New York, New York, II - How I Met Your Mother

3/13/2012

New York, New York, II - How I Met Your Mother

"Have you met Ted?" Well, If you are an avid HIMYM fan, then you certainly cracked a smile on this typical Barney Stinson phrase. However, for those, who are not such experts on the show, here is a plot summary which might entice you to follow the lives and adventures of the five friends:

How I Met Your Mother is a comedy about Ted (Josh Radnor) and how he fell in love. It all starts when Ted's best friend, Marshall (Jason Segel), drops the bombshell that he's going to propose to his long-time girlfriend, Lily (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher. At that moment, Ted realizes that he had better get a move on if he too hopes to find true love. Helping him in his quest is Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), a friend with endless, sometimes outrageous opinions, a penchant for suits and a foolproof way to meet women. When Ted meets Robin (Cobie Smulders), he's sure it's love at first sight, but destiny may have something else in store. The series is narrated through flashbacks from the future, voiced by Bob Saget. (tv.com)

The series was created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS and out of the 154 episodes, 144 was directed by Pamela Fryman. Fryman, who is praised to the skies by the whole cast and crew, seems to know the receipt for success. And where else should she bring forth this useful bit of knowledge, than from her past experience with directing Friends?

Ingredients for making a popular sitcom:

                        

Who's missing?

Which only leaves Phoebe, but she already had her doppelgänger in Friends, who was none other then her own twin sister, Ursula. 

Success? Check. Fans? Check. Another season? Most probably check - though, god help those two poor kids, listening to their father's rambling for seven years straight. Reality check? It seems that the not so original (however entertaining it is) plot brought the same problems into the scenes of HIMYM then into the Friends'.

Our five pals do not seem to know the meaning of the word schedule - just as in Friends, these guys have an endless amount of free-time, which they mostly spend in a pub called McLaren's, while occasionally they venture into strip-bars and clubs. Out of the five mates, three of them (Marshall, Robin, and Ted) had been unemployed for a time, and while the show hints about money problems here and there, the matter of regular income (or lack thereof) never plays an important role in the lives of our heroes.

What struck me, though - and here I can mention Friends again as these two shows seems to be estranged  twins with nearly a decade of an age gap between them - is the strange social etiquette so readily accepted on the screen. The idea of living a mostly carefree life - as the biggest problem there is to find the one - while having several best buddies and sharing a common close bond is indeed alluring. Who wouldn't love to share such hilarious adventures? OK, maybe not with the kids... But the idea - the ideal - is the dream of many. Yet, who wouldn't want some privacy? I cannot imagine that any friend of mine would barge into my apartment without so much as a by your leave. Nor can the Americans; knock, call, shout - it doesn't matter, one must communicate one's intention to enter someone else's room, no matter how close a friend he or she might be.  Furthermore, being best friends are one thing, but in real life, five thirty-something guys would drive each other crazy if they constantly hung out with each other. Privacy, pals, privacy!

To sum up, How I Met Your Mother and Friends are much similar in many aspects. They share not only the same success (and don't forget about director Fryman) but the same flaws as well. While they may not be very educational to non-natives about the American reality and the New Yorkian lifestyle, they will continue to occupy a part of our hearts with their ability to brighten up the dull weekdays. Until the next post, forget about the boring facts and enjoy the fiction!

To Get You in the Mood

2/28/2012

To Get You in the Mood

While the in-debt analyses of How I Met Your Mother won't be up till the end of the week, here is a little something to get you in the mood. This is my favorite episode of the whole series because its hilarious description of how people who are close to each are immune to the others' irritating habits until someone points them out. After, there is no cure, no vaccine - something once seen cannot be unseen. You just have to live with it.

 Spoiler Alert

Marshall awaits his bar exam results; Ted introduces his latest girlfriend to the gang, who all see the flaw that Ted has missed. (tv.com)

New York, New York, I - Friends (1994-2004)

2/26/2012

New York, New York, I - Friends (1994-2004)

There are only a few series which could be called epic as in a generation shaping way, but Friends is definitely on the list! The sitcom was created by David Crane and Martha Kauffman and it was aired on NBC between 1994 and 2004. For someone who was born in the 90s, it is hard to imagine that anyone could not know about this hilarious show; still, I will do the right thing and provide a link to the best summary I could find.

Friends - Opening Season 1

During its ten running years, Friends attracted 14,88-24,5 million viewers each season, making it the fourth most popular series in the history of American television. Fans all over the world tried to imitate the trend and style of the six friends while longing to have the same close ties and hilarious adventures. I myself dreamed of leading such a leisurely life as an adult; sitting in a coffee house like Central Perk (even though at that time I could not bear the thought of drinking that ‘vile drink’) during the day, laughing with my friends about our unbelievable shenanigans (I had one friend at the time and the most interesting happenings occurred in my daydreams) and eating all the junk food there was without feeling guilty, as the possibility of getting fat was zero (I was a chubby kid).

All in all, life portrayed in Friends seemed easy enough even with the complications the characters created for and by themselves and most people would have happily swapped places with them. The rays of reality only entered through when the laughter of people harshly intruded into ones sensitive fantasies or when the names of the cast and crew appeared at the end. Still, many thought that if life was like that in Manhattan, it is the place to go. I know, because I thought so, too. However, the laughter has long quieted and the harshness of the cruel world (American studies in ELTE) polarized my dreams. Here are some basic facts which will cast a completely new light on life in New York.

The 6 friends lived next to Central Park. Around 2000, the monthly income of the average Joe/Jane was approximately $2,666 a month ($32,000 a year) while the average apartment rent in the fancy Upper West Side of New York was around $2100. It is easy to conclude that living off of $600 a month is more than a bit problematic in such an expensive city. Considering that Joey was a struggling actor often without a job, he would have never been able to make a living in New York even with the constant loans from Chandler. The same goes for both Rachel (waitress) and Phoebe (masseuse). Furthermore, even the others, the luckier trio, Monica, Chandler, and Ross experienced bouts of hardships during their carriers. Though, most of the time they did appear to make a decent living, it was not very credibly portrayed since Ross was a university professor (said job comes with an average income) and Monica a chef. In 2011, New York was named the 32th most expensive city; one has to toughen up to live there!

Another small thing. Non-natives often think that Americans are lazy and have so much more free time than, for instance, Europeans. Wrooong! This misconception is also fed bed Friends in which the six characters’ lives are revolve around Central Perk, dating, and sitting at home. In reality, they would have been able to keep their jobs for a day only with this kind of attitude. Americans in comparison with Europeans take far less leave and do not even have a law for setting the maximum length of the work week. They often complain that they are the most overworked nation of the world.

In the light of these new facts, Friends can finally become what it really is – a fiction. Next week,  I am going to take another popular sitcom under my scrutiny. The second post in New York, New York will explore behind the scenes of How I Met Your Mother.

Friends - Opening Season 10