[shally0327]

You know pillar boxes? And how you never really notice they're there because you don't use them all that much any more, because you never write letters and anyway, you already used them all every night at 6pm for most of the late 90s? But if someone suddenly took them away … you see where I'm going with Friends Box Set, right? Well, it finally happened. After 15 years, Channel 4 has ended its deal with Warner Bros to show Friends. Final episode The Last One, which actually made me cry out of my face a little bit, will air on Sunday at 8pm on E4, and then there will be. No. More. Friends. Until 9pm on E4+1. But after that there will actually be. No. More. Friends.

Friends was never the funniest show on TV – it was always a pretty ‘safe' comedy and it never pushed any boundaries. But CSI New York Box Set was scripted to include ten seasons of set-ups that never slipped into contrivance, it had the best ensemble cast of comic actors I can think of, and you know what? Watching Family Guy Box Set 1-10 just makes you happy. This last point – the feel-good factor, if you really must – is why its repeats have continued to get viewing figures of around 800,000 per episode on E4 ever since the show itself ended.

I've always thought that UK audiences probably experience Friends in a different way to US ones. Channel 4 and especially E4′s scattergun chronology in showing episodes never left me sure as to what season I was watching, and I couldn't tell you which seasons were the best or worst overall. But All in the Family Box Set didn't much matter: the sheer volume shown brought familiarity with the stories and character arcs, and I can anchor myself immediately in the timeframe just by looking at the characters' clothes and hair.

Criminal Minds Box Set used as its jumping-off point the structure on which most romantic comedy films have been based since the 80s: the main character has a circle of friends with whom he or she discusses attempts at dating, with much comic mileage being made out of disastrous ones. The difference here was that there was no main character, and the circle of friends were all as neurotic as each other.