I am under an impression that the basic comic elements of Friends were somehow inspired by Seinfeld. There is no denying that Seinfeld was one of the pioneers but there were some similarities I could not help but notice. You know how you can take a small bit but a common phenomena, which people can relate to, and turn it into a topic. I think that is what happened with Seinfeld and Friends. Seinfeld bought small obvious funny things into picture and those small bits were related but essentially different topics in the series Friends. Now, it is not a bad thing and both shows are a treat to watch. But since Seinfeld ran earlier (and some years overlapped) than Friends - other than the actors, the things I noticed are - (I like to call the small similarities as the "slip - ins" which we generally not notice but apparently are there) ..
1. When everyone goes commando in Friends - When Kramer cannot wear jockeys or boxers and guess what it leads to him doing?
2. The ugly baby in Seinfeld and Janice's ugly baby reference
3. The pledge episode - Kramer and Joey
4. How they all eat from Jerry's apartment - remember Monica's all day food supply for all of 'em. Also, Kramer lives next door to Jerry and always eats from Jerry's fridge. Jerry never minds.
1. When everyone goes commando in Friends - When Kramer cannot wear jockeys or boxers and guess what it leads to him doing?
2. The ugly baby in Seinfeld and Janice's ugly baby reference
3. The pledge episode - Kramer and Joey
4. How they all eat from Jerry's apartment - remember Monica's all day food supply for all of 'em. Also, Kramer lives next door to Jerry and always eats from Jerry's fridge. Jerry never minds.
Joey lives next door to Monica and always eats from her fridge. Again, Monica never minds :)
5. The bald girl George dates - The bald girl Ross dates
6. The 'I Love you' trade - what do you get in return; happened many times in Friends, with Ross and Rachel; In Seinfeld - Jerry tells George about what happens if you don't get the :I Love You return:
7. Ever noticed that when they start a scene in Jerry's apartment they show the building shot? Well, ever noticed that in Friends? (All the time!)
8. The monkey business - Ross and Kramer
9. In one episode, where George asks a woman to marry him - there is a bed scene where he looks over all the space she've got on her side. Remember the episode where Chandler and Ross talk about the same thing?
10. The parking of car scene when the car is in between two cars and going back and forth as there is negligible space. Kramer & Ross Geller
11. Confused as being gay (and not that anything is wrong with it) - Chandler and Joey with the baby. And George and Jerry when Elaine makes it more obvious to a reporter.
12. When in friends Susan later comes out as a lesbian and also george's dead fiancee was shown as being a lesbian before he asked her to marry him - her name was also Susan!
13. Kramer falls in love with Jerry's girlfriend and a similar situation also arises when Chandler falls in love with one of the girls Joey is seeing at a time.
14. In one episode Bizzare jerry and the world links to one episode in friends where not Elaine but Rachel is caught between Ross and Russ.
15. The apartment war - George and Ross are trying to get an apartment in each series by any means. While Ross is successful in getting the apartment of ugly naked guy, George is left without getting one.
16. Remember when Kramer cannot take pills for his cough (technically dog pills) and Jerry forces it on him.. kinda like when Rachel is unable to put drops in her eyes and then the squad of friends is successful in doing so.
17. Elaine is called as Susie (wrong name) and she does not correct her co worker (designer) - Chandler on the other hand also faces same situation at his work place and choses never to correct the guy and even destroys his own office while maintaining the confusion. In both the scenerios....well the ending is where Elaine and Chandler get aways with things as they were.
5. The bald girl George dates - The bald girl Ross dates
6. The 'I Love you' trade - what do you get in return; happened many times in Friends, with Ross and Rachel; In Seinfeld - Jerry tells George about what happens if you don't get the :I Love You return:
7. Ever noticed that when they start a scene in Jerry's apartment they show the building shot? Well, ever noticed that in Friends? (All the time!)
8. The monkey business - Ross and Kramer
9. In one episode, where George asks a woman to marry him - there is a bed scene where he looks over all the space she've got on her side. Remember the episode where Chandler and Ross talk about the same thing?
10. The parking of car scene when the car is in between two cars and going back and forth as there is negligible space. Kramer & Ross Geller
11. Confused as being gay (and not that anything is wrong with it) - Chandler and Joey with the baby. And George and Jerry when Elaine makes it more obvious to a reporter.
12. When in friends Susan later comes out as a lesbian and also george's dead fiancee was shown as being a lesbian before he asked her to marry him - her name was also Susan!
13. Kramer falls in love with Jerry's girlfriend and a similar situation also arises when Chandler falls in love with one of the girls Joey is seeing at a time.
14. In one episode Bizzare jerry and the world links to one episode in friends where not Elaine but Rachel is caught between Ross and Russ.
15. The apartment war - George and Ross are trying to get an apartment in each series by any means. While Ross is successful in getting the apartment of ugly naked guy, George is left without getting one.
16. Remember when Kramer cannot take pills for his cough (technically dog pills) and Jerry forces it on him.. kinda like when Rachel is unable to put drops in her eyes and then the squad of friends is successful in doing so.
17. Elaine is called as Susie (wrong name) and she does not correct her co worker (designer) - Chandler on the other hand also faces same situation at his work place and choses never to correct the guy and even destroys his own office while maintaining the confusion. In both the scenerios....well the ending is where Elaine and Chandler get aways with things as they were.
Well these are some of the things I noticed...please feel free to share anything you would have :)
Oh and by the way.. I love both shows :D
There’s this episode where ross and phoebe are dating a newly separated couple ... it is directly lifted from a season 7 episode of seinfeld where jerry and elaine are dating a newly divorced couple (debra messing as the wife). Most jokes on that episode of friends are exactly the same as in seinfeld’s (example: how they signal the irritating traits of their dates, how the couple gets back together at the end, etc.). Same situation, and not a coincidence, but it only shows that seinfeld is the pioneer and more influential. God !! I love seinfeld !!
ReplyDeleteIn the Seinfeld episode "The Wallet" Elaine convinces Jerry to use a European carryall from the Jay Peterman catalog, aka "a Purse". In Friends "The one with Joeys Bag" Rachel convinces Joey to wear a shoulder bag from her company and Joey gets teased by his friends for wearing "a purse". And I believe both Jerry and Joey defend themselves by saying "it's European".
ReplyDeleteAlso the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade episodes. In Seinfeld, Mr. Pitt helps carry the Woody Woodpecker float. And then Jerry accidentally knocks something out the window of Tim Wattleys apartment, deflating the balloon. In Friends, Underdog gets away.
ReplyDelete