Friends ending was so sad.

I can't say that I've liked Friends for quite a while. I haven't watched it for many years, though I've watched it this season since it was the last season. The last episode was better than several other last episodes from the last few years. Friends ended, as was inevitable, with Ross and Rachel getting back together. It's a simple principle: you give the viewers what they want for having watched for so long. You don't cheat the viewers. Yet, there are shows that fuck this up.

The worst perpetrator of this that I've seen....well, I'm a little embarrassed to say what I think it was. Ok, ok, it was Dawson's Creek. The entire series was about Dawson and Joey almost getting together, then in the last episode, she ends up with Pacey. Pacey!?!?! Are you fucking kidding me? The last two seasons of that show were almost unbearable to watch, the only thing that kept me going was waiting for Dawson and Joey to get back together. I had to watch her have a thing with her doofy professor (who was the "I wanna dip my balls in it!" guy from The State), have a fling with the guy with all his hair combed forward (Charlie), and then the other fling with Eddie (played by Oliver Hudson, Kate Hudson's brother). Those shows were ohmyfuckinggod awful, and I watched every single one of them, just to get to the finale. And then the producers served up that turd of a finale. Unbelievable.

The Seinfeld finale was a letdown, but at least it was true to the characters of the show. I'm not sure that there was a good way for that show to end, but at leaset they kept it consistent, and the audience didn't have any expectations for the wrapup of the series.

But for Friends, the sadness isn't about the show being over. And maybe that's true for a lot of shows. What's sad about the shows is that when I turn on the TV on Thursday nights, I'll have the reminder that I'm not in high school anymore. I can't believe 10 years have gone by since the show started. That was back when ER was still good. I imagine that the next two high-school era shows that will end will be NYPD Blue and ER, though I haven't watched ER since George Clooney left.

Now, I say all of this about how I can't pretend I'm in high school anymore, but I went and got a haircut yesterday. When I sat down in the chair, the first thing that the hair stylist asked me was, "You getting your hair cut for the prom?" I guess maybe I can still pretend if I want to.