FRIENDS season finale (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

What's he gonna do after "Friends" anyway, make "Ed 2"?

 

[Dave Falasco]

So let me check my scorecard:
Monica has a crush on Joey when she first sees him.
Rachel has a brief fantasy about Chandler before her near-wedding to Barry.
Phoebe and Ross almost do it on a pool table before the bar is turned into Central Perk.
Monica had a crush on Chandler when she was young and chubby.
Ross has a crush on Rachel for nine years.
Phoebe has a little crush on Joey for most of the entire show.
Ross goes out with Rachel (and breaks up with her, and gets back together, and breaks up, and marries, then divorces, then finally knocks her up.)
Phoebe and Rachel designate Joey and Ross (respectively) as their "backups" if they are still single when they are older.
Monica and Chandler sleep together and end up marrying each other.
Joey develops a crush on Rachel.
Rachel and Ross have a baby together.
Now Rachel mistakenly thinks that Joey proposed to her and ACCEPTS, while Ross comes back to the maternity ward looking like he may try to work it out with her after all.
Maybe the final episode will involve the whole crew going on Springer? Seriously, at some point we have to stop calling this group "Friends", no?

 

[MickeS]

 

[Jeremiah]

I liked the episode but I hated the fact that the writers are making the Ross/Rachel relationship so freaking difficult.

I highly doubt that Joey will ask Rachel to marry her with Ross' ring he just found, that is not a friend, that is a piece of crap.

Joey will not hurt Rachels feelings if he said that he found the ring in Ross' jacket. A little talking and some humor will right that ship in no time.

 

[Andrew Grall]

I was so pissed at the end of the episode... Maybe I had just had a bad day already, but...

I am so sick of the Rachel/Joey aspect from this past season!!! I was thrilled that it appeared that they would be getting Rachel and Ross back together, but if they drag this "false proposal" thing out at all next season, I'm done watching...

 

[Larry Seno Jr.]

Very few of these actors will be able to make the transition from the small screen to the big screen. Aside from Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston, NONE of them has had box office successes (Correct me if Im wrong re:Romy and Michelles HS reunion, but I believe any movie that gets shown on Comedy Central must have been a flop). I would like to see the Joey character continued, as I think he's funny, and the writers of the show TOTALLY flubbed on Jesse (A show which wasn't THAT bad). I hate the Monica character, and you couldn't do a show without Chandler and herself anyway. I can't really think of a plausible scenario where Ross moves to Hollywood with Joey, so basically you are left with a Joey spin off ("Tribiani", that's MUCH better than a show called "Joey") which may last 3-4 seasons at most, enough to get him in double syndication money (Assuming there is a desire for syndication).
What this all leads to is the demise of NBC:
Friends-Gone after next season
Frasier-Gone VERY soon (Jumped the shark when "They did it")
Will and Grace-I thought it looked strong, but a baby? (See www.jumptheshark.com)
Just Shoot me-Didn't take off the way they expected it to
ER-Flaming out hugely, it lost me when it turned into a night time soap opera. It USED to be good. But it lost George Clooney and starting bleeding viewers.
So basically what they have is Ed, Scrubs, and about 39 Law and Orders and Dateline NBCs.
NBC how far have you fallen in not retaining your talent OR developing good new shows? Am I missing some show here? Providence isn't going to draw a good demographic, and Watching Ellie obviously flopped (Although it IS coming back, I saw that on the news).
In 2 years NBC is going to have ZERO strong shows. Even Law and Order is severely weakened. Remember 5 years ago when there was Friends, Seinfeld, ER, Law and Order AND Homocide to watch on the network? I SEVERELY hope that network television doesn't wonder why they lose viewers to cable and HBO. Six Feet Under, Sex in the City, and the Sopranos are better than everything NBC has.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion made about 35 million. That was rather healthy considering the budget couldn't have been very high.

Lisa Kudrow is the only one from Friends who has any kind of movie life.

 

[Malcolm R]

By strict box office numbers, Courteney Cox is the winner as she was in the "Scream" trilogy. Matt LeBlanc would be second with "Lost in Space" which made about $80M. I don't think any of the others have ever cracked $50M (or $40M?).

I would agree with Robert that Lisa Kudrow is the only one who might be able to jump to a successful movie career. You'd think most of them would want to hold onto "Friends" for as long as NBC will pay them.

Hated the cliffhanger finale. Hope it's resolved quickly, like before the opening credits of the fall premiere.

 

[MickeS]

Yes, "Will & Grace" definitely jumped the shark when they decided to have a baby. Blah. Those two characters are so self-absorbed and don't care about anything except themselves, them having a baby is a VERY bad idea. Totally out of character.

And one more thing about the "Friends" season finale: was anyone but me annoyed that they were supposedly at the hospital for like 24 hours, yet NONE of the friends went home, or took a nap or anything? They all have cellphones I'm sure, and they showed in the beginning that it only took them a few minutes to get there. A few lines would have taken care of that. Anywhoo...

 

[Christopher P]

Didn't see the finale so can't comment on it, other than to say Friends as much as any show I can remember has always tried to incorporate some sort of "cliffhanger" for reasons unknown. They should realize true fans will always be around for the next season, cliffhanger or not. I can't remember Seinfeld, Cheers, or other sit-coms having this many cliffhangers. Friends must like people to talk about it over the summer.
As far as the Joey character goes, I must be in the minority here, but I think that is a fairly simplistic character, not that the others are necessarily complex. I just can't imagine why I would want to watch a show that focused on Joey Tribiani, unless it boasted a "Frasier"-like supporting cast.
Just because Courtney Cox and Matt LeBlanc were in Scream and Lost in Space respectively, does not imply they have or ever will have solid movie careers. Anybody could have filled in for them in those roles. I agree with Robert about Lisa Kudrow, she seems to be the most versatile actor of the six.
Why not a spin-off called "Gunther?"
Chris

 

[brentl]

I thopught that I'd give the show another chance after not watching most of the year.

I found out it's just like a soao opera; You can miss it for months, and catch up in one show.

I also found NOTHING new, it was the same old jokes from the same old characters, and a really dumb cliffhanger.

As usual it's my opinion only

Brent

 

[andrew markworthy]

Brent, for me that's part of the appeal. Friends is a comfortable show to watch - nobody is ever particularly nasty, problems get resolved, and there are enough one-liners to keep you amused. I.e. it's an escape from real life.

 

[Malcolm R]

Just because Courtney Cox and Matt LeBlanc were in Scream and Lost in Space respectively, does not imply they have or ever will have solid movie careers.

Exactly. I didn't say they would. I was simply replying to Larry who indicated that Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston were the only two that had movie success to date, when actually it is Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc who have arguably had the most popular success in movies.
If you go on to read my second paragraph, you'll find I'm in total agreement with you and Robert about Lisa Kudrow.

 

[Christopher P]

Yep, I agree Malcolm.
Lisa Kudrow has never really done anything for me in the way of Phoebe, it seems more or less like the silly, goofy stock sitcom character, similiar to the one potrayed by Betty White in Mary Tyler Moore and The Golden Girls. And to forget that this is a TV show for a second, it always seemed to me the other five would not identify with and relate to her very well due to her idiosyncracies. But that might be just what makes Pheobe endearing. Back on topic, I think Kudrow will be the only one of the 6 we will see branch out in any way from the character that has made her famous on thsi show.
Regardless, I'm sure our 6 "Friends" will not be desparately searching for employment after the series is over.
Chris
By the way...who knew Chandler's Dad, um, mom - er...the Kathleen Turner half of his parents is named, or at least her female persona is named Helena Handbasket?

 

[LarryDavenport]

They are also multi-millionares so won't have to work when the show is over. Both Kudrow and ANiston have shown talent when doing independant films.

 

[Graeme Clark]

I thought the finale was quite funny overall, and I must have missed a few seconds at the end there cause I never had the impression that Rachel agreed to marry Joey (not that I'm disagreeing with anyone).

I think the cliffhanger will not be dragged out at all. It'll last about as long as it takes Joey to say "No, no, no" or about as long as when Chandler first asked Monica to marry him because they had a fight.

And I agree that Kudrow is probably the best bet for a post Friends movie career. Romy and Michele might not have lit up the box office, but it does have something of a cult following, and Analyze This did very well and broke $100m at the box office.

The key might be to take some supporting roles, as none of the Friends have really proved that they're a box office draw.

 

[Larry Seno Jr.]

Does appearing in a movie constitute having a career post TV? The issue I have is that Matt Leblanc and Courtney Cox weren't the star of their respective hits (Although Matt Leblanc could be argued, Courtney Cox had a MINOR role in each film) whereas Matthew Perry was the DRAW of Fools Rush In, and The Whole Nine Yards. After furthur reflection Lisa Kudrow has been in a couple of chick flics, I hadn't thought of that when I wrote my earlier post. I think that David Schwimmer is DONE after friends, he is the only one whose sole film in which he was the lead flopped (The Pallbearer) the issue is that even when he is doing a presentable job of acting (Like in band of brothers, in which he was GREAT) he still looks and sounds like ross, and that's an issue that has pidgeonholed sitcom stars forever when they try to make the move to films. I found Jimmy Fallon in Band of Brothers less jarring than seeing Ross ERRR David Schwimmer. That says a lot because I can guarantee you that David Schwimmer can act circles around Jimmy Fallon.

 

[Malcolm R]

Courtney Cox had a MINOR role in each film

She gets top billing for each film (her name is third in the credits), her name and picture is on the print advertising and poster, and she appears in additional pictures on each of the video sleeves. Pretty good for a minor role, not to mention stretching it across three movies.
I agree that they're all going to have a hard time separating from their "Friends" personas, though. Every time I see one of them in a movie, I can't help but think their characters are just like Chandler, Phoebe, Rachel, etc., etc.

 

[LarryDavenport]

I wouldn't consider Clockwatchers or The Opposite of Sex chick flicks.

 

[Mark Lee]

From imdb.com:

The hospital bed where Friends character Rachel Green gave birth is proving to be a huge attraction for the ladies of New York. The city's St Vincent's Hospital has been inundated with hundreds of requests for the bed after Rachel, played by Jennifer Aniston, had her long-awaited baby there in a hit episode of the long-running show. A hospital spokesman reveals, "Most said they wanted to have their baby where Rachel had hers. They wanted to book her room." The gullible fans are so desperate to emulate their heroine that they don't realize the crucial scene was really filmed in a Los Angeles sound stage. Says one observer, "These women are not just having problems distinguishing between television and reality, they're having children. That's sort of frightening."