F.R.I.E.N.D.S – The Most Famous Hollywood TV Series

By Punnya Dayanand

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F.R.I.E.N.D.S is the most famous Hollywood TV series which is an American sitcom. Friends was first aired on September 22nd, 1994, lasting 10 seasons. It was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, starring Jennifer Aniston being Rachel Greene, David Schwimmer being Ross Geller, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matt LeBlanc being Joey Tribbiani, Matthew Perry being Chandler Bing, and Lisa Kudrow being Phoebe Buffay. This series tells about six friends in their 20s and 30s who live in Manhattan, New York City. 

The story depicts the friends’ romantic and comedic adventures and career issues. Monica and Ross are siblings of Geller family. Rachel worked as a waitress at the Central Perk as her first job in the first season. Then, at last she decides to pursue the fashion business and quits the waitressing job. Rachel and Monica become roommates in the first season after Rachel runs away from her wedding. Ross and Rachel confess their love for each other and Rachel gives up her job to be with him, which takes place in the last episode.  Joey is a struggling actor and a food lover which gave rise to a famous phrase of his “Joey doesn’t share food!”. Joey also takes the job at the café as a waiter because, he didn’t have money and he was struggling with his acting career. He quits this job when he gets a lead role in a show. He rooms with Chandler for years and then later on with Rachel. He also falls in love with Rachel but Rachel politely declines. They do date each other but then thinks otherwise.  Phoebe was a self-taught musician and she writes and plays strange songs like Smelly Cat, her famous song, to bemuse the audience. She was also an innocent masseuse. She gets into an on-and-off relationship with Mike Hannigan in later seasons but they do break-up. Then, she rejects David, a scientist, for Mike and then they get married. Chandler being an executive in statistical analysis for a large corporation, hates his job. He had a peculiar family with erotic mother and famous gay father. He marries Monica in later season and they adopt twins when they come to know that they can’t be parents.  Ross was a paleontologist working at a museum. This series show Ross’s three failed marriages one with his first wife, Carol Willick who was a lesbian, who is also the mother of his son. Then with Emily Waltham, who leaves him at the alter after he accidently says Rachel’s name during the wedding vows. He also married Rachel in Las Vegas when they two were drunk.  Monica was a passionate chef and the mother of the hen. She works as a chef in multiple restaurants throughout the show. She dates Richard Burke who was twenty-one years her senior. They break-up after Richard mentions that he doesn’t want to have children. Chandler and Monica start their relationship after spending a night with each other in London.   

It was the most-watched television episode of the 2000s and the most-watched series finale in television history. Today, reruns of Friends are played throughout the day on different television networks. Friends is timeless that is what makes it so successful. The jokes of Friends never get old and it shows the common problems of emerging adulthood. This series captures this age group perfectly, from getting promoted or laid-off to going from relying on your parents to being completely alone. They recorded the show in front of live audience which helped them to know which scenes where funny and which were not. People watch this series over and over again and find themselves laughing at the jokes as if it is the first time, they have watched the series. One of the funniest episodes of this series is considered as the “The One where no one’s ready”. Friends is successful mainly because of the characters. They were really interesting to watch, they have a unique personality which makes viewers to fall in love with them. For instance, Ross was smart and wealthy, Joey was childish and attractive, Phoebe was carefree, Monica was strong, caring and a neat-freak, Chandler was funny and sarcastic, and lastly Rachel was outgoing. There is no main character in this series, all of them have been featured equally. The most important part of this series was the café Central Perk, where all six of them used to meet frequently. In every episode, all of them ends up getting the same set of chairs, and the couch. 

Joey has a famous phrase in the series that is “How you doin?” which he uses to win over women and Ross’s phrase We were on a break, was really famous and it made everyone laugh out loud. Rachel’s hair was famous during the 90s and was called The Rachel. The theme song became so famous that it was heard everywhere. Its been 26 years and the show hasn’t lost its popularity. Its still famous among young people. The show connected to people emotionally that people cried in the last episode where all six of them were going to split. 

There are many off screen facts about the show which most of people may not know like all three of the females were given unconventional way of pregnancy on purpose, to spread social messages that single motherhood, surrogacy and infertility are nothing to be ashamed of. There is a famous golden frame around the peephole of the Monica’s home which was an original mirror accidently smashed by a crew member and it looked good so they decided to leave it there. It was said that when Matt LeBlanc auditioned for the role of Joey, he only had eleven dollars to his name. He bought hot dinner for himself when he got his first paycheck. The cast always used to huddle before filming to wish each other good luck. 

The show had cultural impacts with high ratings, good story development, catchy phrases that viewers liked, famous hairstyles and also won numerous awards. This series is famous among Gen-Z because they see themselves in the characters and their situations. This made the series, Friends, the most famous Hollywood series.

By Punnya Dayanand, Bharuch, Gujarat

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