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ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Friends (8 pm/ET, NBC)
If ever a TV show had a theme song catchy enough to inspire shower solos, it's Friends, with "I'll Be There for You" by The Rembrandts. (Whereas Kelsey Grammer's rendition of Frasier's obscure "Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs" theme has the forgettability quotient of William Shatner's greatest hits.) Still, feel-good though it may be, the Friends have definitely outgrown their opening tune.
After all, having reached their seventh season, the successful sextet are hardly the down-and-out twentysomethings the song describes in lines like "your job's a joke, your love life's DOA."
Forget the fact that these previously unknown actors are paid $750,000 per episode and star in movies on the side. The characters themselves have scaled life's ladder with considerable success. Long gone are episodes like season two's "The One with Five Steaks and an Eggplant," which found working stiffs Joey, Rachel and Phoebe chiding Chandler and the Gellar sibs for expecting them to split the check evenly in fancy bistros.
Starving actor Joey (Matt LeBlanc) now gets work � the Days of Our Lives reject was the star of his own TV series for a while. Rachel (Jennifer Aniston, a.k.a. Mrs. Brad Pitt) traded waitressing duties at Central Perk for a cushy executive job at Ralph Lauren. These days, the diva enjoys the luxury of lusting after her very own officeboy (Eddie Cahill). Even earthy Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) kneads her share of dough, earning a tasty $80 per hour as a masseuse.
The engagement of Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Monica (Courteney Cox Arquette) is another sign that these thirtysomethings are growing up. Finally, someone other than serial-groom Ross (David Schwimmer) is getting married! But part of the group's enduring appeal lies in their tendency to act like struggling youngsters even in the most adult situations. Tonight, an unphotogenic Chandler squirms while having an engagement picture taken for a newspaper announcement. Frustrated, Monica cries, "What is wrong with your face? This picture's supposed to say 'Gellar and Bing to be Married,' not 'Local Woman Saves Drowning Moron!'"
One suggestion: Assuming they survive the wedding, these honeymooners need to get their own place. The show's latest � and borderline incestuous � round of musical roomies has Phoebe bunking with the fianc�es and Rachel playing house with Joey. (Was anyone else creeped out when Joey took a nap in Rachel's bed without asking, then became aroused by the erotic novel he found hidden under her pillow? This kind of sophomoric scenario is best left to porn flicks.) Only Ross seems to grasp that after your twenties, you either live with a lover or fly solo. The producers would do well to liberate the Friends (and their comedic potential) from such cramped, close quarters.
http://www.tvguide.com/tv/001102_full.asp