The FRIENDS Finale...Just So-So

This is what all the hype was about...?

I'm not saying that the final episode of Friends was bad...but it wasn't really that great, either. At least not in the same way the finales of such shows as M*A*S*H were.

I will admit that Monica and Chandler getting an unexpected twin baby was a nice, curve-ball twist that I didn't see coming and Joey's farewell to the foosball machine was kind of funny, but other than that, it was pretty much just another episode.

Ross and Rachel got back together? Again? Wow! What a surprise!

I'm sure many of you will disagree and probably want my head for writing this, but I have to call it the way I see it. Again, it wasn't a bad episode, but I guess I was expecting more from a show that's ending after a ten-year run.

 

just like the Leafs game, glad I didn't watch!

 

So Ross and Rachel didn't get married, eh?

Evan

 

I ended up pausing "The Cooler" and caught the last 10 minutes of the finale.

Anyone else catch the ending tune.....Embryonic Journey by Jefferson Airplane. Pretty neat to hear that chestnut on any show let alone the Friends finale.

 

I turned it after the ELP song in the first five minutes of part one. I figured that was as good as it would get. Had a great time listening to a Harry Nilsson LP I bought today.

 

That's not as good as it got, Jamie! They played "Yellow Ledbetter" by Pearl Jam.

 

I was out at dinner and taped it. I got home 15 minutes before it ended and watched that part first. I'm not sure I'll watch the beginning on the tape now since the last 15 minutes were just so-so, I agree.

 

Was able to tune in tonight at my new job...it sucked, big time. It seemed like a regular episode of Friends! There was no payoff, no resolution, no wrapping up the series in a big bow tie.

Whatta disappointment!

Evan

 

Hmmm. Not sure what you guys were expecting. Thought they were all gonna die in a fiery plane crash or something like that? The show's been wrapping up for weeks now - I wasn't expecting any surprises (thought the twins were a nice touch). These sorts of series finales are rarely brilliant since there are too many threads that need to be wrapped up and everything needs to come to a tidy conclusion for the fans.

We've been goofing around at work and coming up with more outlandish/memorable scenarios for the Friends finale. The "best," I think, is the revelation that the show actually took place several years ago, with the finale set sometime in September. The gang decided to get together for one last breakfast... at Windows on the World. Tasteless? Yeah. But ballsy.

 

I caught the song, and thought it was kind of neat to have that song kind of the "new beginning" for them. But I bet 90% of the people who watched it had no idea what the song was.

 

A fellow on the Today show had a good comment: "What kind of hospital doesn't know when someone's having twins?"

 

The doctpr SAID he knew. He was just taking it for granted that Chandler & Monica knew.

 

?????????????????
All the show WAS was payoff, resolution & wrapping it up in a big bow! The only thing the didn't resolve was Joey (as they didn't have to).

 

I guess our opinions of this show differ, as I didn't think things were *completely* wrapped up; I guess they had to leave things open for the inevitable TV reunion movie.

Evan

 

Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be just as well if more long-running shows simply ended their runs without the ballyhoo of a dedicated "final episode". They're really more the exception than the rule anyhow, and I can only think of a handful that I would really consider classics ("The Fugitive", "Mary Tyler Moore", "Barney Miller", "St. Elsewhere", "Newhart").

 

What was left open (excepting Joey)?

 

i am sure i am in the big minority with this, but i thoughts friends started to slip 3 or 4 seasons ago.

i also never thought it to be a "great" television show like "seinfeld" or "mash". it was good, but many. many times i found it redundant and tiresome.

just my opinion,

renny

 

I agree, renny. "Friends" was basically the TV equivalent of comfort food.

 

renny,

I wholeheartedly agree. Hey! What are you doing here?? Get back to the ICE board! It's bad enough Jimbo's here, but you??

Just kidding with ya, old buddy
Chris

 

I would've thought the group would have split up completely, each going their separate ways.

Evan

 

anyone notice that the actress who plays Adriana on the Sopranos will be in the new "joey" show next season ?

implications for this season's Sopranos ?

 

That's what I was thinking at first, but I read that she's expected back for the final season. So she'll be doing double-duty for awhile.

 

I was hoping they would have at least explained how they could afford the Manhattan rent.

Rachael, Monica, and Phoebe must have been doing something interesting to raise that kind of cash...

 

Mud wrestling!

(No, I don't mean Mudbone!)

Evan

 

I was kind of hoping that we'd learn the fate of Phoebe's identical twin sister, Ursula. Ursula, you may recall, was the waitress Kudrow occasionally played on "Mad About You"; the twin-sister thingie was NBC's gossamer-thin excuse for doing a cross-show crossover one sweeps month around '96 or so, and went on to make appearances in several subsequent episodes. (In one of them, we learn that Ursula has worked in the porn industry, so I guess that explains how *she* could afford to live in Manhattan on a waitress's income...)