I'll Be There For You - A look Back at F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Three boys, three girls, New York City, a coffee shop and lots of laughs.  F.R.I.E.N.D.S was a huge phenomenon in so many countries.  I always seem to remember a time when it was on, even now it’s constantly on repeat and it’s nice sometimes to just turn on the tv and catch a random episode.  It’s like coming home to family, remembering the crazy antics of Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Monica (Courteney Cox), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Ross (David Schwimmer), Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Chandler (Matthew Perry).

Everyone had their favourite Friend, the one they either related to or just found the funniest.  I always considered Chandler to be my favourite, his one liners were legendary and he always found something funny to say or in some cases it was funnier when he didn’t say anything, just because you expected him to.  However once I watched every episode (yes I have the box set and yes I watch it from start to finish) I found myself with a new favourite Friend.  For me, Chandler became less funny once he started dating Monica and eventually got married. He still had his one liners but he grew up, he became normal, or as normal as one can be living with Monica.  I still have a soft spot for early seasons Chandler but my favourite Friend has to be Joey Tribbiani.  He’s the struggling actor, the womaniser, the food fanatic.  He comes up with so many madcap ideas that you just have to love him for it.  He was kind and caring towards the others, he was always there for them in a tight spot, and although he was less intelligent than his peers, he knew the important stuff. His character remained pretty steady throughout the whole ten series, the only time he ever changed was when he fell in love with Rachel and even then I wanted that relationship to happen, they were just so sweet together.  

The other four characters whilst all funny in their own way just have flaws that drive me crazy.  Rachel is too self centred, but she does mature as the series go on especially when she becomes a mother but even then it’s all about her and her baby.  Phoebe is just crazy, I mean it’s funny to start with but after a while she kind of gets on your nerves.   Monica, she’s probably my least favourite character, her funniest scenes are the flashbacks when she was a fat high school girl.  Ross is better when he’s not in a relationship.  Whether it’s Rachel, Emily, Elizabeth, Mona or Charlie, he’s just annoying. He is a good character however when he’s just Ross, not Ross and whoever.

The series featured many locations but the primary locations were Monica’s apartment, which became the meeting place for most of them, Joey’s apartment across the hall which all six characters lived in at some point during the series. The other primary location is Central Perk, the local coffee shop where they all hang out and somehow seem to snag the main couch more often than not.  In fact it’s even highlighted as a joke when they all walk in chatting away then see another group of people all sitting there so they turn and walk out again.  There are other locations, we do see Ross’ apartment regularly either his first apartment after his divorce from Carole, or after he moved into Ugly Naked Guy’s apartment across the street from Monica’s building.  We also see Phoebe’s apartment occasionally especially after Rachel moves in following Chandler moving in with Monica.

Apart from the main cast of six, there are notable recurring character such as Carole (Ross’ ex wife) and Susan (her new wife), Jack and Judy Geller (Ross and Monica’s parents), Janice (Chandler’s most annoying ex girlfriend), David (Phoebe’s scientist boyfriend), Richard (Monica’s most serious relationship before Chandler), Mike (Phoebe’s boyfriend and then husband) and Gunther (the manager of Central Perk).