meeting the parents

Now that I can watch Scrubs, it doesn't impress me any more when the writers of Friends try to drum up new plots by combining different characters into different stories. Since there are six main characters in Friends, three plots per episode is not unusual, and keeping track of that many stories usually makes the episode seem shorter. In this episode, for example, I kept hoping the action would return to Phoebe's part of the plot, since watching her be herself has become sort of a rare commodity in the series lately. The good thing about her new relationship is that it has caused her character to be more prominent, which I didn't realize was a good thing until it happened.

Is it a coincidence that both Friends and Will and Grace included a meet-the-parents plot? This is the third week in a row where two of the shows in the Thursday night NBC lineup had similar plots or jokes, but this week was the most blatant case. There wouldn't be any advance planning...would there? If the shows weren't taped months in advance, it might be that the duplicate references are based on fads. Is it possible that these instances are planned? If not, the coincidence is incredible.

 

 

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