“You’re over me? When were you … under me?”

Oh, I don’t think I will EVER be over the TV series Friends.

Never has this been more apparent today than when I ran across this article that pointed out that the series finale was exactly 10 years ago today…and I burst out crying.

10 Years Later: Friends’ 10 Most Quotable Lines

http://www.vulture.com/2013/03/friends-best-quotes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thr%2Fvulture+%28The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Vulture+Inbound%29

I was never a big fan of Ross or Rachel. Their characters tended to annoy me and their relationship took away valuable time from Monica’s cleaning & Chandler’s wisecracking. But this was my most favorite scenes between them.

I have talked before on my blog about how the Seavers from Growing Pains were like my family. I wanted to live in their house and be one of them. Well, maybe be adopted by them, since otherwise I would have had lustful thoughts about my brothers.

But in the same way that I felt the Seavers were my family, that is how Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, and Ross felt like my friends. I invited them into my living room every Thursday night for 10 years. They were in my house every night for an hour when they went into syndication. I shared in their trials and tribulations. They WERE my friends in my head and heart, if not by the standard definition.

Don’t get me started on my crush on Chandler (Matthew Perry).

I was sooo devastated when Friends concluded. I cried for like an hour after the finale ended. Within the same week, a DVD of the Series Finale hit stores, and I bought it. I watched it over and over. As series finales go, it was a perfect ending.

My favorite shot of a surprised Chandler from the Friends series finale
Photo: Warner Bros.

I actually filled the void left by Friends with Fox’s The O.C. While I didn’t necessarily wish to live amongst them, I was obsessed with their lives in a similar way. Therefore, when The O.C. ended in 2007, I not only cried for The O.C., but I cried for Friends (again, still) as well.

I have only added one new TV show to my all-time favorite list in the years since then, the short-lived FX show Terriers, starring Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James.

It somehow makes it even harder when you realize that Friends started 20 years ago in 1994,  the same year I graduated high school.  My WHOLE ADULT LIFE I have known these characters.

I can’t believe it is really 10 years later, and I still haven’t found a way to say goodbye.  Maybe if I could meet Matthew Perry someday, that would help…

For more of my thought on any or all of these shows, please visit my page: My Top Ten TV Shows of All-Time

And, to end this post, further proof that I may not be over The O.C. either.  A preview clip of the upcoming show Gotham, featuring Ben McKenzie.