Clash of the Sitcoms: Round 1, Heat 10.

[suds79]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Exactly. If you DIDN'T watch Friends and their ice-cold sets featuring Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston, you should turn in your man card.

Guess I touched a nerve. Won't argue that Aniston at that time was about as hot as they come. And if that was one's driving force for watching it, fine.

Just seemed a lot like a chick/soap opera show to me. Ross & Rachel on again, off again, the cast mixing & matching going out until the writers ran out of combinations, etc.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by suds79

Guess I touched a nerve. Won't argue that Aniston at that time was about as hot as they come. And if that was one's driving force for watching it, fine.

Just seemed a lot like a chick/soap opera show to me. Ross & Rachel on again, off again, the cast mixing & matching going out until the writers ran out of combinations, etc.

That show was great when it was true to the title: Friends. When they started the round-robin process of all dating each other it went downhill, I agree. However, they generally followed the Seinfeld rule of always having a couple of different story lines, so the other story line was usually still pretty good.

But yeah, when the characters start dating each other, that means they're running out of ideas. As someone mentioned earlier, the great thing about Seinfeld was that they never resorted to dating each other.

[suds79]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

That show was great when it was true to the title: Friends. When they started the round-robin process of all dating each other it went downhill, I agree. However, they generally followed the Seinfeld rule of always having a couple of different story lines, so the other story line was usually still pretty good.

But yeah, when the characters start dating each other, that means they're running out of ideas. As someone mentioned earlier, the great thing about Seinfeld was that they never resorted to dating each other.

I obviously only watched very little parts of the show but what you explained I can easily see.

Just about any good sitcom I can think of that I've liked were great in seasons 1 & 2, then go downhill. It happens to all of them. The writers simply used their best material early on. Can't keep telling the same jokes.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by suds79

I obviously only watched very little parts of the show but what you explained I can easily see.

Just about any good sitcom I can think of that I've liked were great in seasons 1 & 2, then go downhill. It happens to all of them. The writers simply used their best material early on. Can't keep telling the same jokes.

It makes one wonder if there's a good model of replacing writers one at a time every couple of years to bring in fresh blood. However, seeing the quality of most comedies, I guess I would posit that there aren't a whole lot of good comedy writers out there, or at least they would bring in different styles that wouldn't give a show any consistency.

[L.A. Chieffan]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

That show was great when it was true to the title: Friends. When they started the round-robin process of all dating each other it went downhill, I agree. However, they generally followed the Seinfeld rule of always having a couple of different story lines, so the other story line was usually still pretty good.

But yeah, when the characters start dating each other, that means they're running out of ideas. As someone mentioned earlier, the great thing about Seinfeld was that they never resorted to dating each other.

Jerry and Elaine knocked it out. But that s what was great about the show, it didn't hurt it at all.