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Could I be any more excited to talk about friends today? If you understand that reference, you will love what you are about to read. If you don’t, it probably means you are not a “Friends” superfan, but maybe this piece will get you there.
“Friends” is absolutely my guilty pleasure, as well as a comfort show. Now you might be saying to yourself, “watching ‘Friends’ isn’t a guilty pleasure. A lot of people watch ‘Friends.’” I totally agree with you there, even though it is definitely a you-love-it-or-you-hate-it kind of show. What makes “Friends” a guilty pleasure of mine is that I watch it on repeat again and again and again — you get the point.
Now, “Friends” is not a short series. There are 10 seasons of this show and I have seen each episode at least 10 times. One of my favorite episodes, “The One Where No One’s Ready,” I have watched three times this past week. Why? Because it just never gets old. Maybe it’s the fact that two grown men are fighting over who gets to sit in a chair, or the very relatable plot of the girls taking forever to get ready or Monica stressing over a boy. It all just makes this episode extremely entertaining.
There are a lot of shows that I love, like “Outer Banks,” “One Tree Hill” and “Vampire Diaries,” but if I do find myself rewatching them, I don’t consume the episodes nearly as much as I do with “Friends.” When I finish season 10 episode 18, the last ever “Friends” episode, I go right back to season one, episode one and start it all over again.
I could sit here all day and tell you about all of the different episodes I love and why, but I think the main reason why I love this show so much is because it’s simply about five friends just trying to figure life out. From jobs to relationships and everything in between, I think the relatability is what makes this show so likeable. Additionally, the constant comedy makes it a classic feel-good show. There are the really elaborate plots, like the classic Ross and Rachel being “on a break” to the simpler things, like Chandler randomly singing “Tomorrow” from the musical “Annie” in front of Monica and Rachel – which, come to think of it, I love that song, but that is a different guilty pleasure for a different time – and everything is just really fun to watch unfold.
I guess you know you watch a show too much when you start being able to recite entire scenes or when you tell the whole room to be quiet because you just love this part. Or, maybe when you click on the episode and you know everything that is going to happen from start to finish. I do all of these things. I am never surprised by it, and I very, very rarely say, “oh wow I’ve never noticed that before.” Still, I will keep bingeing it again and again and get tears in my eyes every single time I watch the end of the last episode when the camera pans over the empty room and ends on the iconic door of Monica’s apartment.
So many new shows are being released, and I love watching them, but, when I have downtime and want to just chill out and watch television, “Friends” is what I’m playing. I’ll just go from where I left off until I get to the end, and then pick it right back up at the beginning again.
Will I ever get sick of watching Friends? Will the guilty pleasure ever end? Possibly. Can I just stop watching “Friends”? Well, in the words of Phoebe Buffay, “I wish I could, but I don’t want to.”