Friends has always been one of those shows that I have constantly seen on TV but always flipped past. It never really sounded interesting to me. The title “Friends” just sounds boring.

The show was recently put on Netflix and that sparked conversation here at Elder with the quality of the show. I had only heard good things so I decided to give it a try. It is safe to say I was not disappointed.

The show was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman. It ran for 10 seasons from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004. The series was nominated for 62 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning six. Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow were the only main cast members to win an Emmy, while Courtney Cox was the only actor not to be nominated. The series won the 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, with nominations in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2003.

The series also won an American Comedy Award, one GLAAD Media Award, one Golden Globe Award, three Logie Awards, six People’s Choice Awards, one Satellite Award, and one Screen Actors Guild Award.
The show sparked successful careers for most of the actors, especially Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston. One of the stars, Matt LeBlanc even got his own spinoff series which lasted for a few seasons.
At first the show was criticized for not being a good replacement to the show Seinfeld. Friends took over the Thursday night time slot and was considered worthy after a couple seasons.
Overall synopsis:

The show takes place following the lives of six friends: Chandler, Joey, Ross, Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe over the course of ten years, in New York City. The characters are close and subsequently fall in and out of love as well as change roommates constantly. They spend most of their days battling small life problems and hang in out at either Monica’s apartment or their favorite coffee house “Central Perk.”
The friends age from their mid-twenties into their thirties during the show. Many viewers aged along with the cast and fell a connection to the show, as if the viewer and the cast could actually be friends in real life. This connection also lead to a sense of growing up and closure when the show ended.
Friends stacks up well to other headline sitcoms on Netflix. Its humor comes from the awkward situations the friends are put in. Their off stage chemistry really translates well to the relationships they portray on screen.
Junior Sam Barsan stated, “You can really tell that all the cast likes one another. They work so well off each other, unlike in other sit-coms where you can clearly tell the cast is their just to act and not hang out.”
The other great thing about the show is the amazing casting. The process for casting was very long and many people tried out for the show such as Hank Azaria. He first auditioned for the role of Joey Tribiani, and he apparently wanted the role so much that he auditioned twice after being rejected the first time. Another famous actor who was turned down was Jon Favreau for the role of Chandler.
“When I pictured a Phoebe or Monica I pictured them as the actors who were cast perfectly for that role. They got the casting down to a tee. And Jennifer Aniston is hot,” said Junior Brandon Meyer.
I have no gripes with the show. They molded my mind to feel like one of the guys and when the series ended I was equally sad and happy for their futures. I was as much involved in this show as a person can be in sit-com. It’s not as good as my favorite show of all time The Office, but it’s a close second.