Let’s flash back to May 2000, where negotiations to re-sign Friends for two more seasons have turned more unsightly than Ugly Naked Guy. The stars of the show wanted the network to cough up several hundred thousand dollars to each character or they could say bye bye to Must See NBC (Rice 1). NBC complied and again negotiations were on the table in February 2002, only this time the cast was asking for $1 million a show. To some this may seem like such a ridiculous amount for a TV show, but NBC faced either paying the actors their asking price or face dealing with taking away one of the most popular shows in American pop culture history.

While all three men, Joey, Chandler, and Ross are definitely men in every sense of the word, I don’t believe they fit the profile for a man’s man. Since the group lives in New York City, none of the three even owns a car. There have been countless times where they have all shown their weak side also. In season three when Ross and Rachel broke up, Ross fell down to his knees and hugged Rachel and sobbed with her over the break up. Chandler also shed some tears when he was proposing to Monica and has no problem expressing his feelings in situations that upset him. Joey is different. He wears his heart on his sleeve. Joey has such great facial expressions that every emotion he possesses at any given time can be seen by the expression on his face and in his eyes. And while all three men like to act tough and try to be the “man” at all times, sometimes they miserably fail. Chandler and Joey cannot even survive on their own. During season four when Joey moved out, both ceased to function because only together do they seem to be one complete person (Billen 2).

The ensemble cast just works. There is Schwimmer (the nerdy-but-nice-Ross, not to mention slightly neurotic [Hiltbrand 1]); Aniston (Rachel, the spoiled rich girl who started of the show by getting her first jolt of reality as the waitress at the local coffee shop), Arquette (compulsively neat, overachieving Monica, the girl you hated in seventh grade), Leblanc (Joey, a self-absorbed [Hiltbrand], hunky aspiring actor), Perry (Chandler, stuck in an office job he hates but refuses to leave, not to mention his snide sense of humor [Hiltbrand]), and Kudrow (Phoebe, a wifty free spirit and perhaps the most original of the characters) (Thomashoff 2).

The show’s appeal stems from the fact that if you “hold up a mirror to the life of gen Xers who are still deciding about careers and what’s important to them. No matter who you are, it’s a reflection of where you’re heading, where you are, or where you’ve been…” believes executive producer Kevin Bright (Chin 2). At its best, Friends is like a first rate Broadway farce, complete with slamming doors, twisty plots, and intricately strung together jokes. And even when it is not at its best the crack acting and the punch lines make the show have a momentum and charm that are sure to win the viewer over even if they are not laughing (Tucker 1). It pushes all the familiar buttons of Generation X: dissatisfaction with the middle-class jobs and values…and most importantly the fear of commitment to either love or career (Lewis 1).

The show started in 1994, but never on shaky ground. Though it was not everyone’s favorite show from the start, as it progressed it drew more and more people in. The first episode had five members (Ross, Monica, Joey, Chandler, and Phoebe) of the sextet drinking coffee in the Central Perk, the local hang out of the group. In runs Rachel in a wedding dress because she just stood her husband-to-be up at the alter because she thought he looked like Mr. Potato Head.

In season six, Chandler and Monica started dating and moved in together at the end of the season. Rachel then moved in with Phoebe, and after burning the apartment because she left a curling iron on Rachel moved in with Joey and Phoebe with Monica and Chandler. Phoebe is the most unclear of all the characters. She has a past that is not really clear and seems to be the peacemaker among all the friends by “cleansing their aura” whenever something seems less than happy.

Some topics in this essay:
Vegas Chin, Cultural Touchstone, Central Perk, Emma Instead, , Bright Chin, Rachel Phoebe, Las Vegas, York Chandler, Actually Friends, “woman’s woman”, central perk, billen 2, credit cards, cultural touchstone, thomashoff 2, touchstone 1, cultural touchstone 1, joey chandler, myth “man’s man”, 3 leblanc, “man’s man” “woman’s, september 11, thomashoff 3 leblanc, man” “woman’s woman”,