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Original poster

Various opinions on F.R.I.E.N.D.S

326 replies

DivorceAdvicePlease123 · 31/10/2021 17:24

I'm clearly a bit bored...

Richard Burke is my perfect man and he and Monica made a much better couple than she and Chandler.

I really couldn't stand Susan. Or Emily.

Ross Geller is the funniest friend and mellowed a lot as he aged.

The Rachel and Joey hook up was totally wrong on all levels. She just wouldn't have gone there.

Kathy cheating on Chandler was pretty unbelievable (in real life both actors protested this, obviously to no avail).

Phoebe was a bit of a bitch who often threw her friends under the bus.

I preferred David the science guy to Mike, he was very funny.

It would have been nice for Joey to have a happier ending, a dream woman or part in a hit show.

Rachel's wardrobe is absolutely incredible.

Monica's Mum is really awful to her.

I hate to say it but Joey is a bit of a loser. Though he was the only one who never got drunk throughout the entire show.

Janice was actually really nice.

I'm sure I have more :-)

OP posts:
Whereismylatte · 31/10/2021 19:13

I wasn't a big fan of Paul Rudd's Mike, I found him a bit bland. But I have liked Paul Rudd in other things

RachelHasThoseInBurgundy · 31/10/2021 19:14

Yes and why in the next season, which was the part of the wedding after he said Rachel, we don’t see Emily at all (we hear her shouting at Ross through a door) and only ever see her again in bed with the duvet up over her belly.

Sparklingbrook · 31/10/2021 19:15

I actually really liked Monica in the early days but I didn't like how she turned out

She was bossy and competitive, seemed to have a real chip on her shoulder. All that neat freak stuff as well. She wasn't someone I'd have wanted as a friend. She seemed really cold.

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ShinyHappyPoster · 31/10/2021 19:16

I loved Rachel and Joey. Watching it back, I wish they had ended up together. Rachel wouldn't have had to give up Paris for him. He'd have gone with her and been supportive.
Ross is selfish, whiny, manipulative and narcissistic. David makes him a lot more sympathetic than he deserves to be. In RL if any of my friends dated someone like Ross, I'd be telling them to run a mile.
Janice was a sweetheart and deserved to be treated better. Chandler and Monica would be an awful couple in RL but great for comedic opportunities.

Lily78123 · 31/10/2021 19:18

I would not want to be friends with Rachel in real life. Such a selfish and back-stabbing character.

RachelHasThoseInBurgundy · 31/10/2021 19:18

What I love about David Schwimmer is that even in the episodes he directed he made Ross look like a complete tool. I think it shows an actor with a great sense of humour.

IhateBoswell · 31/10/2021 19:20

Yeah I've never understood the love for David over Mike.

Original poster
DivorceAdvicePlease123 · 31/10/2021 19:21

Gunther bless him had some great one liners. "I dropped a cup" 😃

I liked Pete very much and thought it was a bit off that having tried for ages to win over Monica he would let her go for such a ridiculous pipedream.

Loved Phoebe's brother and Rachel's Dad. Rachel's two sisters were awfully hilarious as well.

I was always really surprised that Reece Witherspoon didn't get a big cheer from the audience when she made her first appearance as she was quite famous at that point. Brad Pitt definitely got the best welcome when Monica opened the door for him, the women just went wild!

I found Charlie in the final episodes very stuck up and wooden, couldn't take to her at all.

Phoebe's Dad was in prison when she got married, but when he appeared on the show he was very meek and unassuming. Not the jailbird type!

I don't think Joey or Phoebe's characters changed much throughout the show compared to the others. I preferred Monica in the earlier days she was just more funny and relaxed and I think Chandler ended up being quite spineless and under her thumb. Rachel went from very spoiled to independent and considerate. Ross stopped being so needy.

OP posts:
Carolinechanning · 31/10/2021 19:23

@FETOCT2021

Why was the original Susan axed?
I read it was because the audience (or maybe test audience or something) thought she looked too similar to phoebe bit no idea how true that is.
RachelHasThoseInBurgundy · 31/10/2021 19:23

@IhateBoswell

Yeah I've never understood the love for David over Mike.
Me either. Mike can rattle a headboard like a sailor on leave Grin
RachelHasThoseInBurgundy · 31/10/2021 19:24

I never liked Joshua. He seemed utterly devoid of any personality. Except when he was afraid of the chick and the duck.

SickAndTiredAgain · 31/10/2021 19:24

Phoebe's Dad was in prison when she got married, but when he appeared on the show he was very meek and unassuming. Not the jailbird type!

I thought her step dad was the one who went to prison?

icedcoffees · 31/10/2021 19:25

@FETOCT2021

Why was the original Susan axed?
It was the original Carol wasn't it?

She wanted a more full-time role and was replaced after the Pilot.

RachelHasThoseInBurgundy · 31/10/2021 19:26

Phoebe’s stepdad was the one in prison. Her biological father was the one she met at her grandmothers funeral.

IhateBoswell · 31/10/2021 19:26

Mike can rattle a headboard like a sailor on leave

😂

frugalkitty · 31/10/2021 19:26

Janice has always been my favourite character and I thought she and Chandler should have coupled up.

Agree Monica and Richard should have stayed together even though he was older, but I understand why kids would have been a deal breaker.

I didn't like Emily, or Charlie. But I'm Team David all the way for Phoebe!

icedcoffees · 31/10/2021 19:27

I don't think Joey or Phoebe's characters changed much throughout the show compared to the others.

I think they changed the most.

Joey was massively dumbed down in the later seasons and became quite selfish whereas in the early seasons he was all about his Friends. Phoebe became really bitchy and rude towards pretty much everyone, whereas at first she was just a bit hippy-ish and ditzy.

RachelHasThoseInBurgundy · 31/10/2021 19:29

By the end of the show Joey almost had learning difficulties. It was uncomfortable to watch at times.

GellerYeller · 31/10/2021 19:29

I always say this but I wish Gunther had been given a spin off...

FranklySonImTheGaffer · 31/10/2021 19:30

I've been rewatching recently too, and this time around I actually think 5 of the 6 main characters were all a bit awful.
I like Joey - yes he doesn't call women back but he doesn't promise them love and marriage, he's loyal to his friends and family and he's supportive of them.

I'm a Selleck fan too but I find that story icky. It's not the age gap, it's the idea of going out with a friend of her dads, someone who knew her a little child 🤢

What I've really noticed this time around is how great the minor characters are - Susan, Gunther, Janice etc. The characters (and actors) were great.

BlusteringBoobies · 31/10/2021 19:31

Joining the Tom Selleck Appreciation posts! 💜

Agree with most of the points above. I hated the way they dumbed down Rachel just before she got with joey as well to try and make it a bit believable. Screamed of desperation

Ross was annoying but he totally had some of the funniest scenes and watching the reunion special, he's obviously a great actor

I really was surprised by how humble, funny and self deprecating Matt Le Blanc was in that special. He outshone the rest of the cast and just seemed to be bemused by the whole thing but utterly happy to have been a part of it

icedcoffees · 31/10/2021 19:33

I really was surprised by how humble, funny and self deprecating Matt Le Blanc was in that special. He outshone the rest of the cast and just seemed to be bemused by the whole thing but utterly happy to have been a part of it

I read somewhere that he was flat broke when he got offered the part of Joey and that the first thing he did when he got paid was to buy himself a hot meal.

I think he's hugely appreciative of how much FRIENDS changed his life forever, maybe more so than the others.

SnoopyLights · 31/10/2021 19:34

Friends as a show was always terrible with timelines.

Never mind having three divorces, I'm fairly sure Ross had three different birthdays as well. One in March, one in October, and one in December, he gives a different birthday in three different episodes.

So matching up how much older Richard is than Monica, or how well he fits in as a friend of her parents won't have been a big consideration to the writing team. (This age inconsistency annoys me in Harry Potter as well, his parents were meant to be barely into their 20's but the actors playing them are mid-40's if they are a day).

AndTheWinnerIsLucky · 31/10/2021 19:37

Yes! yes! to everything except:

Phoebe was a bit of a bitch who often threw her friends under the bus.

I didn't think so. She had her moments but was the least spoilt and dramatic of the bunch really.

Rachel's wardrobe is absolutely incredible.

😳
Absolutely incredible? Even in those days, I didn't think it was special. Just meh. Nothing about her character was special either. I liked her but didn't miss her when she wasn't around because she didn't bring the 'funny' like the rest of them.

It would have been nice for Joey to have a happier ending, a dream woman or part in a hit show.

I suppose so but not bothered either way. I see what you're saying though.

AosSi · 31/10/2021 19:38

Richard was a creep and I was delighted when Monica broke up with him.

I really, really, really didn't give a damn about whether Ross and Rachel were on a break or not. They never should've dated to begin with.

Ross was the most difficult character to play from the 6, David Schwimmer did an amazing job with him.

Joey should've ended up with Rachel.

I wish Emma hadn't been born, that led into boring plotlines for Ross and Rachel...

Janice was lovely. Very pretty, too!

That reunion special they did a while back was horseshite. Either do it properly or don't touch it.

It's an ok show. People seem to either think it was the greatest ever, or the worst ever...I think it tended more to be good rather than bad but it isn't the second coming of Christ.