Why So Blu?

Friends: The Complete Series (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

Friends is a television show that needs no introduction, but since this is a review I am under an obligation to do so.  Here goes nothing.  Let me clear my throat err I mean flex my ever aging typing fingers.  Friends aired for 10 seasons between September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004 and yielded a whopping 236 broadcasted episodes.  Friends is often noted as a timeless sitcom, but in all honesty it would probably be blasted in today’s culture for its lack of diversity.  However, I digress as that’s a road I don’t even want to go down here.  So let’s just stick to the facts.  And here they are…okay they are all down below.  Follow me down there.  

Series

Friends was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman.  The show revolves around a group of six friends navigating life, love and careers in New York City.  The ensemble cast includes Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, a fashion enthusiast.  “Dancing in the Dark”’s Courteney Cox plays Monica Geller, a chef obsessed with cleanliness and control.  Her character’s brother, Ross Geller, portrayed by David Schwimmer, is a paleontologist with a very complex love life, particularly with Rachel.  Lisa Kudrow offers a quirky and offbeat performance as Phoebe Buffay, the aspiring musician.  Rounding out the group were Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, and the lovable but dim-witted actor, and Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, whose sarcastic humor and awkward personality endeared him to fans.  May he rest in peace.  

At its heart, Friends was about the ups and downs of young adulthood — from breakups and career changes to the mundane joys of coffee shop banter.  Each character was distinct, yet they formed a tight-knit group that felt somewhat relatable.  The show’s witty dialogue and memorable catchphrases, like Joey’s “How you doin’?” and Ross’s infamous “We were on a break!”, became embedded in pop culture.  I must admit I was about five seasons or so late to the party when this aired, but once I jumped aboard I was hooked until the very end actually never wanting it to ever end.  Much like Seinfeld is to me Friends is also one of my go-to shows whenever bored and need a quick fix.

Throughout its 10 seasons Friends garnered critical acclaim and won numerous awards, including a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series.  The show was nominated for 62 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning six awards including Best Comedy Series in 2002.  Its popularity also launched the careers of its stars, particularly Jennifer Aniston, who became a household name in so many movies as well her current smash hit streaming show.  Even after the finale, the show’s syndication, streaming success and fan base have kept it relevant to newer generations.  

From hairstyles like “The Rachel” to iconic moments like Ross’s pivot scene, Friends shaped television and pop culture.  Actually Friends kind of defines the word pop culture today and you’ll also find quite a large number of Friends themed Funko POPs too!  I’m just saying.  Its themes of friendship, love and growing up have makes its stand as one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time.  I think you get the idea.  Friends is a big deal and so is this box set.  I could go on and on about my love for the show, but I’m guessing you wouldn’t be here reading this if you didn’t already love it.  So let’s get onto the real meat and potatoes here the 4K UHD Boxset and everything you’ll find in it.  

Video

The below video score and relative comments are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentations of Friends.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 4K (2160p)
• HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
• Layers: BD-100
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Clarity/Detail: So this one is going to be a tricky one to dissect.  Sure things are going to be clearer.  I can say things like the 4K visuals breathe new life into the world of Monica’s apartment, Central Perk and the streets of New York, making even the smallest details pop with clarity and color.  However, I really wish I could say the BD-100 disc size gives the picture plenty of room to breathe ushering in crystal clear details like hair, skin and fabrics as well as environments like the city streets, Central Perk and so much more.  But that would be a lie and yes I know you should not start a sentence with that word.  I am a little perturbed to say the least.  This should have been a slam dunk.  Instead you get 12 episodes crammed onto each disc and quite frankly that’s not enough breathing room.  You got some minor macro blocking going on, artifacts and even some use of DNR in the later seasons, which I am not sure why.
• Depth: Sure you get a sense of three-dimensional depth in the presentation, but that also is a competition between some of the artifacts and grain fighting each other.  I will say the show does look film like now on the format.  That is a good thing!
• Black Levels: Black levels is a hard one to grade here because in some circumstances they do look normal, deep and inky and other times they are downright crushing.  It’s a mix bag of nuts folks.  Really!
• Color Reproduction: Depending upon the scene the colors can be bold and vivacious and other times completely over-the-top.  Like many reviewers have already said (I’m a bit late to the scene with this review FWIW) it looks like your TV set is stuck in Vivid mode in many moments…too many to count.  Don’t adjust your dials (AKA TV Settings) folks.  This isn’t your problem to solve.  Your TV is not on Vivid mode (unless it is then turn that stupid mode off LOL).
• Flesh Tones: Skin tones are mostly exaggerated like they all have DT orange spray on tans.  Well okay not that bad, but you get the point.
• Noise/Artifacts: Do you really need me to repeat everything I said in the Clarity/Detail section up above?  I think not!

Audio

Like I mentioned up above in the video section, the below audio score and judging comments are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentations of Friends.

• Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, German 2.0 Stereo Dolby Digital, French 2.0 Stereo Dolby Digital, Japanese 2.0 Stereo Dolby Digital, Castilian-Spanish 2.0 Stereo Dolby Digital
• Subtitles: English SDH, German SDH, French, Japanese, Castilian Spanish, Latin Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Dutch, Complex Chinese
• Dynamics: Friends gets an audio upgrade here on 4K UHD from the Blu-ray’s Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks.  It’s nothing that’s going to night-and-day sonically change the viewing experience in the Dynamics department, but it’s a welcome upgrade to say the least. I will say this that the Remnants song is quite dynamic in its power here.  There are still some minor issues lingering though that were present in the original Blu-ray release of this set.  All in all though the improved sound quality makes every laugh track crisp, and every note of Phoebe’s guitar rings through with clarity.
• Height: n/a
• Low Frequency Extension: The LFE channel is not heavily engaged here, but there’s enough of an oomph to get by here.  It’s a sitcom folks, not a Michael Bay action movie.  The first couple of seasons seem to have some more punch to them.
• Surround Sound Presentation: Much to my surprise the rear channels kind of shine here with music, atmosphere and studio reactions/laughs.
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialogue levels are clean, prioritized for the most part and centered.  I didn’t have any problems hearing things.

Special Features

So if you look up above are you wondering what’s in this box just like they are in the photo.  Well…wonder no more!  Okay so here we have over 20 hours of special features including all-new bonus content as indicated below, which honestly doesn’t amount to a lot of time.  This 4K set includes all 236 original broadcast episodes from the iconic 10 seasons of the beloved series, plus hours of special features which has been created over the years plus some all-new bonus content.  The set does not contain any digital codes.  There are a total of 25 discs inside with tow of them being Blu-ray Discs.  As pictured down below there are 5 hinged 4K cases with 2 seasons apiece and a Blu-ray case that houses the majority of the bonus content.  A small booklet can be found within too that lists all the below mentioned bonus content as well as all the episodes.  I have everything detailed in the pictures below.  Enjoy!

So down below you’ll find a bunch of unboxing photos.  Click on the below thumbnail images to enlarge for maximum satisfaction.  I do want to make a PSA that with my set majority of the discs were loose in the cases and much like the Rocky set HERE there was much waxiness to be found on the plastics and on the discs themselves.  To me that is kind of disgusting for a set that costs $180 plus.

4K DISCS #1-23

• Audio Commentaries – There are almost 30 audio commentaries with executive producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane on select episodes from the show’s ten-season run. Most seasons get three or four commentaries, but Season 2 is the only one with none.

BLU-RAY BONUS DISC #1

• NEW – Friends: Through the Peephole (15:18) – This extra shows off a few props, costumes and other items from the show.
• NEW – How Well Do You Know Your Friends? (6:37) – This extra contains some trivia questions that are presented game-show style to test the show’s biggest fans.
• Season 1-5 Extras (The below were all included on the previously released Blu-ray set)
  • Friends of Friends– Seasons 1-4
  • Season 2 Trailer
  • “Smelly Cat” Music Video
  • What’s Up with Your Friends? – Seasons 1-4
  • Friends Around the World
  • The One that Goes Behind the Scenes
  • Friends on Location in London
  • Gunther Spills the Beans About Season 6

• “True Friends” Documentaries (The below were all included on the previously released Blu-ray set)
  • Friends From the Start (27:48)
  • When Friends Become Family (29:18)
  • The Legacy of Friends (10:44)

BLU-RAY BONUS DISC #2

• Season 6-10 Extras (The below were all included on the previously released Blu-ray set)
  • Friends of Friends Seasons 6-8, 10
  • Gag Reels – Seasons 6-10
  • Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season (Seasons 6-9)
  • Extended Broadcast Episodes – Here we have extended episodes for “The One Where Rosita Dies,” “The One Where They All Turn Thirty,” “The One with Joey’s New Brain” and “The One with the Truth About London” Sadly these are all in standard definition.  Why couldn’t these have been in 4K?
  • Behind the Style: The Look of Friends
  • The Flaming Lips’ “Phoebe Battles the Pink Robots” Music Video
  • Friends Final Thoughts
  • Matt LeBlanc’s “Joey Joey” Music Video

• Other Extras (The below were all included on the previously released Blu-ray set)
  • “The One Where Rachel Tells Ross” – Producer’s Cut in standard definition
  • “The One Where Rachel Tells Ross” Original Script
  • Additional Gag Reel
  • Friends Visits The Ellen DeGeneres Show
  • Friends on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
  • The Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There for You” Music Video

Final Thoughts

I have to admit.  I am a bit conflicted here.  Yes the score up above is one that I would normally say warrants a BUY.  However, coupled with the price tag of this 4K set currently sitting around $186 and the many issues lingering with the video as pointed out above makes me want to say wait until an eventual sale on this.  I wish I could say that this is the best we will ever see these Friends episodes look, but to do so makes me feel like I am lying to you.  These are not the best this series has ever looked.  Sure there’s more clarity and depth, but the colors and skin tones make it look like your TV is on Vivid mode more times than I care to mention.  What gives?  So I will just say this.  If you’re a Friends fan who has to have everything, you already know what you got to do.  All others or casual fans of the show I would say wait a bit and pick these up on the down low.  That’s about as honest as I can get with you.  Even with all that being said I am very grateful and appreciative of Warner Bros. making this set a reality and giving me the opportunity to review it as well.  It’s been my honor and pleasure.  Thanks for reading all!

 

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