Friends

I never liked it either <"puts hand up meekly" emoticon>. There are only so many times you can say "as if" or "whatever" before it gets tiresome in my view

A friend once said that I have to "understand" the characters, to find it funny. Well IMO a comedy can't be that good if I have to psycho-analyse the characters to get laughs from them. After all you don't have to "understand" Basil Fawlty to find him hilarious.

Yes I know, I dislike Friends ; I'm a weirdo, freak, heretic. I shall exit now before I'm burned to the stake
<"rotting fruit whizzing past my ear" emoticon>

i absolutly love friends no matter how many times i watch it i still laugh at it. and the more times u watch an episode the more things you pic up on.

Exactly. Those who are saying that Friends "isn't funny" should maybe look at E4's daily figures.

I hate Friends, never got into it, never wanted to get into it, never related to the characters.

I still think its a shame "Britain's best loved comedy" Only Fools and Horses is no longer repeated on BBC1 but.....thats me. I mean, obviously it was being repeated far to often when Lorraine Heggessey was in charge but now...no sign of it at all. They should put that on instead of Just For Laughs thats for sure.

Anyway, sorry for hijacking the thread

To be fair, Friends isn't full of people saying "as if" and "whatever" all the time.

You don't have to understand the characters as such, but there is a story that is ongoing, unlike most British sitcoms where the story of one episode has relatively no connection to the previous and you can watch most of them independently without needing to know much background. With Friends, you get to know the character traits and past stories so that by the later epiosdes certain things are a lot funnier when you know them.

I think Friends was at its best around the end of the third series into the fourth.

Series 1998/1999 was probably my favourite. When Emily left it became less serious and the characters were fully developed.

Where was the yes or no around Monica and Chandler? It came out of nowhere, was completely unexpected, and never showed any signs of cracking.

I'm an avid Friends fan, although admittedly I don't bother watching the repeats as I have most of the DVDs.

I always find it interesting when British people criticise American sitcoms for simplicity or cheap laughs - British ones are much worse! Virtually all American sitcoms have characters which undergo development, proper serialised storylines which progress and give you a sense of being 'in' something, and moments of sad reflection from the characters built around the core of comedy, and the writing and production of the series itself shows development over time as they tweak and hone it - the characters come across as much more rounded and believable people and the situation is much more developed as a result.

Most British sitcoms don't have this - the entire format of the series is devised for the pilot, minor details are tweaked and the show is then cemented after a few episodes. The characters and situation are never fully developed, the episodes are a completely self contained pot of laughs with no storyline to speak of, and nothing bad can ever happen to them which can't be undone by the end of the episode - the result is that you can never really identify or care about the characters, and instead just watch a series of 'quick in, quick out' plots built around a set of catchphrases - Dad's Army, Rising Damp, Please Sir et al can be defended to the hilt all you like (I enjoy watching such series myself) - but it's true; they don't depict a fully developed situation or fully developed characters and the format never evolves and matures along with the series.

The only British sitcom I can think of which comes close to being an exception is One Foot in The Grave.

IMO British sitcom in general is more simplistic and more after cheap laughs than the average American series.

Me too! I love watching Friends! It's true, you can watch it, and watch it, and watch it and still would'nt get bored of it even the repeats over on E4 also!

I know .Hellfireisms are shocking. Not watched nickleodeon in ages. Is Sabriney still on overkill?

I think some people I getting a touch defensive about liking Friends ! Believe it or not, it is not to everyone's taste. I would agree the Friends's plot development is well done, but to me the script is witless and banal in my view .

I'm not saying "it isn't funny", I'm just saying " I personally don't find it funny" that's my opinion; and I'm quite entitled to it, viewing figures or otherwise!

I was indulging in hyperbole when I mentioned people on Friends say "whatever" and "as if" all the time, BTW.

Personally I find things like Coro much funnier, I don't think E4's repeat showing of Friends beats Coro's ratings somehow

I didn't mean you personally, or anyone else in this thread, but just in general. People seem to confirm things as fact.

OK, fair enough. I take your point <"white dove of peace and love flying your way" emoticon>