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Perfect Strangers (2001)
So captivating!
Perfect Strangers was first aired in May 2001. I was in the midst of my final year degree exams. The first part was shown the night before one of my exams and I recorded it to watch another time so that I could do revision. About 20 minutes into the programme, I took a break from revision and decided to watch the programme for a short time. Perfect Strangers was so captivating that I didn't return to my revision until the programme finished!
Perfect Strangers has a wonderful music score by Adrian Johnston. I was thrilled to find that the following year, a CD of the score had been released. (It includes Adrian Johnston's score from Shooting The Past, an earlier drama also by Stephen Poliakoff and starring Lindsay Duncan and Timothy Spall.)
So, are you ready to meet the family?
Friends (1994)
The Last Episode Of FRIENDS
When Rachel decided to get on the plane, I thought that the writers chose to have a sad ending, like with Quantum Leap, to maximise dramatic effect. I am glad that she got off the plane. The writers got to have their cake and eat it (for want of a better expression) because they maximised dramatic effect and gave us a happy ending.
Mike seemed to be present in the last episode as a token gesture. They couldn't exactly leave him out as he was married to Phoebe. It would have been too unrealistic if not only Chandler and Monica and Ross and Rachel got together, but also Joey and Phoebe, even though Phoebe always had a soft spot for Joey.
I noticed that for most of the episode, Rachel was in a miniskirt (more mini than ever before) and knee-length boots. This was a cool way to remember her, especially in the "I got off the plane" scene. While Ross' inappropriate joke about being "on a break" was a final reminder of their turbulent relationship, it would have been nice if Rachel finally agreed that all those years ago, they were indeed, on a break. (Incidentally, I think the best response to Ross' "we were on a break" came from Chandler in The One With The Jellyfish with "Oh my God! If you say that one more time, I'M gonna break up with you!") When Ross and Rachel hugged at the end of the scene with the studio audience cheering and clapping, I thought it was the last scene. When I saw that I was wrong, I realised that Friends was of course not just about Ross and Rachel, so accordingly, the final scene would have all of the Friends.
I think the music they chose for the last scene (showing the Friends leaving the apartment and then panning across the apartment) was spot on. But I would have preferred it if the last shot peered through the window of Central Perk, showing for the last time the Friends sitting there together and chatting. In the last shot when they showed the stove, it reminded me of Monica's chef antics. And finally when we saw the framed peephole, it reminded me of the fact that whoever was living there, the door was always open to the other Friends... Literally, because they had keys!
Joey will have his own show now. It will have big shoes to fill. (Other TV spin-offs were Porkpie from Desmond's and of course Frasier from Cheers.) Although continuing to see Rachel would have been great for male viewers, it is most appropriate for Joey to have his own show as opposed to any of the other Friends. He is the only one who has not moved on from the first series back in 94. Chandler and Monica got married, have babies and are moving to the suburbs. Ross and Rachel have a baby and are finally together, for good. And Phoebe got married. No wonder Joey complained the most when Chandler and Monica were moving to the suburbs, and when Rachel was moving to Paris: "too much is changing"
One final thing before I end... The next time you are checking in for a flight, ask if the philange is okay!