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Brown Moses posted:The rights expire later this year, so it's your last chance to watch every single episode from start to finish. Everyone already has done, though, just due to Friends being "that thing that's on that you don't hate enough to turn the TV off if nothing better is on".
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Aug 3, 2011 12:40
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Did C4 have anything like 'Friends' (schedule black hole filler/catch all decent ratings rerun style show) before 'Friends?' I'm 21 and I don't remember a time when that show wasn't seemingly everywhere. Two non-TV related things: Stewart Lee has a new edition of HIEMCF tomorrow, with commentaries on SLCV2. Also, where on SA, if at all, can we talk about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival?
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Aug 3, 2011 15:03
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I consider myself an educated man. Or rather, a cultural snob when it comes to entertainment. I watch Lee and Herring, I'm a little bit gay for Robin Ince, I have old Iannucci radio shows on my phone, I've seen Simon Munnery doing League Against Tedium, and I've watched every "cult" show that none of my friends know about under the sun. And do you know what? I loving love Friends. I find it cleverer than people think, there are some glorious one-liners in it. Mind you, I liked Sirens, so what do I know?
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Aug 3, 2011 15:08
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Friends may not be amazing writing, but is insanely efficient. Want to write a sarcastic line? Bring in Chandler from offscreen! Someone being an idiot? Bring in Joey or Rachel!
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Aug 3, 2011 15:17
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I watched every single episode from season one to the last episode during one of the E4 runs, and it is well written, and some episodes are extremely laugh out loud funny. Seasons one and two aren't as great, but the others are solid.
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Aug 3, 2011 15:26
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Gram-O-Phone posted:Also, there's something about Evan Davies' pointless interjections to tell us about something we've already seen or ask us about something which has yet to happen (i.e. "The mood in the Den has soured considerably with the revelation that Boris McFuckwit has no idea how much money his company has lost or even what he makes or sells or where he is or how he got there. Will Scary Grandma counter Easily Offended Scotsman's offer of FIVE POUNDS for an 80% stake of Willy's Willy Warmers Inc...?") which just pisses me off so much. I know what just happened, I saw it, it was on the telly just this very second! And I expect we'd find out what's going to happen if you'd just shut the gently caress up already! First time I saw Dragon's Den, I thought it was some sort of best of edition. Couldn't work out what the hell was going on with the mid-scene re-caps. thehustler posted:I consider myself an educated man. Or rather, a cultural snob when it comes to entertainment. I watch Lee and Herring, I'm a little bit gay for Robin Ince, I have old Iannucci radio shows on my phone, I've seen Simon Munnery doing League Against Tedium, and I've watched every "cult" show that none of my friends know about under the sun. I've been leaving it on for a few months in the 8-9pm slot when nothing is ever on and I've found out a few things. 1. Sometimes it's very funny and clever. 2. Ross is hilarious. David Schwimmer is a brilliant comedy actor. 3. Chandler isn't funny in the context of the show. None of his so called F*R*I*E*N*D*S ever laugh at his jokes. They tolerate him, which I suppose only makes sense given that they're still friends with 4. Phoebe, who is a horrible, selfish person. The reveal that she once mugged Ross isn't that shocking, and entirely in keeping with her character. 5. Joey has Homer Simpson syndrome, getting stupider as the show develops. He could function as human early on, but was only interested in eating and loving, sod everyone else. Later he became a friendly man child.
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Aug 3, 2011 15:28
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MrL_JaKiri posted:Friends may not be amazing writing, but is insanely efficient. Want to write a sarcastic line? Bring in Chandler from offscreen! Someone being an idiot? Bring in Joey or Rachel! Or to put it another way, the cast is well-balanced enough to cover all the main bases needed for this type of comedy, and to play off against each other pretty well. Except Phoebe, who adds basically nothing except for that one episode where she finds out that her twin sister is doing porn using her name.
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Aug 3, 2011 15:30
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Padje posted:2. Ross is hilarious. David Schwimmer is a brilliant comedy actor. Yeah if I will say something for Friends, Ross is just masterful. Out of all of them, his character easily has the most depth and Schwimmer just sells the gently caress out of him. I also only manage to watch most of each Frasier episode in the mornings ( I stay to the end if I want to hustle to work).
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Aug 3, 2011 15:39
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henpod posted:Yeah if I will say something for Friends, Ross is just masterful. Out of all of them, his character easily has the most depth and Schwimmer just sells the gently caress out of him. That's another thing I forgot about Joey - I'm sure he was a majority favourite but how they ever thought Matt LeBlanc could carry a show with that character is beyond me. There's a reason NBC had Frasier go out on his own, rather than Sam or Woody, and in that vein, Ross would've been the best choice for the spin-off. He can go from a Niles Crane uptight dick to a George Costanza level freaker-out and it's always BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. When Schwimmer was a guest in the first episode of Come Fly With Me it was striking how good his delivery was. I wish he'd come back full time to a sitcom. I've got a show they can have, please forward it all TV executives. It's called Glen Garry Ben Ross. Ross Geller goes to work in an estate agents with his homosexual son Ben and 2 men (named Glen and Garry respectively) As you can see it writes itself
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Aug 3, 2011 15:46
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I once won a Friends VHS box set(I think it was season 4) from BBC Radio 5Live back when they could actually give out prizes. I must have been... 10? Something very young like that. My brother called me into the kitchen and was like, "You know this answer, call up." So I did. And totally won. Yeeeeeah. I also won a lovely digital camera from a lovely Sunday morning BBC kids show Sub Zero. I was the Internet explorer or whatever they called it so all my bits were pre-recorded. I ran on at the beginning, waved, told them my name(Neb Bug. Because the dumb researcher didn't realize I said Web Bug on the phone) and then ran off backstage to eat a ton of sweets with various producers and the other Internet explorer from the boys' team. Totally won that, too. I also got to see the Blue Peter garden! I miss lovely weekend British-made, real people, kids TV shows.
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Aug 3, 2011 15:47
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BeeZee142 posted:I once won a Friends VHS box set(I think it was season 4) from BBC Radio 5Live back when they could actually give out prizes. I must have been... 10? Something very young like that. My brother called me into the kitchen and was like, "You know this answer, call up." So I did. And totally won. Yeeeeeah. I don't know why, but this is making me nearly piss myself laughing.
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Aug 3, 2011 16:10
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birmingha posted:Did C4 have anything like 'Friends' (schedule black hole filler/catch all decent ratings rerun style show) before 'Friends?' I'm 21 and I don't remember a time when that show wasn't seemingly everywhere. Brookside.
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Aug 3, 2011 16:12
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birmingha posted:Two non-TV related things: Stewart Lee has a new edition of HIEMCF tomorrow, with commentaries on SLCV2. Also, where on SA, if at all, can we talk about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival? Seconding needing somewhere to discuss the Fringe. I must impart to everyone there just how important it is to get a bratwurst from the stand outside the Gilded Balloon.
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Aug 3, 2011 16:15
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ChuckDHead posted:that one episode where she finds out that her twin sister is doing porn using her name. Also there is an episode of Friends called The One with the Free Porn which to my knowledge has never been aired on E4. It involves Emily coming back from London after leaving following the fake party Rachel threw for that guy Joshua while she was working at Bloomingdales, and is also the episode where Phoebe finds out that she is going to be having triplets as opposed to just a regular old baby. These things happened, and you are probably only just now realising that you have never seen these things happen! This gap in continuity has not, to my knowledge, ever been noticed by anyone in the country ever and I take full credit for it!
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Aug 3, 2011 16:18
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I love the editing: Joey - *gormless feed line* Rachel - *starts saying something a bit too rude* *cuts to the audience laughing their asses off and Joey looking confused*
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Aug 3, 2011 16:23
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Steve Higginson posted:Seconding needing somewhere to discuss the Fringe. I must impart to everyone there just how important it is to get a bratwurst from the stand outside the Gilded Balloon. Noted. This year's trip is shaping up to be a compromise for everyone involved. I might just sneak away by myself so I can cram in all the comedians I want to see instead of being forced to sit through play after play eeeurgh. Also Rachel is the best f.r.i.e.n.d deal with it fuckos.
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Aug 3, 2011 16:24
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If you're in Edinburgh you need to see Alex Horne's Taskmaster 2. The first one was loving amazing last year.
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Aug 3, 2011 16:44
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Freinds would be great if it was the Chandler 'n' Monica show. Ross is a stupid overgrown manchild with the emotional maturity of Zack Snyder. Racheal is a narcissistic naive twerp who insists that Ross "proves" his love to her in a variety of demeaning ways, yet never does anything to show her love for Ross. She spends half of the 10 seasons thoroughly treating him like poo poo. She just sits around whining about how her life isn't going anywheree, has no proper career, no education, can barely hold down a waitressing job and just expects a high ranking position to magically appear for her. Which it does. Because Friends sucks. Joey is Homer Simpson with hair and a functioning pancreas. Phoebe is the lol random purple monkey dishwasher character who exists just to make everybody else appear like vaguely functional human beings. She predates Chef Brian but almost a decade, but I still cant see any difference between them. In short: gently caress Rachael. gently caress Ross. And gently caress friends.
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Aug 3, 2011 16:48
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Brown Moses posted:I watched every single episode from season one to the last episode during one of the E4 runs, and it is well written, and some episodes are extremely laugh out loud funny. Seasons one and two aren't as great, but the others are solid. Interesting, as I'd rate the first three seasons as the best, where the characters are most well-rounded. I do enjoy the whole show, though, own it all on DVD in fact (I know, hardly seems necessary..)
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Aug 3, 2011 17:28
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Strom Cuzewon posted:Freinds would be great if it was the Chandler 'n' Monica show. Chandler is much worse than Ross in terms of being an immature manchild, if anyone is worthy of complaint it's him. I agree with the person earlier in the thread though, C4 should start showing Seinfeld as it truly is the pinnacle of PG US sitcoms, and set the foundations for most good comedy.
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Aug 3, 2011 18:15
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Some Strange Flea posted:Which is now edited to the point that I think it's possible someone watching for the first time would not understand what was happening! Channel 4 also completely murder The Simpsons. It's amazing how obvious their editing is too, especially when they clip punchlines, episode endings, and even make cuts in the middle of sentences. FelixMeOneMoreTime posted:Chandler is much worse than Ross in terms of being an immature manchild, if anyone is worthy of complaint it's him. Perhaps, but basically every good line in the show belongs to him. As for Seinfeld, I'm not sure why they don't show it here, since there's definitely an audience (he filled out the 02 dome recently). Perhaps the fee to show it is too much. ChuckDHead fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Aug 3, 2011 |
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Aug 3, 2011 18:20
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FelixMeOneMoreTime posted:Seinfeld as it truly is the pinnacle of PG US sitcoms, and set the foundations for most good comedy.
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Aug 3, 2011 18:38
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Yeah can we get back to endlessly spunking over Stewart Lee please?
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Aug 3, 2011 18:40
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FelixMeOneMoreTime posted:I agree with the person earlier in the thread though, C4 should start showing Seinfeld as it truly is the pinnacle of PG US sitcoms, and set the foundations for most good comedy. Although, in many ways, Seinfeld owes it's success to Friends.
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Aug 3, 2011 18:45
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Brown Moses posted:Seasons one and two aren't as great, but the others are solid. I feel different, I think the earlier episodes are far better written, and the show begins to fall apart shortly after Chandler and Monica get married - mostly because the characters start to feel increasingly shallow and one note. Pheobe becomes extremely bitchy and selfish, and doesn't even try to hide her contempt for Chandler and Ross. Joey gets dumber with every passing season. Monica turns from the sensible if a little quirky girl of the group into a obsessive compulsive and as a result Chandler is forced to change from the snarky member og the group spitting out witty lines to a bland straight man you is constantly under his wife's thumb. Ross also becomes more manic with each passing season (partly because the writers discovered Schwimmer's impeccable comedic timing and ability to act crazed) That said he was often the biggest highlight of any given episode in the last handful of series (his scenes with Pheobe's boyfriend Mike spring to mind).
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Aug 3, 2011 19:24
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The one truly great episode I can remember from Friends is one where there is a power cut in the city and Chandler gets locked in a bank vestibule with a beautiful model, where he neurotically tortures himself over every single thing that comes out of his mouth. loving hilarious. Dare I say, almost Costanzaian. Edit: Yeah this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYbBjSda550
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Aug 3, 2011 19:31
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I've written in to complain to E4 about cutting things for content in Friends and The Simpsons to the point where punchlines make no loving sense, but they always respond saying it's done for time and nothing else. Bullshit!
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Aug 3, 2011 19:37
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They do it with everything it's absurd, it winds me up like nothing else.
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Aug 3, 2011 19:51
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Akuma posted:I've written in to complain to E4 about cutting things for content in Friends and The Simpsons to the point where punchlines make no loving sense, but they always respond saying it's done for time and nothing else.
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Aug 3, 2011 20:14
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I must be the only one hates nearly all american sitcoms, I've never bothered with Seinfeld as I've never seen it on and that I dislike the whole genre anyway.
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Aug 3, 2011 20:21
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le chat posted:I must be the only one hates nearly all american sitcoms, I've never bothered with Seinfeld as I've never seen it on and that I dislike the whole genre anyway.
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Aug 3, 2011 20:30
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Akuma posted:I've written in to complain to E4 about cutting things for content in Friends and The Simpsons to the point where punchlines make no loving sense, but they always respond saying it's done for time and nothing else. When they're clipping stuff like the "they put all the jerks in Tower 1!" bit of The city of New York vs Homer Simpson or the bit of The Cartridge Family where Marge picks up the gun as a "here we go again..." ending, it is definitely not about time.
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Aug 3, 2011 20:32
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Just found BBC Comedy Fest Live on iPlayer thinking it was a chance to show off some of the brand new comedy that shows up at the festival every year, provide exposure for new talent and generally do all those sorts of things that BBC3 is meant to do. So why is it just exactly the same loving comedians they have on all their other programmes?
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Aug 3, 2011 20:57
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Because standup is big money now and they all have agents.
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Aug 3, 2011 21:10
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FelixMeOneMoreTime posted:Chandler is much worse than Ross in terms of being an immature manchild, if anyone is worthy of complaint it's him. And then after he starts shagging Monica, they switch his role woth Ross. But instead of Ross becoming an immature adult, he turns into a high functioning retard.
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Aug 3, 2011 21:56
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Rapey Joe Stalin posted:Because standup is big money now and they all have agents. Don't they all have the same representation? Avalon or Analon or something. Comedy monopoly.
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Aug 3, 2011 22:03
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Padje posted:3. Chandler isn't funny in the context of the show. None of his so called F*R*I*E*N*D*S ever laugh at his jokes. They tolerate him, which I suppose only makes sense given that they're still friends with This is what annoys me the most on the reruns, after watching How I Met Your Mother AKA Friends Only The Characters Realize They Are Idiots. Chandler is the only character with an ounce of self awareness and I just imagine him slowly going mad.
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Aug 3, 2011 22:14
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I think the characterisation of the Joey F.R.I.E.N.D changes in a way that really interestingly matches the way American culture changed over the decade or so. Did anyone else see Great Thinkers: In there own words, neat program, but makes you think what an absolutely insane archive the bbc must have, is that stuff all private? It seems a shame if everyone can't access it.
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Aug 3, 2011 22:18
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If any if you are going to the Fringe then you have to go and see Jo Neary's Youth Club. I've been watching preview shows every week for the past couple of months, and she was by far the funniest. A look at the awkwardness of growing up.
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Aug 3, 2011 22:20
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Sargeant Biffalot posted:This is what annoys me the most on the reruns, after watching How I Met Your Mother AKA Friends Only The Characters Realize They Are Idiots. Chandler is the only character with an ounce of self awareness and I just imagine him slowly going mad. No its this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_-gzE5OAM
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Aug 3, 2011 22:22
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