manny

A Thursday primetime slot comes with prestige, but it also seems to drain the life out of certain shows. I have finally decided that it is not just me, that the Friends posse is becoming more and more of a set of caricatures and less true to life with every episode. Whether a dramatic plot carries over to the next week's episode seems completely determined by the show schedule, not by the importance of the event. I almost prefer a trivial plot to one which is more meaningful but which is not dealt with completely, as was the case in this episode.

The new nanny opened up a traditional side of Ross which has been hinted at before ("Whatever, dude, you kissed a guy") but never taken to such extremes. Even Joey accepted the nanny; the joke there was not quite that it questioned Joey's masculinity but that it questioned his adulthood. And did anyone notice that the problem was discussed intelligently by Ross and Rachel but not resolved in the end, even with an extra 17 minutes allocated to the episode? Maybe conflict resolution is a thing of the past, only present in outdated family comedies.

In case that wasn't enough to convince you, how about when Mike catches Phoebe cheating on him? He accepted her apology quicker than anyone I know would have in his situation. Yes, I still watch the show every week, and it continues to entertain, but realistic plots and characters make the difference between shows I like and shows I love.

 

 

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