This evening, NBC will air the finale of "Friends". Like many others across the country, I have planned my evening around this event. No, I am not some obsessed fan. Quite the opposite, in fact. I've only seen a handful of episodes this season and skipped entire seasons since its debut (gasp) ten years ago. So why am I scheduling my evening around this final episode?
Because for me it truly represents an end of an era in my life. Those who know me today know that TV is not a big part of my life at all. But it wasn't always that way. When I was a kid, I loved "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" and "Sesame Street". When I got older, my family introduced me to NBC's Thursday night line up and it stuck. Sure, I sampled other networks and other shows (eagerly tailing Bruce & Cybil in "Moonlighting" on ABC or watching "Murphy Brown" on CBS in the early 90's when the idea of being a jouralist seemed glamourous). But mostly I developed a close bond with NBC's Thursday night line up -- and long before it was advertised as "Must See TV".
I loved "The Cosby Show", "Family Ties" and "Cheers". I still remember the night "Family Ties" went off the air in 1989. I remember the last episode of "Cheers". And while its spinoff, "Fraiser", was incredibly well-written, it just never captured my (or others') imagination to the same extent that "Cheers" had with its memorable cast of characters in Cliff, Norm, Sam and the rest. Every once in a while I come across an old Cosby show on cable when I'm traveling and I always enjoy seeing the Huxtables again. So, too, with "Cheers".
Over the years, the lineup has evolved as the torch has been passed on from Family Ties to Cosby to Cheers to Seinfeld to Friends. Seinfeld clicked with me right away and -- though the episodes always seemed much quirkier on those nights I'd watch it with my mom -- the humor worked for me.
"Friends" appeared on the scene the year I went to college and for that reason I think it's always had a special place in my heart. I still remember the first "Friends" poster that a friend hung in his room. I caught enough of the early episodes to get hooked, but my night job at the campus newspaper prevented me from seeing it very often. Still, there was a definite buzz around the show and it was infectious. Over the years, I continued to tune in not because of the laugh track (though the show was funny), but because of the bond that I felt with these Friends. Like the friends in the dorm room next door where it all began, these Friends were people I could count on -- after a long day at work, or when the world seemed against me. As I said, they've been out of my life more than they've been in my life over the past ten years, but I've always appreciated knowing they were still there for me...every Thursday night at 8:00pm.
A quick fix of "Friends" always managed to make me feel better somehow. It was familiar, comforting and enjoyable.
But now these Friends are leaving. Rachel is off to Paris. And Chandler, Monica, Ross, Joey and Phoebe are off, too. But not before one final farewell. Tonight...at 8:00pm.
Comments