Friends: A Decade of Must-See TV

Friends: A Decade of Must-See TV

Reminiscence

With the end of “Friends” fast approaching, a look back…

Ross: We were on a break!

Joey: That’s 1)whack 1.

Phoebe: It’s madness, I tell you! For the love of God, Monica, now do it!

…on one amazing ride!

Ross: You accidentally proposed to Rachel.

Joey: I’m sorry.

Joey: This is all a moo point.

Rachel: A moo point?

Joey: It’s like a cow’s opinion. It doesn’t matter. It’s moo.

Chandler: I’m the last man on earth. Would you go out with me?

Monica: Ny…yeaaahh!

Joey: By the powers vested in me by the State of New York, and the Internet guys, I now pronounce you husband and wife.

Phoebe: Oohh, and they’re gonna have a baby!

Rachel: Um hm.

Ross: You know you probably didn’t know this, but, back in high school, I had a, uhm, major
2)crush on you.

Rachel: I knew.

Ross: I always figured you just thought I was Monica’s 3)geeky older brother.

Rachel: I did.

Ross: Oh.

Rachel: You know, I can’t believe I even thought of getting back together with you. We are so over!

Ross: But…but…uhm…fine by me!

After ten years of must-see TV…

Monica: The camera adds ten pounds.

Chandler: Yeah, so how many cameras are actually on you?

…ten years of comedy at its best; 

Phoebe: Eeoooowww!

…ten years of moments we can’t forget;

Monica: You wanted it to be a surprise.

…there’s nothing harder than saying goodbye to “Friends.”

Not Replicable 

Interviewer: The sitcom 2 “Friends” does not so much end as enter the land of eternal re-runs. Ten years worth of episodes should keep entire cable channels programmed for decades. But, for those who waited on every week’s episode for some new twist in the lives of Ross, Joey, Chandler, Phoebe, Monica and Rachel, it’s all 4)nostalgia 3 and no surprise from here on in. Of course, for people who didn’t await each episode with eagerness, the surprise is that so many others did.  How do you explain the success and the popularity of “Friends?”

Entertainment Journalist: I think it’s a combination of factors, I mean, like every big success, it’s the right show at the right time. I mean, I think that, in one sense, it was the right themes. It was a show that really tapped into a feeling and sort of a 5)zeitgeist among its, its audience, which was sort of, young people the age of its characters. And it was, in a way, a family comedy, where the living room couch was often replaced by the couch at the, at the coffee shop. 

Interviewer: This is a program in which, as you say…it was designed to appeal to people who were in roughly the same circumstance or the same age as the people the program was about, and those people were the people television networks wanted to reach.

Entertainment Journalist: Well that was another brilliant thing about “Friends” that made it the right show at the right time. I mean, “Friends” is a show of the era of demographic programming, when the “6)holy grail” was,  to get a large group of desirable young viewers, whom advertisers wanted to reach. The great thing about “Friends” is that if the show “Friends” existed on the show “Friends,” the characters in “Friends” would have been watching “Friends.” It was a show about its audience for its audience. 

Interviewer: We should say, there have been other attempts at similar idea…the show very often is funny, and very often they tell a joke well.

Entertainment Journalist: Uh, yes. Surprisingly, the whole funny bit also helped it succeed. You…as…as many people learned, you couldn’t just take a group of young people, give them cups of coffee and sit them on a couch and 7)replicate 4 the success of “Friends.” It was pretty much impossible to replicate the chemistry that you had among those six actors.

注释：
1) whack [wAk] n. 疯狂
2) crush [krQF] n.〈口〉热恋
3) geeky [5^i:ki] a.〈俚〉反常的，令人讨厌的
4) nostalgia [nCs5tAldViE] n. 向往过去，怀旧之情
5) zeitgeist [5tsait^aist] n. 时代精神，时代思潮
6) holy grail 长期追求的目标，渴望得到的东西
7) replicate [5replikit] v. 复制，重复

《老友记》：在笑声中体验人生

回眸

随着《老友记》大结局的临近，让我们一同回顾……
罗斯：我们那时已经分手了！

乔伊：那玩意真没劲！

菲比：这叫失去理智，知道吗！看在上帝的份上，莫妮卡，快行动吧！

……这一趟神奇之旅！
罗斯：你还一不小心向瑞秋求了婚。

乔伊：对不起。

乔伊：这都是“牛论”。

瑞秋：牛论？

乔伊：也就是牛的观点，无关紧要，就是哞——。

钱德：我就是地球上最后一个男人了。你会跟我约会吗？

莫妮卡：那——好吧！

乔伊：以纽约州和网上的家伙赋予我的权力，我现在宣布你们结为夫妻。

菲比：噢，而且他们就要有孩子了！

瑞秋：嗯哼。

罗斯：你可能不知道，不过，在上中学的时候，我曾经为你神魂颠倒。

瑞秋：我知道。

罗斯：我一直以为你仅仅当我是莫妮卡那个怪怪的哥哥。

瑞秋：的确如此。

罗斯：噢！

瑞秋：你知道吗，我真不敢相信我竟然会想跟你和好。我们之间彻底完了！

罗斯：可……那……，求之不得！

在看过连续十年的不可错过的电视剧……
莫妮卡：人上镜头会显得重了十磅。

钱德：是吗，那到底有多少台机在拍你？

……和十年都保持最高水平的喜剧，
菲比：呀！

……经历过十年间令人难以忘怀的时刻之后，
莫妮卡：你原来想要给我一个惊喜。

……再没有什么比跟《老友记》说再见更叫人痛苦的了。

模仿无效

采访者：随着《老友记》开始接连不断地重播，这部情景喜剧似乎并没有走向结束。延续十年的剧集足够让所有的有线台排上几十年。不过，对于那些每周守候在荧屏前，一集不落地关心着罗斯、乔伊、钱德、菲比、莫妮卡和瑞秋跌宕起伏的命运的人来说，从现在起，将吃惊和意外取而代之的，是伤感的怀旧。当然，对于那些并没有一集不落地苦守荧屏的人来说，令他们吃惊的则是有那么多人竟然会如此疯狂地跟进每一集。你怎么看待《老友记》的成功和叫座？

娱乐记者：我认为那是多种因素在起作用。我的意思是，像每一部成功的剧集一样，它生逢其时。我是说，从某种意义上讲，我认为那是因为它的主题与时代相契合。这部剧集深深地触动了观众的情感和体现了时代精神，因为他们大都是与主角同龄的年轻人。从某种程度上说，它也是一部家庭喜剧，只不过是起居室的沙发经常被换成咖啡馆的沙发罢了。

采访者：这部剧集，像你说的那样……，就是为了迎合那些年龄和所处环境都与剧中角色大致相同的人，或者说相同年龄段的人而制作的，而这些人正是电视传媒的目标观众群。

娱乐记者：那正是《老友记》的另一个高明之处，使它迎合了时代要求。我是说，我们经历了一个根据不同人口结构特征进行节目制作和播出安排的时期，其终极目标是要争取一大批合意的年轻观众，因为他们正是广告商的目标受众。《老友记》正是那个时候的产物。《老友记》的绝妙之处在于，如果《老友记》里真的有那么几个老友存在，《老友记》中的几个角色就应该也会看《老友记》。这是一部给观众看的，讲述观众自己的生活的剧集。

采访者：可以这么说，曾有一些剧集想打同样的主意，……这部剧集总是非常地有趣，里面的笑话也总是很精彩。

娱乐记者：嗯，是的。令人惊讶地是，所有这些个有趣的小场景同样把它推向了成功。你……许多人都知道，哪怕再找来几个年轻人，给他们几杯咖啡，让他们坐在沙发上，你也不可能复制出《老友记》这样的成功。要想复制出你对那六位演员那种“来电”的感觉几乎是不可能的。