find them. Now he is a whiny, mooning ass, who is in love with Rachel for some inexplicable reason. He also is apparently more intelligent and street smart, which makes him a lot less vacantly edgy, and undercuts his inherent Joeyness. However, he still manages to be one of the two funniest characters on the show.
And then there was Pheobe. She used to be as stupid a character as Joey was, and was a seemingly accidental foil for most of the other characters's zingers. She was inane, silly, a little too crunchy, but sweet. Now she is witty, sharp, mysterious, and all-around lovely. She is still portrayed as a ditz a lot, but thanks to her and Joey, the show remains at least moderately humorous, and keeps me a-watching.
However, I don't think that they're all $10-million dollars an episode funny. I think there are a lot better things that they could spend $10-million dollars an episode doing -- like keeping Farscape and Firefly afloat. But then I guess I'm just a little bitter about their cancellations.
And still I can't think of anything that any of the six of them could possibly do to deserve $1-million each per episode.
What's in your head?