Fans throw goodbye parties for their favorite “˜Friends’

Going all the way back to the days of standing in the junior
high lunch line talking about the last night’s episode,
it’s clear “Friends” has been more than just a TV
show ““ it’s been a reason to hang out with friends
Thursday nights, and has given us something to chat about with them
the next day.

And, as the last episode of the show airs tonight, it’s
obvious from the signs posted on campus and from phone calls
exchanged between friends that students all over will get together
to laugh and cry with their friends over the six characters
they’ve followed over the last 10 years.

“I especially like to watch “˜Friends’ (season)
finales with my friends because, since we’re all girls,
it’s kind of like the Super Bowl,” second-year history
student Hilary Lucas said.

From the largest organized viewing on campus tonight in
Ackerman’s Viewpoint Lounge to private events, people are
planning to make food, sit back on the couch, and turn
tonight’s one-hour finale into a social event.

For third-year psychology student and Bruin gymnast Christie
Tedmon, watching the show has always been something she has done
with her friends. In fact, Tedmon’s first introduction to the
show, and what has become her favorite memory of it, was when she
went with her team to see a “Friends” taping in Burbank
during her freshman year. Now, watching the show has become a
Thursday night tradition for the team.

“We all watch it and talk about it the next day. We pull
quotes from it that become inside jokes,” Tedmon said.
“I’ve kept up interest just because the girls around me
have.”

But the gymnasts aren’t the only one to watch the show for
social reasons. Lucas, who has watched the show off and on during
its 10-year run, says that the times she has tuned in the most have
been because her friends were following the show, too.

And as “Friends” is a show watched by such a large
audience, third-year psychology student Julia Lea says it can also
be a good conversation starter.

“It’s a thing a lot of people of our generation
follow and can relate to, so during the episodes we all talk to
each other,” Lea said. “It’s also a way to
initiate conversations and bond with people I don’t know very
well.”

And though “Friends” fanatics have yet to create
something reminiscent of a fantasy football league, they do like to
compare the fictional characters to their real friends.

“Watching the show with other people is more dynamic and
fun than watching it by yourself,” third-year English student
Jenny Hall said. “You can put yourself and your friends in
different roles and say things like, “˜Oh, you’re so
Monica.'”

But not everyone will be watching the show in a small group. Two
hundred people have signed up to pack the Viewpoint Lounge for the
catered “Friends” party hosted by Campus Events and the
American Red Cross, which is putting on the event in recognition of
the $1 million donation it received from Target Corp.

As the show draws to a close, many of its followers are sad not
only to see the plot lines wrapped up but also to end their
Thursday night social routine.

“It’s one of those things I look forward to every
Thursday, and it will be weird to know that it’s not on
anymore,” Tedmon said.