Small Screen

The one with the twentieth anniversary of F.R.I.E.N.D.S

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Reaching beyond the realms of television and becoming a part and parcel of anybody’s cultural and social life is something that every television producer hopes from their series but often fails to achieve. To call ‘FRIENDS’  the greatest sitcom ever made hardly provokes any criticism (considering its mass following obviously) since this series has permeated into the souls of its fans beyond expectations that we can still see its fandom in varying demographics and cultures across the world even today. What was conceived as ‘six people in their 20s who hang out together’ became one of the ‘social life revolutions for the youngsters’.

As every beginning has an end, the end of the series came out in the form of Series Finale after 10 seasons on 6th May 2004. The last episode left everybody teary eyed on bidding farewell to their favourite characters on television. This year we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the day of first airing of a ‘FRIENDS’ epidose on NBC. To commemorate the twentieth anniversary, fans were hoping to see a much awaited ‘FRIENDS Reunion’ movie, after there were incessant rumours when Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) talked to Jennifer Aniston (Rachel) for the same but Courtney Cox (Monica) expressed the meek possibility of its happening-A bland pill for every fan of ‘FRIENDS’ who desperately wants to know how the lives of their favourite characters have progressed after 10 years.

There was a short reunion which everyone saw on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ recently where Courtney, Aniston and Kudrow made guest appearances and enacted a hypothetical scene in an exact replica set of Monica’s kitchen. The small appearance surely made the audience go back to memories of watching ‘FRIENDS’ and waiting anxiously for the next episodes.

To provide a unique experience to ‘FRIENDS’ fans on this special day, the production house teamed up with Eight O’Clock Coffee to make an exact replica of Central Perk in Manhattan, the place which was frequented by the show’s characters. This pop up shop will serve free coffee to the guests beginning from 17th September. The show’s Central Perk barista Gunther-James Michael Tyler will be appearing there for photo ops and the shop will feature many contests, giveaways and musical performances reminding Phoebe’s music. So any true ‘FRIENDS’ fanatics out there-you can still book your flight to New York and enjoy the festivities over there!

Yet, all the festivities and reunions leave some striking reminiscences of our lives associated with ‘FRIENDS’. Like how after we started watching the series we associated our real life friends with the characters on the show based on their characteristics, found an ‘adda’ like ‘Central Perk’ to hang out at and share the daily stories, started clicking immediately with people who watched ‘FRIENDS’ through  endless conversations about the series, the continuous stalking of actors on social media, how we hoped to find our ‘lobsters’ some day or used some sarcastic line by Chandler in our conversations! The list goes on.

Well ‘FRIENDS’ always taught us to love and laugh and celebrate life with friends and that’s something to be cherished for a lifetime. So if you want to commemorate your favourite T.V series, grab your laptops, go to the quietest corner of your house and sink in the jubilation of watching ‘FRIENDS’ all over again! (Pssst, don’t forget to join our Central Perk Quiz at 7pm tonight!)

 

A final year B. Com Hons. student at Delhi College of Arts & Commerce. When asked to describe myself, I simply wonder what static thing to tell about me because I believe life is always a perpetual self exploring journey. I take as gospel the fact that books are written to be treasured, movies and tv series to be revered and entertain and music to be cherished for a blissful course to take delights in our lives. One can contact me at [email protected] or tweet @simply_arushi

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