I'll be there for you (Friends)

Member Name: DixieChick101

Product:	Friends
Date:	13/06/08 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great show, great storylines and actors

Disadvantages: Sometimes it didn't follow on

What is Friends?

Friends is an American sitcom that ran from 1994-2004 about a group of Friends in New York who pretty much just hang out. How did this run for 10 years I hear you ask? It was wonderfully written and the 6 main cast really has this chemistry, that just made it probably one of the best shows in the past 20 years.

Is it any Good?

I have always been a fan of friends from as far back as I can remember, I would have only have been three when the first ever episode came out, so I can't say I watched it from the start, but I came into the show around the 5th season, which ironically is my favourite.

It's a simple concept, 6 friends and their lives, with is situated around a coffee house, simple but it works, the writing and the jokes are incredible, but the best thing about the show are the actors, I think they made it what it is today.

The Charecters

RACHEL GREEN- (Jennifer Aniston): Rachel's a spoilt girl from Long Island, and relies mainly on her 'daddies' credit card. When she runs out on her marriage she goes looking for her old friend Monica, she runs into the coffee house in her wedding dress and that's where friends began.

Rachel remains quite spoilt all through the show, she has an on/off again relationship with Ross throughout the 10 years and in season 8 has a baby girl with him. She does grow up slightly and get her dream job in fashion.

-Everyone knows who Jennifer Aniston is, she's in the press most recently for her public split with Brad Pitt and her love life going wrong.

MONICA GELLAR BING- (Courtney Cox Arquette): Monica is the most stable of the characters in my opinion, she may not be the best but I think the rest of them draw from her.

She owns the main apartment which she got from her grandmother. She's a former fat girl, and is now a chef, she starts dating a man 21 years older than her, and is actually a family friend but that goes wrong when he says he doesn't want children. When Ross gets married in London, she hooks up with Chandler, and in the end they have twins by surrogacy.

-Courtney Cox was the biggest name going into the Friends series; she then made even more of a name for herself when she was in the Scream trilogy, where she met her recent husband. After years of struggling to get pregnant (which they used for the show) she got pregnant and had her daughter Coco.

PHOEBE BUFFAY- (Lisa Kudrow): Probably the quirkiest member of the group, she's a masseuse who had a bad childhood because her mother killed herself.

She also has an identical twin sister. In Season 5, she gives birth to her brother's triplets by artificial insemination. Phoebe struggles to stay with a guy but in season 8/9 she meets Mike and in Season 10 they marry.

- Probably the most private 'Friend', you never here anything about her personal life in the press which in my opinion is a good thing. In season 5 of Friends she was really pregnant in real life and had her son Julian.

JOEY TRIBIANI- (Matt LeBlanc): Joey is the gorgeous actor who is struggling to make it in the business. He moves in with Chandler and they become best mates.

In one of the seasons he gets a Chick & a Duck which they name 'Chick & Duck', they mysteriously disappear around season 4/5ish. Joey is a ladies man, and has probably slept with the whole of New York, he struggles to settle down but in Season 7/8 starts to have a crush on Rachel, which actually goes somewhere in Season 10 where they start dating for a couple of episodes.

- He's my favorite character, I was so happy when they made a spin-off show around him, but unfortunately it didn't work, it just proves they should have carried on with the friends series. Matt LeBlanc hasn't aged one bit since 1994 and is still as gorgeous now as he was then.

CHANDLER BING- (MATTHEW PERRY)- Chandler is the most level headed friend in my opinion, I can't remember what his job is but he makes quite a bit of money doing it. He's the best mate of Joey and they live together. He has an on/off again romance with 'OH MY GOD' Janice, but in Season 5 sleeps with Monica in London and they later marry.

- You really see Matthew grow up throughout the 10 series, everyone knows he struggled with drug problems in the first couple of series and nearly got fired because he put on to much weight, but with the help of Jennifer Aniston dropped it all. A lot of the jokes in Friends are his and it shows his amazing wit.

ROSS GELLAR- (David Schwimmer): Ross is the older brother of Monica and in college met Chandler. He's an anthropologist who has just found out his wife's a lesbian.

He's always carried a crush for Rachel and in Season 2 they begin dating. Ross is known as the Divorcer as throughout the 10 years he married 3 times. First to his lesbian wife Carol, then Emily but he accidentally says the wrong name at the altar and then Rachel after they get drunk in Vegas. In Season 8 he and Rachel have a baby together, but are still not together. In the end they do get together which is great.

-My least favorite character has to be Ross; I don't find him attractive at all, but David has probably done the most work after Friends. He's been directing shows in the theatre and his recent movie 'Run Fatboy Run' which he directed is released this week sometime.

The Episodes

All in all there are 239 episodes, within 10 seasons. Every character was in each of these episodes. Here's a list of my favorites from each season and why.

Season 1- THE ONE WHERE RACHEL FINDS OUT- Rachel finds out Ross is in love with her and decides she likes him to. I like this episode because I think this is where it starts to work, the characters start to familiarize themselves with each other and it just looks like they've been doing it for years.

Season 2- THE ONE WITH THE PROM VIDEO- Monica's parents drop of a load of stuff including their Prom Video. Ross is still trying to get Rachel to forgive him and the Prom Video does just that. I think this episode is so sweet; I love Phoebe's comment at the end 'He's your lobster'. Great episode.

Season 3- THE ONE WITH THE FOOTBALL- It's Thanksgiving and the gang decide to go and play some football, where rivalry begins. This episode has me in stitches each time, especially when its boys against girls, I think it's one of my favorites ever.

Season 4- THE ONE WITH THE EMBROYES- Chandler & Joey guess everything in Rachel's bag and they decide to make the stakes higher, the boys get rid of the chick and the duck or they get the girls apartment. I like this episode because it's so funny, especially when the girls loose. What is sad though is that I know all the answers now.

Season 5- THE ONE WHERE EVERYBODY FINDS OUT- Phoebe finds out about Monica & Chandler leaving only Ross to be the only one who doesn't know about them. They decide to flirt with Chandler to get them to admit it but it backfires when Monica & Chandler find out the trick. I love this episode, it's so sweet at the end when they admit they love each other. I also love that Joey's in the middle all the time, it's so cute.

Season 6- THE ONE WITH THE PROPOSAL 2- Chandler's plan has backfired and Monica is now trying to choose between him and Richard, he goes to talk to Richard and Richard tells him that he can have Monica. He goes back to the apartment thinking he's wrecked everything and she's inside surrounded by candles etc and proposes to him. I actually cried the first time I watched this, it was so sweet. Lovely episode, but still funny at the same time.

Season 7- THE ONE WITH THE TRUTH ABOUT LONDON- Chandler finds out Monica was looking for a one night stand with Joey in London, but ended up in Chandler's bed. He's hurt but they make up also Rachel teaches Ben a few pranks. I love all the pranks Rachel teaches Ben, they work believe me.

Season 8- THE ONE WHERE RACHEL HAS HER BABY- After billions of hours of being in labor, Rachel has her daughter Emma. Chandler & Monica try to get pregnant in the hospital. I love this episode; it really shows Rachel all grown up and when Joey proposes it's like lucky cow.

Season 9- THE ONE WITH THE MALE NANNY- Freddie Prinze Jnr stars as the 'Manny' as Chandler calls him. He becomes Emma's nanny and Rachel thinks he's amazing. He also has an affect on another Friend. This episode is great. I love FPJ and at the end with him teaching Joey is great.

Season 10- The ONE WITH THE LAST ONE- Monica & Chandler find out their surrogate is having twins which they name Erica & Jack. They also prepare to move out. Ross goes searching through all the airports in New York for Rachel to tell her he loves her. I love this episode, I was on holiday with the school at the time and I think all of us girls cried and the boys were looking at us like we were nuts. Great episode, an end of an era.

SPECIAL GUESTS

Tom Sellick- One of the most famous guest stars, he plays Monica's older boyfriend.
Freddie Prinze Jnr- The Manny
Elle McPherson- Joey's hot roommate.
Paul Rudd- Phoebe's husband in the last series.
James Michael Tyler- Plays Gunther the owner of Central Perk.
Elliot Gould- Monica/Ross's dad.
Maggie Wheeler- Janice
Helen Baxendale- Ross's second wife.
Cole Sprouse- Ross's son
Anna Faris- Monica & Chandler's surrogate.
Brad Pitt- Rachel & Monica's friend from school.

TRIVIA

Was going to be called one of these names: "Friends Like Us", "Six Of One", "Across The Hall" and "Insomnia Café" I prefer the title they went with.

The golden frame around the peephole was originally a mirror which one of the crew accidentally smashed. But because it still looked good they decided to leave it there.

Because of a bet between Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis on the set of "The Whole Nine Yards" (which Matthew won), Willis appeared in his two-episode guest role for free.

Other Information

The show ran from 22nd September 1994- May 6th 2004, and lasted a good ten years. Each episode is better than the rest and they're all worth watching. Like most shows there are better ones than others, but Friends is pretty consistent and I can't think of one I hate at the moment.

The Good

-Great actors
-Great script

The Bad

- The writers never really followed things on. As in the first episode, Monica has to introduce Chandler to Rachel, however in the flashback episodes they met quite a few times, including Rachel snogging Chandler. Sometimes things never really did add up, but that's only to the sad people like me.

My Opinion
The only thing that annoys me about this show is they're not consistent, in the pilot chandler gets introduced to Rachel like they've never met before where the flashback episodes show that she knew him so well that they kissed at a party once. There are always little things that are wrong, but to be honest most people don't care.
When I used to be quite ill at nights, I used to go downstairs and stick a Friends DVD in, it always used to make me feel much better. It was that or baseball which I watched as well.
I think all the actors will be type cased for the rest of their lives, none of them have done anything to change that. When Matt LeBlanc was in Charlie's Angels it was stupid, it was too much like his character in Friends. Matthew Perry & Jennifer Aniston have probably done the best however, Matthew has had roles such as Fools Rush In & Whole Nine Yards and Jennifer has had some hits including Bruce Almighty, The Break Up and Along Came Polly.
The personalities of the actors go brilliantly together and even when the guest stars come in, it looks effortless.
I would recommend it to anyone, I know anyone who doesn't like the show around my friends is made to sit and watch an episode. They have the choice, but we all say we want to watch an episode.
I've got most of the seasons on DVD and love to watch them when I get the chance. It's a brilliant show and will still be running in years to come.

It's on around 8 times a day, but unfortunately that's the same two episodes four times, on E4. If you are that much of a fan good for you but I myself can't watch them over and over in the same day.

I think I'll always watch the re-runs of Friends, that's how good the episodes are.

Please comment and rate. Thanx.
Kirsty

Summary: If you haven't seen this show, go watch it now on E4