B.A.C.K.G.R.O.U.N.D I.N.F.O.R.M.A.T.I.O.N First began in 1994 Rachel Green played by Jennifer Aniston Monica Geller played by Courtney Cox Phoebe Buffay played by Lisa Kudrow Joey Tribbiani played by Matt LeBlanc Chandler Bing played by Matthew Perry Ross Geller played by David Schwimmer 10 SERIES WITH APPROXIMATELY 24 EPISODES Friends was originally called “Across the hall” and then changed to “Friends like these”

A.U.D.I.E.N.C.E P.R.O.F.I.L.E CHECKIN OUT THE CHAN CHAN MAN! AGE : 12-25 Apart from one episode is a 15 due to porn reference. This is a picture of Monica and Rachel’s apartment throughout the series. This shows what the female apartment is like. As you can see it’s tidy and purple which would represent a female. GENDER: EITHER MALE OR FEMALE We thought this would be because how there is 3 females and 3 males so it evens it out how male and females can relate to it. This is a picture of Joey and Chandlers apartment throughout the series This shows what a male apartment is like. As you can see it’s messy, brown and the foosball table which would represent a male. ETHINICITY Religious people who believe in no sex before marriage would §not watch this because they do have sex and go on dates with people before marriage. They just live the ‘typical single life’. GEODEMOGRAPHIC This TV series is filmed in LA, but they had the establishing shots in New York. It is filmed in New York because New York is a famous, popular City. You may think that New Yorkers would watch the programme as they can relate to it the most because they live there. This would mean the people who would mainly watch the show would speak English as the American characters speak English.

G.E.N.R.E The genre of this programme is comedy. Chandler: “I’m making chocolate milk you want some?” Ross: “No thanks, I’m 29” The genre of this programme is comedy. It is a TV series, not a film, based on a group of friends they’ve always been put in comical situations for example: The one with Ross’ leather pants, he goes on a date wearing leather trousers and ends up getting hot and sweaty in the girls apartment, goes to take them off and cool down but it turns out he can’t get them back on. He calls Joey and Joey gives him bad advice like rubbing lotion and powder which makes a paste, and this makes it harder for him to pull them back up. He then ends up going to Monica and Rachel’s apartment where nothing but paste on his legs and his shirt. “This year was supposed to be great, but now I’m a loser with stupid leather pants that don’t even fit.”

V.I.E.W.I.N.G F.I.G.U.R.E.S “JOEY DOESN’T SHARE FOOD” We visited the BARB website to get viewing figures from series 5 to 10 because we couldn’t get access to figures from 1994-1997. Season 5 Episode 1 – 4.76 million Episode 2 – 4.74 million Episode 3 – 5.15 million Episode 4 – 5.16 million Episode 5 – 4.78 million Episode 6 – 4.91 million Episode 7 – 4.91 million Episode 8 – 5.16 million Episode 9 – 5.22 million Episode 10 – 5.02 million Episode 11 – 5.07 million Episode 12 – 6.49 million Season 6 Episode 1 – 5.53 million Episode 2 - 4.94 million Episode 3 – 5.00 million Episode 4 – 5.27 million Episode 5 – 4.50 million Episode 6 – 4.44 million Episode 7 – 4.83 million Episode 8 – 5.25 million Episode 9 – 4.84 million Episode 10 – 4.34 million Episode 11 – 5.61 million Episode 12 – 3.35 million Episode 13 – 2.84 million Episode 14 – 3.59 million Episode 15 – 3.84 million Episode 16 – 3.09 million Episode 17 – 3.14 million Episode 18 – 3.78 million Episode 19 – 3.18 million Episode 20 – 3.24 million Episode 21 – 3.13 million Episode 22 – 3.47 million Episode 23 – 3.59 million Episode 24 – 2.89 million Episode 25 – 3.20 million Episode 13 – 4.45 million Episode 14 – 2.39 million Episode 15 – 2.93 million Episode 16 – 3.32 million Episode 17 – 3.38 million Episode 18 – 3.17 million Episode 19 – 3.44 million Episode 20 – 3.41 million Episode 21 – 3.79 million Episode 22 – 3.74 million Episode 23 – 3.56 million Episode 24 – 3.56 million As you can see by these results that it is a very popular show in the UK. The pattern shows that it is slowly going down, it has a high point in the middle of the series that could indicate that something special happened in the middle. As you can see you by these results the programme starts off more popular than it ends at the end of the season. There’s no up point it just goes down to low. Our results show that season 5 is more of a popular series than 6 as one episode goes up to 6.49 million We also looked at the viewing figures of the USA and they were a lot higher than the UK results. That is probably down to the USA being a bigger country, and it has a bigger population compared to the UK. Here are a couple of the results. Episode 1 – 31.1 million Episode 4 – 24.1 million Episode 2 – 25.4 million Episode 5 – 25.9 million Episode 3 – 26.8 million Episode 6 – 25.0 million The USA results look like this: Episode 1 – 27.7 million Episode 4 – 21.1 million Episode 2 – 22.9 million Episode 5 – 22.4 million Episode 3 – 21.6 million Episode 6 – 23.6 million The American season 5 started off more popular than seasons 6 which would show that people preferred series 5 more than 6.

D.E.C.O.D.I.N.G Technical codes Ross: ‘You know, we should probably ask the doctor if she even knows how to deliver a baby that's half human, half *pure evil*!” D.E.C.O.D.I.N.G Technical codes In friends they use certain camera angles to show that when someone has said something funny or have done something funny they focus on another persons face so you can see their expression. Symbolic Codes The colors used in the female and males apartment show who lives where without even knowing much about the programme as one is beige and plain, and the other is purple, yellow, and mixed colors and flowers to represent a girls apartment. The body language of the characters shows that it is meant to be a comedy by doing silly dances, reactions to what people do or say. This shows Ross’ reaction to one of the others jokes. Written Codes Looking at the font of the title you can look at it as a childish way, living the life.

L.E.G.A.L C.O.N.S.T.R.A.I.N.T.S “He could’ve brought me a set of golf clubs, could've brought me a VCR but no! he has to get me the woman repeller!!” Friends was on at 9pm which is dead on watershed so this means they can swear, and have drink and drugs if they wanted. Friends is rated at 12 other than one DVD because it’s related to porn so it’s rated at 15. The directors/producers are careful with discrimination because there is no jokes made about race or religion. They do say the odd joke about homosexuals but they it wasn’t extreme and maybe in a way that homosexuals can relate to and laugh. Also in the show they have a lesbian couple but you could look at it as there not homophobic and supporting the fact people are gay/lesbian. They also have brand names in the show like Ralph Lauren and would have to ask permission to use it. We guess they would have had permission as Ralph Lauren appeared as a special guest.

Rock, hard place, me C.O.M.P.A.R.I.S.O.N For a comparison we thought Fraser would be a good one because it has the same humour but aimed at slightly more mature people and was on straight after friends on a Friday night. Both shows have a laughter track, and similar jokes and body language like facial expressions after someone says something ridiculous. Another show to compare to would be Seinfeld because that show and friends was in competition since friends started. Seinfeld started in the late 80’s and again has laughter track and similar jokes. The difference with the shows is Seinfeld was based around a real character Jerry Seinfeld and about doing stand-up which he does. Fraser is a spin-off from the show “cheers” which would be a good comparison but is slightly dated now.

Ross: “We were on a break! Chandler: Oh, my God! If you say that one more time, I'm going to break up with you!” Ross: “I figured after work, I'd pick up a bottle of wine, go over there, and try to... woo her. Chandler: Hey, you know what you should do? Take her back to the 1800's when that phrase was last used.” Monica: “Chandler, it's okay. You don't have to be so macho all the time.” Chandler: “I'm not macho.” Monica: “You're right. I don't know what I was thinking.” Thank you for your time BY SINEAD BROWNE AND JON MICHEAL DAVID HAYNES