Friends from College could have been a wonderful production. It wasn't. All of its promise was wasted on a narrative with no soul. The acting is good and the production values are first-rate, but the character development and the characters' intertwinement are not thought-out. Why are these people friends? What do they have in common? They went to Harvard?!?!? They are all idiots. While I understand that intellectual intelligence does not correlate with emotional intelligence, none of these people can see beyond herself. Not only would these folks not have been friends beyond college, there is no way they would have maintained their so-called friendship two decades later. Those reviewers who complain that they didn't like the characters are, in my estimation, on-point. There was little redeemable about any of them (Marianne is perhaps the exception, but she's also a tangential role and the quirkiest among the bunch). Things happen, but there is no purpose. At the end of the day, it's a stupid show with no point. To some extent, the writers and the creators need to create more exaggerated forms of personalities (and personality disorders) in order to hook us into the premise of a show. There always has to be some suspension of disbelief and once we can get beyond that, the show can unfold. In Dexter, that suspension was that Dexter was a serial killer who worked for the police department and channeled his thirst for killing to adhere to some code. With The Sopranos, that suspension was that a mob boss could have panic attacks and seek counseling. It was the hook. Neither could ever happen, but that premise provided the springboard for our peering into their world and appreciating their stories. In Friends from College, the disbelief is merely that any of these people would be friends, but the view can't get beyond that because that, itself, is the premise of the show. I cannot see any world where these people would be connected. Nothing has brought them together other than Harvard, and each is self-centered and emotionally-challenged. There is nothing else beyond that, so the entire show falls flat.
It is not uncommon for reviewers to complain about unlikable characters. I recall Amazon Prime's Transparent - an excellent show - where many reviewers complained about the characters and their unlikability. That was different. That was a family, and family, by definition, is dysfunctional. There was a point to their personality disorders. There was a reason why these people resurfaced in each others' lives while the events of the show unfolded. It's been a while since I've seen Transparent, and I'm sure there were plot points that I could dispute, but there was a point to the grating personalities depicted and how they dealt with each other, their respective messes, and the events that unfolded in their lives and how those events/challenges/conflicts were addressed. In Friends from College, there is an easy answer: just leave. Have nothing to do with each other. There is no integrity. There is no genuine love or emotion. There is no connection. There is no romance. In a word, this show is written as if six random people were forced to live in a world with each other with virtually nothing in common and no emotional skills to cope with the world, let alone each other.
The best part of Friends from College is that it is a half-hour show (26 minutes, really, per episode), and only eight (8) episodes per season. Very few shows on television - network or streaming - are half-hour productions that require minimal investment to entertain. I saw both seasons, as some reviewers insisted that Season 2 takes off. It doesn't. This show is a waste of time. It could have been something much better. It could have depicted honest characters, with flaws, who love each other but hurt each other through their respective blindspots. Instead, it's just a pointless exercise; a waste of time. It's a shame that the budget, the actors, and the production values were as good as they are because had it been amateurish in feel, I would have bailed before completing both seasons.
Not recommended.
It is not uncommon for reviewers to complain about unlikable characters. I recall Amazon Prime's Transparent - an excellent show - where many reviewers complained about the characters and their unlikability. That was different. That was a family, and family, by definition, is dysfunctional. There was a point to their personality disorders. There was a reason why these people resurfaced in each others' lives while the events of the show unfolded. It's been a while since I've seen Transparent, and I'm sure there were plot points that I could dispute, but there was a point to the grating personalities depicted and how they dealt with each other, their respective messes, and the events that unfolded in their lives and how those events/challenges/conflicts were addressed. In Friends from College, there is an easy answer: just leave. Have nothing to do with each other. There is no integrity. There is no genuine love or emotion. There is no connection. There is no romance. In a word, this show is written as if six random people were forced to live in a world with each other with virtually nothing in common and no emotional skills to cope with the world, let alone each other.
The best part of Friends from College is that it is a half-hour show (26 minutes, really, per episode), and only eight (8) episodes per season. Very few shows on television - network or streaming - are half-hour productions that require minimal investment to entertain. I saw both seasons, as some reviewers insisted that Season 2 takes off. It doesn't. This show is a waste of time. It could have been something much better. It could have depicted honest characters, with flaws, who love each other but hurt each other through their respective blindspots. Instead, it's just a pointless exercise; a waste of time. It's a shame that the budget, the actors, and the production values were as good as they are because had it been amateurish in feel, I would have bailed before completing both seasons.
Not recommended.