The tenth year’s lack of direction was also noticeable in the writing.
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At its best, the situation comedy "Friends" captures the Zeitgeist of the 1990s with startling accuracy. That it is funny without resorting to cruel ironies only solidifies the cheery, optimistic outlook of the show´s creators. Sure, some of its sarcastic jokes hit a little close to home, but the characters seem to care genuinely for one another and about being good people (unlike the tools in "Seinfeld").
Warner Bros.´s first "Friends" DVDs consisted of "Best of ´Friends´" collections. Those releases were a hodge-podge of episodes from various seasons. Thankfully, the studio has come to its senses and is now releasing "Friends" season by season. "Friends": The Complete Tenth Season Box Set includes seventeen episodes on three DVDs. (The box includes four discs like the other "Friends" sets, but Disc 4 only has extras.) Each episode contains footage not seen during its original broadcast. Mostly, these are mere seconds that were cut here and there in order to fit in a couple of extra commercials on the air.
Disc 1: "...After Joey and Rachel Kiss", "...Where Ross Is Fine", "...Ross´s Tan", "...the Cake", "...Where Rachel´s Sister Baby-sits", "...Ross´s Grant".
Disc 2: "...the Home Study", "...the Late Thanksgiving", "...the Birth Mother", "...Where Chandler Gets Caught", "...Where the Stripper Cries", "...Phoebe´s Wedding".
Disc 3: "...Where Joey Speaks French", "...Princess Consuela", "...Where Estelle Dies", "...Rachel´s Going Away Party", "The Last One".
Season Nine ended with Ross and Joey fighting over Charlie (guest star Aisha Tyler). Ross and Charlie become a couple, and Joey decides to go after Rachel. Season Ten begins with everyone re-adjusting to the new relationships while Phoebe and Mike (guest star Paul Rudd) prepare to marry. Meanwhile, Monica and Chandler plan to adopt a child from a young girl (guest star Anna Faris) in Ohio.
Season Ten has seventeen (instead of the usual twenty-three/twenty-four) episodes because the six primary cast members were itching to move on to the next stage of their careers. Therefore, they agreed to a tenth season only if they did not have to spend much time on it. Despite the fact that they all talked about how much they would miss the show, the actors´ lack of enthusiasm is apparent at the beginning of their last year together. There are times when the actors look bored or tired.
The tenth year´s lack of direction was also noticeable in the writing. Some jokes are prolonged to the point where a viewer stops laughing. The arc involving Charlie and Ross comes to a weird and abrupt end. An episode with Chandler mangling the French language is trite and silly--something that you would expect from the show´s early years and not its last one. Thankfully, the season is redeemed by a genuinely moving finale.
By the way, this box set only has the extended version of the finale. While the extended version of the finale is a welcome item, it is not as good as the broadcast version because its addition of laughs weakens the pacing. Moreover, the show´s devotees saw the broadcast version, and many people saw it at group gatherings. Therefore, the broadcast version is an important thing to have, too, from an emotional point of view. You´re going to have to buy the "Friends: The Series Finale" DVD if you want both versions of the series finale.
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[release]16604[/release]