Newsgroup: it.fan.tv.friends
Titolo: La rinascita di Friends...

... e qualche stuzzichino alla fine... ;)))
Gli spoiler sono stati rottati per convenienza... ;)))
Non sono stati rottati, per evitare smarronamenti vari, possibili
spoiler su Frasier e Dharma & Greg, siete stati avvisati... ;))
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/18/arts/television/18FRIE.html
February 18, 2002
Plot Twists Paid Off for 'Friends'
By BILL CARTER
When NBC announced last week that it had signed its hit comedy
"Friends" to return for a ninth season, the news was mainly about the
stunning money - $7 million an episode - that it took to get the show
to come back.
But the truly stunning comeback had already taken place. By generating
new hot story lines and high-decibel laughs, "Friends" emerged last
fall from the kind of malaise, characterized by diminishing ratings
and laughs, that has afflicted many hits in their later years. As it
did, the show stormed back to the top of the ratings and back into the
hearts of its fans, and the pockets of its network.
In marrying off two characters (Monica and Chandler) and 
[SPOILER]
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zbz, 
[/SPOILER]
"Friends" became the latest hit comedy to prove that a flagging series
can be revived by the right creative choices, usually ones involving
some life-changing experience for its characters.
Only a year earlier, NBC's "Frasier" proved the same point by bringing
the show's longest-running subplot, the unrequited love between two
characters (Niles and Daphne) to center stage, setting off a similar
creative and ratings resurgence.
But as several producers and writers of other series said,
life-changing plotlines are fraught with risk because the wrong
choices may hasten a show's cancellation.
A case in point is ABC's "Dharma and Greg," which had its premiere
three years after "Friends" but also began to wobble in the ratings
last season (not coincidentally because it was faced off against the
brilliantly revived "Frasier"). The creators of "Dharma and Greg,"
looking for a similar boost, made some bold decisions about their
married couple. Dharma would become infatuated with another man, then
have a car accident, nearly die and start off the new season in a
wheelchair.
The show returned this season, but the lesson was that some
life-changing plotlines are clearly better - and funnier - than
others.
As David Crane, one of the three creators of "Friends," put it: "You
want to take the characters to places where they can stay fresh from a
writing standpoint, but it's never a sure thing. It's only later you
can say, `Oh, yeah, that's working really well.' "
Marta Kauffman, another member of the "Friends" brain trust, said,
"All we were looking for was an engine for the season." In the hands
of the "Friends" writers, that engine proved powerful, pushing the
series back to the No. 1 spot in all of television.
The signs were there for "Friends" at the close of last season, and
none of them were good: CBS's "Survivor" had come into its time period
and beaten it; fans of "Friends" were saying that they felt as if the
show had lost something of its fastball dialogue; and most important,
the enormous amount of money that NBC had committed two years earlier
to keep a restless cast intact seemed about to dry up, at least based
on off-the- record comments from network executives. 
That the eighth season of "Friends" was destined to be its last was so
taken for granted that Mr. Crane raised almost no reaction when he
told reporters at a news conference last summer that he did not see
why the endpoint was a foregone conclusion. Only a couple of reporters
bothered to write about Mr. Crane's comments. The rest thought that he
was posturing and that at least two or three of the cast members would
never sign on for another season.
"I thought I was very convincing," Mr. Crane said. He said he was sure
then that the show had life left in it.
The creators had set up the marriage plot as the finale of the seventh
season, but Ms. Kauffman said they already knew that they would
[SPOILER]
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[/SPOILER]
The new creative strategy worked, helped by what turned out to be an
award-winning promotion campaign and by getting the jump on the latest
version of "Survivor." 
Scott Sassa, the president of NBC West Coast, also acknowledged that
"Friends" gained some special advantage from the hunger among
Americans for shows they loved, especially those they could laugh at,
in the wake of Sept. 11.
"Friends" fans returned in legion. Ratings increased 17 percent over
the previous season. By November, NBC executives were no longer
talking about not having the money to pay for one more year of the
series. 
And even the famously finicky cast members took note of how much
affection there was for the show. "The reaction of the public felt
exciting," said Kevin Bright, the show's third creator. Dealmaking
commenced. NBC could not afford to lose the No. 1 show. Paying each
actor $1 million an episode helped ease their reluctance to stay in
their roles for yet another year. 
The news was not as good over at "Dharma and Greg." Last spring ABC
passed on automatically renewing the show and it was being offered to
other networks. One executive at a competing network admitted that
"when I heard about the car accident and her being in a wheelchair, it
gave us some pause." Eventually ABC brought the show back. But it was
moved to 8 p.m. from 9, a decision that Bill Prady, the show's
executive producer, said hurt far more than any discomfort the show's
fans might have felt with the new plotline. 
"I don't think they could find us," he said. Sept. 11 was a negative
in this case, he said, because ABC was concerned about broadcasting
promotional messages that featured the car accident and so pulled
those for "Dharma."
Though he said he remained convinced the car accident plot helped the
show creatively, Mr. Prady added: "Was this a very risky thing to do?
I can't deny that."
Ratings for "Dharma and Greg" are down about 30 percent from last
season. Its status for next season remains in doubt.
In its announcement about "Friends," NBC said that next season would
be the show's last. Not even Mr. Crane is contradicting that point
this time, even though it seems likely that the show will be the
television audience's favorite again next season.
But there are limits, even to creative plotlines. A senior executive
involved in the NBC deal said that "Friends" could not come back for a
10th season because the studio that owned it, Warner Brothers, has no
further leverage with the stations that bought the show in
syndication.
"They were obligated to take all the episodes for nine seasons," the
executive said. "The stations already have more than enough, and they
won't be willing to pay for more, so the money just won't be there to
pay the same salaries to these actors for another year."
That does not mean that there cannot be a spinoff. "I'm sure NBC will
ask for that," the executive said. "Look for a show built around Joey.
That's the best bet at this point."
-- 
j.

 Plot Twists Paid Off for 'Friends'
carissimo jason,
tu sai quanto ti voglio bene e ti ammiro, onde per cui mi sento in grado di chiederti un
ulteriore piccolo sforzo alla tua apprezzatissima attività profrendsiana.
disfilippico e dunque vengo al dunque.
vorrei chiederti se cortesemente, a beneficio dei tuoi appassionati lettori non capenti o non
volenti capenti o malanti di testa, potresti fare, per ogni spoiler/articolo/eccetera in inglese
eccetera da te segnalato, in calce un breve riassuntino/riepiloghino con il sunto di quanto
espresso nel post?
una cosetta breve breve, non più di 3 righi, ma molto gradita, a chi come ahimè se cerca di
tradurre tra un impregno e l'altro, gli viene il maldicapa e quindi è costretto a rinunciare.
daltronde 3 righi con la tua abilità sono una sputazzetta di tempo.
affettuosamente attendo riscontro.
ricordati che le pile hanno anche un lato positivo, non esiste solo il polo del vaffancù ^__^
ciao
Vittorix

una cosetta breve breve, non più di 3 righi
Ok.
[inizio dei tre righi]
Friends e' rinato. A livello delle prime serie grazie all'introduzione
di "colpi di scena" che, siccome ben realizzati, hanno evitato di
ottenere l'effetto opposto. La 9a e' l'ultima. Se ci sara' uno spinoff
e' probabibile che useranno il personaggio di Joey.
[fine dei tre righi]
Ho sforato, sorry... :PPP
-- 
j./non posso farlo sempre pero', a volte fatico anche a respirare...:)

 j./non posso farlo sempre pero', a volte fatico anche a respirare...:)
si ddai ssu ssu ddai ssi ssi ddai.. 3 righi per farci felici e noi ti promettiamo di non fare
colpi di stato per i prossimi mesi :)
ciao
Vittorix

che cacchio è lo spinoff?!!!!!!!!!
Hmmmm... diciamo che sta all'estremita' opposta del pilot, pur avendo
a sua volta un pilot... ;))))
-- 
j./whopla' :)))

 j./whopla' :)))
Vittorix\sarà ancora buono il pesce in frigo dopo 3 gg?

che cacchio è lo spinoff?!!!!!!!!!
Qualcosa che prevede un pilot....
;p
Mavi
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"Paranoia is knowing exactly what is going on."
ICQ 6901746
http://www.angelfire.com/hi/mavi
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