Just finished watching the American TV series "Two and a half men". It took me a while… What can I say? Many people adore it and think highly of it, as being one of the best. But, still "Friends" is my favorite, in terms of quality, jokes, actors and why not, atmosphere.
During my watching the show I noticed some elements that were previously used in "Friends". No offence to "Two and a half men" fans, but obviously "Friends" was there before so… I am not here to judge, but to reveal some facts. Feel free to join the discussion and share your opinion on the subject.
Plot and Characters
1) In "Friends" we have 3 young men and 3 young women of about the same age gathered around two brothers – Monica and Ross, in "Two and a half men" we have a group of characters gathered around two brothers – Charlie and Alan.
2) Monica and Ross do not miss the opportunity to irritate each other; Charlie and Alan do the same.
3) Alan is a kind of Ross, they are both divorced and their wives left them because they had some self-identity issues; in fact Ross’ wife turned to be really gay while Judith just went through a period of rediscovering herself. Both have a son from their previous marriage, but Jake plays a more important role than Ben does. Both fancy themselves as being "doctors", Ross in his position of having a Ph.D. and Alan is his position as a chiropractor, which is almost a doctor in his assumption.
4) Ross & Monica Geller’s mother is quite indifferent to anything around her and very superficial, displaying a natural gift for criticizing everyone, and prefers Ross to Monica. Alan and Charlie’s mother reminds me of her; she is quite self-centered and indifferent to her children as well, never really cares, does not spare her children from any possible critical remark and visibly prefers Alan to Charlie.
5) Sometimes, Alan is a version of Chandler, in many ways; his efforts to get the attention of women are almost never successful.
6) Charlie is another version of Joey, but smarter and more sophisticated. They would both eventually end up as bachelors.
7) However, there are times when Alan resembles Monica, they are both extremely organized, economic, they categorize everything (Alan - the flyers he gets in his mailbox, Monica – the photos, CDs, etc.) and they both really enjoy living in an idealistic world of tidiness and symmetry.
8) Jake is a kind of Joey when it comes to food. Junk food is their passion, the biggest necessity but also pleasure. They are both narrow-minded, displaying no attraction for books or knowledge.
Similar Situations
1) The sequence of Charlie and Mia’s wedding in Vegas is quite similar to Monica & Chandler’s plan of secretly marrying in Vegas, which doesn’t happen after all for either of the couples. Instead, it is Ross and Rachael, as well as Alan and Candy who spontaneously decide to get married surprising everyone.
2) Monica and Chandler looking for a sperm donor, and Mia asking Charlie to donate his sperm.
3) In season 5 Jake talks to his girlfriend over the phone for hours and none of them has the guts to hang up. It is quite similar to the episode where Ross is constantly over the phone with his Chinese girlfriend Julie in season 2. The same phrase is used in both scenarios: "you hang up, no you hang up, ok, 1, 2, 3, you didn’t hang up either!"
4) In season 5, episode 16, Alan takes the role of his mother wedding planner as seriously as Monica does when organizing Phoebe’s wedding (season 10). The way Alan rushes the groom to finish his speech, makes me instantly think of Monica, how she wouldn’t even let Mike pee because the seconds were counted in her schedule.
5) In season 6 episode 1 Charlie finds out that condoms are not 100% safe, reminding me seriously of Ross finding out exactly the same thing when he got Rachel pregnant. Similar reactions and phrases are used:
Charlie: "They should put it in big letters right on the reservoir tip!"; Ross: "They should put it on the box!"
6) When Alan turns 40 his girlfriend takes him to a secret party at the restaurant but the guests are not there, he says: "My family is a thoughtless selfless bunch of butlives", and they all show up that very moment, reminds me of Monica at her bachelor party saying to Rachael and Phoebe: "The only people I want to see is here", followed by the appearance of the hidden guests.
7) When Charlie tells his girlfriend Chelsea "I love you" in season 6 she replies: "Thank you" just like Emily replied to Ross in the 4th season after he confessed his feelings towards her. Lousy imitation!
During my watching the show I noticed some elements that were previously used in "Friends". No offence to "Two and a half men" fans, but obviously "Friends" was there before so… I am not here to judge, but to reveal some facts. Feel free to join the discussion and share your opinion on the subject.Plot and Characters
1) In "Friends" we have 3 young men and 3 young women of about the same age gathered around two brothers – Monica and Ross, in "Two and a half men" we have a group of characters gathered around two brothers – Charlie and Alan.
2) Monica and Ross do not miss the opportunity to irritate each other; Charlie and Alan do the same.
3) Alan is a kind of Ross, they are both divorced and their wives left them because they had some self-identity issues; in fact Ross’ wife turned to be really gay while Judith just went through a period of rediscovering herself. Both have a son from their previous marriage, but Jake plays a more important role than Ben does. Both fancy themselves as being "doctors", Ross in his position of having a Ph.D. and Alan is his position as a chiropractor, which is almost a doctor in his assumption.
4) Ross & Monica Geller’s mother is quite indifferent to anything around her and very superficial, displaying a natural gift for criticizing everyone, and prefers Ross to Monica. Alan and Charlie’s mother reminds me of her; she is quite self-centered and indifferent to her children as well, never really cares, does not spare her children from any possible critical remark and visibly prefers Alan to Charlie.
5) Sometimes, Alan is a version of Chandler, in many ways; his efforts to get the attention of women are almost never successful.
6) Charlie is another version of Joey, but smarter and more sophisticated. They would both eventually end up as bachelors.
7) However, there are times when Alan resembles Monica, they are both extremely organized, economic, they categorize everything (Alan - the flyers he gets in his mailbox, Monica – the photos, CDs, etc.) and they both really enjoy living in an idealistic world of tidiness and symmetry.
8) Jake is a kind of Joey when it comes to food. Junk food is their passion, the biggest necessity but also pleasure. They are both narrow-minded, displaying no attraction for books or knowledge.
Similar Situations
1) The sequence of Charlie and Mia’s wedding in Vegas is quite similar to Monica & Chandler’s plan of secretly marrying in Vegas, which doesn’t happen after all for either of the couples. Instead, it is Ross and Rachael, as well as Alan and Candy who spontaneously decide to get married surprising everyone.
2) Monica and Chandler looking for a sperm donor, and Mia asking Charlie to donate his sperm.
3) In season 5 Jake talks to his girlfriend over the phone for hours and none of them has the guts to hang up. It is quite similar to the episode where Ross is constantly over the phone with his Chinese girlfriend Julie in season 2. The same phrase is used in both scenarios: "you hang up, no you hang up, ok, 1, 2, 3, you didn’t hang up either!"
4) In season 5, episode 16, Alan takes the role of his mother wedding planner as seriously as Monica does when organizing Phoebe’s wedding (season 10). The way Alan rushes the groom to finish his speech, makes me instantly think of Monica, how she wouldn’t even let Mike pee because the seconds were counted in her schedule.
5) In season 6 episode 1 Charlie finds out that condoms are not 100% safe, reminding me seriously of Ross finding out exactly the same thing when he got Rachel pregnant. Similar reactions and phrases are used:
Charlie: "They should put it in big letters right on the reservoir tip!"; Ross: "They should put it on the box!"
6) When Alan turns 40 his girlfriend takes him to a secret party at the restaurant but the guests are not there, he says: "My family is a thoughtless selfless bunch of butlives", and they all show up that very moment, reminds me of Monica at her bachelor party saying to Rachael and Phoebe: "The only people I want to see is here", followed by the appearance of the hidden guests.
7) When Charlie tells his girlfriend Chelsea "I love you" in season 6 she replies: "Thank you" just like Emily replied to Ross in the 4th season after he confessed his feelings towards her. Lousy imitation!
