I must say I'm rather surprised at the number of European and British members of this group. Is "Friends" very popular over there, or is it just a guilty pleasure for a very few?
How popular is "Friends" overseas?
Jan 6, 2001, 9:11 AM ET34 posts by 25 posters
34 posts
On Sat, 06 Jan 2001 14:11:19 GMT, "Jon Vinson" wrote:
I'd say that it's the biggest and most popular sitcom of all. Frasier, Dharma & Greg, Spin City etc. are *nothing* compared to Friends.
Well i am from Australia and Friends is number 1 everyweek and was the number 1 tv show for the year but the olympics was 1 overall but if you take that away Friends was the biggest TV show... Friends anyway has the most watched tv show for TOW everyone finds out. I am not sure if that still stands but it did 9 months ago...
"Marita" ha scritto nel messaggio news:[email]...
In Italy, Friends is a *smash hit*, Dharma & Greg is not even known, Frasier is broadcasted late at night (01.00 AM) and Spin City has been canceled after the first season.
MoRgAn
Sun, 07 Jan 2001 20:49:30 GMT. Il personaggio sullo schermo, "MoRgAn MaGaN" , chiuse una porta e disse:
it.* is not enough^_____________^
In Sweden Friends has only about 40- 50% of the audience that many other American shows have such as: Darma and Greg, Will and Grace, Sopranos and Ally Mc Beal. Here Friends is only popular among young viewers, and in the ratings it is in place 25 or so.
MoRgAn MaGaN skrev i diskussionsgruppsmeddelandet:uD466.266898$[email]...
Frasier
Well I must say that the situation with Friends is complicated in France. We have it on 2 channels, one of them is a public channel and airs the show dubbed in french. But the translation makes it a show destinated to young teenagers. (a lot of sex jokes are screened away)
The other channel is a cable channel, but this channel airs it in english subtitled in french. The few people who can see Friends on Canal Jimmy (that is the name of this channel) love it, and the biggest fans you'll meet are gonna tell you they watch the show on that channel.
But still, a couple years ago, I heard that Friends had been elected as the best series (not just sitcom)... but I don't think it is anymore. Now we have other series here, like The Sopranos, Dharma & Greg, Ally Mc Beal, Sex and the city.
So I would say that Friends is a very popular series in France, but the people you're talking to on this group are just crazy about it :o))
In the previous post, the mostly harmless Jon Vinson claimed:
"European and Brittish"....heheheh.
Wel, In the Netherlands (aka Holland) it's quite popular. And I believe it's one of the few US sitcoms that does well in England as well.
Bram
I must agree, in Denmark the show is very popular as well. It's aired every day - reruns all the time! So yes, we love Friends in scandinavia too...
On Sat, 6 Jan 2001 21:56:28 +0100, "Lala" wrote:
Same here in Sweden.
One (rerun) episode a day, and a rerun of same episode as earlier that day each night.
And a new episode every wednesday.
Hope they hasn't started this season yet, cos I'm not home this week.
Better load up the VCR just in case...
b!
In the previous post, the mostly harmless Bo Stark claimed:
In Holland they don't show reruns at the time, only a new episode every sunday. In the beginning of 2000 they did a rerun of the entire series (in chronological order) though.
Bram
In article , Bram wrote:
146 episodes?
Tennant
In the previous post, the mostly harmless Tennant Stuart claimed:
Season 1 Episode 1 through Season 5 somewhere, probably the entire season. Season 6 did not air at that time.
Bram
Bram wrote in message ...
Correction, Bram.....they did not rerun S1, S2 and S3 last year. I don't remember any re-runs being aired last year, but that's because I have the first four seasons on video, so I didn't need to watch them. S5 ended before the summer and S6 started somewhere in August if I remember correctly. I think 608 was aired on October 1st. I missed every episode they aired in October. :-( But it's possible they reran S4 on weekdays.
=+= Marcel =+=
Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"
In article , Bram wrote:
Bram wrote:
Wow, that's about 46 hours!
Tennant
In article , "Jon Vinson" wrote:
In Britain, "Friends" is not as popular as British shows, but it's miles ahead of all other American sitcoms. And I would guess that the demographics for "Friends" is very good, plenty of disposable income in the target audience.
Tennant
Tennant Stuart a �crit dans le message : [email]...
Yeah! It's a very popular show in France too!
I'd say it's the biggest of any American sitcom that has aired in the UK but not nearly as popular as home-grown productions which have also been a huge hit overseas too (Young Ones, Black Adder, Monty Python and Ab Fab etc).
Jon Vinson wrote in message ...
In article , "Jon Vinson" writes:
oh it's very popular :)
On Sat, 6 Jan 2001, Jon Vinson stated this considered view. Waking from my doze, I hastily scrawled -
It is *INCREDIBLY* popular over here, though perhaps not quite as much as a year or two ago.
Jon Vinson wrote in message ...
Well....I've watched the show since the pilot-episode and I knew right then it was going to be a hit. It was the only show I could really relate to. But none of my friends or family here in Europe watch the show. None of the people I work with watch the show. So I found my way here to be around people that like the show as much as I do. But I guess that's the purpose of this group.
=+= Marcel =+=
Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"
It is or rather was huge over here in the UK I think numbers have dwindled considerably.. but it still plays a large role in UK sitcom
In article , "Helena" wrote:
The best way to appreciate its current popularity in the UK is to visit a video store. You can find a few US TV shows amongst the other stuff on the shelves, but Friends has a whole rack to itself.
Tennant
Tennant Stuart wrote
large
on
Market forces. It's very hard to obtain most US TV shows on video, let alone every series. The Frasier releases are irritatingly out of order, Ally McBeal's a series behind (although at least it's complete), Cheers is as bad as Frasier (selected episodes) and so on. The video companies don't take US TV as seriously as they do Red Dwarf, Blackadder, Dad's Army etc. Mind you, having released Monty Python properly, they then withdrew the series-by-series tapes in favour of "best of" which is infuriating. I'd got as far as halfway through series 2....
Jac
Jacqui wrote:
Yap - and it's those market forces that demonstrate not only the popularity of "Friends", but the attractiveness of its demographic to advertisers.
Tennant
False conclusion. If, say, Frasier were available in the same formats and with such publicity it would get more exposure in video shops and on sale. It isn't so it doesn't. That's about Warner Brothers marketing, not the quality of the show. FFS you can buy Keeping Up Appearances on video but that doesn't rank it up there with Friends, does it?
You can only buy/rent what's there to buy/rent...
Jac
In article , Jacqui wrote:
But "Keeping Up Appearances" doesn't get a whole rack to itself. If you're at home on Friday night, or you're going out & setting the VCR, it's as easy to take in "Frasier" as well as "Friends", but when it comes to buying tapes & DVDs in the shops then "Friends" wins hands down.
Tennant
On Sun, 07 Jan 2001 22:36:52 GMT, Tennant Stuart wrote:
Same thing here in Denmark: a few X-files-tapes, some Ally McBeal-tapes, a little Star Trek but a lot of Friends-tapes. I get Friends-tapes in the mail and thats not from abroad btw.
They come in Danish boxes and with Danish subtitles (the latter I dont' need or like as you only notice them when they're wrong or if they leave something out).
I did come across a rack of South Park-tapes though.
I think it's easier to identify with "the Friends.. type... kind of.. people" than it is to identify with say FBI-agents, lawyers or starship-captains...
sayonara
I'm from Singapore. Friends is almost always in the top ten, this despite a later time slot (11.30 pm). The tv stations here always put local tv shows in prime time and foreign shows later. I guess Friends is so popular and good that it makes people wait up to watch it.
Cheryl
In article , "Jon Vinson" wrote:
Friends is hugely popular here in the UK. I have all of the series on video and I will buy series 7 as soon as it comes out. There hasn't really been a good sitcom here since Only Fools & Horses which may be why Friends is so popular.
I don't really like American comedies but Friends is just different class, the scripting, timing, everything comes together.
Well, in Germany "Friends" isn't very popular. :-( In fact, many people don't even know it. It's only aired on Saturdays, I think at 3.10 pm. Just think about it: Friends is PRIMETIME in the states. Main reasons for that are: a) The dubbed version is extremely stupid. The voices don't fit, the translation is embarrassing, and the German actors, who dub their voices over the originals are plain incompetent. Even I could have translated most of the jokes better than the guys who actually did it. b) Who watches TV at 3pm on Saturdays?
I think, only half a million people are watching it. That's the same amount of watchers like "Mad about you", which was aired at midnight almost 1 1/2 years ago.
It's actually strange. Very successful sitcoms are not even noticed in Germany. Almost nobody was watching Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld or Mad About You, which were or are really big hits in the States (and in many other countries).
Strangely enough, "Married... with children" is pretty successful. Also, "The Nanny" or "Alf" had a lot of watchers. *sigh* *shrug*
Well, there are a couple of big "Friends"-fans (like myself), who got into the series while being on vacation in the States. After 10 hours of sightseeing, this was THE perfect end of the day. Hanging around in a motel, sitting on the bed, eating nachos, watching Friends, Seinfeld, Mad About You, ER and Star Trek. Woohoo! That were the times!
Didi
[email] (Didi) wrote in :
It is popular among those who have seen it, but as you say, german tv stations just consider comedies like Friends not as "Primetime", so nobody takes notice. Its the same with loads of other tv shows. Dont ask me why, maybe the bosses are all 60+ years and like "good clean fun" or something or just consider all viewers as being stupid.
Yep, the same reason. Its the same with Cheers, Frasier, Seinfeld....you name it.
Better time slots. Thats all.
Hey, I dont know about Germany, but here in Greece Friends is extremely popular. Most people less than 50 years old know it and *many* watch it.
Unfortunately we are not shown the most recent episodes, thus we have to buy tapes from the UK (praise the net).
Regards, Sofia
"Michael Auerswald" wrote in message news:[email]...
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most
IMO it�s quite a popular here in czech rep. The translation here is pretty good and some jokes are even better in czech version, but still original version is better. I�ve seen some episodes on german tv ( pro7, right?) and although I know only few words in german :o) i think that the voices just don�t fit the characters...
It�s tuesday 6:35pm, not primetime but it�s better.
amount
Mad About You was aired here instead of friends. 5th season was aired �till jan 2000. 6th season started this week! It was a year of waiting. Oh my god, I HATE "MAD ABOUT YOU" :))))))
About
Yes. Stupid south-american soap operas like "esmeralda" are probably more popular. I can�t uderstand that.
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