First of all, my prayers go out to all of you who live in or near New York, all who know somebody injured or killed by the disaster, and to all the citizens of this besieged country. May God's will bless us, aid us in catching the terrorists, and may the international edit ring out; this kind of behavior must not stand. Not in America, not in the Middle East, not anywhere.
There is one very small aftershock to this terrible tragedy which actually affects the conversation on this board. The Emmys, which were scheduled to be held next Sunday, have been postponed until further notice.
Ditto everything Claire said, as always. I'm still in too much shock to even comprehend anything of any substance right now, so it really wouldn't even be worth coming down with foot-in-mouth disease just for the sake of it.
But on the subject of small aftershocks that affects this group, another couple - taping has been pulled this week, not just on Friends but every show and movie. And more "controversially" (you'll see what I mean in a minute), it looks very likely that a plot in 803, if not the entire episode, will be pulled because it would be in very poor taste to air it (Chandler manages to cause an airport security ruckus upon mentioning the word "bomb" - and you'd be right in thinking I don't give a flying fuck about spoiler space right now, so don't even bother). However, I am ashamed to report that some Friends fans across the web, particularly at the website I used to run, are actually more concerned with being deprived of a few minutes of entertainment than of the feelings of millions. I hope that the word is spread through this newsgroup that this is *not* the way to behave - it's the only reason I'm posting it.
Yes, I saw that conversation. I would not be surprised if, very soon, what you have just said to us ceases to be a spoiler. There is no way NBC will run that storyline now. Remember, the six Friends are supposed to be New Yorkers. If Chandler were real, he, Rachel and possibly even Monica would have been right in the middle of that mess yesterday. Chandler is not a good TV character to have joking about bombs on airplanes right now, and airport security is no longer something we can regard as a hysterical inconvenience, which is the a priori assumption one must work with in order for this kind of story to work.
However, I am ashamed to report that some Friends fans
Well, given that one of the people who objected referred to it as "censure" rather than "censorship" I suspect there's a big element of immaturity involved. May just be too young to know any better.
Don't worry Teens, it's not a spoiler now, since it's obvious that that story will never be shown. At least the old 803 was not shown last Thursday, which would have left a nasty taste in the mouth.
Well, that was certainly an informative answer. Why in the world would 803 have been shown at all last Thursday, since we haven't even seen 801 or 802 yet? The word "old" is quite confusing in your sentence, it implies that you are talking about a rerun. I honestly thought 803 was a typo for 703 or something.
OK, truce. Purely question of curiosity: Why did you say "at least the old 803 was not shown last Thursday, which would have left a nasty taste in the mouth" ????
One of my minor points was that no season 8 episodes have been shown anywhere yet, so how could *any* version of 803 - old or new - have been shown *last* Thursday?
If the episode in question had been shown already (last Thursday, for example) it would be a lot worse than if it were still to come (which it is) when they could edit it (which they will). It would be a very unpleasant taste indeed in the mouth if people had seen Chandler make this joke 5 days before something this unpleasant happened.
Because Tennant is not speaking as plainly as he could.
And my posts are not being read with much comprehension either. At least that's part of it.
I *know* that *if* the episode had been shown already it would be worse. I will confess that I did not think enough to realize he was indicating the possibility of it being shown *before* the 11th. Had I figured that one out, perhaps I would have figured out the rest.
But the way it was worded left itself open to multiple interpretations, and Tenant has the tendency to say things that raise eye-brows.
The producers have time to change 803, but imagine if the new season had begun a few weeks ago, with 803 as it was originally made, going out on Thursday 6th September. By the following Tuesday, we would all still be discussing the controversial storyline, with the Europeans who saw 803 pointing out the dreadful lack of security in American airports.
Then the tragedy happens, and forever after the episode would leave a nasty taste in the mouth. Instead, it can at least be altered, but with luck the producers will come up with a fitting tribute of some sort.
You're reading far too much into this, it was a hypothetical situation.
Tell me about it. I know it's probably just youth and naivety on their part, but even when I was as young and naive as they are now, I can't remember ever acting in the way some of them are right now. Now just isn't the time to be complaining about THAT storyline (not this one, Claire will know which one I'm on about), plots being pulled, tapings being postponed, etc. Here in the UK, one of my favourite songs (Westlife's "Flying Without Wings") is looking like it's going to get pulled, just because of the title - never mind the fact that the message behind it is one people need to hear right now. But I'm not complaining - it needs to be done. It's just a shame that not everyone can realise that right now. (That said, I'm not half miffed that the official Westlife site hasn't even bothered to acknowledge anything even happened, given their American fanbase and the fact that 4 of the lads are/were in Mexico and may well be stranded there right now - then again, they couldn't even get up the news of Bryan's baby being born for almost a week, so I'm not surprised.)
I spent most of Tuesday evening trying to get a hold of a friend of mine on the East Coast - thankfully she was alright (she was nowhere near any of the sites), but it took long enough to get a hold of her. Every phone line here in Suffolk was jammed well beyond capacity, every ISP is even more jammed beyond capacity than usual, and I keep getting booted, so it wasn't easy just to get to one web site. All I can say on that is to ask everyone to either go give blood or, if that's not possible (like with me), a donation to the Red Cross, which I plan on doing through Amazon, who are waiving their usual commission fee on donations. Every time you buy something on Amazon in the next few weeks, take the time to donate something as well - even if it's only a dollar or pound (preferably the latter, more money :)). And if you can, give blood as well, regardless of where you live - it'll go to good use *somewhere*.
Confirmation on the status of 803; the Chandler/Monica storyline has been cut because of the terrorist attacks.
(Very, very dark humor, please don't misunderstand me...) This is what it took to get them to give us an episodes' reprieve from Chandler and Monica? Geez!
Thanks for that, Claire. They did the right thing.
I understand - very, very dark grin.
How do you think they will handle the tragic event? I have not read the spoilers so I don't know what else is happening, but I assume that 801 and 802 and (maybe) 803 are the aftermath of the wedding, so they are set somewhere in late May. So could they begin those three episodes with a caption saying (for example) "MAY 2001", edit down the remains of 803 into half an episode, and then continue after the commercial break with a caption that says something like "OCTOBER 2001", thus skipping past?
David Crane said somewhere that they don't work in "real time", they work in "Friends time" - so this wouldn't work. I suspect that it probably won't be mentioned in the show in the traditional sense, but that there will be a acknowledgement of events during the closing credits of that episode. They can't jump three months ahead simply because of the logistical problems applying to Rachel's pregnancy - pregnant women generally start showing at around three months, and David Crane has also said that Rachel will only start showing around Thanksgiving, which is another four or five episodes off.
Besides, the major plot of the episode - which they *can't* ditch, because it's a major part of the Rachel pregnancy storyline which they *can't* simply gloss over, and indeed haven't - is perfectly fine, there's no need to edit it down, which going with your plan would require. I'm not entirely sure about the "C" plot though, which is tied in with the Chandler/Monica airport fiasco *and* contains a couple of somewhat objectionable jokes (in the circumstances). I suspect that will be re-edited as well - but they're not going to touch the Rachel plot if they don't need to.
It was "Friends time" (which Crane specifically related to every finale cliffhanger and its aftermath being set at the same moment despite being shown four or five months apart) that I was relying on.
Oh, good point. In that case, my suggestion would not work, then.