![]() ![]() And while he praises the auteurs of the golden age of television, he notes that it has given way instead to peak TV which is “algorithmically optimized, tending inevitably toward its own forms of repetition, mediocrity.” He devotes a chapter to “repetition,” focusing on our stuck pop culture. Ross Douthat, in his book “The Decadent Society, ” discusses the “doom loop” where the success of the past has put us in a malaise. ![]() ![]() Friends could discuss “Friends.” Today, that community seems, well, lacking.Īnd there remains a lingering anxiety for those who grew up on these sitcoms that it’s never going to come all together for them like it did for the generation before, and so looking back brings comfort. With fewer options, everyone was funneled into a shared watching experience. There was once a communal experience around these television sitcoms. Even if these shows can only manage to capture a fraction of its former audience it would be more than enough to please the executives greenlighting them.īut I would suggest that for a generation of viewers, the trend is more than just business-driven. James Francis, a film studies professor at Texas A&M, wrote for The Conversation that the increasingly fractured television landscape has incentivized an increase in reboots because the shows come with built-in audiences much larger than a new show would find today. But the television reboot is something, if not entirely new, at least more popular today than ever before. And there’s good reason that high school reunions remain a rite of middle-age passage. The appeal to nostalgia, of course, is nothing new. “That’s impossible,” she replies, “because we haven’t grown.”Īnd Matt LeBlanc replies, “Speak for yourself.” Matt Leblanc looks around and observes to Jennifer Anniston, “Everything looks so small.” The special never lets you escape the passage of time, even in these mundane exchanges. And throughout it all, the actors consistently reminisce. The final product is part documentary, part interview and part 17-year reunion party. So even though HBO Max reversed a dump truck of cash right into the COVID-19-induced schedule opening, the actors still appear as themselves, not as their characters. As viewers, we are not back.įor as much demand as there has been for these TV reunions, the “Friends” cast had been famously reluctant. So when HBO’s special opens with David Schwimmer walking back onto the reconstructed set looking every one of the 17 years older, there is an immediate incongruence. I spent more hours than I care to admit, anxious to see what Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe were up to next. I remember in the pre-streaming days heading to the library to check out the DVDs to see just what everyone had been talking about. Top 2 reveals from the ‘Friends’ reunion special (and 1 missing reveal). ![]()
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