Will fans see the likes of ‘Friends’ again?

By Aaron Barnhart
The Battalion

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS (U-Wire) — “Friends” has had more jump-the-shark moments in its 10-year run than any TV show ever. But they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and “Friends” is proof of that.

After roaring back to life time and again, it gets to leave the airwaves this Thursday on its own terms. Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey may or may not be “friends to the end,” but they certainly learned how to work together as negotiation partners.

Not only did each of them earn $1 million for each of the last 18 episodes of this season, but they also were able to cancel their own show while it was still going strong and move on to new things. (Matt LeBlanc will star in “Joey,” a spin-off comedy for NBC next season.)

Marta Kauffman, one of the co-creators and executive producers of “Friends,” said recently that Thursday’s finale “will not be an aberration.” There may or may not be one last wedding, but clearly the people responsible for “Friends” learned their lesson watching “Seinfeld’s final season.

Meanwhile, “Friends” just continued to surpass expectations. Originally branded as a Gen-X comedy, it inspired a multitude of knockoffs. Even NBC tried other ensemble shows with hip young people hanging around drinking coffee.

It’s interesting to compare “Friends” with “Frasier,” the other NBC comedy signing off this spring (May 13). Five years ago, if you were to have bet which show would be treated to a lavish farewell, you’d probably have picked “Frasier.” Spun off from “Cheers” in 1993, it had an immediate impact on urban America, and it was showered with Emmy awards early on, including best comedy series five years running, from 1994 to 1998.

Or compare “Friends” and “Everybody Loves Raymond,” the show that will get the “Friends” treatment next season if its principals make good on their threat to quit “Raymond” in 2005. It’s a classic comedy that depends heavily on comic pauses, much as the Norman Lear shows of the 1970s did. Laughs can be drawn out for 10 or 20 seconds if need be.

“It is such an extraordinarily sophisticated show, and yet they make it look effortless,” says Robert Thompson, the TV expert at Syracuse University. “I would argue that ‘Friends’ is good if you’re half-asleep. You could even get something out of it if you’re half dead.”

No one knows that better than NBC entertainment honcho Jeff Zucker, who broke the bank to bring “Friends” back for a 10th season only to watch helplessly as one of his brightest new comedies, “Coupling” went down in flames after a month on the air.

Many people have commented that it feels like the passing of an era, because networks are no longer churning out hit comedies. Instead, they’re investing in reality shows, which don’t require writers, are much cheaper to produce and deliver young, advertiser-friendly viewers in droves.