Friendship + Love + Success = Comedy?

“I’ll be there for you…” For many of us, hearing this phrase brings to mind one image and one image only: Friends. The powerful comedic writings of David Crane and Marta Kauffman that are behind this iconic TV series captured the attention of millions over its ten year run. What was it about their style that created such loyal viewers? It’s more than brilliant comedic writing-it’s a signature, a style, an overall theme of love and success that surrounds the Friends series as well as their other creative works including Jesse and Victoria’s Closet. So many people are able to relate to the characters in any one of their series-and that’s why they’re successful. I mean you can’t start to recall a memory or enter into a conversation without relating something to a Friends episode. This is why Crane and Kauffman appealed to me-because they knew how to get a viewer reaction. Following a brief profile, I will discuss the elements that reappear within their body of work which includes storylines that privilege friendship, love, success-intertwined with comedy.

Longtime friends, Kauffman and Crane have been a writing team now for over twenty-five years. Before they caught their big break creating and writing for one of the most popular television sitcoms of all time, Crane and Kauffman started off collaborating with composer Michael Skloff and produced several off-Broadway musicals. From there, Crane and Kauffman dabbled in several short-lived sitcoms and started their own production company. In 1994 they came up with the innovative idea for Friends, writing and co-producing the TV series until its end in 2004. The sitcom was a quick hit as it touched upon a search for love and success that seemed to connect with audiences. During the production of Friends, Crane and Kauffman also wrote and co-produced Jesse (1998-2000) and Veronica’s Closet (1998-2000). As soon as the cheerful melodies and the opening credits light up the screen, viewers can identify Crane and Kauffman’s signature: a strong bond of friendship and love with a comedic twist.

On the Friends commentary tracks, Crane and Kauffman state that as writers and producers of the show, it was essential to make the characters truly come alive and relate to audience viewers. It is evident throughout their creative works that not only are the characters relatable, but they exude a sense of compassion for each other. Crane and Kauffman use the theme of friendship and its positive benefits that a solid friendship can provide. This was quite evident throughout the second season of Jesse as the main character finds her way out of complicated situations through the help of her friends. In “Jesse’s Flat Tyre,” Jesse finds herself struggling to raise her son own her own. Her friends offer her advice and support in this situation, helping Jesse to feel more secure and confident as a mother. “The Rock” also exhibits power of friendship as Jesse cheers up her friend by uncovering a former spark in her friend’s love life at a class reunion. Despite whatever situation Jesse is in, she always finds a way to be there for friends and vice versa. This notion is also present in Friends. “The Pilot” episode of Friends truly embodies this theme as Rachel, after her leaving her fiancé at the altar, moves in with her friend, Monica. Although Monica and Rachel haven’t spoken since high school, Monica is willingly to put that aside and help out an old friend. This exhibits the strong foundation that their friendship is based on and demonstrates the importance of friendship throughout the series.

Following the success and failures of characters with a comedic storyline seems to be another signature style of Crane and Kauffman. A common theme throughout their work is that with success comes failure, but your friends are always there to pick you up-and in this case with a clever joke. Veronica’s Closet features Veronica as the head a successful lingerie company; however, she learns quickly that she can’t have everything. With a rocky marriage and scrutiny in the public spotlight, she finds comfort from her top business executive and good friend Olive. Olive always offers Veronica a shoulder to cry on. This is similar to the constant career struggles of Friends character Joey. Throughout the series Joey is constantly trying to land-and keep acting jobs. “The One with Joey’s Big Break,” features Joey in Las Vegas for a major movie role, but finds out last minute that the movie production has been put on hold due to a “money issue.” Upon receiving the news Joey is extremely sad, but is surprised by a gift of balloons from his friends. Although he is still disappointed, he is happy that his friends support him. With the ending of each episode, Joey always has his friends to come home too with encouraging words.

Conquering love and relationships also seems to be a reoccurring mark of Crane and Kauffman. Friends, Jesse, and Veronica’s Closet all open their series with characters dealing with broken relationships and turning to their friends for emotional. Season one of Jesse focuses on a recently divorced, single mother trying to raise her son and distance herself from her ex-husband. Her friends offer her advice and reminders of why she is no longer married to her ex-husband when he returns and tries to win her over. An example you’re probably more familiar with the first several Friends episodes in season one where Rachel and Ross and both coming out of a break-up. Emotionally broken, Ross and Rachel find comfort in each other’s friendship and eventually conquer their most important relationship-their own. Veronica’s Closet opens with Veronica gathering the strength to leave her husband and contradicting her “picture perfect’ lifestyle that she is known for. In this scenario, Veronica’s love relationship to conquer is the one with herself. I often wonder if these similar relationship scenarios were self-inspired by the creative duo.

Works Cited
Bright, K.S. (Executive Producer). (1994). Friends [Television series].
New York: National Broadcasting Company
Friends. (2009). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org
Jesse. (2009). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org
Locate TV. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.locatetv.com/tv/jesse
Marta Kauffman. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/188332/Marta_Kauffman
Reich, A., Cohen, T. (Writers), & Bright, K.S. (Director). (2003). The one with Joey’s big break. In K.S. Bright (Producer), Friends. New York: National Broadcasting Company.
Veronica’s Closet. (2009). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org

Too Ciritical?

Television Criticism. Why is it whenever we hear the word ‘criticism’ it has a negative connotation attached? As a critic, I plan on breaking the away from this association and express my views towards television is a positive light. Similar to most people, I love television because it offers many viewers an escape to a new reality and a much needed break from the usual craziness of everyday life. No wonder people across the nation (and yes myself at times) are obsessed with this object. I plan to blog about my views towards various television programs. Hopefully my viewpoints will challenge and inspire a deeper appreciation for something that is often overlooked in the fast pace of day to day life. In this first post I will address my goals for doing TV criticism; explain how I understand television as an object that is an essential function of everyday life; and will finish asking you participate is a discussion with me so that we can form new interpretations of television together.

The purpose of this blog is not to hate on television or verbally destroy the programs you love. I too enjoy curling up on the couch after a long day to laugh at The Office or cheer for my favorite competitor on project runway (go Althea!). However, my reasons for watching these programs may differ from the common TV viewer. As O’Donnell (2007) states, the critical perception allows me, the critic, to move from casual enjoyment of a television program to a fuller and richer understanding (1). Basically, the goal of criticism is to go beyond the face value of the TV programs text and develop a deeper understanding of culture. Sillars and Gronbeck (2001) share a similar perspective pointing out that criticism describes, interprets, and evaluates. Sillars and Gronbeck further classify their perceptions into two categories, epistemological criticism and critical criticism. The Epistemological view regards criticism not as a process, but as a scientific experiment that produces a similar outcome (15). In other words, this viewpoint states that even bad criticism produces knowledge. This means as I blog critiques about various television programs, I am assisting in ways that people can judge and interpret society as a whole.

The critical/cultural view of criticism simply states that criticism itself is a cultural act. However, what specific perspectives of society are television programs focused on? Butler (2002) states that television programs are catered towards a single viewpoint. I do not agree with this and feel television is open to multiple interpretations by the viewer. For example, the popular HBO series Big Love follows modern polygamist Bill Hendrickson (Bill Paxton) and his three wives as they handle the many problems that arise within their three-house suburban home. From just reading over the summary of the show before actually tuning in, I had already developed an opinion towards the show which stated the core focus of the program went against the traditional nuclear family, therefore violating societal social norms. However, after watching a few episodes, my viewpoint had completely changed. The interactions and relationships between the characters made me feel like this unconventional family structure is acceptable. I’m curious though as to what reading the program’s text intended to portray and how that differed from the audience’s interpretation.

Even though I do not agree with the singular viewpoints many television scripts cater too, I still believe television is an influential and strong medium that is a large part of my life. This is exactly why I feel it’s important to study televison. Corner (1999) notes that a majority of early research on television was conducted out of anxiety and fear that television would have an overwhelming influence on the public. The position was formed that TV would allow politicians to easily warp to the public information and the constant exposure to TV would make people ‘dumber’. I do not agree with Corners viewpoints as I feel TV enhances knowledge and gives people more access to political activity such as publicizing political debates. However, I do agree with Corner and Gronbeck’s theory that television allows people to engage in a dialogue where everyone is constructing ideas together (11). This is why it is important for critics and audience members to analyze and discuss the text together to create a variety of interpretations. I do not want my opinions and critiques to come across as intimidating or arrogant as I consider both of our readings to be on the same level. Brunsdon would refer to this as a transparent relationship in that the critique and the viewer are on the same side collaborating ideas together.

I sincerely do want feedback (both positive and negative) from my post. I consider constructional criticism as a great learning tool in that it helps me grow as a critic and writer. I will try to blog about television programs from a vast array of genres (anywhere from documentaries concerning Cities of the Underworld on the History Channel to Gossip Girl to Fear Factor) in order to truly appeal to all viewers. I would like to hear what TV shows you enjoy watching and would like to discuss further. As you see from above, I’m open to a wide variety of TV programs so let me know what interests you-I want to know how TV influences you. I hope I can inspire you and together we can create a vigorous discussion in which we can both develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of this object that is so much intertwined in our daily lives.

References
Butler, J. (2002). Television: Critical Methods and Applications (2nd ed). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Corner, J. (1999). Critical Ideas in Television Studies. New York: Oxford University Press.
O’Donnell, V. (2007). Television Criticism. New York: Sage.
Sillars, M. O. and Gronbeck, B. E. (2001). Communication Criticism: Rhetoric, Social Codes, Cultural Studies. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.