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Original poster

To want a Friends inconsistency thread

211 replies

NameChangedNoImagination · 15/05/2019 12:19

I have watched this WAYYY too much. But there must be others like me out there.

To start...

  • Ben disappears.
  • Rachel's dad smokes but with her smoking episodes she says she doesn't because her dad's a doctor and told her horror stories about it.
OP posts:
RasberryRoyale · 17/05/2019 08:05

Not an inconsistency but it really annoyed me how they all pile into hospital waiting rooms hanging around for someone to have a baby (it's not just Friends, see also Big Bang Theory). I know it's just a plot device to get them all in one place but I don't know anyone that would spend potentially a couple of days sitting in a hospital while a friend gave birth.

This! This winds me up too. They seem to do it in every American sitcom. Wasn’t Rachel in labour for 40 hours? According to Chandler who said something like “40 hours later, here she is” when he meets Emma. Also with the birth of Emma why wasn’t Ben brought to the hospital to meet his sister?

Is it believable they all didn’t have work or other commitments?

Fiontar649 · 17/05/2019 08:21

So many of these... my sister and I have a long running WhatsApp convo about this...

  • Rachel takes Monica to eye doctor when she gets ice in her eye, and when she sees Richard's son who they should know anyway she says he's so cute she'd stick her pen in her eye to have him treat it. Yet in a later episode she freaks out about eyes and using drops.
  • Richard didn't recognise Monica when she came to cater his party. How had they never crossed paths in the years since she lost weight?

I will be back!

Hobbes8 · 17/05/2019 11:02

Not an inconsistency, but Mindy was played by Jennifer Grey and she’s utterly unrecognisable from her Dirty Dancing days.

StillCoughingandLaughing · 17/05/2019 11:04

Bad nose job rather than an inconsistency!

ThatCurlyGirl · 17/05/2019 11:11

At parties, they can always rustle up other guests but then only talk to each other.

This! Who are these people?! Gunther is the only one we know. How do I find my own group of secret friends?!

Off topic but does anyone else think aside from the affair with Carol, Susan seems fun?

Ross is such a shit sad to Ben too and it's a shame as he could have been a really good story device.

Ross is such a controlling horrid boyfriend to everyone he dates, only realised watching it back as an adult!

FurrySlipperBoots · 17/05/2019 16:27

Off topic but does anyone else think aside from the affair with Carol, Susan seems fun?

I don't generally dislike her apart from the episode when Ross goes to Carol's to pick up his skull. Susan asks what it look like, Ross replies 'Kinda like a big face without skin' and then Susan gives a really snotty reply of 'I'm familiar with the concept'. Why ask what it looks like then? You ask a silly question you get a silly answer! I think she's really rude then. But I forgive her because the scene where she dances with Ross at her wedding is sweet.

GoodPlaceJanet · 17/05/2019 16:55

Ross goes to Carol's to pick up his skull. Susan asks what it look like, Ross replies 'Kinda like a big face without skin' and then Susan gives a really snotty reply of 'I'm familiar with the concept'. Why ask what it looks like then? You ask a silly question you get a silly answer! I think she's really rude then.

We always say this! She was the OW so the attitude is uncalled for. Apart from that she's cool.

QueenOfTheAndals · 17/05/2019 17:02

Jennifer Grey was only Mindy in one episode. After that she was replaced by another actress.

Outofinspiration · 17/05/2019 17:03

The guys watch die hard in one episode. Then Bruce Willis is Ross's gilrfriend's dad.

Oh. My. God! Shock

dayswithaY · 17/05/2019 17:17

But that does make sense as he's not playing the part of Bruce Willis, he's just Paul, Elizabeth 's Dad, the same way that Brad Pitt isn't Brad Pitt he's Will.

Outofinspiration · 17/05/2019 17:32

But that does make sense as he's not playing the part of Bruce Willis, he's just Paul, Elizabeth 's Dad, the same way that Brad Pitt isn't Brad Pitt he's Will.

But it's the same actual person they have watched in a film, he was Bruce Willis in a film that they watched. They would at least be like, wow you are the absolute spit of Bruce Willis! It would be a thing!

I know it doesn't matter really BTW Smile

BoyFromTheBigBadCity · 17/05/2019 17:38

Mine is a standard one for sitcoms in general, but when does Monica work?! She’s a chef then head chef who never seems to work in the evenings or weekends. They get around it a bit with Rachel, but it drives me made with Monica.

QueenOfTheAndals · 17/05/2019 18:10

When do ANY of them work? Unless most of the action takes place at weekends they'd be sacked!

Thecowinthemeadowgoesmoo · 17/05/2019 18:12

I absolutely love Friends despite all the glaring inconsistencies.

To answer a couple of them tho, the ink on Ross and Rachel's faces after the Vegas episodes was a conscious decision by the writers/producers. I saw a 'making of' documentary and they said that as it was the start of a new series they thought it best to remove the ink rather than make it a focus.

Joey being disappointed in that particular sister was because she was the 'good one' who did both years at college so he felt she was throwing that away.

I think asking why they don't recognise Bruce Willis etc is a bit strange? He's an actor playing a part, he's not being himself. Otherwise you could say the same of any film/TV series where actors cross paths surely?

Helplessfeeling · 17/05/2019 18:18

Where does the window in Monica's kitchen look out onto ? The other side of her kitchen wall is the hallway. Same with the balcony, it is never there in the outside apartment shots. And why do they never frigging well close the curtains?????

QueenofmyPrinces · 17/05/2019 18:23

Where does the window in Monica's kitchen look out onto ? The other side of her kitchen wall is the hallway

Grin It’s madness isn’t it?!

Simonfromharlow · 17/05/2019 18:25

I've always wondered about Monica's kitchen window HHa

GoldenPineapples · 17/05/2019 19:02

@tinymarie or when Monica is feisty as anything at the wedding dress discount store with whistles and holds down the woman wanting the same dress..

DannyWallace · 17/05/2019 19:07

Not an inconsistency either but Ross's feelings about Sandy the Manny really pissed me off. He literally didn't get the job because he was male!

FatimaLovesBread · 17/05/2019 19:17

When Chandler and Monica have the fertility doctor appointment and the diagnosis is low motility and inhospitable environment. Then the options are surrogacy or sperm donor?! Why is sperm donor an option if its inhospitable and why not IVF?

GoldenPineapples · 17/05/2019 19:27

The one that bugs me is at Monica and Chandler's wedding when Joey needs some shoes. After living with them all for 7 years is it only then that they discover Joey has really small feet! 🤔

DreamingofSunshine · 17/05/2019 19:34

@ABoozedMoose Monica and Ross are Jewish (I think Rachel is too?). In Jewish culture its normal for friends of the deceased to go. When my grandmother dies I'd expect my best friends to be at the funeral and I'd do the same for them. If you couldn't make the service you'd go to the shiva on one of the evenings it's sat.

ThatCurlyGirl · 17/05/2019 19:38

@FurrySlipperBoots Aw when she dances with Ross I'd forgotten that! Maybe that's what swayed me into thinking she seems nice underneath her snarkiness subconsciously!

FedUpEffedOff · 17/05/2019 19:50

The reason there are so many inconsistencies in later series is because it became completely ridiculous and slapstick, unlike the early series - IMO 1-4 - when the writing was smart and funny. It jumped the shark for me when Monica and Chandler got together and never really recovered.

sallievp · 17/05/2019 20:41

I cant believe that frank jr and Alice didnt even attend phoebes wedding after she was their surrogate! (although maybe they were due to come but couldnt cause of the snow?)

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