friends?!? wtf?!

We've had family in town for the past few days. Super helpful with Greta. So, my sis really wanted to watch the final Friends episode on Thursday and I figured the least I could do to humor her and mom and Aunt Kathy (who just had brain surgery for the 4th time), since they had been helping with food and diapers and screening phone calls so we can sleep. Now I realize that there is a devoted following of this show and that some people I respect a great deal are major fans. I promise not to bash the show itself, as I have no context to know what the hell was going on most of the episode. I'd only seen one or two episodes before the final one and I can acknowledge that if you haven't given the show a chance, you shouldn't say bad (or good) things about it. But I would like to make one comment on the phenomenon of Friends that I discussed with someone a long time ago. The thing is, these characters have really interconnected lives. They eat together. They go through hard times together. They get lonely or horny and so they bonk each other occasionally. Then they get wistful about love and babies and marriage. Basically they do everything significant and insignificant together. This show wasn't just about friends--because I don't know any friends who have lives like these no matter where they live--it was about community in the Christian sense. Community that very few people actually have with anyone else. So my question is: why do we love their relationships so much but do nothing about having similar relationships in the real world? Why do we sit in front of the television for hours and hours and not call or email our friends? Why is there a gap between what we want to have and what we do have? Do we not really want community like that? Is it too difficult? If we took that time that we would ordinarily watch TV and tried to build community by hanging out with people, what would happen? I'm especially asking you religious Friends-watchers since you now know through watching them what would make for good community....