Television Show Analysis: Friends “The One after Vegas”

My main objective in this article is to conduct a technical analysis of a television show that caught my interest upon viewing. In doing so, I will offer personal opinions on the story, the characters, the shot’s achievement, the lighting functions, and camera angle alignment, among others. “Friends” will go down in history as one of the most watched television shows in the world. A situation comedy (sitcom) by classification, Friends ran on NBC for ten seasons from 1995 to 2004. Currently, it can still be viewed in syndication on a few other television channels in the US and across the world. This 20 to 25 minute long-per-episode sitcom captures the situational lives of a group of young friends, Joey, Chandler, Rachel, Phoebe, Monica, and Ross in New York. It touches on the various issues they go through such as relationships, life, and work, among others. The following, therefore, is an analysis of one of the episodes dubbed “The One after Vegas.”

This episode begins with Rachel and Ross waking up in the same bed. It appears like they cannot remember what happened the night before. Over breakfast, they are shocked to hear from the others that they got married. Despite Ross’ disagreement, the two decide to settle for an annulment once they get back home. Meanwhile, the viewer also learns that both Chandler and Monica seem undecided on their plans to get married, but none is ready to back out. Eventually, they decide to suspend their marriage and move in together. On the other hand, Joey convinces Phoebe to keep him company in her cab as they drive home. Even though he had promised to turn it into a fun trip, he falls asleep all the way home (Wild, 2005).

It was interesting how the writer combined different occurrences in the formation of this well-structured episode. From the audience’s point of view, I found it easy to settle with the main idea and was able to easily follow the characters all their way back home. Nowadays, television channels are bound to treat like consumer products. This implies that it is vital to get as much audience as possible into staying with the channel. Needless to say that “Friends” achieved this goal for being one of the first ones to tell situational stories properly. The writers let each event take its own course rather than have Ross go directly to his lawyer and get the annulment, for instance. Instance, they use the first scene to create an event that will lead to an interestingly dominant theme throughout the episode (Johnson, 2006).

The audio and visual effects for the episode seem to set just the right stage the producers want it to take. The Friends’  “I’ll be there for you” soundtrack fits the right mood the episode is trying to portray. Set both indoors and outdoors, it is definite that the producers have no problem with the lighting as it has the proper light and sound levels that fuse to smoothly unite different scenes. Eventually, there is a good presentation of all the details the viewer yearns to know. For example, Ross and Rachel are a couple that goes through a complicated on and off relationship. In this particular episode, Ross’ hopes of being together with Rachel are on the rough patch. The introductory scenes would not have been depicted any better. For example, the writers clearly bring out the characters for what they truly are; the tactical seductive Chandler, Phoebe the wholehearted extrovert, Joey the food lover, and kooky Monica (Wild, 2005).

Last, the ease of communication of ideas for this episode appears so straightened up that it sometimes seems unreal. However, this does not discredit the success and innovativeness of the producers as a whole. The appeal of each character comes from the audience’s capability of identifying with them despite their status. It is well written with high production quality based on proper camera placement and adequate scene lighting (Johnson, 2006). Perhaps it is the frequent use of a viewer friendly neighborhood for the shoot that captures one’s attention throughout the show. In my opinion, Friends will remain one of the world’s top revolutionary sitcoms.