For long I have been meaning to place on record, my absolute love and admiration for some of the good SITCOMS I have grown up watching (Since I am far from being fully-grown, yes, it is Work-in-Progress). Tonight is one of those moments when I have finally gotten around to putting down something very close to my heart- in concrete words. There is a sense of gratitude in my appreciation (which will follow in the lines below)- as I feel I owe a substantial chunk of my “happy hours” in life, to those sitcom-hours.
Laughter may or may not be the BEST medicine, but it is definitely one of the best ways to live any moment. For me, any person, thing or phenomenon that brings me a moment of pure, warm and unadulterated “hahaha”, deserves (and receives- in spirit, at least) a blessing and a heartfelt Respect! I think this is an art that while well paid (sure – they get enough monetary gains, once the sitcom tastes decent success), is still less appreciated. Creating such masterpieces is a rare product of genius and hardwork, on the part of the cast as well as the crew. And it’s definitely not as easy as they make it seem. So, from the bottom of my heart: Respect! *Tips Hat*
I want to talk about a few of these Sitcoms (in descending order of rank). Nah! Forget the ranking- it’s rather unfair.
- F.R.I.E.N.D.S
It’s difficult to think of FRIENDS as a sitcom at all. Despite having researched the actors’ personal lives inside out (having rooted for Jennifer Aniston during the ugly Jolie-Pitt phase, and seriously OMG-ing over Matthew Perry’s drug rehab story), one can never think of those people- as actors on T.V, who were ‘paid’ to act out a story. No! They were, and will forever be Rachel, Joey, Ross, Monica, Chandler and Phoebe- who sat with us in our Central Perk, on that couch across that seemed a part of our drawing room, and then went back to a blue- apartment that was pretty much a friend’s house for us. They were all young, innocent, textbook best-friends in a playground- who were put into an adult-life like situation, and made the most of it. They practically grew with us (or the other way around!), we loved them and talked/ thought of them like they were our own close buddies. Growing up in those years, you could never be lonely or friendless. These 6 friends were with you- always, and forever. And since they were friends of all your friends, life could not have been better! Though reviled even in their homeland by some conservative sections for things like “sleeping too much with each other and with everyone in general”, the F.R.I.E.N.D.S were innocent and swore by their friendship (which beautifully never got marred, despite the angle of non-platonic love developing every now and then). Their stories were not so much about “relationships”, “life”, or “friendship” … they were about “wink-wink, ha-ha… witty-witty-snap-snap..”- often loud, crass and slapstick humor. And yet, they taught us a lot of things about relationships, life and friendship; They did! Each one of the actors was remarkable- they brought a unique quality to the character- and there was no way in hell that you could imagine the actor being a person other than the character, and not a F.R.I.E.N.D of the others. The dialogues were funny in context- the script was crisp, and geared to tickle your funny bone, the delivery was memorable and perfectly timed, and while they only tried to make you laugh, they built a small cozy place in your heart and mind. That they became really good F.R.I.E.N.D.S in real life too- helped of course. Unlike all sitcoms since its time, no single character carried the show. All six were significant parts of a huge jigsaw puzzle that fit together. Perhaps Phoebe could be identified as one person with the least “screen/script significance”, even she had her distinct storyline and brand value ( her guitar, her songs were a legend within a legend). Did you know that Lisa Kudrow actually wrote those songs herself? :-)
There are a godzillion memorable lines and moments from FRIENDS (for there was a time when we would carry out entire conversations with each other from those scripts!); will list down a few random ones :
- “Joey, do they know, that we know, that they know about us?”
- “Joey’s apple”
- Emma just said her first word!... What did she say Rach… She said… Galeeba…Erm..that’s not a word .. What?! Sure it is..Okay… what does it mean? I dunno ALL the words!... Alright..make a sentence with it.. okay… ‘Emma just said Galeeba!’
- ‘My Boss wants to buy my baby!’
- ‘ Oh.. I’m sorry, did my back hurt your knife?’
- ‘ Say Ross…I got a science question... If the Homo Sapiens, were, in fact, Homo Sapiens… Is that why they’re extinct?” “Joey… homo sapiens are ‘people’”.. ‘Hey! I’m not being judgmental here!..’
I tuned in to Friends when I was happy, sad, tearful, cheerful- and it always made me Laugh Out Loud. Even if I were to watch it all alone – and even though I knew the dialogues off the top of my tongue. The FRIENDS phenomenon was magic. And we have all been spellbound, and will remain so forever.
When we were passing out of School, Arpita gifted me a poster that she had made. Herself. It had Fat Monica on the left and Slim Monica on the right. On the top, it said, F.R.I.E.N.D.S through… J
At JMC, one of the first ever gifts I received from Mannat was a small, F.R.I.E.N.D.S ka photo-in-a- hand-made frame. I looked over at my desk by chance (having not really looked looked in ages) and I also found a F.R.I.E.N.D.S musical birthday card propped-up there.. We are much older now. Some school would say, we’re old now. We have seen/known many more since. And yet, unlike FRIENDS, they have all been merely SITCOMS.
And I will talk about them next.
