![]() Who knew a book about the most hilarious show ever would move me to tears? I wish I had known about "Sein Off" when the show ended on May 14,1998. Jerry: After nine years, how do you say good-bye to the experience, the people, the accomplishments? Emotionally, I just hoped not to get crushed, yet all the while I knew I would.more They could tune in and see it was far worse for this poor slob. Jason: When people reflected on their own lives in comparison to George's, they felt pretty good. Anyone who chooses Elaine as a role model should be in therapy. Let's face it, she embodied lots of problems. Julia: Elaine was someone who single women laughed at because she wrestled with her worst secrets and biggest fears. That was my signal to the house and to those around us-an to myself-that there would be no more words from Kramer. Michael: At the last curtain call made the gesture of "being quiet" with my finger to my mouth. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.Michael: At the last curtain call made the gesture of "being quiet" with my finger to my mouth. In the end, the Seinfeld finale proved that audiences really do like their happy endings and want a say in where their favorite characters end up. While both shows are hilarious and textbook ‘90s comedy, they both had very different ways of execution. Seinfeld unapologetically killed off one of its only redeemable characters, while Friends boosted its ratings by randomly adding Joey into the Ross and Rachel love story. Seinfeld was a show that did things its own way, whereas Friends appealed to what audiences wanted to see. That’s probably one of the biggest differences between the two classic shows. What’s most frustrating was that for a show that was pretty original (lesbian weddings, surrogate babies to your brother), it used the cliche romantic comedy ending, which 30 Rock ended up doing better (“I was about to do the whole run to the airport thing, like Ross did on Friends and Liz Lemon did in real life”). The only surprises were pleasing ones ( Twins! She got off the plane!). Everything that was expected to happen, happened. (There’s a reason why a Rutgers professor is teaching these characters.) Maybe in some way, audiences felt like they, too, were being punished.įriends took the easier way out, the crowd-pleasing one. Larry David’s ending served almost as a punishment for the personalities that collectively represented America’s uninhibited id. Elaine and Jerry didn’t get together (although who really wanted to see that?). Why is that?įor one thing, there was no happy ending. It did everything a good finale should do, and yet that particular episode is much more divisive than the weaker Friends finale. It took risks, it garnered laughs, it wrapped things up. In fact, in a recent Grantland podcast with Bill Simmons, Larry David addressed how much grief he got with the finale from 1998, saying, “I thought it was clever.”Īnd it was clever. After all, how many times did Ross and Rachel almost get back together only to break up? What made us think they didn’t break up once they got to Central Perk after the final “key” scene? Surely, they were going to argue over whether to move to Paris or not.Īnd yet, the Friends finale from 2004 has remained relatively unscathed from fans compared to NBC comedy comrade Seinfeld. True Friends fans know this was kind of a cop-out. ![]() However, as a huge Friends fan, there’s one thing that’s always bothered me about the series-that being the over-the-top saccharine ending with a chase to the airport and three cliffhangers in a matter of 10 minutes ( Will he get to the airport? Will she get on the plane? Will she get off the plane?). ![]() They’ve surely passed “We were on a break!” and are well on their way to Ross’ red-sweater paternity test. By now, Netflix bingers are well into Friends, after the series was released in its entirety on Jan.
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