Farewell, my 'Friends'
By Zenaida Serrano
Advertiser Staff Writer
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"It sucks," said the University of Hawai'i student, 22.
Come Thursday, Tomas and other devotees of NBC's No. 1 comedy have to say farewell to the six New York buddies after 10 memorable years of silly antics mixed in with marriages, divorces, births, and even deaths.
"It's definitely going to be hard," said Darrell Wilkerson, 23. "Any show that's been around for a long time ... it's hard to see go because you become attached to the characters over the years and connect with their lives."
Kara Johnson, 24, of Waipi'o, was one of more than a thousand fans who wrote to Gannett News Service's Best of "Friends" Web site:
"I love 'Friends!' It allows me to unwind, relax, and laugh!! I will miss it in my life! Thank goodness for re-runs and DVD's!" she wrote.
And the effects of life without "Friends" will likely be far-reaching.
Yael Chen, who moved to Hawai'i from Israel nearly three weeks ago, said new episodes of "Friends" air every Monday in Israel and reruns are broadcast every day.
"It's the biggest show there," Chen said. "That and 'Seinfeld' and 'Sex and the City.' "
Colombian Natalie Hogeboom, who now lives in Honolulu, has always loved "Friends," but thinks the show has reached its peak.
"I watch it all the time ... but I think it's time to be over," said Hogeboom, 18. "It's been a long time."
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"I was an avid watcher," said Yoshikane, 40. "I did really like the show, and I'm happy that it went on for so long, but I lost interest with all of the hype over the years."
The show can't possibly stay on forever, said Honolulu resident Diamond Carlson, 19.
"It's really funny and it brings smiles to people's faces, but they've had a long run," she said. "They've gotta age sometime."
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"It's sad to see it go, but it's nothing heart-breaking," she said.
Easy for Shu to say: The Niu Valley resident has already purchased the show's complete episodes of seasons 4, 5, 6 and 7 on DVD.
She doesn't plan to stop until she has all 10 in her possession.
Traci Fernandez of Salt Lake also plans to get her post-finale "Friends" fix via DVDs, and cost isn't a consideration.
"I'd like to be able to purchase the DVDs of all the seasons," said Fernandez, 34. "... It's definitely worth it."
Many fans are thinking ahead, searching for the next generation of Must-See TV to ease whatever withdrawals they may experience.
"I just have to start watching other shows," said 17-year-old Kathryn Collins, a junior at Kaimuki High School. " 'American Idol' probably has the most potential."
Both Shu and Yoshikane may turn to CBS' popular "Everybody Loves Raymond." If it's cast chemistry that brings a show up to par with "Friends," Wilkerson, of Waikiki, is betting on "Will & Grace" to step up to the plate.
Some say nothing on the air can even come close to what "Friends" has offered through the years.
But as the end nears, fanatics can only imagine where their favorite New Yorkers will be after another decade passes.
"Ross and Rachel are definitely getting back together," Shu imagined.
Collins is also optimistic.
"They'll probably be married," she said.
Tomas, of Waipahu, has her doubts about their flaky relationship.
"I think they're still going to be off and on," she said.
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"Maybe Rachel and Joey will get together," Hogeboom said.
Yoshikane doesn't see Ross as one to commit.
"He'll be married and divorced several more times," Yoshikane said.
As for Chandler and Monica, the answers were unanimous: The sweethearts will still be happily married, living in suburban New York and raising one, two, maybe three kids.
"But Monica will still be neurotic," Yoshikane said.
Regarding the show's lovable ditzy duo — Joey and Phoebe — the possibilities seem endless.
"I think ... (Phoebe) is going to come out with a record," Tomas said and laughed.
Joey will make it big as an actor after moving to Los Angeles, Tomas predicts.
But the fast-paced Hollywood scene will turn Joey into a party animal, encouraging his womanizing ways, Hogeboom said.
"Maybe him and Phoebe will get married," Yoshikane said. "They'll probably have kids who are geniuses."
Reach Zenaida Serrano at zserrano@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8174.
• • •
The one where we look back at their lives
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| "Friends" star Courteney Cox Arquette, shown here with husband, David Arquette, in "Scream 2," has a promising future.
Dimension Films On TV Thursday's two-hour series finale on KHNL kicks off at 7 p.m. with a one-hour show of classic-scene clips. The finale will be shown from 8 to 9 p.m. At 10:35 p.m., "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" will have the cast of "Friends" on as guests to reminisce about the sitcom. Where to find 'Friends' online The finale of "Friends" is only days away. Check out our Web site to vote for your favorite episode and get in on a chance to win daily and grand prizes such as "Friends" party packs and DVD boxed sets. You'll get to test your knowledge of "Friends" lingo, learn what's next for the cast members of the popular show and delve into the past to find out what Courteney Cox Arquette, Jennifer Aniston and the others were doing before finding their way to Central Perk. More sites: • NBC's "Friends" Web site. — Gannett News Service |
Rachel Green
Rachel styled her way to the top of the heap:
SHE IS: A sweetheart American princess, whose perfection inspired an "I Hate Rachel Green Club" in high school. Began unfinished journey toward independence and adulthood in the pilot episode, when the friends forced her to lose her father's credit cards and gain a backbone. Always managed to look fabulous and sport trendsetting hairstyles despite lack of capital. A heartbreaker for sure but a victim, too, of her own dithering, she's the It Girl who doesn't always get it — Daddy's little girl, almost grown up.
PLAYED BY: Jennifer Aniston.
WHY WE LOVE RACHEL: That hair, those eyes, that pout.
HIGHLIGHT: Tries to force an ex-sorority sister to admit they made out.
LOWLIGHT: Shows up at Ross' wedding to reveal her love for him, ruin event.
HOOKUPS: Paolo (Cosimo Fusco), the Italian hunk whose lips did the talking; ex-fiancé Barry (Mitchell Whitfield); mad screamer Tommy (Ben Stiller); customer-turned-beau Joshua (Tate Donovan); neighbor Danny (George Newbern); hunky older man Paul (Bruce Willis); assistant Tag (Eddie Cahill); co-worker Gavin (Dermot Mulroney) and, more than once and forever, Ross.
TEN YEARS FROM NOW: In 10th year of counseling with Ross, but still going strong. Executive vice president of a fashion house and grooming her daughter, Emma, for a design career — or law school.
Joey Tribbiani
Would Joey even realize if we were laughing at him, not with him?
HE IS: Broad-shouldered, wide-eyed and thick-headed. New York through and through, but with sugar on top. A lover, not a fighter, to which countless New York ladies can attest, while his steadiest partner was his apartment mate Chandler. A not-so-good actor who never has to play-act being a good guy or a better friend.
PLAYED BY: Matt LeBlanc, who says: "Joey is not ever sarcastic. It's not in his nature. Sometimes in the script he uses sarcasm, and I ask to adjust that."
WHY WE LOVE JOEY: No matter how much he may want to be an actor, the only role he can play is himself.
HIGHLIGHT: When Rachel wrongly thought he was proposing marriage — and she accepted.
LOWLIGHT: Getting his head stuck in the Thanksgiving turkey.
HOOKUPS: Honeys played by Kristin Davis, Elle Macpherson, Emily Procter, Brooke Shields and Aisha Tyler; Phoebe's identical twin, Ursula; Kate, his leading lady in a play; and his dry-cleaner's wife.
TEN YEARS FROM NOW: After landing a hit TV series, Joey will enjoy huge success through its 2013-14 season, when he will decide to return to his first love, the thea-tuh — spurring a lot of sentimental farewell press coverage as his series nears its end.
Monica Geller Bing
Who knew her vacuum cleaner would suck Chandler into her orbit?
SHE IS: A chef-foodie, before it was really cool and after trimming down from high-school fatty. That's the kind of boldness Monica can muster despite neuroses that cling to her like plastic wrap. When this neat freak has a Hoover in hand, watch out. But she's a steady soul and a good sister to Ross, friend to all and helped Chandler affirm his heterosexual appeal and, maybe, maturity.
PLAYED BY: Courteney Cox Arquette.
WHY WE LOVE MONICA: She's the high school outcast who made good — and who would never let us go hungry.
HIGHLIGHT: Becomes a roller-skating waitress at a '50s diner.
LOWLIGHT: Oops, she did it by mistake: bedded a 17-year-old boy.
HOOKUPS: Fun Bobby (Vincent Ventresca), who was not much fun when sober; a millionaire-with-a-wild streak (Jon Favreau); a hunky older man (Tom Selleck); and Chandler.
TEN YEARS FROM NOW: Living in the 'burbs with Chandler and their kids, putting the other moms to shame at PTA bake sales — and a mini-mogul with her healthy snack line, Monica's Munchies.
Chandler Bing
Ah, Chandler, that whipsmart guy hard-pressed to find the fast track on his personal roadmap.
HE IS: So smart — so why isn't he rich? Or even a hit with the ladies? Tough luck for Chandler, fated to make do with rapier-sharp zingers guarding his sensitive psyche and many insecurities. He spent much of the "Friends" run overqualified at work (whatever it was he did in that office) and underqualified in the bedroom (at least judging by his self-deprecating wisecracks). But Monica became his wife.
PLAYED BY: Matthew Perry, who says: "In the pilot, literally nothing happened to Chandler. But he sat there and watched things happen to other people, and commented on them. ... I thought to myself, this is a fascinating, funny guy even when NOTHING is happening to him."
WHY WE LOVE CHANDLER: He inspires every one-liner-spinning case of arrested development: You, too, can find happiness and love with a beautiful girl.
HIGHLIGHT: When he invented a betting game he could lose while playing with Joey, so he could give his cash-strapped friend money.
LOWLIGHT: When he stumbled naked in a steam room and landed in the lap of his nude future father-in-law.
HOOKUPS: Other than his eventual lovemate Monica, there's Janice, his awful former girlfriend who keeps returning like a rash; Victoria's Secret model Jill Goodacre, with whom he was trapped in an ATM booth during a blackout; and Julia Roberts played an former fourth-grade schoolmate with a score to settle. He clicked with one of Joey's eight sisters. And he fell in love with Kathy — but so did Joey.
TEN YEARS FROM NOW: Happily married with Monica and a couple of kids up in Westchester. Contented in the suburbs, he will wonder, every now and then, if the Central Perk is still in business.
Phoebe Buffay
What will we do without Phoebe to massage our funny bones?
SHE IS: A hippie chick a few decades after Woodstock. And she's been on some bad trips: Her mother killed herself, her stepfather went to prison, she lived on the streets. But o-bla-di, o-bla-da, life goes on, and no one knows better than Phoebe. Or sings about it worse, in her oddball, out-of-key folk songs. Phoebe is sweet, big-hearted, liberated and uncensored. She's wispy but tough as nails.
PLAYED BY: Lisa Kudrow.
WHY WE LOVE PHOEBE: She keeps the '60s alive!
HIGHLIGHT: Scores a $7,000 settlement after finding a thumb in her soda can.
LOWLIGHT: Composes and performs the song "Smelly Cat."
HOOKUPS: Characters played by Hank Azaria, Alec Baldwin; Chris Isaak, Sean Penn, Michael Rapaport, Charlie Sheen, and Fisher Stevens. Plus Robert, whose gym shorts were way too short. And eventual husband Mike.
TEN YEARS FROM NOW: Through a crazy succession of events we won't get into here, Phoebe will enter "American Idol" and move on to the finals. Then, one memorable night, she unexpectedly sings one of her own weird songs. She is scratched from the competition, and the FCC, deciding her lyrics are obscene, sues the Fox network for millions. Phoebe returns to Greenwich Village, hanging out as a sidewalk musician.
Ross Geller
It's been 10 years since the pitiful paleontologist Ross stumbled into our lives.
ROSS IS: The very model of an intellectual geek. A smarty who's expert in his field — paleontology — but flubs everything else. Goes to a hockey game, takes a puck in the face. Goes to a funeral, falls into an open grave. Tries to find love and tumbles into three divorces. No surprise there, since Rachel has owned his heart since high school. Fools rush in, and so does this wise man. The professor and the princess, living happily ever after? At least Ross will always have his dinosaurs — and his hair.
PLAYED BY: David Schwimmer, who says: "Ross still echoes what I was in high school. I think of Ross as sort of a geek in a man's body."
WHY WE LOVE ROSS: Trips and falls over his love for Rachel. Trips and falls again. Keeps getting back up.
HIGHLIGHT: Puts aside his pain over losing his first wife to another woman and agrees to give her away in marriage when her father won't.
LOWLIGHT: Struggles mightily to get into a pair of tight, sweaty leather pants.
HOOKUPS: Unexpectedly, a host of lovelies played by Lauren Tom, Morgan Fairchild, Christine Taylor, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Helen Baxendale, Alexandra Holden, Bonnie Somerville, Aisha Tyler and, more than once and forever, Rachel. Platonic but heartfelt relationship with Marcel the monkey.
TEN YEARS FROM NOW: Promoted to museum director after writing a breakthrough book on the mating practices of dinosaurs, widely available on bookstore remainder tables. Still has a teenage crush on Rachel, after all these years.
— Lynn Elber and Frazier Moore, Associated Press
• • •
Reruns, spinoff ensure 'Friends' frenzy
In the TV world no one — except Johnny Carson maybe — disappears forever. So "Friends" and its stars will still be around in syndication.
The show itself has eternal life. One star (Matt LeBlanc) and his character will be back this fall in the spinoff "Joey."
And the other five? What will they be doing in, say, 10 years.
"Who knows?" says Lisa Kudrow. "I'm not getting younger."
She's joking, we think. The actors range in age from 34 (Matthew Perry) to 40 (Kudrow); all have promising futures.
"We've been given this great gift here ... where we don't have to do — hopefully — crappy movies," says Matthew Perry.
But that hasn't stopped them from making their fair share of crappy movies. Few people saw LeBlanc with a baseball-playing monkey ("Ed") or Kudrow as a rap mogul ("Marci X").
Still, they've already had some movie success. Here's a roundup of the show and its people.
On NBC: After its last new episode Thursday, "Friends" still will have reruns lingering on NBC until fall. Then "Joey" takes over.
That show will follow the "Frasier" plan — one character moves West for a new job and a new life. In this case, it's soap star Joey Tribbiani, played by LeBlanc.
David Schwimmer already has been listed as one of the show's directors and says he hopes his character (Ross Geller) will visit occasionally. "Any chance to work with any of these people again, I'd jump at it," he says.
On stations: The syndicated reruns have a long life span. They're being shown on 253 stations, reaching 99 percent of the country; that ties "Oprah" for most outlets.
In a highly competitive sweeps week (ending Feb. 15), a typical "Friends" rerun was seen in 6.2 percent of TV homes. That was fifth among all shows sold to stations; among comedy reruns, it trailed only "Seinfeld" (6.7), topping "Everybody Loves Raymond" (5.8), "That '70s Show" (4.0), "Will & Grace" (3.6) and more.
For fans, that's good news. As long as ratings hold up, "Friends" reruns will get key time slots.
Elsewhere: On cable, TBS has a multiyear deal with the show.
Then there's videotape and more. The DVD sets are through the seventh season with three more to go.
Producers: One of the three, Kevin Bright, will work with "Joey." Marta Kauffman and David Crane haven't announced plans.
"We're tired," Crane jokes. "We both feel like we're ready for a nap."
The actors: Even while "Friends" was being made, several actors became part of movie series.
Courteney Cox Arquette did three "Scream" films and is pregnant with her first child with husband, David Arquette. In addition to co-producing WE's interior design show "Mix it Up" with Arquette, where's she's also a design consultant, she's starring in "November" due later this year. LeBlanc had small roles in two "Charlie's Angels" films. Kudrow starred in "Wonderland," and starred in "Analyze This" and "Analyze That" with Billy Crystal. She's also set to star in two upcoming films, "Living and Breathing," and "Happy Ending." Perry starred in "The Whole Nine Yards" and stars in this year's sequel, "The Whole Ten Yards."
Even though all of the "Friends" stars have announced new movies, that doesn't mean the films will be made or shown. The best hints come from their past projects.
Hollywood has wanted to simply put them in romantic comedies. The results — Perry with Salma Hayek in "Fools Rush In" or Schwimmer with Gwyneth Paltrow in "The Pallbearer" — have been adequate.
Only Jennifer Aniston has had a steady flow of commercial roles. She was in support in the Jim Carrey hit "Bruce Almighty" and starred in "Picture Perfect," "The Object of My Affection" and "Along Came Polly."
Aniston also drew praise for a serious role in "The Good Girl." Schwimmer was dead-serious in "Apt Pupil," HBO's "Band of Brothers" and NBC's "Uprising." He's also set to voice next year's animated "Madagascar" with Chris Rock. Perry has starred in a few "West Wing" episodes.
"I've had a little bit of experience recently doing dramatic work that has been very moving to me," Perry says.
Aniston says it's best not to predict anything. "(Life) has always worked out a little bit better for me if I don't think ahead," she says.
— Mike Hughes, Gannett News Service
• • •
Language of 'Friends' here to stay
Saying goodbye to our "Friends" after a decade is not easy. The very idea of a Must-See Thursday night without Joey and Ross and Rachel is almost too much to bear.
Not only are we left with an endless supply of reruns, "Friends" also leaves us with an altered lexicon. Here's what the gang at Central Perk have added to our pop-culture language:
"Going commando"
Ross invites the gang to attend a speech he is giving, but no one is ready on time. In fact, Joey and Chandler are too busy fighting over a chair to get dressed. That is, until Joey decides to put on all of Chandler's clothes at once — except for his underwear.
"Going Monica"
What can you say about a woman so obsessed with cleanliness and organization she drives her friends to distraction? Monica is also supercompetitive, even with herself (remember her challenge to outdo her own Thanksgiving dinner from the year before?) In one episode, Phoebe warns her not to "get all Monica" about it.
"The Break"
After Ross had problems adjusting to Rachel's busy new career, the couple agrees to "take a break," at the suggestion of Rachel and to the reluctance of a still-smitten Ross. But the rules of this "break" are never clear to Ross, who promptly drowns his sorrows and sleeps with the cute Xerox girl at the copy store. "The Break" will be referred to (mostly by Ross, as in "WE WERE ON A BREAK!") for then on.
"The List'
Are there certain people so out of our league, that, should we happen to get the unthinkable opportunity to sleep with them, our partners should let us? Bored one day at the coffee shop, Ross is asked to make "The List" of his top five choices.
Unfortunately, he laminates his list just after deleting Isabella Rossellini, who promptly walks into Central Perk. Die-hard fans know there is another episode also involves a list Ross makes, this time of the pros and cons of choosing Rachel over his new girlfriend, Julie. In both cases, "The Lists" haunt Ross.
"Lobsters"
The gang is watching a video from Monica and Rachel's high school prom night. When Rachel's date is believed to be a no-show, Ross steps in and offers to take her. "See," Phoebe says, "She's his lobster. ... It's a known fact that lobsters fall in love and mate for life. ... You can actually see old lobster couples walking around their tank, you know, holding claws..." Is Rachel really Ross' lobster? We find out Thursday.
— Tammy Paolino, Gannett News Service
