The One With The Introduction

When it comes to the numerous TV shows that I watch, there’s one name that stands above all in my list – F.R.I.E.N.D.S. It was the original show that I began watching very long back on Star World and it’s what made me the psychotic TV show freak I am today!

I think most people agree with me on this one – Friends is usually the first show that you start out with, especially with Indians. So many of us began watching, and fell in love, and continue to be in love with the show. We adore Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross. In fact as I write this, I look up and see that I still have this poster of theirs that I’ve carried around from Hyderabad to Delhi to Chennai, and continue to have up in my room.

I am sure even people who don’t watch Friends know its basic premise – set in New York, it follows the lives of six friends. We have Rachel Green, the pretty one, who came to live with the gang after ditching her fiancé during an extremely high-society, high-cost wedding. She comes to live with Monica Geller, who she went to school with, who works as a chef. Her ex-roommate Phoebe Buffay is perhaps the quirkiest and wildest of the lot, having lived on the streets, and now making a living playing the guitar and being a masseuse. Across the hall from Monica lives Joey Tribbiani, who is a small-time actor who’s trying to make it big. His roommate is Chandler Bing, who has the most normal job of them all (though we never get to know what it is) and some serious parent issues. And finally we have Ross Geller, Monica’s brother and a paleontologist who just got divorced from his wife (after she discovered she’s lesbian), was in love with Rachel in school, and went to college with Chandler.

And we go along with them on their journey, as they deal with relationships, careers, or sometimes just even paying the bills. And we cry with them and laugh with them and watch every rerun (so many times that you can name the episode by watching two scenes!) but we swear by them when it comes to sitcoms (unless you’re a big Seinfeld fan. But that’s a different story).

So when it came to writing blog reviews on shows (which I’ve wanted to do for SUCH a long time!), I wondered and wondered – where do I start? Do I start with How I Met Your Mother, the most Friends like show? Or maybe praise the smartness of The Big Bang Theory? Perhaps I should go for critical acclaim and 30 Rock? Or the show with the best couple (Jim & Pam) after Ross & Rachel, The Office? Maybe some of the newbies I love – Modern Family or Community?

In the end I came down to just one conclusion. The reviews have to start where the madness began. And it definitely began with Friends.

So I am going to do myself the pleasure of rewatching all ten seasons of my favourite show (all in the name of research, of course!) and write reviews here. And I hope that I can inspire the (very few, I’m sure) people who haven’t watched this show to watch it, especially when they are down and need something to pick them up. After all, “they’ll be there for you”…