[GiRTh]

Originally Posted by Stu

People don't fall in love with a sitcom for years on end because the cast is pretty or because it is marketed well. If it doesn't strike a certain something with it's audience then the audience won't last. Friend's audience lasted because it's that perfect late evening television filler that's not too demanding of it's audience. It's the television equivalent of your most comfortable but not necessarily your highest quality of flashiest pair of clothes. It wasn't designed to be the smartest thing on the box. It was designed to have a likeable, somewhat goofy cast who went through believable, ordinary trials and tribulations of the human emotional range that viewers would respond to and would sympathise with.

The idea that the characters would pull a funny face or walk funny in the hope that the audience would laugh is just the show doing its job. It's not a Stewart Lee seminar on cultural phobias.

I don’t think the fans of Friends actually love it. I don’t think a lot of the people who like Friends have actually seen the likes of Seinfeld, Frasier, Everybody loves Raymond or Larry Sanders, I don t think many of the Friends fans are actually sitcom fans. I definitely DO think the endless repeats, pretty cast and marketing were a huge contributing factor in the success of Friends. The show is as superficial as its fans.

I don’t dislike Friends I just fell it’s wildly overrated by its fans who seem like they’ve never actually seen any other show. Friends started strong and finished strong but I still maintain that some episodes are un-watchable. You won’t laugh cuz it’s not funny.

I think a show where characters say a funny line then pull a funny face then do a funny walk has no right to be hailed as the best of all time by anybody. Also, when you take into the account the subtle and clever comedy of so many shows that were around at the time. In most of the polls I’ve seen conducted by ‘comedy’ people Friends struggles to make the top 20. I think that’s about right. It was never that great and I think you even inadvertently admit this in your post.