Late Learner

There’s this incredible sit-com on weekdays Channel 4 at 7.30am which is about six friends who live next to each other in some apartment. I think it’s New York. And it’s all about the fact that even if your job’s a joke and it hasn’t been your day or week or even your year, these people are still there for each other. Alright it’s a re-run of Friends. When it first came out I used to sneer at all those tedious girlie girls snuggling up on their sofas in their pyjamas and socks enjoying a bit of me-time watching Monica and Ross, that Phoebe is just so damn quirky and Chandler and Josh heh I wish I had flatmates like that etc. But I tell you what. 10 years down the line you ain’t gonna see no Extras or Green Wing picking up new fans like that. That’s the real test of comedy and I am good as hooked. I’m even reading frighteningly detailed “biographies” of the fictional main characters on Wikipedia of which Chandler Bing’s is the highlight (and actually goes a long way to explaining the success of the show).

I know of course that in about 10 weeks time we’ll start to see Matthew Perry’s absurdly ballooning face as the painkiller addiction starts to take its toll. And that in 20 weeks or so we’ll get to that point when it’s not even remotely believable that these guys and gals are meant to be the mid-to-late 20 somethings they’re meant to portray. And then it goes to complete shit when they start doing crap like coming to London and so on.. but in the meantime, I’ve seen a good 40 episodes now and not a bad one in sight. When you compare that to something like Jack Dee’s derivative tumbleweed that is the Lead Balloon sitcom then you realise just how good Friends actually was/is.

Talking of Matthew Perry he pops up in 3 episodes of The West Wing around Season 4 or 5 I think and he’s outstanding. In fact he got 2 Emmy nominations for his role and it’s a shame they didn’t extend it further. He’s also in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip which started off all guns blazing but the initial critical and audience love-in appears to be fading fast.