to think that Ross Geller is the biggest prick in TV history?

[HeyNannyNanny]

I've been watching Friends in the background every morning for the last few months, right from the first episode.
I last watched it as a teenager and I'm really shocked at how the characters come across now I'm an adult.

But the worst by far is Ross!
And he's meant to be the one we root for, a "good guy" and he is SUCH a wanker.

I'm on the episode in Season 9 with the male Nanny, and he accuses the guy of being gay. Repeatedly. At interview!
He has an extreme God complex, he treats women like shit, he is the very definition of a man-child. He dated a student, and messed around with her in his office.
He doesn't even love Rachel for who she is, but instead seems to think he simply possesses her because he's been obsessed with her since they were children.

I just cannot get over how badly he comes across, yet its never acknowledged in the programme how much of an utter shit he is.

I realise its just a TV show but I'm flabbergasted as to how anyone could be expected to like such a vile character.

I love Friends! Yes, Ross is a jealous knob when it comes to Rachel, but he is also nice too.

• He stayed home to take Rachel to hospital after she (broke?) a rib after Monica crashed into her rollerskating when he should have been on TV

• He bought Phoebe a surprise bike when she said never been on or owned a bike before

• He was always there for Ben, even though Carol and Susan were absolute bitches to him (one example when he went round to see them when Carol was pregnant to see baby, Susan said "oh, we just refer to you as Bobo The Sperm Donor."

I'm shocked that people ever thought Ross was a nice guy. It was clear as day he was an ass back when it first aired. Nothing has changed!

Okay, shocked is maybe an overstatement, but he was annoying af, didn't get why everyone wanted him and Rachel to end up together.

@PinkiOcelot

it was crap anyway! 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

it's a fictional series about the relationships between a friendship group
Thu all have to be majorly flawed characters otherwise there would be no story

Yanbu - I hate that episode where they are all going to some dinner for him and aren’t ready and he chucks Rachel’s shoes about and screams at her to get ready.

Having said that some of the friends episodes are 25 years old now! If we were having this thread in the 90s we’d be talking about how inappropriate something like “on the buses” was!

I loved that show when it was airing. Now I watch it and I hate them all.

And Grandpa Joe. Screw Grandpa Joe.

@ilovemuseli

Aaaaah. Salmon skin roll

The good thing about this OP, is that you realise that quite a lot of TV has actually come on a way since the 90s in terms of progressive gender relations. Which is a good thing.

Chandler was always my fave, and Monica. They're definitely the best couple but they haven't got much to compete with. Joey is loveable and you know he's meant to be portrayed as sexist but I've always seen Ross as extremely flawed just as an adult I understand better why.

Hes actually the most realistic out of the bunch... I've met many a man like Ross unfortunately!!

Maybe so, but I nearly burst a blood vessel at the one when he had his teeth whitened and turned on that blacklight.

I loved Ross he was my favourite!! But yeah watching it back for the past few years it’s increasingly problematic in many ways.
Did you ever read about the woman who took the production company to court, really interesting. Here’s a link to a fairly recent article, it does explain a lot of the content.
www.bustle.com/p/the-ruling-in-this-friends-lawsuit-set-back-the-metoo-movement-by-years-now-the-woman-at-the-center-of-it-speaks-out-12636045

@downcasteyes

This is true! I was only a tot in the 90s so I have no real first hand experience besides media portrayal, things do seem far more equal now

I thinn you'll find all sitcoms are the same. The humour is in the ridiculousness of it.

I kind of still like Ross even though he was a bit of a dick. Nostalgia goggles I suppose! Also he can be hilarious. I did want Ross and Rachel together even though he wasn't great to her (but I kind of agree they were on a break, it was not good to move on so quick but I bet lots of people would do similar!). I think by the end he would treat her better (and she wouldn't stand for it if he didnt)

He was a prick.Wont have anything said.against Joey though

Friends haven't aged well at all which is unfortunate as it often there are so amazingly emotional moments.

I am rewatching the early series again as I am a bit bored and in my opinion, Chandler made so much progress from the beginning. Consider he was quite a commitment-phobe at the start and then became a supportive and loving husband despite his childhood is a great character arc.

I remember reading an interview about Chandler and Monica that the writers wanted a contrasting relationship to Ross and Rachel

But, yes I recognised a lot of how my husband used to be in Ross and has totally turned me off his character.

I definitely agree that Carol and Susan were awful to Ross.

Friends made me laugh like nothing else at the time. People need to remember it was a fictional tv comedy not a reality show. Of course they all have flaws. I don’t think we were tuning in for their moral worthiness

Susan was the worst. Having an affair with a pregnant woman, wiping the father out of the picture and declaring herself a co-parent of the child. Remember when she wanted Ben to have her surname?

I'm sure I read a "fan theory" on twitter that Ben (his son) doesn't actually appear in the last two series and darkly speculated it was due to his behaviour around the middle series and that Carol stopped contact between them

Well that is just fucking loopy 🤣🤣. Some people have way too much time on their hands.

Yes, the laughing at the gays was bloody awful when you look back and also how overused and normalised porn was in the show.

What scares me is shows from my youth becoming so horribly dated. It means I’m really getting old

But the internet is full of articles looking back at Ross as an abusive arsehole, so you’re not the only one OP.

Ross Geller is a fictional character; get a life!

I alwats HATED Ross and Monica. Phoebe was nice in the beginning, but after they started straightening her hair it messed with her mind . (tru fac)
I like Rachel and Joey, and Chandler was an arse in the beginning, great in the middle, and a shell of a man after Monica got to him.

Phoebe was a cow wanting to come with Chandler and Monica on their anniversary trip. Then she almost split them up by wanting Monica to tell everyone who she really wanted to sleep with etc.

Shes just a nasty person by the end.