#felt like some kind of sitcom b plot conversation from a really progressive writer

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my coworker (muslim) and me (jewish) seeing some new decorations going up and immediately having to stop and ponder if the christians are doing something new with easter decor or if the store just had a lot of leftover green mylar balloons that they need to get out of the stock room

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SO Watches Friends 1x01-1x03

Apparently, it’s been 25 years since Friends aired - and I’m seeing all these articles on it, how it was the greatest ever, how it sucked, how apparently the youngins are discovering it on Netflix.  

So - I felt like, what they hey, I haven’t seen it in years, and I need to watch something while I have meals, so let’s see how well this show holds up.  

Pilot - The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate (because how else is she going to pay for that apartment.) 

It’s funny to me that this was the hot new show of the time.  Because these people are... incredibly boring.  The beginning montage is them sitting in a cafe talking about random boring things for what appears to be hours, then they go home and watch TV.  This seems to be what they do on the weekend.  I mean, I realize in the early 90s there wasn’t /that/ much to do - but still, they live in NYC, and most of the stuff they do on this show will be sitting around doing nothing.  

So, let’s break down these characters, shall we? 

Rachel - It’s her wedding day, but she skips out on her wedding because she didn’t love her fiance.  I think this is supposed to be funny?  While I do think, in general, all of the characters are more relatable (and nicer) than in later in the series, she’s such a weird amalgamation of what the writers (or network?) thought would be relatable? I mean - she’s kind of dumb, and rich enough that money isn’t a problem, and her family values are set back in the 50s - hence her getting married so her husband can support her instead of her father.  

I get where the character is coming from - but while it might have been more of a progressive stance at the time -- it seems like a relic now.  

Monica - Who is the most together one of them at the moment.  I like early Monica, tbh, who appears intelligent (for the most part).  They’ll later take her quirks and make her a neurotic nutjob - but I can appreciate her mature nature right now.  

She goes on a date with Paul the Wine Guy - and again, it shows just how boring these guys’ lives are that they’re standing around her apartment with nothing better to do than to cheer her on about her date.  Is this what people in ther 20s did in the early 90s? I was much too young to know.  Anyway - Paul the Wine Guy is an asshate who uses lines to get Monica into bed.  The network thought this would make Monica sleezy.  I’m so glad times have changed enough that we can look back and be glad we can see that it’s really Paul the Wine Guy who’s sleezy, and that there are faster ways to figure out if a guy is a creep or not.  

Phoebe - Phoebe has absolutely nothing to do in the pilot other than be there and be weird.  I much appreciate it - because this show would be utterly boring and devoid of any quirky elements if she wasn’t there.  Also - Lisa Kudrow sells the comedy while most of the rest of them (minus Matthew Perry) seem to be just reading the script. 

Joey - I have no idea what Matt LeBlanc is trying to do here.  Is he doing a NYC Italian accent?  Is he trying out for a part? He’s kind of the most cringy during the Pilot but at least that’ll go away quickly.  

I don’t have a whole lot to say about Joey, he and Chandler are like two halves of the same character at the beginning, both with little development.  But - funny enough, maybe it’s age, I found myself agreeing with Joey during the whole dishing out life advice thing to Ross -- there’s no such thing as soul mates or destiny, get out there and live life :P 

Chandler - Like Phoebe he doesn’t have much to do other than make quips.  Granted - he did have some of the best, genuinely funny lines of the episode.  Matthew Perry’s comedic chops as well - and it’s a shame there is much Phoebe and Chandler stuff on the show.  

Anyway, the writers originally toyed with making Chandler gay, which I find a shame, I think that would have worked so well.  And added some diversity to this really, really non-diverse cast.  I completely understand why this makes lists of ‘Things Straight, White, and Loosely Christian People Like’.  25 years later, it’s incredibly glaring.  Even Saved by the Bell, which was ending its run at the time, managed to be more diverse. 

Ross - I’m curious as to when Ross becomes that one Friend whom everyone hates.  He’s recently divorced (from a woman who figured out she was a lesbian) and being really mopey about it (which, you know, is understandable).  I don’t particularly like or dislike Ross at the moment.  

I will say the whole Ross and Rachel thing is telegraphed from a mile here, and it’s weird that they’re going to drag this romance out for an entire season and a half when he literally asks her out at the end of the episode, and she says yes.  Why, why, why is this going to be dragged out so much.  (I know the reason - sweeps week - but still.)  

Is the episode entertaining? Eh.  It still has a lot of the trappings of an 80s sitcom - the annoying laugh track, the forced jokes, the surface level stories - only it’s new and hip because 20-somethings had never had a show to themselves without an older mentor around.  At the same time, there isn’t anything that remarkable about any of these 20-somethings, which may or may not have been the point.  I suppose we’ll see.  

The One With the Sonogram (of Ross’s baby that he’s having with this lesbian ex-wife) at the End

This episode is merely a continuation of all the threads set up in the pilot.  You can tell Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe aren’t developed yet, as they really don’t do anything other than crack one-liners at opportune times.  I shouldn’t complain that these characters just don’t feel like they’re getting enough time together as a group (because obviously, there are a ton more episodes to go where they are) but I feel like they’re spending too much time in individual plot lines that aren’t that interesting. 

Plot A) Ross finds out that his ex-wife (who’s a lesbian) is having his baby (because apparently they did it one more time after she left him? Idk), and he’s not doing so well with that.  Idk - I don’t hate this plot line.  For being the early 90s, the show is treating being gay with much more respect than pretty much everything before that (even if the idea of lesbians is treated as a joke rather than a serious thing people are).  At least the gay stuff isn’t villainized.  

Plot B) Rachel gives back the ring to her ex-fiance, whom she finds out was fooling around with her maid of honor.  This is the first time we meet Barry, and everything about him screams douchebag.  There’s nothing remotely interesting here, and it almost feels obligatory for Rachel’s story.  Also - I find it ridiculous that he and Rachel would be having private conversations with a (child) patient there.  

Plot C) We meet Monica and Ross’s controlling and judgmental parents who prefer Ross to Monica.  While Elliot Gould and Christina Pickles are both fantastic actors - I cannot with the amount of judgy-ness that spews forth, and really can’t wait for them to be the quirkier people they eventually become.  

Oh- and I forgot, this show decided for the beginning of season 1 to have these philosophical discussions about the differences between men and women, and I feel like this episode is supposed to loosely tie into that and I kind of roll my eyes and am like -- just be the situational comedy that you’re meant to be.  

Is this episode any good? Eh, not really.  There are some funnier moments in an otherwise bland and obligatory story.  

The One With the Thumb (in a can that Phoebe almost drinks)

This episode is so boring that it’s almost tedious to get through all 22 minutes of it.  Here we go! 

Plot A) Monica dates a guy named Alan that everyone likes but she doesn’t and she finds it hard to break up with him.  

I get what the writers were going with here - that she’d have to tell her friends that they need to ‘break up’ with Alan, despite them all really liking him.  Idk - I don’t think the whole schtick is that funny, and feels pointless when we barely get to meet Alan himself.  

I do have to note that Monica talks with one of her coworkers - who is the first PoC on the show, a black woman.  But we’re never going to see her again, so...? 

Plot B) Chandler starts smoking again - and we get a PSA plot line about the dangers of smoking.  Friends is rarely going to be a preachy show, and it’s super weird when it is.  It’s especially weird that it’s centered around smoking because -- who cares? 

Plot C) Phoebe accidentally has good things happen to her.  It’s almost like a running joke more than a plot line that ends with her ending up with a thumb in a can that nets her $7000.  It’s... just a really dumb sitcom plot line.  But, hey, we learn that Phoebe hangs out with homeless people.  And, the episode gets a point for tying all three plot lines together at the end.  

So... I’ll probably do these three or four at a time.  And the first three?  Eh, not great.  It’s fascinating that this show became such a hit right off the bat - because there’s not anything uniquely interesting about any of these characters yet.  And the plot lines are all so generic and/or dumb that there’s little to latch on to.  

We’ll see how this goes.