Not friends with friends

I have made an important discovery about my psyche. I think I know now why I don’t laugh at F.R.I.E.N.D.S. I have had to reflect on this since most people actually do find this show amusing, and of course then you start to wonder what’s wrong (or right) with you. My theory is that my brain will not accept acting when the behavior of the actors feels too far from reality. But, if I find it to be very humorous, I can accept a far fetch joke or ridiculously far fetched behavior. So what is the conclusion of that? That I don’t find the jokes in F.R.I.E.N.D.S funny, and thus, I don’t accept their exaggerated and unnatural behavior. But wait a minute. Isn’t this a catch 22 situation? The exaggerated and unnatural acting is the reason for which I can’t accept the jokes, and the reason why I can’t accept this style of acting is because I don’t find the jokes funny enough.

I will come no where reasoning like that. It has to be a combination of the acting AND the perceived quality of the jokes. I would like to label the jokes as cheap, far fetched, silly, immature, mainstream, “everybody must get the joke” humor. Sort of like a “Comedy for Dummies”. But I can’t do that can I? Not when I have a few friends that in my opinion are equipped with a well developed sense of humor and taste, that find the show to be funny. (Perhaps I just did, oops) If it wasn’t for this annoying fact, I could easily have dismissed the popularity of the show by saying “The Bold and the Beautiful was also a very successful series..”

I think it is the same predisposition towards acting that makes it hard for me to watch Disney movies where animals are given human characteristics. My brain will not accept that either. “Why would Ross say such a thing to his mother”? “Why would that pig be a Rastafarian..”? It just, doesn’t, make, sense!

I guess most people would tell me to loosen up, stop analyzing! But I can’t help it. Since the (so far) few readers of this blog are very intelligent and insightful people, perhaps there is someone out there who agrees with me, or perhaps someone can "help" me get rid of this strange mindset. And sooner or later I will be sitting there, on the couch with everybody else, laughing along when the woman in the hospital bed next to pregnant Rachel suggests that Ross could come over and feel how dilated her vagina is and then go back to compare the dilation with Rachel’s. Hahahahahaha… yeah.. wait a minute! No, never mind.. hahaha. Hmm.

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That guy Joey can be funny though! They should do a show only about him.. Oh wait, they did, and it wasn't very funny. Guess he didn't get the same jokewriters..