Jun 30, 2015

look, i know you're trying to assert your taste and intellect over your friends in freshman seminar, but let's tone it down a notch. friends is the product of lots of remarkably talented people, on both sides of the camera. doing dumb s--- like posting clips from a multi-cam show with its laugh track stripped prove that you're penalizing it because it doesn't fit your very narrow view of what a good tv show should be. it's like taking juvenile vocals, putting them over an oddisee beat, and saying, "see? he sucks!"

as @captain awesome said, yes, it's moderately well-off white people talking in new york. but seinfeld is this group of thirty-something misanthropes, the show is episodic, no hugging no learning, etc etc. friends is aspirational--twenty-somethings, highly serialized, all hugging, all learning. they might have superficial similarities, but they fill entirely different creative spaces.

 

Jun 27, 2015

We have Jen Fischer and Ellie Kemper and Rashida Jones tho.

 

Jun 26, 2015

Thanks

 

Jun 27, 2015

Btw, talking about s-----y shows. Does anyone think the Big b--- Theory is in the least bit funny? I can't get through 2 minutes of that terrible show and it's on all the time

 

Jun 30, 2015

Incorrect. Friends is definitely linked to the "rich white people sit around NYC talking" trend of the 90s, originated by Seinfeld, but there's so much talent in that cast, writing staff. It may have a mixed legacy (http://www.vox.com/2014/9/29/6857745/friends-ruined-TV) but it really is top notch for what it is.

You sometimes can track a show's impact, and perhaps, talent from the post-careers of its stars. Nearly every member of the Friends cast is out doing okay (Cox, Schwimmer, Perry) to great (Kudrow, Le Blanc) to high profile (Aniston) work. Ridiculous batting average that most the cast is still working, courting Emmy's and Oscar nods, etc.

 

Jun 27, 2015

how is this a question

office ofc

 

Jun 26, 2015

Loved both shows but what really helps me vote is the later season comparisons. All shows that are successful usually jump the shark at some point to milk every last penny. I feel like Friends was still watchable when it did and the Office was kind of unbearable towards the end, for me at least.

Seinfeld >>>>both

 

Jun 26, 2015

Friends is a "last resort if nothing's on" type of show. It's inoffensive. Some likeable characters.
The Office is a lot better written. Michael Scott >*

 

Jul 1, 2015

ok, you didn't address anything in my post except reinforcing the idea that you're dismissing multi-cams.

EDIT: addressing a few points...

the characters aren't "aliens." sure, there's schticky comedy, but they're distinct and very dynamic, human characters. if you had watched any consecutive run of episodes without dismissing the show out of hand, you'd know that.

deciding that one form of a medium is superior or inferior to another is pretty obviously misguided, especially when--as is the case here--those forms are associated with different eras. multi-cams were in fashion until the early 2000s.

seinfeld was a comedy lab. friends was about the relationships.

saying that the friends cast isn't talented is barely even worth refuting. it's just a thing you're being stubborn on, because you reject the show they're famous for on sight.

i know you fancy yourself some sort of film buff. what would you say to someone who says "black and white movies are boring and inferior to what came later"?

 

Jun 28, 2015

I judge shows on their primes and seasons 2-4 of the office are so much better than any season of friends that it almost seems offensive to put these two in the same discussion. the office>>>friends and it's not even really close.

 

Jun 27, 2015

Friends is closer to Two and a Half Men and Big b--- Theory than any decent comedy tbh.

 

Jun 27, 2015

The Office - Dwight!

 

Jun 27, 2015

 

Jun 27, 2015

I hate it. Awful show.

 

Jun 26, 2015

Please only vote if you've watched them both at all.


My 2 favorite comedy shows ever. Both had a great cast and great writers behind them. I'ma roll with The Office though, hard to beat that cast