I was recently telling someone how much I watch ‘F.R.I.E.N.D.S.’ (This comes up more than I’d like to admit because I watch it so much). I always find that talking about how much it consumes my time to someone else that is equally as addicted is fun and easy, and a great way to make an instant friend (classic) because you’ve always got some funny point or joke to talk about. But the rest of the population think you’re crazy. They don’t understand how something can be so addictive (that’s not explicitly made to be). I mean, I watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S. when I want to watch something, when I’m bored, when I go to sleep, when I’m busy doing something mindless (like cleaning my room or folding laundry), I watch it all day, every day. I’ve seen it so many times that I don’t actually have to watch it, I can just listen to it and know exactly what’s happening/about to happen.

But for the first time explaining my, for lack of a better word, addiction, I had another element to think about. How a tv show has managed to hold not only my attention, but the attention of the enormous audience that follow it. But not only as it was release, but years and years after the final episode aired. The series was before my time (well before I was old enough to understand it anyway), and yet here we are! And this time difference isn’t even the most notable achievement of attention. It has managed to hold my attention to the point where I (and thousands and thousands of other people) know every single episode backwards and forwards and still continue to not only watch it, but love it. Even though I know exactly what the next line/joke will be, I still wait for it and laugh.
And I’m not alone in this.

However, this also got me thinking about the hundreds and hundreds of other shows that are out there that follow the same rules. The one that I would consider next inline of successfulness would be How I Met Your Mother which, while I still love it, is not the timeless classic that F.R.I.E.N.D.S. is. For years there have been people trying to recreate that ultimate hit, and for years people have just kept missing the mark, though I’m not even sure what the differences between all of those shows are. But there is one thing to conclude from this thought:
F.R.I.E.N.D.S isn’t the rule. It’s the exception.