F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Wow this really finished 10 years ago!?

It’s now been off air for longer than it was on air!

I entirely missed the first five seasons – probably as I was a bit odd in my late teens / early twenties and struggled massively to find an identity for myself. I call myself a child of the 80’s yet proudly I have never seen more than three minutes of Top Gun – though I loved Hot Shots Part One and Deux!

To this end (incorporating glandular fever, anaemia and no girlfriend) I think I probably missed a lot of the mainstream things that others enjoyed zeitgeistly (not a real word). I’m super brilliant at getting obsessed with a trend/fashion just as it’s on the wane.

For examples, I was never interested in Elton John’s music until Diana PoW died; I crammed in all of LOST on DVD having never seen it before, just ahead of it’s final series; I bought a load of Chino’s when I was 37 years old; some might say the reason I’ve never taken drugs is because it’s illegal; I’ll stop digging as I think you get the picture.

Anyway having been persuaded (I lost a bet) to watch Friends by my brother and his then girlfriend (now wife), I joined and agreed with the masses that it was indeed brilliant. Certainly as Stateside sitcoms go it was and still is untouchable (does Family Guy count?)

Over the years there have been many calls for it to be revived, but I’m not so sure. I don’t even think a one off reunion would really work. Bless the now departed genius John Sullivan, but the revival of Only Fools and Horses was never quite as good.

Del Boy and Rodney should have been allowed to stay as millionaires.

However, like in Only Fools up to 1996, the longevity is there to see in the vast majority of episodes of Friends and it deserves its creditable place in TV history. But whilst the synopsis of each episode could still be relevant in 2014, there would definitely be a major alteration to a staple element of Friends, as nowadays they wouldn’t actually talk to each other on the couch in Central Perk as they’d be sitting in silence whilst scanning social media on their phones and tablets!