NBC didn’t waste time declaring its revived Will & Grace would return for a second season, raising the question of other must-see-TV series next in line. According to NBC brass, they’re next hoping for more 30 Rock and The Office, or perhaps even The West Wing.
Ubiquitous though they are these days, cast reunions aren’t always so easy to put together. Jimmy Kimmel and George Clooney learned this the hard way, trying to reunite the cast of ER for a new sketch, but hey, there’s always the time Doug Ross met Dr. House! That happened, right? I don’t watch TV. Yes, I appreciate the irony.
It’s always bizarre to re-watch the pilot episode of a long-running television series, especially a situation comedy. Both ‘Friends’ and ‘ER’ are celebrating the 20th anniversaries of their debut over the next few days, but watching the ‘ER’ pilot almost feels like watching a movie. The pace of ‘ER’ came first and the characters were established later (we didn’t get to know too much about Noah Wyle’s John Carter, other than that he was new and that he was scared). ‘Friends’ didn’t have this luxury. The first scene of ‘Friends’ takes place in a coffee shop, so we really have no choice other than to meet these people. And the thing is, in this first episode, these people are kind of awful.