To think Ross was a jealous control freak and Joey was a sex pest?

[Cerseirys]

I was watching a Friends marathon last night as I had insomnia, and thought bloody hell, Joey was actually pretty creepy the way he would pursue women with his "how YOU doin'" line and do things like take down the shower curtain when he had a female roommate and ask her sex-related questions when interviewing for a new flatmate.

And Ross was bordering on psychotic with his sandwich fixation and jealousy of just about any guy Rachel interacted with. And also that weird overprotective thing when he first found out about Monica and Chandler. She was his sister, not his possession!

Also, given that Monica is a head chef how is she always free in the evenings and at weekends?

Given that most of them had daytime jobs, I'm not sure how they were always in the cafe in the mornings and afternoons either!

I so wish I hadn't read that Smoking Gun link

Fanny, when she gives birth Ross is looking at the baby coming out. He shouts out "What's that?!" Or words to that effect. The doctor then says almost passively that the baby is breech and she needs to push harder. Ross says in a relieved manner "thank god I thought it had two heads". Well again, words to that effect. :o

Given that most of them had daytime jobs, I'm not sure how they were always in the cafe in the mornings and afternoons either!

watch from 1:25

The show was always ready to make fun of itself, it was lighthearted!
Shame some people seem to read so many things in it, it's frightening.

I liked Mike a lot (Phoebe's husband).

It's possible to like a show and also be aware of its faults at the same time. How is that "frightening"?

Pretty much everyone on here will have watched episodes multiple times and enjoyed them before thinking hey, Ross really acted like a dick in that episode, or what the hell happened to Emily and Ben (for example)

They also retconned a lot of stuff. In the first episode Rachel is introduced to Chandler like they've never met, but subsequent flashback episodes show that they met several times when he and Ross were at college, even snogging at one point.

Yeah... What did happen to Ben? He would be about 20 now. 😩

Completely blocked that whole birth thing out I guess! And I've seen that episode ten times at least.

Yeah... What did happen to Ben? He would be about 20 now.

Saw an article a little while ago about the twins who played him. They'd just graduated from college!

Yeah... What did happen to Ben? He would be about 20 now.

Saw an article a little while ago about the twins who played him. They'd just graduated from college!

Dylan Sprouse (one of the twins) also had a bit of a scandal when his dick pictures were leaked all over the Internet...

Oh god. 😷

The twins were in the awful Suite Life on Deck.

In the first episode Rachel is introduced to Chandler like they've never met, but subsequent flashback episodes show that they met several times when he and Ross were at college, even snogging at one point.

I think I've proved my love of Friends, but this one bothered even me!

I like Ross,i think he gets an awful hard times on these threads.
His first wife left him fir an overbearing woman.Who was trying to push Ross out of Bens life.

Then we have Rachel ruining his wedding to Emily.She then when Monica and Chandler getting married made it all about her again with the pregnancy.

Helen Baxendale was the worst thing ever to happen to Friends, IMO

Do you think Patsy Kensit would have been better Mama? I would like to have seen what she did with the part.

I like Friends, but have seen every episode so many times that I am 'done' with it now!

I think all of the characters were flawed, that was part of the comedy. However, I loathed Joey - the implication with him, it seems, was that he could get away with being sexist, immature, lecherous and so on because he was (a) supposedly, nice looking and (b) unutterably stupid. I cringed every time he came out with the 'how you doing' line.

I always felt sorry for poor Chandler because he had experienced an unhappy childhood that led him to be hopeless at relationships and defensively witty, sarcastic and so on.

Ross was just a spoiled man child with his absurd interest in dinosaurs (his job was really just an extension of his childhood obsession - the joke being that he never really grew up. He is possessive, jealous, pompous and so on - he's also willing for his best friend (Chandler) to take the rap for his teenage drug use.

I agree with the fat shaming. Actually, I always thought 'fat' Monica was more attractive than her excessive skinniness after the character lost weight. I believe the actress suffered from bulimia, so it's ironic that she plays someone with issues around control and weight gain.

My least favourite character was Phoebe and her awful singing. She had the best lines, but there was something about her that I don't think appealed to British humour - the kooky hippy character became tiresome.

"Rachel is introduced to Chandler like they've never met, but subsequent flashback episodes show that they met several times when he and Ross were at college"

There are so many inconsistencies with the flashbacks like Chandler's surprise that Monica used to be fat when he'd obviously known that bcs he'd called her Ross's "fat sister".

And, not an inconsistency as such but why would he be annoyed when he found out about Monica's ploy to get him back for that? He'd already known that he'd lost his toe due to an accident which was her fault...nothing changed there.

OK there is a possibility I've watched it too much..

there are so many inconsistencies, (even the flat numbers have changed during the show!), and I completely understand that we don't laugh at all the jokes, but it was never supposed to be realistic, was it? One character was not supposed to represent the entire male (or female) population!
It's a sitcom, I only watched because it was funny, and not too close to real life!

But "emotional abuse", "fat-shame", "sexism", "rape culture"? Seriously? Isn't that overthinking it a little bit?

Of course we are overthinking it. But if you can't overthink on the Internet where can you?

I love Friends. It is my go-to, comfort TV.
But. Phoebe is a vegetarian, so why oh why would she ever want a pair of leather pants (trousers)??!

I never get tired of Friends.

I've been watching some out takes and deleted scenes today and the little baby who played Emma was so cute along with baby Ben.

It's just comforting to watch somehow!

That smoking gun link, fucking hell, the writers were and probably still are foul

I couldn't even finish reading that link