Old Friends


Since dropping DirecTv and going with the bunny ears our TV habits have changed considerably. A month ago when we were cooking we'd have an old episode of the The Office, Friends or How I Met Your Mother rolling in the background just for noise. Well since we don't have a Tivo stocked full of shows we now listen to the radio or nothing at all while in the kitchen. I can feel my brain detoxing.

About the only time we passively turn on the tube is just to mellow out is while we're getting ready for bed, and what is the only show we have as a complete series on DVD? Friends. This group of New Yorkers and I have a love-hate relationship. I used to loathe it's cartoon, girly relationship set-up, but then after Marieta and I got together and I watched it merely by being around her. Quickly I realized Chandler is hilarious and overtime I warmed up to the rest as well. Still, after years of watching it, and getting tired of the same stupid yucks-yucks, I started to hate it again. Today... it's coming back around.

No matter the show, I still think the only way to watch a program, is chronologically. I will drop shows that I really enjoy just because I fall behind two or three episodes; Rescue Me, Fringe, Heroes (no big loss there), etc. Now that we're watching Friends in order again, I'm re-realizing why it was such a hit  and not completely sophomoric.

Over the weekend I got to thinking about spin-offs, return specials and how the Friends audience would love to see the crew back on TV at least one more time. Maybe it will happen down the road but I think what would a completely game-changer of an idea would be a complete new series; Old Friends.

Here's how it works;

  1. In 2024 Friends will have been off the air for 20 years. The gang's kids will all have grown up and be in college, so the story is back to the six main characters.
  2. When the show ended everybody was in their mid-30s, so 20 years later the cast will all be in its mid-50s.
  3. Now most sitcoms are focused on younger characters because advertisers are looking for the "Key demographic" of 18-49 year-olds. Old Friends would obviously be geared to 40 and 50 year olds but this is a built in audience. The first season alone could possibly bring in NFL sized ratings.
  4. That audience will once again identify with the Old Friends situation. Kid issues, retirement concerns, medical issues...
Of course these actors may not want to return but we're not talking 2011, 13 years away! Do you think Jennifer Anniston will still be a hot rom-com commodity when she's 55? Absolutely not, in fact, she probably won't have much of a career, and considering the other five barely have careers now... I would say a return to making big TV money on a surefire show would be quite enticing.

Finally what makes this work is the show dynamic. Friends was about realistic people in their 20s and 30s dealing with issues everyone experiences, albeit in comedic settings. Seinfeld could come back but Jerry single in his 60s... how long would that keep an audience? Home Improvement returning, crash and burn. Frazer? Everybody Loves Raymond? God no. Friends had a cast people could identify with, and while Joey and Phoebe may have been the comic relief, the levity they provided never steered the show into parody.

I'm not a hardcore Friends fan holding out hope to see the crew poke around the Village one more time, but I do think Friends is the only show that could honestly pull off this concept. Every time I see a new Matthew Perry show start up I have high hopes, but in the end I would much rather have him cracking wise as Chandler Bing for another 10 years.


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