Friends

6 Pages 1433 Words

Chosen Genre: Sitcom.
Show: Friends.
Episode: The One Where Eddie Won’t Go!
Written By: Written by Michael Curtis and Greg Malins.


Friends first hit our screens way back in September 1994. From its first showing on television, the American sitcom has gone from strength to strength, exceeding everyone involved with the programmes expectations. The actors didn’t know they were to become highly paid superstars that are household names, not only nationally, but also globally.
The episode that will be studied will be an episode called “The One Where Eddie Won’t Go”. The essay will view the layout and text of the show, and then proceed to the different topics of sound and camera angles.

The layout and plot of Friends can be compared to most standard types of the storytelling format. Friends contains a structured plot. This is when the writers make each story have a beginning, middle and end. Friends follows the usual sitcom method. This involves two or three ‘mini stories’ that are shown back and forth and coiled together throughout the twenty-three minute show. Each of the three ‘mini stories’ revolves around different characters in the show. The three topics in this episode are:

1. The women have discovered a feminist book with which they can relate and explore a new set of attitudes the book professes.
2. Joey, recently fired from his role in a medical soap opera, discovers he can no longer support his lavish life style. He finds the offer of a short movie role as a taxi driver demeaning, and refuses the work. He finally has to move out of his apartment and back in with Chandler.
3. Chandler has discovered that his new roommate Eddie is a psychopath and decides he must get Eddie to move out. He eventually evicts Eddie and Joey moves back in with Chandler.
Each of these three themes can be separated one from the other and viewed as individual stories. For example, Chandler's stor...