Jack Parker takes a vitriolic stab at everyone's favourite and most cherished TV show, Friends
Let’s start off with what is a rather controversial opinion: I think Friends is one of the worst television shows that has ever been made. Now, as one of The Courier TV Editors, I realise that you probably expected me to love the show, but no. I want you to hear me out as I try and explain why I’ve just trashed one of your most beloved TV shows. Please, please bear with me on this one.
I’ll start with the biggest bugbear that I have with Friends, it’s just not funny at all. Nothing about it is hilarious, apart from how hilariously unfunny it all is. Are you seriously telling me that you found this dirge even remotely funny? Friends was fairly unfunny even by American sitcom standards, worse than The Big Bang Theory. The problem is with these sorts of “comedies” is that the types of jokes and punchlines are so overused, so laboured to the point that they become jaded, worn out, like a pair of old socks that are holey and are rubbing against your feet and giving you some killer blisters.
That’s all Friends was reduced to - filler - designed to feed everyone’s addiction to it, their need to have something there to comfort them
Anyway, what else is so tragically bad about Friends is the set up and delivery of punchlines is so poorly done that you can see them a mile off. I don’t know if viewers of Friends need their hand held though the jokes or something, but it definitely seems to be that way. Even a 5 year old could work out a punchline before Joey could ever manage. Notice how I’m not picking fault with the characters themselves, more so the writing of the show. Those damn lazy writers knew they were onto a winner, so wrote the same thing for TEN GODDAMN YEARS, whilst laughing all the way to the bank.
To really drive home the samey-ness of the show, Channel 4 decided to make the most of their UK broadcast rights for Friends by seemingly managing to play all 10 seasons in as many days across their channel portfolio. All 236 episodes were ran and re-ran. Wake up on a Saturday morning, Friends was on, turn on E4 late at night, Friends was on, come in from school, BLOODY FRIENDS WAS BLOODY ON. Thankfully, Channel 4 lost the rights to Friends a couple of years ago, and they haven’t decided to relentlessly air another American sitcom as their bum fluff filler. That’s all Friends was reduced to - filler - designed to feed everyone’s addiction to it, their need to have something there to comfort them when they were feeling down, or simply nothing else was on TV.
Wake up on a Saturday morning, Friends was on; turn on E4 late at night, Friends was on; come in from school, BLOODY FRIENDS WAS BLOODY ON
Friends was big in its era, but you all need to move on from it, and see it for what it was, really formulaic, monotonous television that you all sat there in front of, like receptacles being filled by other receptacles pouring their endlessly horrendous content into you. If you want to try and watch something similar to Friends, why not watch paint dry or something similar? Fellow haters of Friends, I hope that I have given you the courage to speak up against bad television, never be afraid to share your own opinion.