coach, after the third year. we didn t realize how sick nick was. and he started writing all his lines down wherever he could. we saw one of them. after he passed away. after he d passed away. the line was it s as if he s still with us now. and we used to touch that every night when we d perform. we d come down and touch that and give it a little pat. yep. i m off. the last episode i m the luckiest son of a bitch on earth. i just remember thinking, i got to be part of that history of comedy. i am the luckiest son of a bitch. truly. on the fluffiest french toast with red currants on top we wish you a happy holiday, only at ihop. new gingersnap apple french toast, part of our new holiday menu. try all three flavors.
done. at the core of every sitcom, you do have a family, whether it is a blood family or a found family. you know, in the case of friends or seinfeld. as new generations emerge from baby boomers to gen x to millennials to gen z, we see those changes reflected in the friends sitcom. you look back at the rise of the friends sitcom. it happens as we hit the 70s at a moment at which divorce rates in the country were also rising. we seem to be going downhill in life s most important venture, marriage. do you compare everybody to your ex-wife? sure, i do. and compared to blanche, everybody looks good. the odd couple was one of the first shows that began to explore the break-up of the family on television. can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy? the perfect opening to a sitcom was, of course, the odd
because i want to see, are they getting together. i can t believe i don t get to go to my own prom. it s so harsh. the one with the prom video where rachel realizes that ross has always loved her. bye! oh, dear. i can t believe you did that. yeah, well. all the most memorable moments in the sitcoms are the ones where they touched on something beyond the comedy. [ cheers and applause ] and it made for a really great television that a lot of people wanted to watch. literally everyone in america. i, ross take thee, emily take thee, rachel we ve really been on a ride with ross and rachel. our goal in writing the finale was to really make you believe that they might not get together. i have to get on the plane. no, you don t. yes, i do. no, you don t. they re waiting for me, ross.
you re going to need a turnstile in your bedroom. gosh, the true heart of that show was dorothy, the bea arthur character. honey, beware of anyone who says no calories, absolutely no charge, and let s just lie down on the bed and watch television. and then of course rose s character is the clown. i mean, i was the one who thought up big squeaky toys for cows. the golden girls talked about edgy stuff. it was in my first script, rose s husband died while having sex with her. although i did think it was strange when he started yelling rose, i m going, i m going. that s an edgy joke. young adult audiences went crazy for it. viewers and apparently network censors would allow older women to a say things that other characters couldn t get away with. complete this famous saying.
it probably should be. but you know, it kind of announces the idea that hbo is going to get very serious about doing scripted dramas. it s finished. it s over. but hbo really, in my mind, comes into its own in 1999 with the sopranos. sopranos just is a one of those shows that was a benchmark. it changed like, a lot of things for everybody. throw out the handbook. tony soprano, the lead actor in a drama, he killed a man. we watched him. when he took his daughter on a college tour. pretty, huh? yeah. it was just a melding of a guy and a world. open the [bleep] door. open the [bleep] door.