Obviously all of us adored Matthew Perry on Friends. Chandler Bing was a showcase for a few of his greatest qualities — he was quick-witted and sarcastic but additionally beneficiant and considerate. But there was one other position predating that one the place he first popped up on a whole lot of followers’ (and casting administrators’) radars.
In 1989, 5 years earlier than our jobs have been a joke, we have been broke, and our love lives have been D.O.A., a fresh-faced Matthew Perry appeared on one other hit sitcom referred to as Growing Pains. The household present was a HUGE primetime hit, and in these days there weren’t a gazillion cable channels or streaming but — so a visitor position was seen by TENS OF MILLIONS, not even together with infinite reruns. (For those that know their scores, the episode received a 24.4 — that means almost a fourth of all TV-owning households watched it!) So it’s no surprise a whole lot of followers heard concerning the star’s premature demise over the weekend and, even after quite a few hit films, a number of sequence, and TEN YEARS of Friends, their first thought was of this episode… We noticed fairly just a few ’80s and ’90s children bringing it up the previous couple days. And right here’s why…
In a really particular episode referred to as Second Chance, Matthew was launched as teen daughter Carol’s (Tracey Gold) new school boyfriend Sandy. He shortly received over the Seaver household together with his attraction and that Matthew Perry smile. Carol was falling HARD, and so have been the viewers. He was simply so humorous and profitable, proper from the beginning.
Related: Mystery Woman Comes Forward With NEW Details Of Matthew’s Final Hours
The solely downside? Sandy was a school man and favored to drink together with his buds. It’s no huge deal, only a few drinks. But then Sandy stands up Carol for his or her date the following day. It seems, he’s been in a automobile accident!
Carol goes to go to him within the hospital and though it seems he hasn’t endured extreme harm, she has to ask — was he driving drunk?? He says he solely had a bit of to drink, and had pushed buzzed loads of instances. But Carol attracts the road, telling him how fortunate he was that the accident wasn’t worse. He might have killed somebody as an alternative of driving right into a tree! He understands, and — cracking jokes the entire time — agrees to rein within the consuming. The Seavers then have an enormous heart-to-heart about it, and Carol actually learns a useful lesson.
It’s solely at this level that the episode title’s merciless irony is revealed.
When Carol and her dad and mom get house, Mike tells them Sandy’s buddy referred to as from the hospital. Right after they left, he worsened. Though he appeared wonderful throughout Carol’s go to, there have been inside accidents that hadn’t been caught. And there was nothing they may do. Sandy died. He didn’t get a second probability.
It’s one of the brutal rug-pulls in sitcom historical past and Tracey Gold’s efficiency can nonetheless make us cry to this present day.
Matthew Perry got here into our lives and made us all fall in love with him, and even after we discovered about his substance abuse downside, all we wished was for him to be OK, and it seemed like he was going to be. Then, cruelly, he was taken away from us. He died far too younger. Heartbreaking. Truly heartbreaking. And additionally, it turned out, form of the story of his life.
Like we mentioned, it’s no surprise this one 24-minute sitcom episode from 34 years in the past was the very first thing in so many followers’ minds.
[Image via Warner Bros/YouTube.]
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