80: Friends: Ross Gellar (David Schwimmer)
The second of the three entrants from Friends (and you already know who the final one is, don’t you?) is a perhaps controversial entry into this list because it means we won’t see Joey or Phoebe or Monica or any of the other characters cropping up. Why choose Ross over the others? Well, it was because of the six characters, Ross was the only one who remained believable. Granted, we all know in real life Rachel would never have gone for him, but that aside Ross kept his character throughout the infinite series of Friends aired, without dipping into caricature. A big dork, Ross could always raise a smile with his endless obsessions, and fascination with the dullest of things. And he was funny, too! Often the butt of the joke, Ross could nevertheless hold his own and hit back when ripped by his friends. And the sight of him playing keyboard is funny, even now.
79: Alias: Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner)
She of the many wigs and costumes, which thankfully always somehow managed to show off Jennifer’s fabulous legs, for which we thank the costume department. Sydney started off the show as a female spy working as a double agent in a devious agency run by the evil Arvin Sloane (and we mean, EVIL). She was tormented endlessly by the writers, who killed off his fiancé in the first episode and then made things go downhill for her, because obviously she hasn’t suffered enough! Her best friend was killed, her love interest and CIA handler Michael was seemingly killed several times, and she herself was close to death on more than one occasion. Yet she always pulled through, and was the ultimate in girl power! Well, until series 4, when the show dipped dramatically in quality. But we’ll always have those first three seasons…
78: Angel: Spike (James Marsters)
Shock! Spike is wayyyyy down on the list! How can this be? Well, in a chart that doesn’t have room for Fred or Cordelia, really Spike can think himself lucky to be here at all. Killed off at the end of Buffy’s TV run, he was unceremoniously (and accidentally) resurrected by Angel during the first episode of the next season as a ghost, who was hilariously bound to follow Angel wherever he went, which naturally caused friction between the two vampires, who had hated each other for a very long time. He eventually got form back, and joined the team, somewhat reluctantly. He undermined Angel at every turn, with his caustic comments hitting home often, causing great verbal exchanges between the two. When we last saw Spike he was still alive, but facing down an army of demons. Did he survive to fight another day? You’ll have to read the comics to find out.
77: Blackadder: Queen Elizabeth I (Miranda Richardson)
“Queenie”, as she was always called, was not the glorious leader we knew from the history books, Blackadder showed us, but in actual fact a spoilt child who delighted in chopping off people’s heads for no real reason. She took childish delight in her “favourites”, who included Walter Raleigh, and Blackadder spent the series attempting to win her favour so she would marry him. Aided by her two advisors Melchett (a gloriously grovelling Stephen Fry) and her nurse… Nursie, she was a voice of insanity in the series, going way OTT whenever she wanted to, with her tantrums aimed at anyone who annoyed her. She was a brilliant character, hilariously silly and pointless, and it’s a shame we never got more of her.
76: Heroes: Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka)
One of the most recent TV shows to grip America has been Heroes, and of all the characters Hiro is almost certainly the most loved. As the only cast member to embrace his powers from the start, his enthusiasm in his quest to save the world was endearing, and his relationship with best friend Ando was touching. Yet Hiro wasn’t a slacker, he was always faithful in his quest, and throughout the series had several of the best moments (the storyline where he tries to save the waitress who liked him from dying was the most heartbreaking thing). His ability to flash forward meant that he was the hero with the most knowledge of the chain of events that would lead to the ‘exploding man’ which would destroy New York, and it was impossible not to root for him as he tried to stop it from happening.
Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts
Monday, 29 September 2008
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
The Ten Most Ill Advised TV Couples, Part 1
1: "Jachel" – Joey and Rachel, Friends.
Nobody can quite tell when it was that Friends became a ridiculous parody of everything that comedy stands for, but it most likely happened when we first saw Monica in a fat suit. Not much ever came close to topping that one moment of character-assassination, but the Friends writers did their hardest as the series continued, ending up in one of the last seasons with the idea of hooking up Joey and Rachel. As anyone who watched the show knows, this is ludicrously sacrilegious for three reasons: Rachel; belongs with Ross, Joey belongs with Phoebe, and there is absolutely no reason why the two characters would ever fancy each other. At this point in the show Joey was essentially the only character remaining who nobody particularly wanted to beat with a plank of wood covered in acidic stag beetles, so to take him and hook him up with the whiniest and most pathetic of the main cast (at this point Monica and Ross were barely recognisable as people anymore, Chandler was whipped, and Lisa Kudrow looked bored to be there) was not perhaps the best move. Friends had a lot of good-will going towards it though, so it managed to ride out the bumpy last nine seasons and make it to a proper finale. As a pairing, the couple would only ever talk about how awkward and weird they found dating all the time – when they weren’t crying at each other, that is – and it seriously didn’t make good television for anyone. And then, when they thankfully split up, Phoebe was with another guy: Paul Rudd. Nobody can compete with Paul Rudd! Joey never got the girl, and the show was ruined forever.
2: "Mita" – Michael and Rita, Arrested Development
Arrested Development is firmly thought of as one of the best comedies ever made, an array of in-jokes that follow one after another and range from the sublimely ridiculous to the sublimely… just witty. If anyone ever recommends the show to you, though, they’ll almost certainly warn you about the third series, which starts with a long story featuring Rita, played by Charlize Theron. Michael, the main character, meets this British girl by accident and then continues to see her for a number of episodes. They start to date, and then spanners get thrown in the works, hurdles are introduced, and so forth. Nothing wrong with that – until you realise that Rita is mentally retarded. Yeah, for the first half of the series the main joke is that Michael doesn’t realise his new British girlfriend is a retard, and we all laugh along at that. We don’t care about the angle of mental deficiency – idiots need love too – but the way the show worked previously didn’t really allow for this level of humour. Poking fun at Michael way usually a subtle process that the show took great pains to hide. Here, the jokes were completely obvious, aimed at a mass-audience who were never going to watch the show (it was witty, and such shows do not last long) and it completely spoilt everything. By stalling with this relationship, the show needed to put on serious steam in order to catch up with itself and provide us with a decent finale. Thankfully, it did. And at least Charlize Theron was hot, which was distracting enough for us not to care (even women fancy The Theron).
Nobody can quite tell when it was that Friends became a ridiculous parody of everything that comedy stands for, but it most likely happened when we first saw Monica in a fat suit. Not much ever came close to topping that one moment of character-assassination, but the Friends writers did their hardest as the series continued, ending up in one of the last seasons with the idea of hooking up Joey and Rachel. As anyone who watched the show knows, this is ludicrously sacrilegious for three reasons: Rachel; belongs with Ross, Joey belongs with Phoebe, and there is absolutely no reason why the two characters would ever fancy each other. At this point in the show Joey was essentially the only character remaining who nobody particularly wanted to beat with a plank of wood covered in acidic stag beetles, so to take him and hook him up with the whiniest and most pathetic of the main cast (at this point Monica and Ross were barely recognisable as people anymore, Chandler was whipped, and Lisa Kudrow looked bored to be there) was not perhaps the best move. Friends had a lot of good-will going towards it though, so it managed to ride out the bumpy last nine seasons and make it to a proper finale. As a pairing, the couple would only ever talk about how awkward and weird they found dating all the time – when they weren’t crying at each other, that is – and it seriously didn’t make good television for anyone. And then, when they thankfully split up, Phoebe was with another guy: Paul Rudd. Nobody can compete with Paul Rudd! Joey never got the girl, and the show was ruined forever.
2: "Mita" – Michael and Rita, Arrested Development
Arrested Development is firmly thought of as one of the best comedies ever made, an array of in-jokes that follow one after another and range from the sublimely ridiculous to the sublimely… just witty. If anyone ever recommends the show to you, though, they’ll almost certainly warn you about the third series, which starts with a long story featuring Rita, played by Charlize Theron. Michael, the main character, meets this British girl by accident and then continues to see her for a number of episodes. They start to date, and then spanners get thrown in the works, hurdles are introduced, and so forth. Nothing wrong with that – until you realise that Rita is mentally retarded. Yeah, for the first half of the series the main joke is that Michael doesn’t realise his new British girlfriend is a retard, and we all laugh along at that. We don’t care about the angle of mental deficiency – idiots need love too – but the way the show worked previously didn’t really allow for this level of humour. Poking fun at Michael way usually a subtle process that the show took great pains to hide. Here, the jokes were completely obvious, aimed at a mass-audience who were never going to watch the show (it was witty, and such shows do not last long) and it completely spoilt everything. By stalling with this relationship, the show needed to put on serious steam in order to catch up with itself and provide us with a decent finale. Thankfully, it did. And at least Charlize Theron was hot, which was distracting enough for us not to care (even women fancy The Theron).
Saturday, 14 June 2008
The 100 Greatest TV Show Characters Of All Time
100: Friends: Janice (Maggie Wheeler)
We start the list with one of the supporting cast from the most popular comedy series of all time. Introduced early on, Janice was a recurring girlfriend for Chandler, who was nice in all regards except for her voice. And her laugh. She is the one who is single-handedly responsible for the popularity of the phrase “Oh. My. God”. She wasn’t around as often as the other characters, which may be why we loved her so much; and it was a cool payoff at the end when we found out her eventual husband, who had seemed strangely tolerant of her horsey laugh, was actually partially deaf. Genius.
99: Father Ted: Noel Furlong (Graham Norton)
Another recurring character, the fact that we only ever saw Noel three times in the entirety of the series proves just how memorable he was. Played by the gay Graham Norton with a knowing wink, Noel was a hopelessly energetic soul, ever optimistic and always happy to sing campfire songs. He was so upbeat he would drive anyone in close contact with him into insanity – so where did Ted meet him? In a caravan, or in a cave, in which he was eventually trapped after causing a cave-in from shouting too excitedly. A fitting end, for such a manic character.
98: Mr Bean: Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson)
Rowan Atkinson is a master at pronouncing words in special ways so that they sound funny. So what could have been more natural than taking on a new character who never spoke? Although it seemed a stretch, Atkinson managed to take on this new challenge, playing a man who was essentially a babbling idiot, and make it funny. Highly accident-prone, Bean was able to cause chaos in whatever situation he was in, whether he was in a nursing home or a theme-park or anywhere, you knew that come the end of the episode, Bean would have wormed his way into an impossible situation with no way out. And due to Atkinson’s rubber face, you’d know that it was going to be funny.
97: The American Office: Jim Halpert (John Krazinski)
The first of two characters from the American Office to make the list, it’s interesting to note that there are no characters from the English Office, which this show was based on, present in the list. So how come Jim makes it whilst Tim does not? Because Jim is much more likeable as a person, funnier, and more personable. Ricky Gervais writes excruciating comedy like no other, but the American Office took the central conceit of the show and made it honestly FUNNY. And Jim is probably the funniest character of the bunch, with his incessant pranks on office nerd Dwight, including sticking his stationary and wallet in a vending machine and handing him a bag of pennies to buy them back. However it was his relationship with Pam which most struck audiences, a genuine will they/won’t they situation where they really could end up apart at the end.
96: Extras: Darren Lamb (Stephen Merchant)
Speaking of Ricky Gervais, this is the only character from either of his shows to make it onto the list, and it’s the one played by Stephen Merchant. Bad luck Ricky, but Merchant plays the role of seedy yet useless Showbiz Agent Darren Lamb with relish, leaping headfirst into situations and showing time and time again how inept he is for the job; whether it be consistently failing to see anything his actors had been in, to booking poor guest spots for his people to work in. When he brings in “Barry”, every scene they have together is comedic gold, as Lamb is totally unable to realise that the character and the actor are separate people. It's a shame he wasn't in The Office more often.
We start the list with one of the supporting cast from the most popular comedy series of all time. Introduced early on, Janice was a recurring girlfriend for Chandler, who was nice in all regards except for her voice. And her laugh. She is the one who is single-handedly responsible for the popularity of the phrase “Oh. My. God”. She wasn’t around as often as the other characters, which may be why we loved her so much; and it was a cool payoff at the end when we found out her eventual husband, who had seemed strangely tolerant of her horsey laugh, was actually partially deaf. Genius.
99: Father Ted: Noel Furlong (Graham Norton)
Another recurring character, the fact that we only ever saw Noel three times in the entirety of the series proves just how memorable he was. Played by the gay Graham Norton with a knowing wink, Noel was a hopelessly energetic soul, ever optimistic and always happy to sing campfire songs. He was so upbeat he would drive anyone in close contact with him into insanity – so where did Ted meet him? In a caravan, or in a cave, in which he was eventually trapped after causing a cave-in from shouting too excitedly. A fitting end, for such a manic character.
98: Mr Bean: Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson)
Rowan Atkinson is a master at pronouncing words in special ways so that they sound funny. So what could have been more natural than taking on a new character who never spoke? Although it seemed a stretch, Atkinson managed to take on this new challenge, playing a man who was essentially a babbling idiot, and make it funny. Highly accident-prone, Bean was able to cause chaos in whatever situation he was in, whether he was in a nursing home or a theme-park or anywhere, you knew that come the end of the episode, Bean would have wormed his way into an impossible situation with no way out. And due to Atkinson’s rubber face, you’d know that it was going to be funny.
97: The American Office: Jim Halpert (John Krazinski)
The first of two characters from the American Office to make the list, it’s interesting to note that there are no characters from the English Office, which this show was based on, present in the list. So how come Jim makes it whilst Tim does not? Because Jim is much more likeable as a person, funnier, and more personable. Ricky Gervais writes excruciating comedy like no other, but the American Office took the central conceit of the show and made it honestly FUNNY. And Jim is probably the funniest character of the bunch, with his incessant pranks on office nerd Dwight, including sticking his stationary and wallet in a vending machine and handing him a bag of pennies to buy them back. However it was his relationship with Pam which most struck audiences, a genuine will they/won’t they situation where they really could end up apart at the end.
96: Extras: Darren Lamb (Stephen Merchant)
Speaking of Ricky Gervais, this is the only character from either of his shows to make it onto the list, and it’s the one played by Stephen Merchant. Bad luck Ricky, but Merchant plays the role of seedy yet useless Showbiz Agent Darren Lamb with relish, leaping headfirst into situations and showing time and time again how inept he is for the job; whether it be consistently failing to see anything his actors had been in, to booking poor guest spots for his people to work in. When he brings in “Barry”, every scene they have together is comedic gold, as Lamb is totally unable to realise that the character and the actor are separate people. It's a shame he wasn't in The Office more often.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
FRIENDS Week: Marcel’s Audition Transcript
Director: Good morning, Marcel.
Marcel: Greetings. Good morning to you all, and blessed karma. I just want you all to know that this is a huge blessing to me, so thank you for the opportunity.
Director: That’s okay, Marcel. Right, you’ll be acting out a short scene with David today…
David Schwimmer: Hello Marcel.
Marcel: Hi. Do you have a copy of the script I could look at then, please?
Director: Sure thing.
[Director hands over a copy of Marcel’s script. Marcel sits on a chair and reads it thoughtfully, memorising it all before he stands up again and throws his cigarette to the ground]
Marcel: Okay, I’m ready. Shall we go?
Director: Yes, okay, good. Just stand next to David, please… ah no, not enough height Marcel, could I ask you to stand on the chair, please?
Marcel: Okay. [Does so]
Director: Could you perhaps eat some fruit while you act out the scene for me?
Marcel: Ha! You, you read my mind just then. I was thinking my character should eat some fruit while I did the scene – I was, you read my mind just then.
[Marcel is given some pineapple to eat]
Director: Oh, the height differential is still a bit too much.
David Schwimmer: I’m sorry.
Marcel: That’s alright, David. What do you want us to do?
Director: Could you… get on David’s shoulder?
Marcel: I find that offensive.
Director: I’m sorry, I just…
Marcel: But I suppose, for the role… I’m okay with it if you are, David.
David Schwimmer: I’m comfortable with it.
Marcel: Okay then. [Marcel gets on David’s shoulder]
Director: And could you… later on, could you…?
Marcel: Could I what?
Director: Could you hump the lamp for us?
Marcel: …Fine. For the part, I’ll do it. But I’ll need to put this in my contract, okay?
Director: Fine. And… ACTION!
Marcel: Greetings. Good morning to you all, and blessed karma. I just want you all to know that this is a huge blessing to me, so thank you for the opportunity.
Director: That’s okay, Marcel. Right, you’ll be acting out a short scene with David today…
David Schwimmer: Hello Marcel.
Marcel: Hi. Do you have a copy of the script I could look at then, please?
Director: Sure thing.
[Director hands over a copy of Marcel’s script. Marcel sits on a chair and reads it thoughtfully, memorising it all before he stands up again and throws his cigarette to the ground]
Marcel: Okay, I’m ready. Shall we go?
Director: Yes, okay, good. Just stand next to David, please… ah no, not enough height Marcel, could I ask you to stand on the chair, please?
Marcel: Okay. [Does so]
Director: Could you perhaps eat some fruit while you act out the scene for me?
Marcel: Ha! You, you read my mind just then. I was thinking my character should eat some fruit while I did the scene – I was, you read my mind just then.
[Marcel is given some pineapple to eat]
Director: Oh, the height differential is still a bit too much.
David Schwimmer: I’m sorry.
Marcel: That’s alright, David. What do you want us to do?
Director: Could you… get on David’s shoulder?
Marcel: I find that offensive.
Director: I’m sorry, I just…
Marcel: But I suppose, for the role… I’m okay with it if you are, David.
David Schwimmer: I’m comfortable with it.
Marcel: Okay then. [Marcel gets on David’s shoulder]
Director: And could you… later on, could you…?
Marcel: Could I what?
Director: Could you hump the lamp for us?
Marcel: …Fine. For the part, I’ll do it. But I’ll need to put this in my contract, okay?
Director: Fine. And… ACTION!
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
FRIENDS Week: Why Ross Is My Favourite Friends Character
This is a highly contentious point to make because as everyone knows, Chandler was by far the funniest character through the history of the show, and Joey was also a brilliant creation. But Ross as a character has one thing on his side, and I’ll explain that in just a moment.
Everyone knows that the female characters on Friends were there almost purely for attractive set-dressing. After the three hundredth-time that Monica loses her rag over someone not being clean, her character got supremely irritating. The fact that once you realised Monica was annoying you also realised just how one-dimensional Courteney Cox’s performance was (even for, admittedly, a sitcom). She spends her time in mild hysterics attempting to wring laughs out of the audience, something which she ramps up as the seasons go by so that towards the end Chandler merely has to say one thing before he is subjected to a torrent of shriekiness. See also: the girl from The IT Crowd. Jennifer Aniston’s role as the girl who made sense as a person was underdeveloped, in fairness, despite her relationship with Ross.
When she was called upon to be the funny character, her lines tended to come off as bitchy and cruel as opposed to cutting and funny. And Phoebe… well, let’s not even discuss how underused Lisa Kudrow was. Her character wasn’t even allowed to get together with Joey, EVEN THOUGH that had been the obvious direction the series had been going in throughout its run. Instead she got sidelined with someone else, and almost ignored/saddled with side storylines that kept her out of the limelight. I don’t know who it was who paid off the producers to keep Kudrow off the sidelines, but as she was the best comedienne of the three girls I’d wager that Bass-Cox and Aniston were both involved somehow.
Joey is tricky, because the point of his character was that he was one-note and one-dimensional, but despite this Matt LeBlanc built up a lot of pathos and humanity into his performance, and brought his A-Game almost every time when it came to comedy. Everyone loved Joey, because he was so optimistic and happy all the time, despite being fed continual lemons in his hopeful career as an actor. He even overtook Chandler as funniest character for a while when Bing got saddled with Monica, so why wasn’t he my favourite? I’ll tell you: his relationships towards the end of the series. As I previously mentioned, it was obvious that he and Phoebe were meant to be together by the time the show finished, there are clues scattered literally everywhere in most episodes, but instead in the final series, when you’d expect this to happen, he goes for Rachel instead. Where did that come from? Despite the fact that he and Aniston had zero chemistry between them, this was just a way to completely mess up his character. Throw into the mix that he span-off to his own show and seemed to have lost any development he’d gained over the past ten seasons, and well, Joey gets pretty annoying.
The damage done to Chandler is painful. He has the most thankless job in the show, when he is paired up with Monica. You might remember how brilliant he was, how funny, when he was perpetually single, and you might point out that he defiantly was the funniest character on the show up until this point, but here’s a pointer for you: Monica and Chandler get together during series 4. This means that we see more of Chandler when he is with Monica than when he is single over the course of the entire show. Seems wrong, doesn’t it? The fact that series five is one of the worst the show ever had is no coincidence – it’s when Chandler’s storylines are all concerned with him and Monica keeping their relationship a secret, a one-joke story that takes almost an entire series to complete. For anyone watching the show who loves Chandler, the fall of his character from comedic grace makes for highly depressing viewing. And then the storyline towards the end where the two try to adopt? Oh Lord, please no.
So that leaves me with Ross. Why did I elect to pick my favourite character through elimination, rather than just… picking one? Well, because for me, the humour in a sitcom is all down to how long they can stretch out the character. Will and Grace as a show was completely stolen by the other two characters, Jack and Karen, because they were the funny ones (well… Will was quite funny too, I suppose), but that show wore down once those characters became overused and overdone, which led to its eventually end. On Friends, the funny characters were almost always the three men, and two of them were devastated by being paired up with women who, quite frankly, didn’t deserve them. Now don’t get me wrong, I know Ross ends up with Rachel, but Ross deserves her.
As a character, his main motivation was how lame and nerdy he was. For the nerd to end up with the hottest female on the show was justification for how much Ross wanted it to happen. He controlled the relationship and never let Rachel’s whiny pithiness take over. It helps that David Schwimmer had mastered the art of moaning by the end of the show, because that’s most of what Ross does. But he does it in such a funny way that you can’t help but like the guy. All six of the main characters on Friends, with the exception of perhaps Phoebe, were assholes. Really. They all do horrible things to other people. Ross was the only character who knew he was an asshole. That’s why I like him. When awash in a sea of cliché, it takes guts to accept your stereotype and run with it. Chandler became a succession of one-liners; Monica a shrieking bag of SHUT THE HELL UP; Rachel was never likable; Phoebe’s kookiness was overdone; and Joey ended up looking like a pathetic wannabe. Ross, on the other hand, was always an idiot, and that’s where his comedy came from, which is why I like him best.
Plus he bagged Jennifer Aniston AND Helen Baxendale AND Heather Graham. He got game!
Everyone knows that the female characters on Friends were there almost purely for attractive set-dressing. After the three hundredth-time that Monica loses her rag over someone not being clean, her character got supremely irritating. The fact that once you realised Monica was annoying you also realised just how one-dimensional Courteney Cox’s performance was (even for, admittedly, a sitcom). She spends her time in mild hysterics attempting to wring laughs out of the audience, something which she ramps up as the seasons go by so that towards the end Chandler merely has to say one thing before he is subjected to a torrent of shriekiness. See also: the girl from The IT Crowd. Jennifer Aniston’s role as the girl who made sense as a person was underdeveloped, in fairness, despite her relationship with Ross.
When she was called upon to be the funny character, her lines tended to come off as bitchy and cruel as opposed to cutting and funny. And Phoebe… well, let’s not even discuss how underused Lisa Kudrow was. Her character wasn’t even allowed to get together with Joey, EVEN THOUGH that had been the obvious direction the series had been going in throughout its run. Instead she got sidelined with someone else, and almost ignored/saddled with side storylines that kept her out of the limelight. I don’t know who it was who paid off the producers to keep Kudrow off the sidelines, but as she was the best comedienne of the three girls I’d wager that Bass-Cox and Aniston were both involved somehow.
Joey is tricky, because the point of his character was that he was one-note and one-dimensional, but despite this Matt LeBlanc built up a lot of pathos and humanity into his performance, and brought his A-Game almost every time when it came to comedy. Everyone loved Joey, because he was so optimistic and happy all the time, despite being fed continual lemons in his hopeful career as an actor. He even overtook Chandler as funniest character for a while when Bing got saddled with Monica, so why wasn’t he my favourite? I’ll tell you: his relationships towards the end of the series. As I previously mentioned, it was obvious that he and Phoebe were meant to be together by the time the show finished, there are clues scattered literally everywhere in most episodes, but instead in the final series, when you’d expect this to happen, he goes for Rachel instead. Where did that come from? Despite the fact that he and Aniston had zero chemistry between them, this was just a way to completely mess up his character. Throw into the mix that he span-off to his own show and seemed to have lost any development he’d gained over the past ten seasons, and well, Joey gets pretty annoying.
The damage done to Chandler is painful. He has the most thankless job in the show, when he is paired up with Monica. You might remember how brilliant he was, how funny, when he was perpetually single, and you might point out that he defiantly was the funniest character on the show up until this point, but here’s a pointer for you: Monica and Chandler get together during series 4. This means that we see more of Chandler when he is with Monica than when he is single over the course of the entire show. Seems wrong, doesn’t it? The fact that series five is one of the worst the show ever had is no coincidence – it’s when Chandler’s storylines are all concerned with him and Monica keeping their relationship a secret, a one-joke story that takes almost an entire series to complete. For anyone watching the show who loves Chandler, the fall of his character from comedic grace makes for highly depressing viewing. And then the storyline towards the end where the two try to adopt? Oh Lord, please no.
So that leaves me with Ross. Why did I elect to pick my favourite character through elimination, rather than just… picking one? Well, because for me, the humour in a sitcom is all down to how long they can stretch out the character. Will and Grace as a show was completely stolen by the other two characters, Jack and Karen, because they were the funny ones (well… Will was quite funny too, I suppose), but that show wore down once those characters became overused and overdone, which led to its eventually end. On Friends, the funny characters were almost always the three men, and two of them were devastated by being paired up with women who, quite frankly, didn’t deserve them. Now don’t get me wrong, I know Ross ends up with Rachel, but Ross deserves her.
As a character, his main motivation was how lame and nerdy he was. For the nerd to end up with the hottest female on the show was justification for how much Ross wanted it to happen. He controlled the relationship and never let Rachel’s whiny pithiness take over. It helps that David Schwimmer had mastered the art of moaning by the end of the show, because that’s most of what Ross does. But he does it in such a funny way that you can’t help but like the guy. All six of the main characters on Friends, with the exception of perhaps Phoebe, were assholes. Really. They all do horrible things to other people. Ross was the only character who knew he was an asshole. That’s why I like him. When awash in a sea of cliché, it takes guts to accept your stereotype and run with it. Chandler became a succession of one-liners; Monica a shrieking bag of SHUT THE HELL UP; Rachel was never likable; Phoebe’s kookiness was overdone; and Joey ended up looking like a pathetic wannabe. Ross, on the other hand, was always an idiot, and that’s where his comedy came from, which is why I like him best.
Plus he bagged Jennifer Aniston AND Helen Baxendale AND Heather Graham. He got game!
Monday, 31 March 2008
FRIENDS Week: Fanfiction
Joey kicked the last of the cardboard boxes aside in part of the frustration he’d been feeling for weeks now. Building box fortresses just wasn’t fun anymore. He could feel himself growing up, and now he wanted… more. He was tired of having to clown around for everyone all the time, and wanted to finally give up on his childhood and become an adult. Not that he didn’t enjoy being silly from time to time – it was part of his character now – but he could feel time starting to grab him and change him, not just mentally but physically too.
Over the past few weeks he had broken up with two different girls on the same night, tried it on with one of his co-workers and seduced a girl in the laundrette – they’d done it in the coatroom. It’d been hot, but he was starting to feel that something was missing from his life still. If this was all that life had to offer him, then Joey wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted it anymore.
“Hey, buddy!” cried Ross hysterically, walking out of the bathroom, having washed off most of the red facepaint that his Indian had been wearing. “What are you doing to our fortress?”
“Ah, I’m sorry Ross, I just don’t feel like playing cowboys and Indians right now, y’know? I think I just want some time to myself for a while.”
“But I was winning!” Ross squealed, in that girlish voice he rose into whenever he was defending himself. Joey looked across at his friend, still wearing the feathered headdress, and smiled. Ross had always been there for him, over all the years, no matter what had happened. Although Chandler was his best friend, and always would be, there were certain things he trusted Ross with more, and as he sat down on one of the remaining cardboard boxes he decided to ask Ross the question he’d been holding back for weeks.
“Ross, do you ever feel lonely?”
“Why sure I do, Joe. I think everyone does. What’s up?”
Ross walked over and sat down next to him, put a hand on his knee. Joey looked down, but didn’t brush him away. “It’s just, I-I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, man, you know what I mean? I feel like don’t know what I’m doing with my life!”
“Ah come on now, you’re an actor! You go out there and do the thing you love day in day out! The way I see it, Joey – you’re living the dream.”
Joey looked into Ross’ eyes and saw something he’d never seen in them before. A burning fire, passion, ambition, all rolled into one. He sat there transfixed by those eyes, until Ross moved forwards, towards him, Normally Joey would push away from being so close to another dude, but this felt right. Ross brushed the hair out of his face, and Joey could see his friend wanted this to happen too. He started to move forwards as well, but just then the door opened and Chandler walked in.
“Hey guys, I was just wondering, if a girl tells you to drop dead and die, just how much does she dig yo-” He stopped as the box collapsed under the weight of Ross and Joey, and they fell to the floor in a heap.
Chandler ached his eyebrow. “Could my timing BE any more appropriate?”
Over the past few weeks he had broken up with two different girls on the same night, tried it on with one of his co-workers and seduced a girl in the laundrette – they’d done it in the coatroom. It’d been hot, but he was starting to feel that something was missing from his life still. If this was all that life had to offer him, then Joey wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted it anymore.
“Hey, buddy!” cried Ross hysterically, walking out of the bathroom, having washed off most of the red facepaint that his Indian had been wearing. “What are you doing to our fortress?”
“Ah, I’m sorry Ross, I just don’t feel like playing cowboys and Indians right now, y’know? I think I just want some time to myself for a while.”
“But I was winning!” Ross squealed, in that girlish voice he rose into whenever he was defending himself. Joey looked across at his friend, still wearing the feathered headdress, and smiled. Ross had always been there for him, over all the years, no matter what had happened. Although Chandler was his best friend, and always would be, there were certain things he trusted Ross with more, and as he sat down on one of the remaining cardboard boxes he decided to ask Ross the question he’d been holding back for weeks.
“Ross, do you ever feel lonely?”
“Why sure I do, Joe. I think everyone does. What’s up?”
Ross walked over and sat down next to him, put a hand on his knee. Joey looked down, but didn’t brush him away. “It’s just, I-I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, man, you know what I mean? I feel like don’t know what I’m doing with my life!”
“Ah come on now, you’re an actor! You go out there and do the thing you love day in day out! The way I see it, Joey – you’re living the dream.”
Joey looked into Ross’ eyes and saw something he’d never seen in them before. A burning fire, passion, ambition, all rolled into one. He sat there transfixed by those eyes, until Ross moved forwards, towards him, Normally Joey would push away from being so close to another dude, but this felt right. Ross brushed the hair out of his face, and Joey could see his friend wanted this to happen too. He started to move forwards as well, but just then the door opened and Chandler walked in.
“Hey guys, I was just wondering, if a girl tells you to drop dead and die, just how much does she dig yo-” He stopped as the box collapsed under the weight of Ross and Joey, and they fell to the floor in a heap.
Chandler ached his eyebrow. “Could my timing BE any more appropriate?”
Sunday, 30 March 2008
FRIENDS Week: Things You Didn’t Know About Courteney Cox
1: Courtney Cox’s middle name is “Bass”. She was named so because she was born in the middle of the famous Canadian fishing region, whilst her mother was, indeed, fishing. This also makes the last part of her name “Bass Cox”, which is pretty darned hilarious.
2: Courtney Cox was the first person to ever say the word ‘Period’ on American TV in the sense of… well, y’know. She said it in the way that means… uh.... she was referring to, erm, ‘stuff’. That women have. You know what I’m talking about, please don’t make me explain further.
3: Courtney Cox once dated Michael Keaton. Reports that he only answered to the name "Batman" during this time are unconfirmed.
4: Courtney Cox never won a major award for her role as Monica on the popular TV show Friends. Many believe this to be because nobody liked her character.
5: Courtney Cox is a method actor. Whenever Monica was required to do a flashback to the days when she was fat, Bass-Cox would retire to her trailer and eat candyfloss non-stop until she had gained the weight required.
6: Courtney Cox was the first character on Friends to speak a line. When she spoke them, it was reported that women across the world flocked to their TV screens, in the psychic belief that something monumental was about to happen.
7: Courtney Cox can play both the drums and the piano, and verily can also play the hybrid instrument, the drumano.
8: I can't spell Courteney Cox's name.
2: Courtney Cox was the first person to ever say the word ‘Period’ on American TV in the sense of… well, y’know. She said it in the way that means… uh.... she was referring to, erm, ‘stuff’. That women have. You know what I’m talking about, please don’t make me explain further.
3: Courtney Cox once dated Michael Keaton. Reports that he only answered to the name "Batman" during this time are unconfirmed.
4: Courtney Cox never won a major award for her role as Monica on the popular TV show Friends. Many believe this to be because nobody liked her character.
5: Courtney Cox is a method actor. Whenever Monica was required to do a flashback to the days when she was fat, Bass-Cox would retire to her trailer and eat candyfloss non-stop until she had gained the weight required.
6: Courtney Cox was the first character on Friends to speak a line. When she spoke them, it was reported that women across the world flocked to their TV screens, in the psychic belief that something monumental was about to happen.
7: Courtney Cox can play both the drums and the piano, and verily can also play the hybrid instrument, the drumano.
8: I can't spell Courteney Cox's name.
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