RIP Matthew Perry

Go On was tremendous and probably the first show ever watched that canceled that I cared was canceled. Still can’t believe that only got one season.

As for Matthew Perry, you can see the tough life he lived through Friends reruns when he consistently went back-and-forth between heavier and emaciated. His drug use was obvious. The guy lived 54 years, but probably had the body of an 80-year-old when he died.

I’ll never really understand the hatred of Friends. It wasn’t high art, but there aren’t too many episodes over the 10 years that I don’t enjoy thoroughly. I can still watch it nightly and enjoy it. I can’t say that about MASH, All in the Family, Cheers, or any of the other great shows that I grew up with. Friends just seems more timeless.

RIP to a guy who made me laugh a lot.

 

I've seen plenty of mention of his drug use, but no one has mentioned the mental health struggles he had. They go hand in hand.

 

I can get some of the criticisms. It was lily-white to a fault and they did a ton of fat-shaming. And Ross may be the most unlikable character in the history of television. But the show is terrific comfort food and I think it remains popular because, like most popular TV, it harkens back to what is perceived as a simpler time. "Simpler times" rarely were, and plenty of terrible things happened in the world during Friends' run. But I think those who watched it in real time and those who picked it up in reruns/streaming appreciate the simplicity of the pre-cell phone world and the idea of people just getting together in person and connecting.

 

I suppose, on some of this. But Friends wasn't doing anything other shows weren't at the time. Just none of the others are still rerun for 36 hours a day. Doesn't make it right, or, necessarily, wrong. It might look bad now because God forbid there's a show in 2023 that doesn't have every color from the box of 64 represented, or makes fun of people (because in the real world, we know that never happens) with some kind of deficiency. It's far, though, from one of the "They could never do that now!" shows. It's a representation of the 90s and early-2000s. Things have changed for the better, and worse. As for the simpler times part, there's no doubt that every time the twin towers of the WTC wind up on camera, which is a lot, Friends becomes a period piece. Pre- and post-. And there is no doubt in my mind as I look at what my 18- to 20-year-old students have to deal with, those were simpler times by a wide margin and transporting to that era for a half-hour or two every night is a decent escape from TrumpMTGBoebertIsrael/GazadailymassshootingsJimHarbaughEtc.

 

Yeah, this is pretty much dead-on.

"Friends" was a half-hour of six very very pretty, very very white people with two-dimensional personalities (the sarcastic one, the stupid one, the insufferable one, the really super-duper pretty one) living a life of inexplicable wealth in New York City. It wasn't very funny but you'd say "oh, that's so Chandler!" a couple of times a show.

Comfort food is exactly it, much like my generation grew up on Brady Bunch reruns.

 

It was treacly, poorly acted and unfunny. Not much else to say about it.

 

Next to . . .

 

What a miserable fuck you must be. Just kidding. But seriously, it's a taste thing. I get it. Some people don't like peach pie. Nobody gets castigated for it they way they are by some for enjoying Friends.

 

Sounds silly but really captures the push and pull of late 90s Vegas from old buildings to what we see today.

 

I haven’t been to Vegas since 2000. I’m assuming it would be just about like being there the first time, except for maybe Bellagio and MGM.

 

I liked it, but there was so much gravitas attached to every creative decision the characters made. As an older friend who was there during the first gen of SNL observed, "Is their show supposed to be funny?" I have always enjoyed Sorkin's world and character building, so it held me as a viewer.

I frickin' LOVED Caroline in the City! It was my Marlo Thomas fantasy future life thing the way That Girl was probably my mother's generation's. I still get all "let's play Caroline" when my cat camps out on my drawing table or desk. I've even had some obviously Gay boyfriends. So there.

Nobody can get great stories from people the way Graham Norton can.

 

Oh I liked Friends. Especially Chandler. Just feel Cheers is more timeless. Hate peach pie. Apple/cherry/blueberry for the win.