Friends Season 1 Review

Friends is one of the most iconic TV sitcoms ever made that aired on NBC from 1994-2004. Originally pegged as a Seinfeld wannabe this series went on to capture the hearts and minds of fans around the globe. The show started out as telling the story of the everyday lives of six twenty-somethings in New York. Matthew Perry starred as the sarcastic joker Chandler Bing, Courteney Cox played the fanatic charming Monica Geller, David Schwimmer played the nerdy yet very relatable Ross Geller, Lisa Kudrow played the sporadic Phoebe Buffay, Matt Leblanc played the ladies’ man Joey Tribbiani, and Jennifer Aniston played the spoiled but ever so charming Rachel Green. The first season of Friends introduced us to all these characters and established the chemistry amongst the cast.

       The chemistry amongst the cast is great as all the actors play off each other so well and this leads to so many fascinating character interactions. The writers did a good job of creating believable characters and writing them in a manner that with the support of the cast they come to life. Supporting characters such as Ross and Monica’s parents are introduced excellently and this immediately sets up the conflict between Monica and her parents with their constant approval and high expectations of Ross and considerably low expectations for her. We meet Joey’s dad for the first and only time played by Danny Devito. The script allows for genuine development between Joey and his dad as their relationship is explored with their feud in the episode coming to a morally controversial ending. The cast helps to explore the theme of dilemma so effectively in the first season.

    Dilemma drives conflict and that drives good comedy which really shows in this season. The show’s premise is six twenty-somethings in New York as they live their lives and all that entails and the show really gets into the messy stuff there to explore good plots and character interactions. The season finds the characters going through ups and downs in their careers and romantic lives and so forth which provides plenty of ammunition for quality humor through the conflict. The most prominent story arc in this season would be Ross holding secret romantic feelings for Rachel and that storyline is played out well as it showcases Ross’s attempts and failures as he tries to tell Rachel how he feels about her and win her over. The conflict-driven storyline is relatable to people in the audience and makes the audience care about the characters even more.


     The season also had another major arc with the birth of Ross’s son from his ex-wife. The writers use this conflict and source of anxiety for Ross as a punchline often and explore morally unjustifiable waters in my opinion. This gets into the cons as the show explores worldly themes like so many other shows do but it is worth pointing out that TV needs to evolve out of the morally wrong and also “cheap” entertainment devices to deliver stories of character and true power. However overall the first season of Friends is terrific and certainly plays to the cast’s strengths and has great storytelling throughout the season due to the work of the writers. I am assigning season 1 of Friends a score of an A.

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