Moving in means a lot of time around the house needing something playing in the background. Having grown up with Friends, watching seasons of the show on DVD is naturally the go-to filler. When I packed up in Santa Cruz, I went through Season Four and half of Season Five and now I’m nearly done with Disc Three of Season Two.
Firstly, it’s weird that I’m rapidly approaching being the age that these characters were when the show started. I was 7 when the show premiered, so these characters have forever been my (and my generation’s) view of what adult life is like, so to know that I’m a few years away from being these people myself is… surreal.
Secondly, while I think the show is utterly timeless, it’s still interesting to watch Season Two, which aired from 1995-1996, and see how dated it already is at times. There’s an episode where a running gag is Chandler’s new computer, and he boasts of its 12MB of RAM, 500MB hard drive, built-in spreadsheet capabilities, and a built-in modem that transmits at over 28,000 bps!
Then there’s the whole episode about Carol and Susan’s wedding, and the idea of gay marriage in general is played as a novelty, when twelve years later, I don’t think it would be as funny on the surface that Two Women Are Getting Married (OMG!!!!). Then there was a gag about plastic spoons being environmentally unfriendly and it’s played as funny that Joey would even think about that, but in light of the current pop culture and political climate, it’d be… a legitimate concern.
It’s also funny to watch these earlier seasons and remember that my mom for a while didn’t let me watch the show because it was “too adult.” And I don’t disagree, but what I find amusing is that through maybe Season Four, there were a handful of jokes that were indeed “too adult,” but were so adult that I just didn’t get them. Watching through these episodes now it’s funny to see what stuff went over my head and get the jokes this time around. Stuff like Rachel rolling over the juice box when she and Ross are making out in the planetarium or an interviewer asking Monica to make a salad and getting off on the lettuce being “dirty” and the tomatoes being “firm.”
But while the show may show its age more than I’d expected, it definitely holds up, and I think it’s a testament to the writing and acting. All the actors created distinctly iconic characters while managing to balance and compliment one another quite nicely (though Jennifer Aniston has a much defter hand at comedy than I remembered). The show was as successful as it was because they all focused on character instead of wacky shenanigans. There were wacky shenanigans, yes, but the creators seemed much more concerned with creating interesting characters, and that focus shows.
