Television Show Idea

With the success of Fuller House, the sequel to Full House that I haven't watched yet, on Netflix and the success of the television sitcom Friends, all ten seasons on the same streaming network and in syndication around the world. I once watched an episode in Japanese dub here in Japan. Not a big deal, kind of a waste of time. Anyway, my pitch to Netflix would be Friends Again.

Bringing the original cast back together to do ten 30 minute episodes of the friends lives in 2016. The last episode of Full House was in 1995 so twenty-one years after the original show audience's welcomed, with open arms, the come back of all the original characters in the same roles taking over where they are now in their lives.Why did this work? Because of the nostalgia sickness* that we all have.

So why would Friends Again work? Because of nostalgia sickness. The same reason why a new series of ALF would work on TV or especially on Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu would work.

"Yeah, but the last episode of Friends was in 2004, that would only be twelve years."
"Yes, the difference between twelve and twenty-one is pretty large. Yet, the difference in the culture has changed tremendously over that stretch of time. The iPhone and the internet, Obama, hipsters, podcasts, spree killings and gun control debates, legalized marijuana and gay marriage, diversity in media, twenty-four news! There's a lot to work with. In one episode somewhere in season three or four, Chandler gets a laptop and boasts about it five hundred mega byte hard drive. Five hundred mega bytes! Hard drives are now two hundred and fifty gigs and that's low. That's the difference."

As long as there are not a lot of hack and hammy jokes about the iPhone and being old and using technology and blah blah blah like we see in many shows right now then it will be all right. The show was written smartly in the past and will be written smartly again. I looked up smartly in the dictionary and yes, it is a word.

"What would the plot and story arc of the first season be in the show?"
"I haven't thought a lot about it, but it would revolve around the marriage of Joey. The show has a checkered past of revolving arcs around marriage so this would be familiar territory for the show and the fans. Joey is now a popular movie actor and is marrying a popular actress in New York. Depending on if Paul Rudd would like to return or not, we could have a second plot line around Phoebe's divorce with Mike and reconnecting with David, Hank Azaria's character. They will also have the children and parenting issues to deal with as well. Yet, the main theme would be the re-bonding of all the characters, hence the Again in the title."

I would be surprised if the cast of Friends haven't been approached with this idea or have even pitched the idea themselves. I stand by this idea and just because I publish this post it does not become my intellectual property, but if your Martha Kauffman or David Crane and you're reading this; Yes, I would will accept a staff writer or assistant producer position on this series. Thank you. And if not, I'll still watch Friends Again.

*Nostalgia Sickness is not a recognized disease in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), but should be considered in the future and definitely exists in our culture today and deserves to be profited from.

*The new series of ALF would evolve around the same culture advancements except Alf would be living with the grown up version of Brian Tanner and could revolve around his dating life. Sounds kind of like the plot to Ted.