Homage To My Friends

This show made its debut during the fall of 1994 season; I was just beginning my senior year of undergrad and didn't watch much tv. My life was already filled with enough drama, what with needing to make my peace with the fact that my real life was about to start--and I was smarting over the fact that the boy I loved had transferred to the University of Washington in Seattle. At that point in my life everything seemed over. I think I remember seeing promotional ads for the show and making the uninformed opinion that it seemed stupid, so I did not see any episodes during its first season, and was none the wiser as to what I was missing.

A good friend of mine who'd graduated the year before was now out in the "real world" and made the connection; she told me it was great comedy, so on the strength of her reccommendation alone, I started watching it the following year--my first year as a working adult with no class schedule and no idea what would come next.

Ironically, that friend of mine didn't watch it much past its first season. But I, between new episodes and syndication, I have seen almost every show three times--minus that year-long stint where they were trying to hook up Rachel with Joey which was just wrong....

I loved how it came in at the beginning of the coffee renaissance and used that reworked concept of the tavern-as-meeting-place to reengage an entire generation. I loved that it was smart show, and that even if you don't fit into the exact mold of one of the archetypal characters, there is something in all of them to which you can relate some element of your life experience.

These six adorable neurotics saw me through my 20s --every heartbreak, every new job, every new apartment, every dry spell, every success, every annoying circumstance--year after year. And my heart still swells every time I see Ross kiss Rachel for the first time, and the second time.

What can I say? They were there for me....