When the horrific attacks of 9/11 took place in the US, people binge-watched FRIENDS only to escape from the tension that had struck the country. The series had been the only place where they could take sight of the twin tower. At a time when the pandemic has struck worldwide, and people have been advised to remain indoors unless absolutely necessary to step outside, it might be time again when the cast of FRIENDS can play the same role again.
FRIENDS had ended in 2004, and ever since then, fans of the show have demanded their reunion. The same year, Matt Le Blanc made a comeback as Joey again in a separate series dedicated to him and his lifestyle in Los Angeles.
In most films of Woody Allen, you would notice a strong comment on the people from the East Coast and people from the West Coast of America. In the realm of Allen, New York is the best place to live and Los Angeles is the land for the philistines. A somewhat shift in standard had also been noted in Joey. Joey was a completely different person in New York when he lived with his roommate Chandler, however in Los Angeles, he lived with his sister Gina and nephew Michael Tribbiani, who had none of the qualities of his uncle.
The series Joey begins from an episode of Friends, where one of Joey's sisters, visits Rachel to get advice on how she manages while being a single pregnant woman. But that timeline hardly had a mention. Each time Joey was asked to talk about his life in New York, there had been an audio transition that canned his voice over. Were they embarrassed to talk about Joey's life in New York?
Although the Wikipedia pages describe the show as a journey of Joey's 'struggle' as an actor, we saw more of his 'struggle' during his days in New York when he participated in horrible plays, did advertisements, and worked as a waiter. In Los Angeles, after being a movie star, he was literally flushing money down in the toilet.
Frankly, Joey would have been a lot more interesting had the makers thought of placing the character with Monica and Chandler in their new house rather than shift him away to Los Angeles. After all, Monica did make a special arrangement for Joey to live upstairs. Why would he leave New York anyway? He had a flourishing career in the later stage of his life. Monica and Chandler may have left the city but Ross, Rachel, Phoebe were still there.
FRIENDS had been a separate emotion, where we witnessed the rise and fall of all the members in the purple wall painted house. We witnessed Rachel Greene's conversion from shoe to a hat, we witnessed Joey's immense love for a sandwich where he would literally take a bullet to save his meal, Chandler and Monica's love story which followed after the 'we were on a break phase', and Phoebe's independence, out of the box choices that made her unique.
FRIENDS reunion needs to be memorable, and not a series that is just done for the sake of it.
