“It was not just the end of a series. It was the end of 10 years of relationships. I mean, we were really, really proud of the show, but like anything good, it’s sad when it’s over.”
It was a series most of us would have discovered in our college days or late school days, and it was probably the first straight English series sitcom that we would have ever watched in our lives. Back then, we did not know how it was going to transform our lives because it was “just a TV show” for us then, but now after all these years, you think back to that time when your friend suggested this show and would you have dismissed it as “just a show about six friends who ramble about their pity lives”, my friend, it would have been the biggest regret of your life. Thankfully, that was not my case, and for people who have been in this situation, I am hoping that you had watched the show sooner or later, and you found your peace with it.
Just like how our first relationship defines the true feeling of love, the true feeling of enjoying a sitcom is defined by this show. We loved and lived with the characters. Every now and then we randomly watch the show on TV and laugh out exactly the same amount as we did the first time, and that’s only because we do not really see them as just people on a certain show, but we actually see them as our real friends. We have related to so much that was on the show – the love, the relationships, the fights, but most important of all, how they stood for each other for all those years through thick and thin. Every character on the show goes through a lean patch on the show (and in their real lives too) and they made sure that they were with them during the tough times. And, I am sure they were by their side in their real lives too. The show was an outright submission that friends are really your family during the times when you are away from your own.
After all these years, when you watch this Reunion episode, though it was “unscripted”, we see a lot of characteristics of their respective character in them even now. I am not sure if it was the characters that resembled their real self, or the characters added a lot of perspective into their real lives in those 10 years, but I think it is a fair bit of both, that the actors and their respective characters could not be separated from each other, and that the actors evolved and grew along with their characters. The genius of the show’s producers was to just let things take their due course during the production process. Looks like they themselves were organically discovering the characters’ characteristics along with the actors, and that made the whole thing such a grounded, realistic one, which the show’s producers wouldn’t have imagined it to be this way in the very first place.
It is hard to imagine how emotional the whole journey would have been for every single one of them involved in the show. The six lead actors and the producers would have been the worst hit emotionally after the final cut, but if you had watched closely in the Reunion episode, even the person who said “take” for the last time for the last episode looked to be emotionally drained as well. How important it would have been for the show’s behind-the-scene artists which gave them a livelihood. They can be proud of themselves for being a part of such a great show, and they would tell their kids and grandkids about their work.
“It was life-changing, and it forever will be. Not just for us, but for people who watch it. And that’s just such a great feeling to carry forever. I am really thankful, and I love you guys so much.”
It is just heartwarming to even know that someone somewhere in this world is watching the show (or a random episode) right now and is feeling a lot better than how he/she was before watching it, and that is the kind of positivity the world needs right now. And, to that someone, in some part of the world, who is just discovering the show right now, kid (or adult), I say to you, that you are going to have the best time of your life, and you will be forever indebted to the show for being there for you whenever in dire need.
It is not shocking to know that a lot of shows get canceled after the pilot or first few episodes, but the fans all around the world would be really glad that NBC really saw something in this show and they kept holding on to it so dearly that eventually, it turned out to be this massive phenomenon that changed the television viewing forever. There may have been sitcoms and shows before and after FRIENDS, but I don’t think none of it would even come close to the realistic depiction of lives of people in their mid-twenties, taking their first steps into their career, and into their lives.
So, no one told you life was gonna be this way (clap clap clap)
Your job’s a joke, you’re broke, your love life’s D.O.A.
It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear
When it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, but
I’ll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I’ll be there for you
Like I’ve been there before
I’ll be there for you
‘Cause you’re there for me too.
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