Friends

So no one told you life was gonna be this way

I’ll be there for you (’Cause you’re there for me too)

These are the lines that pretty well captures the essence of this comedy series, it has been 1 of the top run away successes amongst sitcom comedies for the past 10 years. Based on the life of 6 friends living in Manhattan New York. The writers have gone thro a lot of pain to keep each of the characters unique in their own special way, and surprisingly there are no negative roles here. Most people would have thought that at least 1 person would be the bad guy considering there are six of them. Kudos to the cast selectors for assembling this ensemble, their onscreen chemistry is pretty smooth and beautiful.

My review is mostly based on what I have seen on Star World, unfortunately the channel is famous for giving a million reruns of the same serials expectually friends, and unlike Zee English its not that up-to-date like else where in the world. Any way I have done a bit of research of my own. Pls forgive me if some of the facts are wrong :) to err is human .

1) David Schwimmer - Ross Geller:

MY heart goes out to this lonely soul, an eternal loser in love, a very sweet level headed character (level headed to the point that love is not involved from that point on it?s a car crash). Looks like a shmuck though. Pretty well educated --> PhD in Paleontology, works for the local museum until he moves on(actually thrown out) to be a lecturer in the university. His personal life is in shambles, he had a crush on Rachel very early in his life unfortunately for both of them she never knew until she was 20 something. In the mean time Ross got married only to have the misfortune to find that his wife was a lesbian. Poor soul.

The topic of sexual preferences has been handled very sensitively. The new world has awakened :). Ross?s handling of this fiasco in his life is pretty understanding at that point but he slowly comes to terms with the situation. Then continues a string of short spanned crushes with a British girl, followed by his student. Somewhere along the way Rachael comes back to into his life but that?s short lived too, constant fights leads to break ups and patching ups.

Such a state is reached that we wonder if these 2 ever really and truly get married (I mean not under the influence of alcohol, if u know what I mean:)). Is it the case of nice guys finishes last? Is there a message in this character? I guess in the Indian versions of friends he would have finally have to have had an arranged marriage. But all said and done I feel really really, really reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally sorry for Ross.

2) Courteney Cox - Monica Geller

Monica is Ross?s sister. A chef by profession, the cleanliness/health/fitness freak. Overall a complete freak. A pretty wacko character. One of those people who could seem so calm like a ripple less water and when you least expect, do a complete tail spin. A bundle of nerves, a power house of energy. Like Ross she too has been in and out of relations her suitors are a pretty colorful bunch whether it was the millionaire who couldn?t quit since he has never seen failure in his life, or the guy who was old enough to be her dad. Finally she settles down for a fellow freak Chandler.Did I forget to tell you that plays a very dominating character.

3) Chandler -Matthew Perry):

Roomy of Joey. Wooer of Monica. The guy who specializes in 1 liner. Can be very funny at time and can be down right irritating at others. Basically a very confused high strung person like Monica I guess they were always meant for each other. Suffers from girl problems whether it is the awkward sounding Janice or joeys girl and finally settling for Monica. Professionally, he was pretty laid back kind of guy until some responsibilities came up on his bony shoulder. Amongst the cast of friends who are pretty closely knit, he is closest to Joey , true roomies , all about sacrifices/dedication blah bhah and more blah. Its proven in that episode where Chandler falls in love with Joeys girl and specially selects a beautiful gift for her so that Joey would look good in her eyes.

4)Joey Francis Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc):

With lovability and brawn comes the lack of brains( I wonder if its always that way). Unfortunately/ fortunately for him, he is so charming with his innocent looks and baby like wisdom he forces you to drop your guard. Roomy of Chandler. The guy who holds the group together. His raving good looks makes sure that he has no probs with girls, in later serials he grows up and looks more for commitment. And that?s when he joins the rest of the cast in the common grouping (’’Love Starved’’)

5) Rachel Karen Green (Jennifer Aniston):

The glamorous Rachel handles the ga ga gu gu character. Almost everyone in the serial has had a crush on her at one point or the other. Initially the roomy of Monica until Chandler moved in. She has a personality pretty contrasting to Monica and that sooner or later creates rifts between the 2 of them. She too suffers from bad relationships. The only difference is that this time , its really bad relationships, she is more of the material girl ( remember Madonna), she has a weaken for well built bodies (of course with out brains). All through the serial her chemistry/ or the lack of it with Ross continues. But the devoted puppy that Ross is always follows her around and tries to protect her when she is vulnerable.

6) Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow):

Phoebe is a reminder of the hippy generation, the flower child. Her thoughts , the images in her head are pretty much against normal rational thinking(but then who wants to be rational in a comedy serial), a go getter of whatever she tries for but then she doesn?t go for much. She plays a character fond of singing/writing her own songs at least she believes in her work although the cacophony that is created is thoroughly enjoyed by the group (what are friends for anyway :)) . Her best song by far was ’’Smelly Cat’’.

I guess the hopes for continuation of this brilliant serial is all about ended , come to think of it the characters were getting pretty old, Chandler was going bald and fat and joey was actually looking more serious( could it be the case of writers block??). Anyway good things come to an end, but then we always have reruns and ’’friends’’ is 1 serial that u can watch a million times and ur going to always laugh out the way u did the first time round. As I end this review spare a thought of how the closure has/will affect the life of the cast and crew that ate/slept ’’friends’’ for 10 years :)