With Friends Like These: A Not-So-Funny Legacy

BreakPoint with Charles Colson ^ | May 6, 2004 | Charles Colson

[NoClones]

didn't know it was still on the air - haven't watched broadcast in over a decade.

[Pylot]

I have never watched a single episode.

[dakine]

2 hours?...I think I'll find a game on somewhere....

[Alberta Pride]

DITTO

[Paulus Invictus]

How did this piece of immoral TV tripe last 10 years? I watched once, merely to see what they had to offer. It was so bad I logged off permanently. The worst thing of all will be the endless reruns of this show.

[EggsAckley]

"I watched the show twice, didn't laugh once, and never watched again. Any other Freepers have a similar reaction?"

Yep. I was forced to sit through it several times and found very little to laugh at.

[victoryatallcosts]

I watched it during the early years (94-97 or so)- it was fading way back when I stopped watching.

I mean, the whole concept was "the years between when you leave college and enter the real world". Sadly, what was funny when the characters were supposed to be in the early to mid 20's became less funny when they all neared forty.

That's the message of the show, so far as I can tell: settle down when you're forty.

I did end up catching last week's epsisode when it re-aired last night (through no fault of my own- we were waiting to watch Angel) and just... yuck.

There's a moment in that episode where Monica cries out, "Grandma liked it rough!" which just made me want to puke.

Mostly because, if you go back to the original episodes of Friends from 1994, the decline in American values is evident- even from the low state they were at that time. Yuck.

IMHO, the best shows on TV would be: Angel (sadly leaving but, in its own way, the most pessimisticaly conservative show on TV), Scrubs, Arrested Development (the funniest new show in years- the "Fire Sale" scene in the second episode was the funniest thing I've seen on TV in, well...), and perhaps the Gilmore Girls.

[djf]

They should bring back "Thirtysomething".

"Friends", I can do without. Seen one, seen 'em all. Pretty mindless stuff.

But then the word "amuse" is really a-muse, which basically means not-think!

[Hilander1931]

Friends? What's that I seem to recall sore sort of sitcom, but I have never watched it - can't stand sitcoms. But what is even less standable is this idiocy of some sort of National Mourning that a 30 minute bit of massive twittery is going off the air. Who needs it.

[Guvmint_Cheese]

If Jesus came back today, most of the current media would hide under their desks.

Nah, if Jesus came back today, the current media would say "Alleged Messiah Sighted, Supports Rumsfeld Dismissal." The so-called "Fourth Estate" is a bunch of heathens who'd twist anything to suit their twisted wishes.

[T'wit]

>> These shows are called satire. I think the author needs to lighten up.

The use of satire does not place such shows above criticism, nor does it relieve them of moral responsibility. Several of the shows you mention made careers of mocking civilized values and celebrating slobs. They should be scorched for it. Instead of setting good examples, they are teaching kids to act like dirtbags.

[x]

I think, without question, the best sitcoms today are Arrested Development on Fox and Scrubs on NBC.

Actually, you're right -- or at least we laugh at the same things. Scrubs, though, has a little too much "Simpsonitis" and feels compelled to follow every line in the script with a visual gag-line. It's clever at first but tiring after a while and gets in the way of some really funny stories. Still, Scrubs is a very funny show, and Arrested Development is the most original. Some of the more conventional family-focused sitcoms aren't so bad, but they go over the same ground and tend to blur together, rather than leave a distinct impression. Even when they're good they all seem to be the same show.

[kidao35]

I could never get through an episode. A bunch of glam, stereotypical characters, bad acting, constant sexual inuendo. Something like a porn movie with all the sex scenes edited out.

[Hodar]

Instead of setting good examples, they are teaching kids to act like dirtbags.

Maybe you haven't noticed, but "David and Goliath" claymation cartoons are boring. There is a reason why you don't see a lot of them in syndication; most people would rather go bobbing for french fries rather than watch an episode.

What is funny, is watching someone else suffer for making poor choices. Simpsons, SouthPark, Roadrunner, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, pretty much every comedy made since the 40's exhibits this. Even "Leave it to Beaver" would have Wally, or the Beav make a poor decision. Then we would laugh as they suffered the consequences. The more the world changes, the more things remain the same.

[T'wit]

I don't watch any TV of recent vintage. It's so much mind rot.

>> "What is funny, is watching someone else suffer for making poor choices"

I'm inclined to agree, depending on what one means by "poor." To teach right from wrong (Beaver, for instance), you show that doing the wrong thing brings you to grief. You can make that hilarious (Lucy).

To me, at least, it's no longer funny when popular media invert the values and make fun of people for being what we used to call straight or square.

[Afghan Whig]

Friends isn't SO bad...still, there are only three things girls watch in college: Friends, reality TV, and MTV...thank god for movie rentals.

[EQAndyBuzz]

South Park is da bomb.

Four 8 year olds addressing todays issues as only 8 year olds can. With violence, vulgarity and something always kills Kenny(the bastards).

It is animated and the writing in my opinion beats anything out there, with perhaps the exception of the Simpsons.

I don't care for sitcoms anymore. All in the Family was probably the best one ever. But it is funny. People portrayed Archie Bunker as the ultimate Neocon, but when you watch it now you can see that Archie was in fact todays liberal and Mike Stivak was a Communist.

Only George Jefferson could be classified as a Conservative.

Scary, heh?

[HHFi]

Your friend was wrong, and Colson has a lot of misconceptions about the show. I've seen all the episodes of "Friends" (they air reruns here at 6, and I put it on in the background while working at the computer). Ross and Rachel had a long-time, off and on romance and will probably end up together permanently in the finale, and Chandler and Monica slept together and are now married. But none of the others ever slept with each other. Joey had a crush on Rachel once, but she rejected him because she could only see him as a friend. Ross and Phoebe kissed once when he was devastated by his wife leaving him, but they decided that would not be a constructive solution and didn't go any farther. I thought those were fairly positive and mature messages.

Amazing the useless stuff I have in my brain, but at least it comes in handy at times like this.

[OldPossum]

I watched the show twice, didn't laugh once, and never watched again.

You saw twice what I saw. One episode was enough for me. I didn't see anything even remotely amusing or insightful. To this day I wonder what others saw in it.

[LonePalm]

I won't be watching Friends tonight. I have NEVER seen an episode and I don't want to break my streak.

I will continue by NOT watching Friends when it goes into reruns.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)