It has been four years, how you doin?

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

Have you been wondering what your favorite Friends are up to these days?

I’ve been watching some episodes during the Holy Week break…despite my mom telling me and my 10 year old (who I’ve turned into a Friends junkie!) we shouldn’t be laughing so much. Can’t help it. I love these people. And I loved their show! And in the spirit of the season, I did mourn when I read David Schwimmer’s recent interview. He said that the last time he saw all six of them together was in 2004, when their series ended. 

Aww.

But going back to the question…are you wondering where they are now? Read along and let’s catch up on the Friends…

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Who dares sue Oprah? Well, if you’re hungry for publicity because your show is failing…

Two people actually.

The first lawsuit has to do with Oprah’s new TV show, Big Give.  If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a reality TV series where Oprah gives 10 people loads of money and are asked to travel around the world with a mission of helping other people. Every week, one of them goes home, and since I don’t watch the program at all…I wouldn’t have any clue for what reason. Do they fail the task so they’re told to leave? Do they get voted off? Were they tempted to steal the money? In the end, though, one of the 10 chosen may also get to go home with $1million.

The "helping other people" part is a noble idea, alright. But apparently, not an original idea. A woman is suing the 56th richest person in the world (according to Forbes Magazine in 2006) because Oprah and her Harpo Production allegedly stole the very same concept! In 2005, Darlene Tracy pitched the very same idea to Harpo and caller her show The Philanthropist.  In 2006, she tried to get a judge’s order to stop the show from going on air. The lawsuit is currently on appeal.

But, wait a minute… if the dispute has been going on since 2006, why was it so widely picked up in newswires all about the same time the other day? I’m not kidding — news about the lawsuit all jumped in my newsfeeds in a synchoronized manner. So, you know what I smell from this? P-U-B-L-I-C-I-T-Y! Oprah’s Big Give has been widely criticized for being a pretentious TV program that serves no purpose but only to glorify the former Daytime Talkshow Queen. And its viewership is dropping.

So, there you go.

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