Dear Gossips,
Tomorrow is American Thanksgiving and I didn’t know this until Vulture pointed it out the other day but Friends apparently has the “most and the best” American Thanksgiving episodes which inspired their “definitive ranking of Friends Thanksgiving episodes”. Some of the humour in Friends does not hold up, especially not through a 2018 lens, but as I mentioned last week in this post about Jennifer Aniston, Friends has experienced a resurgence because of Netflix. Remember when the ultimate goal for stars was film? Remember when television was seen as *just* a stepping stone to a movie star career? And that, for a while anyway, that was Jennifer Aniston’s ambition? Turns out that Friends on Netflix has extended or reignited her relevance.
When I think about Friends and Thanksgiving, two episodes come to mind: the one with Brad Pitt (obviously) and the one where Rachel makes a trifle. The trifle episode gave me one of my favourite Joey Tribbiani lines. It happens when he has to taste the trifle, and it’s disgusting, and he says, “It tastes like feet”. Matt LeBlanc’s line delivery was so perfect, I rip that off all the time. (UPDATE: It was Ross who said it tastes like feet! I hate Ross…so that’s what my memory did. It refused to attribute something good to Ross.)
Friends, for many, is a comfort show. Probably many of you in the US will be watching it before or after your Thanksgiving events over the next few days. Kelsey Miller just released a book, I’ll Be There For You: The One About Friends, about the cultural impact of Friends, about why it was such a big hit, why it continues to matter to people, with behind-the-scenes details about the production, and analysis on the show’s shortcomings. If you are familiar with Kelsey’s work, you’ll believe me when I tell you it’s well-written, well-researched, and warm and funny and a perfect holiday read. Full disclosure: I spoke to Kelsey earlier this year when she was putting it together and I am quoted at one point.
For more information about Kelsey’s book, check out her interview with Refinery29.
Happy American Thanksgiving!
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
