Opinion of Friends

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I like it. Does that mean I have no taste?

Considering all of the Emmys it won/was nominated for and its general high ranking in lists of the greatest sitcoms ever, I'd say not liking it is what signals "no taste" ...

The Emmys also keep giving awards to The Big Bang Theory so maybe not.

Emmy people love that saccharine dreck.

[bedstuy]

I like it. Does that mean I have no taste?

Considering all of the Emmys it won/was nominated for and its general high ranking in lists of the greatest sitcoms ever, I'd say not liking it is what signals "no taste" ...

If you look at the Emmy Awards for Comedy series, it's clearly not based on the quality of the show.  There's clearly a bias towards more mainstream, waspy shows and against more quirky or Jewish humor.  It's a numbers game, if you have a super broad comedy on the intellectual level of a 10 year old and the humor level of someone who doesn't like comedy, that's just about perfect.

Just looking back at the history of the award there are some glaring choices:

Frasier over Seinfeld
Friends over Curb
Everybody loves Raymond over Curb
The Office over Curb
Modern Family over Curb
Nominating Two and a Half Men, twice!!??
Nominating The Big Bang Theory, four times!?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Or more glaringly the total lack of Sunny nominations.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Brutally unfunny, sappy, feel-good-to-a-fault, cringe-worthy crap.  Of course everyone loved it, so I found myself in the room while it was on many times.  The only chuckle it ever induced for me was David Schwimmer doing some goofy musical number with a keyboard at the coffee shop, and of course that joke was milked far too much. 

HS

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Awards mean nothing - it just means they've got a good PR team and good-will from a bunch of industry people. See Modern Family winning 4 comedy series emmys in a row... the same as Frasier.

But on topic - Friends was fine, there were a few standout episodes, but I can't really think of one that I'd call bad. Mind you, I don't seek it out when it's on TV now.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Awards prove that a show matches the taste of some selection committee and nothing more. They are rarely an accurate mark of the zeitgeist of an era and even less often a sign of "good taste."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKS3MGriZcs

^ This show wins awards left and right.  Seriously.  

[Lief 🗽]

Frasier over Seinfeld
Friends over Curb
Everybody loves Raymond over Curb
The Office over Curb
Modern Family over Curb
Nominating Two and a Half Men, twice!!??
Nominating The Big Bang Theory, four times!?

I agree with most of this, but The Office season 2 (which is the season that won the Emmy) is really sitcom perfection. It was absolutely deserving.

[badgate]

It wasn't a bad show. It was popular, though, so naturally the usual suspects are obligated to hate it.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Horrible Show, TV started to go downhill for me around the time it came on. This being said, there were some great shows that premiered after Friends did, such as King of the Hill and My Name is Earl.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I like it. Does that mean I have no taste?

Considering all of the Emmys it won/was nominated for and its general high ranking in lists of the greatest sitcoms ever, I'd say not liking it is what signals "no taste" ...

Winning an Emmy in the 90s and winning an Emmy 2008-present day don't necessarily signify the same thing, and the latter is/was far more difficult (although this certainly applies more to the Drama than Comedy).

[Goldwater]

Awards mean nothing - it just means they've got a good PR team and good-will from a bunch of industry people. See Modern Family winning 4 comedy series emmys in a row... the same as Frasier.

But on topic - Friends was fine, there were a few standout episodes, but I can't really think of one that I'd call bad. Mind you, I don't seek it out when it's on TV now.

Actually, Modern Family happens to be one of my favorite currently airing sitcoms...

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Awards mean nothing - it just means they've got a good PR team and good-will from a bunch of industry people. See Modern Family winning 4 comedy series emmys in a row... the same as Frasier.

But on topic - Friends was fine, there were a few standout episodes, but I can't really think of one that I'd call bad. Mind you, I don't seek it out when it's on TV now.

Actually, Modern Family happens to be one of my favorite currently airing sitcoms...

At least it's better than The Big Bang Theory... just not as good as VEEP or Orange is the New Black.

[Ebowed]

Love it.  I watched through the entire series in May / June and was astounded (also offended) at how frequent the gay jokes were.  At the time, the very mention of homosexuality was enough for a lot of conservative Christian parents to deem it unacceptable, relatives of mine included.  Have been watching through 90s Simpsons recently too.  Unlike Seinfeld, I think those two are still quite good.  Seinfeld almost feels irritating.

[politicus]

Seinfeld almost feels irritating.

That's how I feel too, allthough the crazier Kramer moments and some of Elaine's lines are still funny.

[Velasco]

It's a bit out of fashion, isn't it? As far as I remember, it wasn't a bad show and Aniston looked good. Anyway, the sitcom was somewhat sugarcoated for my taste. I'm not a big fan of the genre, admittedly. There are so many good shows broadcasted after that...

[solarstorm]

I've never understood its success