"FRIENDS"

A few years ago, a group of twenty-somethings came together in a city that most could only dream about calling "home".  They lived together, played together, often worked together, "hung out" together, got into trouble together.  They became surrogate family for one another in their new home, far away from the familiar.

Their adventures were epic and epically mundane.  On many levels, they were "stars", while often being star-struck.  They had everything, yet survived on next-to-nothing.  It was a reality show in real life.

The cast was legion:  scores of leading "roles" supported by hundreds of supporting characters.  The sets were often exotic and, in memory, always bright and colorful.  New foods, new cultures, new ways of speaking a familiar language made the experience even more exotic.  The heroes were larger-than-life and, as is so often the case, their trials and adventures might have been meaningless without the presence of antagonists of equal stature.

While a pilot for the show aired in 1985, the main production was screened, in earnest, in 1986.  It lasted 7 GLORIOUS seasons, before being pulled by the network on a technicality.  Very successful "spinoffs" can still be found in locations around the country.  

All the great themes of life were portrayed:  love, hate, joy, sadness, wealth, poverty, good, evil, light, darkness...

If one were to pitch such a concept for production, it might carry a working title that is at once simple, descriptive, meaningful, evocative, nostalgic, romantic:  something like

"FRIENDS"

1987-88 Flight attendants from the Continental Airlines Honolulu Base celebrated the "retirement" of the venerable beige uniform in the surf at Sandy Beach, near Hawai Kai, island of O'hau.  This photo is the property of and is used courtesy of my friend, Roxie Rivero, fourth from right.