Review of Friends Series 4, Disc 1

Introduction

The situation comedy Friends really needs no introduction - but I`ll give it one anyway.

Possibly the most successful sit-com of the nineties, on both sides of the Atlantic, the series tells the stories of six friends from New York.

Joey, Chandler, Ross, Rachael, Monica and Phoebe have entertained on a weekly basis for six series now. This DVD serves up the first eight episodes of series four.

The series has now started to become a victim of it`s own success. The cast are almost constantly featured in the tabloids, with every aspect of their Hollywood lives under scrutiny. The show`s success has taken it`s toll on these actors - addiction to various narcotics and eating disorders have been rumoured.

More worryingly for the cast themselves, they seem to be typecast in these roles, no matter what they try - probably because so many people have seen these shows. Only Courteney Cox has managed to break free of Friends, via the hugely successful Scream series - but in these she does not play the central character. The others have all made feature films, but none of them have done well or been taken seriously yet. Here`s hoping that they do better in the future....

Video

Having been made for television, the Friends episodes are presented in a 1.33:1 ratio. There are a few glitches here and there, which on television you`d kind of expect. The episodes have been transferred on to DVD though, so you`d expect these problems to be resolved. They haven`t though, which spoils the show, but I`m assuming that this is down to the quality of the originals. The episodes are sharp, better than the original broadcasts.

Audio

The quality of the sound is much better than what you`ll be used to on television, and the shows really benefit from this. No more do you have to try and guess at what is said, you can hear everything perfectly. The disc carries Dolby Digital sound, which is not really used for effects purposes. Instead we just get the clarity benefits of the technology.

Features

The extras on this disc are worthwhile, on first viewing. There are two documentaries about the episodes of the series filmed in London, which are funny, and provide a good insight into what goes on behind the scenes.

However, you have to question their relevance on this disc. The episodes here are not the London ones. You`d expect to find these documentaries on one of the other discs, perhaps the one featuring the London episodes. The fact that these documentaries are on more than one of the discs from this series (possibly all of them, but I haven`t been able to check) reveals the lack of extras that are available for this series. The stars of the show are becoming ever more reclusive, due to their popularity, so you can`t really expect them to make an appearance on the discs in person.

Conclusion

Overall, these discs are worth buying for the true Friends fan. Whilst not being the funniest sit-com ever created, the series is without doubt very good. This is the sort of thing that you can put on to watch with your real Friends whilst eating dinner, or having just got back from your local drinking hole. There isn`t really anything that makes them more worthwhile a purchase than the VHS copies of the show, which have been out for a lot longer, and are a lot cheaper, so I do wonder how successful these discs will be. They`re near the top of the high street retail charts though, so a lot of people obviously want to take these Friends home for keeps.