“Friends”

“Friends” first aired over 20 years ago and yet it is still loved and watched by many adults in their twenties and older, it’s a timeless TV show and that’s what makes it such a success. Viewers can relate to the series for many years to come.

Because of how realistic the show was. From the constant change of careers whether its getting laid off or promoted, to going from relying on your parents to being completely on your own, Friends remains the show that captures this age group so perfectly.

The jokes never get old. I personally have seen every episode over and over again and have yet to get sick of it. I find myself laughing at the jokes as if it’s the first time I’ve heard them. Friends is a sitcom and it obviously should be funny and make the viewer laugh, but the creators of the show go above and beyond to make the viewer burst out laughing. A technique that they used that definitely helped was recording the show in front of a live audience. By doing so they were able to see what jokes were funny and what jokes weren’t. It also enabled the cast of the show to work off the audience’s energy.

Another reason why the show was so successful was because the characters were so interesting. Each character has a unique personality that viewers fall in love with. There isn’t just one main character in the show that is mostly featured. All six characters are featured equally. In every episode there’s usually at least two story lines going on. The characters also portrayed characteristics that are desirable to viewers. For instance, Joey being attractive, Ross being smart and wealthy, Monica being strong, Phoebe being carefree, Chandler being funny, and Rachel being outgoing. On top of all this all the friends lived together or near each other and had nice apartments in Manhattan. All of these characteristics a viewer can relate to or desire to have.

Friends is ranked number 6 for most watched season finale. The final episode of friends aired on May 5th 2004 and had 52.5 million viewers. The reason why Friends was able to stay on the air for so long was due to the fact that it was receiving an average rating of 23 million viewers per episode. The cast members were making $750,000 per episode by season 6, and in the final 3 seasons each cast member made $1,000,000 per episode. Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow were officially the highest paid actresses ever.