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NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > STUDY CONCLUDES THAT SUCCESS OF ‘FRIENDS’ WAS A RESULT OF COLLECTIVE MENTAL ILLNESS
STUDY CONCLUDES THAT SUCCESS OF ‘FRIENDS’ WAS A RESULT OF COLLECTIVE MENTAL ILLNESS
September 25 2010
Washington, D.C. – Before the start of the reality show, it was sitcoms that dominated the airwaves of American television. Successful programs such as ‘Two and Half Men’ have continued that legacy, but for the most part sitcoms have gone the 
way of the Dodo. It wasn’t that long ago that that type of show dominated the airwaves with hits such as ‘Seinfeld’, ‘Frasier’, and ‘Roseanne’ bringing in record ratings and winning endless awards. One show however stood above the rest in terms of popularity and endurance, the hit show ‘Friends’.
Documenting the lives of well-to-do twenty-somethings in New York, the show started slowly but eventually became a ratings giant, helping to form the unstoppable Thursday night line-up for NBC. Airing for ten seasons and being nominated for 63 Emmy Awards, the program seemed destined for legend. Through syndication and DVD sales the long term success of the show seemed all but confirmed but declining interest was thrown a wrench in that commonly accepted thinking. Now a new study has shown that the reasons for the declining interest may in fact be the same reason the show was so popular in the first place. Drawing in experts and data from multiple fields the study concludes that fans of the program were suffering from a collective metal illness that many seem to now be recovering from.
“When you look through the annals of television you do not see a similar case to the one presented by ‘Friends’. Take a contemporary series like ‘Seinfeld’ which had fans across all spectrums, across both sexes, and has translated to generations before and since. ‘Friends’ simply did not do that. It had a dedicated fan base, a certain age grouping, and predominately female,” said Dr. Kent Kendle. “But that population does not relate to the actual ratings the show enjoyed meaning that many people were watching the program without truly enjoying it. Part of that could be credited to the block of shows, but in the era of the remote control that simply doesn’t explain everything.”
The series produced 236 episodes, three of which are generally considered humorous.
“In the case of ‘Two and Half Men’ you have a lot of lower IQ people enjoying the 
program, but that wasn’t the case with ‘Friends’ which really dealt with a yuppie lifestyle which such fans categorically reject. When we studied ‘fans’ it was discovered that the areas of the brain activated by repeat viewing are not the areas normally stimulated by humour, but rather by memory, indicating that it is more nostalgia than enjoyment,” continued Kendle. “The only conclusion is that people through that period, at least on Thursday nights, were suffering from some mind of collective mental illness. It appears that many of those people have been cured, or at least are past the worst of the trauma, but will never totally shake those days especially because of the power of memory.”
The series finale of the show reached over 50 million people, a number which has routinely been called ‘crazy’ even by people involved with the show.
“When watching the emotional reactions and electrical signatures of people watching the program, especially comparing them to people who have grown up after the original airings, you see a dramatic difference. Simply put, younger viewers have no reaction and are largely baffled by the very existence of the program, never mind the popularity,” continued Kendle. “Such events aren’t unique, even think back to the witch hunting days, but this is the first time it has been documented in relation to a television program. Hopeful we won’t see this kind of mass hysteria again.”
The study is currently a part of a study into whether or not recovery programs will receive federal funding.
Samantha Dryden, Entertainment Correspondent
NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > STUDY CONCLUDES THAT SUCCESS OF ‘FRIENDS’ WAS A RESULT OF COLLECTIVE MENTAL ILLNESS
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