FRIENDS: The Complete Series - Blu-ray (Bright, Kauffman, Crane/Warner Bros. 1994-2004) Warner Home Video
A sitcom that definitely matured with the years, and, most definitely has withstood the test of time, despite its initially mixed reception and more than a few behind-the-scenes hiccups along the way, Friends (1994-2004), co-created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman is perhaps today regarded as one of the seminal offerings from that final – and now, seemingly ‘ancient’ flowering of truly ‘must see’ TV on NBC. Not that critics of the moment saw the more meaningful endurance of the franchise through its initial rough spots. And, indeed, in an era dominated by half-hour rom/coms, as skillfully executed as Seinfeld, Cheers and Frasier (all of them produced for NBC), Friends had a lot to live up to in order to come into its own. In hindsight, the network was remarkably gentle with its latest property, wading through the opacity of its uneven and occasionally uninvolving storylines that somehow, especially in retrospect, play as very weak-kneed premises, merely to allow for an endless barrage of pithy one-liners. Herein, it helped immensely that the series was exceptionally well cast: Jennifer Aniston as Rachel ‘Karen’ Green, the air-headed and pampered fashionista, knocked off her privileged tuffet after a botched attempt to ascend the altar of marriage, and thereafter, momentarily to sponge off her good friend, Monica Geller (Courteney Cox, as the obsessive/compulsive, and ultra-competitive perfectionist).
Rachel would eventually come into her own as a buyer
for Ralph Lauren, while Monica flirted with several ‘serious’ suitors, before
settling on her neighbor from across the hall, Chandler ‘Muriel’ Bing (Matthew Perry);
the sass-talking statistical analyst, chronically to come in contact with his
former flame, Janice Hosenstein (played to ever-lasting/grating aplomb by
Maggie Wheeler). Chandler was best friends with Monica’s brother, Ross (David
Schimmer), resulting in some initial conflict regarding their romance.
Meanwhile, Ross – a three-time loser in marriage, and, paleontologist at the
Museum of Natural History, suffered the slings and arrows of frequently being
reminded his first wife, Carol Willick (Anita Barone, almost immediately
replaced by Jane Sibbett) with whom he shared a son, Ben, had thrown him over for
lesbian lover, Susan Bunch (Jessica Hecht). And then there was the
marvelous Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay (also, occasionally to play her more
self-absorbed twin sister, Ursula); a guitar-strumming and fabulously flighty
girl, presumably from the wrong side of the tracks, whose mother had committed
suicide when she was barely a teenager. Of all the main staples, Phoebe perhaps
experienced the most rewarding ‘dramatic’ arc on the show, often exploited for
her eccentric behavior, but gradually to find ever-lasting love with Mike
Hannigan (Paul Rudd). The last of the core cast was Matt LeBlanc as the thoroughly
guileless and womanizing actor, Joey Tribbiani – the only cast member to remain
otherwise unattached at the end of the show’s run – and, the only character to
get its own ‘short-lived’ spin-off series, appropriately titled, Joey.
Friends also featured a delightful assortment of reoccurring kooks,
from James Michael Tyler’s love-suffering barista, Gunther (desperate for Rachel)
and whose coffee house, Central Perk became the show’s signature place for resolving
conflict, to Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles as Ross and Monica’s
thoroughly misguided parents, Jack and Judy, and, ‘Marcel’ – the Capuchin
monkey Ross kept as a pet until he sexually matured and began to hump
everything. Over the years, there were many walk-on ‘love interests’ – briefly,
to muddle the clarity in the friendships and/or relationships burgeoning
between the main cast; Cosimo Fusco’s Paolo – a swarthy Italian, who spoke
hardly any English briefly became Rachel’s main stay to make Ross jealous, ‘Fun
Bobby’ (Vincent Ventresca), Monica’s alcoholic ex, David (Hank Azaria), a
rather goofy scientist whom Phoebe contemplates moving in with until he decides
to relocate to Minsk to do pure research, Julie (Lauren Tom), Ross’ old flame
from graduate school, Richard Burke (Tom Selleck) an ophthalmologist whom
Monica beds, but who also happens to be the same age as her father, Emily
Waltham (Helen Baxendale), whom Ross proposes to, but then insults by uttering
Rachel’s name instead of hers at the altar, Tag Jones (Eddie Cahill) – a much
younger ‘intern’ Rachel employed as her ‘boy toy’ until things went south, Tim
Burke (Michael Vartan) as Richard’s son, whom Monica also dated, and, Charlie
Wheeler (Aisha Tyler), romantically involved, first with Joey, then, Ross,
before dumping both for her ex, Nobel Prize–winning paleontologist, Dr.
Benjamin Hobart (a real loon played to perfection by a thoroughly haggard Greg
Kinnear).
But the show increasingly became famous for its ‘who’s
who’ celebrity cavalcade of cameos: ER’s George Clooney and Noah Wyle
among the first, appearing as that show’s characters, Drs. Michael
Mitchell and Jeffrey Rosen respectively, to flirt with Monica and Rachel at the
hospital, Brenda Vaccaro, as Joey's overbearing mother; Marlo Thomas, as Monica
and Ross’ liberated aunt, Chris Isaak as Phoebe's date du jour - Rob Donnan, Julia
Roberts as Susie Moss, desiring revenge on Chandler for lifting her skirt to
reveal her underwear when they were both kids, Brooke Shields as Erika Ford, a
stalker for Joey after he becomes famous playing Dr. Drake Ramoray on Days
of Our Lives, Jean-Claude Van Damme (as himself), in an episode where Monica
becomes tongue-tied in his presence, Charlie Sheen, as Ryan – Phoebe’s old
flame, and, Ben Stiller, as Tommy ‘the screamer’ – a hilariously raging bully, Wynona
Ryder, as Melissa Warburton - a bi-curious gal/pal who once kissed Rachel at a sorority
party, Charlton Heston (as himself), Lady Sarah Ferguson – Duchess of York (herself),
Reese Witherspoon and Christina Applegate (as Rachel’s sisters, Jill and Amy,
respectively), Gary Oldman – as finnicky actor, Richard Crosby, Sean Penn as
Phoebe and Ursula’s ex - Eric, Brad Pitt, as Will Colbert, a one-time overweight
‘friend’ of Monica’s whom Ross incessantly niggled, but has since turned into a
stud with whom Phoebe flirts, Alec Baldwin, again, as Phoebe’s curiously obsessive
and energetic date - Parker, Jeff Goldblum as Broadway director/actor, Leonard
Hayes, Dermot Mulroney as Gavin Mitchell – a rival for Rachel’s position at
work, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Sandy – a ‘manny’ for Ross and Rachel’s daughter,
Emma, John Stamos, as Zach – a complete stranger that Chandler and Monica
briefly consider to be their sperm donor after they learn they are incapable of
having a child of their own, and finally, Bruce Willis – as Elizabeth’s
steely-eyed father, having taken an immediate dislike to Ross – for very
obvious reasons.
Crane and Kauffman, determined the show should be a
true ‘ensemble effort’, meant writing for a reoccurring cast of six, with each
character given its own team of writers to develop, and, whose origin stories
and current affairs – both figuratively and literally – frequently intersected;
a genius on the part Crane and Kauffman to hit its stride at the end of Season
2 and thereafter became the bloodline of the show, captivating viewers from
week to week with the ongoing exploits of this oddly vivacious clique. Behind
the scenes, careers were made. Virtually all five of the principals appeared in
feature films apart from the series – some, more successful than others.
Courtney Cox met her future ex-husband, David Arquette, on the set of Scream
(1996) – reprising her role as the ambitious and conniving reporter, Gale
Weathers. The Alabama-born Cox, also suffered rumors she was plagued by
anorexia. And while Cox has continued to deny these, there is little doubt her
weight plummeted throughout Friends’ 4th and 5th
season; Cox, transformed from a fresh-faced, wholesome and attractive woman
into a physically withdrawn wraith, before slowly reclaiming part of her former
youth as the show prepared to end its run. In life, Cox became obsessed with
plastic surgery, and, as on the show, struggled to conceive a child.
Similarly, Ottawa-born co-star, Matthew Perry fell
into the predictable pit of taking his own fame much too seriously. After a
series of failed attempts to break into the biz, Perry found the part of
Chandler Bing so uncannily like his own personality he dove head-strong into it.
Yet, despite his good looks and his ability to make sass appear sexy, the then
congenial 24-yr.-old, to his own detriment, quickly unearthed the darker side
of fame, his salary affording him the luxury to indulge and amplify his chronic
alcoholism to dangerous levels. By his own admission, Perry barely recalls
Seasons 3 to 6 and, after a jet ski accident, also began to binge on Vicodin. Like
Cox, Perry’s weight plummeted before an unhealthy bloat set in. A month-long
stint at Hazelden Betty Ford facility in Minnesota in 1997 did little to curb
his hedonism, and, in 2000, Perry underwent a treatment for severe pancreatitis,
brought about by his decades of alcohol abuse. While David Schwimmer, an
accomplished character actor with enviable stage credits prior to joining the
cast of Friends, marginally regretted the public’s inability to look
beyond his performance as Ross as ‘the only thing he had done worthwhile’
– ditto, for agents, who thereafter could not see past it for his viable
casting in other projects, of all the Friends’ former co-stars, only
Jennifer Aniston exited those heady years of runaway success, relatively
unscathed. For Aniston, it wasn’t so much what happened during Friends
that made tabloids, as what immediately followed its demise in 2004; her dreams
of beginning a life together with then hubby of 4-years, Brad Pitt, foiled by
rumors Pitt was carrying on with his Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) costar,
Angelina Jolie. The couple’s speedy – if quiet – separation, and Pitt’s almost
as expedient rekindling of a romance with Jolie broke a lot of fan’s hearts,
exacerbated in the tabloids by Jolie’s deliberate flaunt of Pitt’s devotion to
her and their ‘presumably’ happy union, foregoing her usual dark and dangerous tastes
for promiscuity, heroin, and wearing her husbands’ blood in a tiny amulet
around her neck. The chick is weird. But
I digress.
Friends is a rarity in television sitcoms. It’s first season
is, today, not altogether regarded as great TV – in some cases, not even ‘good’
and certainly not of the caliber of NBC’s then ‘must see’ offerings from
its vintage. The show’s initial and equivocal premise – 6 ‘friends’ merely bumping
into each other to discuss their heartaches, sex fantasies and/or lovers, and,
careers over coffee - would eventually move beyond what critic, Ann Hodges nicknamed
as a ‘Seinfeld wannabe’, but without its edginess. And Friends
had staying power, largely because of its cast – each, genial, but with quirky
dispositions – enough, to make them stand in relief, not only from each other,
but also, from the other ‘ensemble’ sitcoms of its generation. Binge-watching a
beloved series like Friends, one is acutely aware of how much the show ‘grew
up’ between Seasons 1 and 2, with the barb-laden character-specific pokes and
situations becoming more genuinely heartfelt and invested in what happens next.
From this springboard, a small army or writers took Friends to even more
ambitious heights, developing searing storylines that involved reoccurring secondary
characters, like Giovanni Ribisi as Phoebe’s dim-witted brother, Frank Jr. for
whom Phoebe would become artificially inseminated to provide him and his much
older wife, home-economics teacher, Alice (Debra Jo Rupp) with triplets.
And from this impressive launch in Season 2,
the show’s writing would remain of an extremely rare and high caliber throughout
the next eight years. One of the enduring dramatic arcs was Ross and Rachel’s flawed
love affair, begun after he openly confessed his long-standing passion, then to
be submarined when – ‘while on a break’ (aside, in life, folks, there is
no such thing!)– he seduced a local copy girl for casual sex, thereupon rupturing
his already fragile relations with Rachel. From this inauspicious fracture
there sprang reoccurring themes of inadequacy; Rachel, openly dating a wide
variety of interested male suitors, but never quite being able to find ‘Mr.
Right’ while Ross, after proposing to Elizabeth – only to utter Rachel’s name
at the altar, and, finally, wedding and bedding Rachel in Vegas to produce a
child, Emma, only to then strike into his third – and final, divorce,
eventually found the courage to confess his ever-lasting love for Rachel (and
she, miraculously for him) in the penultimate moments of Season 10’s hour-long
finale. The other, ‘lesser’ dramatic arc in Friends – Monica and
Chandler’s coupling – proved to be less inveigled by awkward passion, and more
in a chronic flux to anchor down the particulars as to what made their unlikely
union click. For here was a romance, at first, desperately – even riotously –
concealed from the remaining ‘friends’ for fear, none would be able to
comprehend it, and, Ross, for certain, incapable to be accepting. Gradually,
the various cohorts came to learn of the couple’s frequent flagrante delictos,
and Ross, always late to the party, recognized his best friend and sister were,
in fact, soul mates. Alas, as the couple
proved childless – and unlikely to ever conceive – the latter episodes of the
last season dealt with Monica and Chandler’s search for the perfect surrogate,
whose child they could adopt.
Arguably, no one could have predicted how emotionally
tethered any of these ‘friends’ would eventually prove themselves to be, from Season
1’s humble beginnings; the show’s pilot, involving Rachel’s ditching her wealthy
dentist/fiancé, Barry, at the altar and moving into Monica’s apartment. From here,
we were almost immediately introduced to the rest of the gang; Chandler and
Joey, living in the apartment across the hall from Monica, everyone gathered to
console Ross, as Carol has just announced she is leaving him to move in a co-parent
their child, with her lesbian lover. Desperate for money, the uber-pampered
Rachel then took on the role of a failed barista at Central Perk – the coffee house
frequented by the rest of the cast. Season 1 meandered through a series
of vignettes – generally charming, but unprepossessing and, as yet, not telling
of the show’s future trajectory. So, we met several of Monica and Phoebe’s
failed love interests, were privy to Chandler’s awkward addiction to
cigarettes, and his even more clumsy break-up with girlfriend, Janice –
thereafter, to resurface at the most inopportune moments of his life, with her
grating ‘laugh’ and signature line of surprise, “Oh – my – God!” There
were also episodes in which some of the annoying neighbors in the building made
‘guest appearances’ – more, as basic filler than plot-driven incidents to
contribute to the enrichment of the show’s comedy. A flashback episode
illustrated Monica had been an obese teenager, thereupon making some of the
latter-episodes ‘fat’ jokes more apropos, if hardly, more PC-friendly. Season 1 also followed Joey on several auditions
for off-Broadway stage work, and introduced us to his nattering agent, Estelle
Leonard (June Gable), whose blind faith in her only client would eventually pay
off, although it first led to his being a spokesmodel for venereal diseases.
Season 1, also introduced us to Phoebe’s lover, David, and,
Chandler’s sexually uninhibited romance novelist mother, Nora (Morgan
Fairchild). One of the most enjoyable episodes from this first launch involved
Chandler accidentally seeing Rachel topless; a discovery she became hell-bent
to avenge, resulting in Rachel seeing Joey naked, Joey observing Monica sans
clothes, and finally, Monica surprising Joey’s father in the shower. These
revelations were then exacerbated by Phoebe’s latest fling, Roger (Fisher
Stevens) whose snap psychoanalysis of the group hit a little too close to home
for all concerned. Momentarily, Joey was to fall for Phoebe’s insidiously
callous sister, Ursula, and Ross adopted Marcel, the monkey. After being fired
from Central Perk, Rachel unsuccessfully aspired to become a buyer for Saks
Fifth Ave. At season’s end, Carol gave birth to hers and Ross’ son, Ben, and
Rachel learned the depth of Ross’ affections for her, even as he was boarding a
plane to do archeological work in China.
At the outset of Season 2, Ross' return home threw
another wrench into the Ross/Rachel love affair when he arrived with his assistant,
Julie, as a potential love interest, forcing Rachel to take up a lover, Paolo,
to save face. Worse, Monica and Julie hit it off. The surprises continued, as
Phoebe revealed to all she had secretly wed a homosexual Canadian figure skater,
Duncan (Steve Zahn) who then revealed he had taken her to wife merely to get
his green card, but was secretly in love with another woman. We also learned
Joey made a porno, and Chandler had a third nipple. Ironically, seeking advice
from Rachel on how best to proceed in his love affair with Julie, she instead
counseled Ross to abstain from any sexual contact. Phoebe was introduced to her
estranged half-brother, Frank Jr. who, in turns out, was in love with his much
older home-ec teacher. Meanwhile, Monica decided to get back together with an
old flame – Fun Bobby – who turned out to be anything but what she remembered,
and Rachel began dating ‘Russ’ – a Ross look-a-like (also played by David
Schwimmer). This led to Russ and Julie falling in love, leaving Ross and Rachel
to resume their romance. Now, Monica discovered her own hidden feelings for
Richard Burke, an ophthalmologist and friend of the family who also happens to
be the same age as her father. Their affair would last until the final episode
in Season 2, when she decided their age discrepancy could not outlast
their burgeoning love for each other. And Joey landed a reoccurring role on a
popular daytime soap, resulting in his brief consideration to move out to more
posh digs until he blundered himself into an interview with Soap Opera Digest,
resulting in his termination from the show.
During Season 3, the writers explored each
character’s sexual proclivities more thoroughly; Ross’ ‘Princess Leia’ fantasy,
among the offerings. Chandler’s fear of ‘becoming’ gay, just like his drag queen
father, further pushed him into the arms of Janice until he became commitment
shy and ditched her yet again. Rachel’s new job at Bloomingdales created an
upset for Ross, who became jealous of her mentor, Mark (Steven A.
Eckholdt). Meanwhile, Chandler and Joey both
fell for Chloe (Angela Featherstone), a girl at the copy center, while Ross,
certain Rachel was on the cusp of having an affair with Mark, broke off with
Rachel, and then, compounded his mistake, by sleeping with Chloe. Naturally, Rachel eventually unearthed the
truth, resulting in a bitter grudge and their seemingly unrepairable separation.
Also, Phoebe’s desire to date two men at once – Vince, a studly fireman (Matt Battaglia), and Jason (Robert Gant), an impossibly as sexy
kindergarten teacher, resulted in each man discovering the other. At the end of
Season 3, a beach house getaway resulted in Phoebe setting Ross up with
Bonnie (Christine Taylor), a pretty girl who shaves her head, and Chandler set
out to prove to Monica he was ‘boyfriend’ material. Appearing on the edge of a
reconciliation, Rachel and Ross were again parted when Bonnie surprised
everyone while on vacation.
During Season 4, Ross and Rachel did reconcile,
although his inability to accept full responsibility for their break-up, again
resulted in a rift. For the rest of the season, Ross and Rachel would date
other people, virtually all of them with genuine character flaws, resulting in
some fairly hilarious ‘cute meets’ and ‘joyous defeats’ – further to solidify,
if only for the audience, they were, indeed, destined to become soul mates. Meanwhile,
Chandler became smitten with Joey’s girlfriend, Kathy, while Monica began to
date Richard’s son. Ross hooked up with Emily – a Brit for whom he seemed
finally to have found true love. By the end of Season 4, Phoebe would become
a surrogate for her half-brother, Frank Jr. and give birth to triplets. Having
unearthed Ross’ feeling for Rachel, Emily made the demand Ross fly to England
to be with her. This, he did, and later proposed marriage, only to refer to his
bride-to-be at the altar as Rachel – much to the bride’s chagrin. Meanwhile, Monica
and Chandler began having their affair, skulking around hotel rooms in secret. After
the summer hiatus, Season 5 marked the beginnings of Monica and Chandler’s
failed attempt to keep their sexual rendezvous from everyone. Torn between Rachel
and Emily, Ross was to thoroughly muddle his affections for both women, leaving
Rachel forlorn and flying solo to Greece. Thereafter, Ross and Rachel repeatedly
failed to connect, and Rachel, determined to rid herself of her emotions for Ross,
began exploring various ways of improving herself, including taking a
literature course with Phoebe. Joey, then Rachel, and then Phoebe, learned of
Monica and Chandler’s on-going affair but elect to keep it a secret from Ross
until he bore witness to their passion through the open window of his newly acquired
apartment, whose living room faces Monica’s. At the end of Season 5, Rachel was
hired by Ralph Lauren as a buyer, and, Ross and Rachel, on a drunken whim in Vegas,
tied the knot at the Chapel of Love.
In between Seasons 5 and 6, Courtney Cox
became Mrs. David Arquette, her screen credit hyphenated in the show’s credits
thereafter. As for further plot developments, the arc of interest in Season
6 revolved around Monica and Chandler moving in together, necessitating
Joey finding a ‘new’ roommate, while forcing Rachel to move out of Monica’s
apartment. Lying to Rachel about having their whimsical Vegas nuptials annulled,
Ross invited her to move in with him under the false pretext of just being
roomies. When Rachel learned of his deception, she filed for the annulment,
claiming Ross to be gay, mentally unstable, and addicted to intravenous drugs.
When Ross contested these criteria, the judge ordered the couple to legally
file for divorce. Later, Rachel moved in with Phoebe, and Joey found a
temporary roommate in Janine (Elle Macpherson) – a dancer, whom he aspired0 to
date. Meanwhile, Ross, having attained an assistant professor’s position at the
local college, begins to date one of his students, Elizabeth, raising more than
a few eyebrows on campus, as well as incurring the ire of her father, Paul. Their
affair was as short-lived, as Rachel’s with Paul, and also, Joey’s stint on a
failed sci-fi TV series, Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. The season concluded with Chandler
proposing to Monica in their candle-lit apartment.
In Season 7, Monica and Chandler’s pending nuptials
became the center of much controversy. Phoebe’s desire to play her guitar at
their reception created some angst for Monica, as did Monica’s discovery her
parents spent her entire wedding fund to build their dream beach house. Worse,
Chandler’s attempts to encourage a little spending prudence infuriated his
bride to be. Meanwhile, as Chandler's new eyeglasses fogged up in the gym steam
room, he inadvertently sat on his future father-in-law's lap while both men were
in the nude. Rachel hired a new assistant, Tag, based solely on his attractiveness,
while Joey was re-hired to play his evil twin of the character he once played
on Days of Our Lives. Eventually, Tag and Rachel begin to date,
against the house rules of Ralph Lauren. Alas, when Rachel turned 30, she
suddenly realized how foolish she was in dating this much younger man. Meanwhile,
Monica became embroiled in a free-for-all at a discount bridal shop, in order
to buy the dress of her dreams. As the wedding neared, Monica believed it
important for Chandler to reconcile with his estranged gay father (Kathleen
Turner) by attending one of his drag shows. Rachel discovered she was pregnant
with Ross’ baby but, through a mix up, Phoebe assumed the positive test results,
found in Monica’s bathroom, indicated she was the one pregnant with Chandler’s
baby. An acute attack of cold feet caused Chandler to nearly miss his own
wedding.
In Season 8, Rachel’s pregnancy was unearthed
by Monica and Phoebe. Everyone assumed Tag was the father, as a red sweater suggested
he was the last man with whom Rachel had been intimate. In fact, the sweater
belonged to Ross. Consternation arose after Ross learned of his parentage – claiming
Rachel had come on to him, while she insisted quite the opposite. Eventually, a
tape surfaced to confirm Ross’ story, leaving Rachel humiliated. Season 8
also introduced us to Joey’s secret feelings for Rachel – confirmed when, after
being spurned by Ross yet again, Joey asked Rachel to move in with him. Struggling
with her own emotions, Rachel moved in with Ross, much to the chagrin of his
gal/pal, Mona. Meanwhile, Joey confessed his feelings for Rachel to Ross who,
at first appalled, later encouraged it. Alas, Rachel gingerly turned Joey down.
In their verve to throw Rachel a baby shower, Phoebe and Monica forgot to
invite her mother, Sandra. As Rachel’s due date passed uneventfully, she attempted
to induce her own labor; the season concluding with Ross and Monica’s mother,
Judy, giving Ross her mother’s engagement ring to propose to Rachel. Instead,
Joey found the ring on the floor under Rachel’s bed and, believing he is
proposing to her, she reluctantly accepted.
By Season 9, there was some evidence the
momentum in Friends was winding down. Indeed, the machinations employed
to continue and continually delay Ross’ inevitable reconciliation with Rachel were
now rather obviously strained. The couple hired a ‘manny’, then separated, with
Ross dating Charlie – a fellow professor still in love with her ex. As if this
were not enough, the writers also inexplicably created a storyline where
Chandler was forced to take an executive’s position in Tulsa, leaving Monica
alone in their apartment while he commutes back and forth. To fill the void of
his character’s periodic absences, the focus of Season 9 shifted to Phoebe
and her burgeoning relationship with Mike, hitting a few awkward snags along
the way, especially when David returned, professing his love for Phoebe too. Stuck
in Tulsa on Christmas Eve, and narrowly avoiding being seduced by a co-worker,
Chandler quit his job and took the first flight back to New York. Unemployed,
he eventually procured a job in advertising where he proved to be the oldest of
the unpaid interns. Experiencing their own financial woes, Monica and Chandler
each, independently asked Joey, now the more affluent of their close-knit
clique, for a loan, but later decided to do without a few luxuries instead.
Meanwhile, Rachel began to develop delayed and awkward feelings for Joey. Having
secured his job in advertising, Chandler and Monica plotted to start a family,
only to learn they were infertile. At the end of the season, Mike proposed to
Phoebe and Ross impetuously kissed Rachel, once more muddling her torn feelings
for him and Joey.
For reasons that remain undisclosed, the final season
of Friends was foreshortened from 24 to 17 episodes, swiftly to tie up virtually
all of the loose ends in these narrative arcs. Thus, Ross was dumped by
Charlie, allowing him to pursue Rachel, and, Phoebe and Mike, after some
initial consternation, held their impromptu outdoor wedding just beyond the
courtyard at Central Perk in the middle of a crippling blizzard. Meanwhile,
Monica and Chandler decided to move out of the city to a big, beautiful home in
the suburbs, creating a bit of stress for all concerned. Having made a mix-up
with the adoption records, Monica and Chandler were then mistaken for another
couple entirely by the prospective birth mother, Erica (Anna Faris) who, nevertheless,
eventually decides to give them her child. The season concluded with Erica
giving birth to twins, and, Rachel, having accepted a buyer’s job in Paris after
being fired from Ralph Lauren, thwarted in her plans to begin anew by Ross’ last-minute
declaration of love at the airport…unless, of course, they are ‘on a break’.
Season 10 received generally mixed reviews, with only a few critics
actually acknowledging that the trajectory of the show had been morphing away
from ‘fall down’ comedy to family-orientated situations as the cast inevitably matured
past their post-teen adolescence into more forward-looking adulthood.
In the years since Friends departed our airwaves,
other sitcoms have tried in vain to bottle the magic of a well-written ensemble
piece in which the lives of seemingly disparate individuals come together in
meaningful and unexpected ways. Alas, nothing on the horizon has managed to quite
duplicate this show’s enduring and endearing familial quality, proving the
time-honored adage, that true ‘friends’ are forever. Interesting to consider
that the show to crystalize this concept was almost entitled ‘Insomnia Café’
– as pitched to NBC by Crane and Kauffman, along with their production partner,
Kevin Bright. The trio’s timing could not have been more perfect, as network
president, Warren Littlefield, was searching for just such a property to put
into production. Littlefield’s aim was for a series to represent Generation
X-ers in their awkward transition into adulthood. From here, the title of the
series morphed into ‘Six of One’ as NBC felt ‘Friends Like Us’
too complimentary to ABC’s own sitcom, These Friends of Mine. The other
intrigue here is how close we came to getting a different assortment of ‘friends’,
as producers had hoped to cast Courtney Cox as Rachel.
The part of Ross was always written with David
Schwimmer in mind, but Crane and Kauffman were forced by Littlefield to accept
Matt LeBlanc as Joey (a decision they were not happy with), while Jennifer
Aniston, Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow were signed, based entirely on the
merits of their respective auditions. Season 1’s growing pains
eventually yielded to a more adept approach to the writing, tailoring the gags
to suit the actors. In particular, the character of Joey morphed considerably
into a more naïve sort, while Monica, at the outset, the level-headed den
mother of the group, increasingly became the most neurotically charged and competitively
flawed. Kauffman and Crane, although integrally involved in the show’s daily
operations, ultimately relinquished control of its daily development to a small
army of young writers, the main staples, Adam Chase (who wrote a whopping 53
episodes), Alexa Junge (49 episodes), Jeff Astrof, Mike Skiowitz and Ira
Ungerleider (47 episodes each), Greg Malins (37), Michael Curtis, and, Scott
Silveri (32 each), Shana Goldberg-Meehan (31), and, Ted Cohen (25), basically
creating the characters and episodes we have since come to know and love.
Throughout each summer hiatus, the writers, along with the producers convened
to discuss the pending season’s narrative arcs and storylines well in advance
of shooting each episode.
While the show’s establishing shots were all authentic
locations in New York, cast and crew never left the Warner Bros. Burbank lot to
shoot, confined to Stage 5 for Season 1, but moved to the more spacious
Stage 24 for the remainder of the show’s run. Virtually all of the other ‘locations’
– from Barbados to Vegas - were recreated at Warner Bros., but ironically, Season
4’s finale, Ross and Elizabeth’s flubbed wedding, was shot in
London, England where the episode is actually set, as Friends had a
massive following in the UK. It took roughly 6-hours to shoot each 22-minute
episode. But by the start of the 9th Season, Kauffman and
Crane were preparing to bow the franchise they had created, particularly after their
writers expressed some consternation how to balance the intrusion of a baby
into the lives of Rachel and Ross. The 10th season’s foreshortening
was therefore designed to finish up the franchise, with Kauffman and Crane
absolutely refusing to carry on, even if the network or cast expressed interests
otherwise. NBC transformed the final episode of Friends into an
all-night love-in, preceded by an hour-long retrospective of all that had gone
before it, and, with a memorable follow-up and send off, Jay Leno hosting The
Tonight Show from the Central Perk coffee house set, with the principal
cast as his guests. The end of Friends
became the 4th most-watched series finale in television history, outclassed
only by the grand finales to M*A*S*H, Cheers, and, Seinfeld.
Almost 20 year later, with 236 episodes, 63 Emmy nominations, and over 50-million
viewers tuning in weekly at the height of the show’s popularity, Friends remains
one of the irrefutable ‘feel good’ sitcoms from an era that bred them like Pez
candy that warmed our hearts.
One of the rare sitcoms to actually be shot on 35mm
film as opposed to digital tape, allows for Friends: The Complete Series
to receive a proper 1080p upgrade. Alas, Warner Home Video’s efforts here will
be met with some cause for disappointment and confusion. For starters, when
Warner elected to release Friends to DVD, it did so, including virtually
all of the outtakes and excised footage originally shot, but never aired in
primetime, thus extending the runtime of many episodes well beyond their half-hour
mark. For this Blu-ray incarnation, ONLY the broadcast versions have made the
upgrade to hi-def. Originally conceived in 1.78:1, but cropped for standard
1.33:1 broadcast, for the Blu-ray, Warner has re-scanned all of the episodes in
their native widescreen format, revealing more information to the left and
right of what fans likely recall from the ‘good ole days’. Important to note that ‘hi-def’ was a concept
not even fully understood in 1994, much less aspired to by TV show creators for
future cultural preservation. So, the quality of these episodes veers wildly from
fairly impressive to downright soft, with minor digital anomalies factored in,
and, grain levels toggling from practically nonexistent, to seemingly over-exaggerated.
The picture quality here can only be as refined as the
original cinematography allows, and thus, depending on the cameraman and
lighting requirements, some episodes appear crisper and more refined than
others. None of these shortcomings are a result of the 1080p mastering efforts
exerted herein, to get Friends ready for its hi-def debut. The worst-looking
episodes have minor chroma bleeding and edge-effects; anomalies that should
have been corrected, given the due diligence applied elsewhere. Don’t get too
hooked up on color fidelity either, as saturation levels vary considerably, not
only from season to season, but episode to episode, and, occasionally, from
shot to shot. Some episodes appear anemic in their color reproduction, or lean
to an unhealthy yellow cast, while others are so deeply saturated, it appears
as though someone has artificially boosted their levels during the mastering
process. More likely, I suspect, these episodes were originally shot this way,
and for Warner to go back and re-balance the color on all 236 to somehow
homogenize the look consistently across all 10 seasons would have not only been
cost prohibitive, but also not in keeping with the show’s original look as it
morphed throughout the decade. As with everything else, flesh tones toggle
between natural, cartoonishly colorful and/or pale and pasty. We get black
crush and, owing to the confinement of all 236 episodes on barely 21 discs,
compression artifacts crop up. Aside: would it really have killed Warner to
make this a 30-disc set instead, and just give the visuals a bit more room to
breathe?
And, while it may appear as though I am poo-pooing the
efforts exerted herein, in truth, the series on Blu represents a major up-tick
from the tired old DVD releases. Warner has stuck with the show’s original ‘stereo’
mix, given a Dolby Digital 5.1 upgrade for the DVD releases, rather than a new
lossless remaster for the Blu’s. Point blank: I don’t see how a DTS track would
have ‘improved’ what’s already here. So, no harm/no foul. Special features
ported over from the DVD release include 29 audio commentaries, spread throughout
the series, plus a lot of disposable junkets produced in standard def, plus 3 ‘documentaries’
produced exclusively for this set. The curiosity here is the packaging that
suggests another 4 hours of ‘never before seen’ content. I’ve been over this
set with the proverbial ‘fine tooth’ and count just a little over 2 hours of
newly produced HD content, none of which includes the participation of the central
cast. We get season summaries for each season, as well as gag reels. MIA – the audio
commentaries that once accompanied Season 2’s individual DVD release. Odd.
As already noted, there are no extended cuts to any of these episodes – not even
as a supplemental DVD offering. So, while
the boast here is 20-hrs. of bonus content, in actuality, much of it is just
filler and swag, otherwise to go unnoticed. A bonus disc houses the 3 newly
produced documentaries, the first two, lasting almost a half-hour apiece: Friends
from the Start, an homage conducted without the main cast reunited, When
Friends Became Family, again, produced with the participation of
behind-the-scenes collaborators and a few tertiary co-stars only, and finally, The
Legacy of Friends – lasting barely 11 minutes. We also get The
Tonight Show send-off with Leno and the cast (22 mins.), the cast’s reunion
on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (16 mins.), and, a reassembled version of ‘The
One Where Rachel Tells Ross’ (23 mins.) alas, only in standard def,
featuring a ‘bomb on a plane’ joke gone bad. In the wake of 9/11, producers
felt this sequence in very bad taste and quickly rewrote and reshot it before
that episode aired live in 2001. This is how the episode ought to have
aired. Another 7 min. of unearthed ‘gags’
follows, plus The Rembrandts’ ‘I’ll Be There For You’ music video – both
in SD. Bottom line: Friends: The Complete Series could have been a lot
better on Blu-ray. The omissions, for one thing, are curious. For another, the
image quality could have been marginally improved with just a few minor tweaks.
But on the whole, Friends in hi-def is a valiant and fun-filled send-off
to one of the best-loved sitcoms in television history. Overall, nicely done –
but with caveats. Judge and buy accordingly.
FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)
Season 1 – 3
Seasons 2 - 6 – 5
Seasons 7 - 10 – 4
VIDEO/AUDIO
Overall – 3
EXTRAS
2.5
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