Shut Up And Listen 164

The One With The Shitty Column

Here it is, yet another piece of writing, however small and insignificant it is, on Friends. If you're like me, you're probably sick of that shit about a fucking sitcom, but fuck, I never got to write a column on Seinfeld, so I get to write on the next best thing. Or what's as close to the next best thing.

I'll be honest when I say that I won't be missing the show. The quality went down years ago and never really recovered. I've been basically watching it just to see what happened next. Try watching those first few seasons and then what came later. It's no comparison between the early years and the latter. But I still watched and now it's over.

A week before the last episode, I saw the most superficial bio on the show. It was a side of the show that seemed to be very important to the people talking about it, but to me, I just never saw. They literally spent three quarters of the hour just talking about fashion bullshit, so-called trends, and the celebrity lives of the stars. I could not believe how much they talked about the clothes that were worn on the show over the years. How they'd have people who saw shit on the show and would go out and buy it the next day. Or how women wore their hair like Jennifer Aniston's. Did anybody see this little superficial world when it came to the show or was I just stuck in my own little private world where it was just about what happened in the show?

Me, I'm the kind of guy who's not ashamed to admit that I cared a lot about what was going on in that show. Some may think that's stupid, but I did. Just like I care a lot about what happens to characters in movies or novels I really enjoy. For a good period of time, I cared a lot about the whole Ross and Rachel thing. I mean, I still get goose bumps from when they kiss after the prom video. That's sappy and all that, but fuck it, when they kiss there, that's just about the sweetest fucking thing ever. And when they broke up, that nearly ripped my heart out. To some people, this show may have been some big hip thing where you got to see the latest fashion trends and found out some new ways to copy celebrities, but to me, it was a funny show that over time had me caring about the characters.

The thing I don't like is that a lot of people dismiss shows like Friends because they are sitcoms and because some people treat it as a "cool thing" to watch. It's just as legitimate an art form as a novel, a movie or any other respected form. I don't think I'll understand what's so bad about sitcoms in some people's eyes. I love the form and Friends was a damn good sitcom in its day. Maybe the quality went down over the years, and the last episode was sappy as hell, but in an overall sense, the show was a big thing. I won't miss it, but that's because I don't see myself not watching it anytime in the future.