Hannah and I watched the "Friends" finale last night. Reactions to the show are all over the map (Canadian perspective).
For Hannah, the clips/highlights show was a fast-paced introduction to a show she's only seen two or three times. For me, the clips/highlights show was a delightful romp through the last ten years. Sure, it was cliche, but I really enjoyed how they focused on each character for a few minutes and ran a roll of clips set to music. The musical selections were predictable (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun for The Girls..., et al.) but this has never been a show to shock and amaze. It's always been comfortable. And the 8pm hour was very comfortable.
The farewell show itself was enjoyable, though I agree with many that it got too slow in the middle. And there were way too many goodbyes. That said, both Hannah and I can be more romantic saps that we might like to let on and the surprise ending left everything right in the world.
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Many have raised the question of just how popular "Friends" truly was. Well, it's still popular enough that across the pond the staid BBC posted extensive news coverage of "Friends" this morning. It is estimated that more than 50 million fans tuned in last night. I'm not enough of a TV critic to know how this compares to other finales, but that's still a lot of people in my book. For those who missed last night's show, the BBC also published a story which begins: "Warning: this article contains details about what happened in the final show...." Our friends across the pond don't get to see the final episode until May 28.
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