Friends, the one where we get annoyed

[SatansReject]

Light hearted!

I like Friends but I often have moments of getting annoyed by it.

Rachel and Monica would never have been best friends at high school. One was a popular cheerleader type and the other was an overweight, immature nerd ... you’re telling me that in an American high school these two girls would have been besties?

Joey is loved by everyone, yet he’s a sexist player that disregards and disrespects women and he’s thick as pig shit with no job - but he’s so lovable 🤔

Ross is the bad guy in the whole Carol and Susan thing yet his wife cheated on him, Susan insisted that the baby was as much hers as it was his (??!!) and he’s expected to just accept it? I hate Susan!!

What annoys you about Friends?

(Before anyone starts, no I don’t make a habit of calling people fat nerds but the program specifically plays on this which is why I said it)

[FredaFrogspawn]

Sandy. That was his name.

[dreichwinter]

Rewatching this as my dd and her friends are into it now.
Ross is even more annoying than I remembered.
The homophobia is really pretty bad and I never even noticed this the first time round.

[QueenOfTheAndals]

@Parttimewasteoftime Also, the ease at which their birth mother gave them up.

[TheHumansAreDefinitelyDead]

I loved it in the 90s, it was so of its time

I remember dilemma a like having no money, and your richer friends want to go yo expensive restaurants, those things seemed real. Remember the lad culture of the 90s? Totally epitomised by Joey. I know some men aged 50 who are just like old Joeys!

I think the writing went downhill at season 6, they become caricatures of themselves and quite unlikable

Friends was ahead of its time with the hay relationship (whilst also being homophobic 🙄)

When I was young I liked Ross and Rachel, now I think Chandler and Monica make a much better couple

[TheHumansAreDefinitelyDead]

My autocorrect is homophobic too and changes gay to hay!!!

[Beesandcheese]

Sexism, homophobia, transphobia, all but exclusion of non white characters in New York (!!). The controlling nature of Ross, the making light of and even fun of mental ill health. Yeah. It's just so great?! It always was and still is a load of elitist shit.

[Monkeynuts18]

Every time someone has a baby they all go to the hospital as soon as the first twinge is felt.

Yep. And Phoebe apparently gave birth to IVF triplets vaginally...

[LimeRedBanana]

From what I remember he didnt dump her. She dumped him as he didnt trust her to go away on spring break without him?
She dumped him and pelted him with water balloons I think.

No, that's not how it went, as others have said - don't forget you are dealing with people who literally have photographic memory/knowledge of every single Friends episode.

[Beesandcheese]

And being around when it was on television. Yeah. It was homophobic then, but the sort of homophobia that passed as acceptable on television. Sucked to be lgbt in the 90s.

[CactusAndCacti]

Yep. And Phoebe apparently gave birth to IVF triplets vaginally...

Well she did get a positive pregnancy test something like an hour after transfer. 🤷

[RuffleCrow]

I love Susan. She's completely indifferent to Ross's overgrown teenager 'charm'.

I'm not sure american high schools in the 80s were quite as fascist as you're imagining, OP. Molly Ringwald wasn't exactly conventionally attractive but she was always cast as the high school queen bee in the Breakfast Club etc.

Things i don't like about Friends: the objectification of female 'bit part' roles, mainly by Joey. The Holiday Armadillo is just annoying and slightly creepy. Ditto Charlie Sheen's cameo. Think that's about it.

Best thing about Friends has to be Lea DeLaria's cameo in the one with the Lesbian Wedding - who'd've thought she'd crop up, just as suave as ever, as Big Boo twenty years later in OITNB?

[LimeRedBanana]

Examples of taking the piss out of Ross for the age gap:

• joking about buying girl guide (or whatever the American equivalent is) biscuits off her
• suggesting distracting her with a Barbie doll when they have an argument
• Phoebe's weak, 'what is she, like, 12?' quip...

[IamWaggingBrenda]

in an American high school these two girls would have been besties uh, yeah, they might well. Although Hollywood movies and TV shows would have you believe otherwise, high schools are not full of ‘popular’ girls, ‘mean’ girls, nerds and football jocks. So I don’t actually have any problem believing their friendship.

To answer your question though, I frequently find Monica’s obsession with marriage and babies annoying. And Ross is a jerk. So I guess you could say I don’t like the Gellers!

[RuffleCrow]

The fact that included homosexual characters at all made it actually very progressive for the time. It's no use viewing the mid nineties through 2019 specs. We wouldn't have the progressive values we do today if people like the team behind Friends hadn't stuck their necks out and actually got people talking about being gay. It paved the way for people like Ellen to come out a few years later. Yes we had to suffer a lot of shit jokes too, but it was all part of the process.

[LimeRedBanana]

Can't believe people saying Monica was just 'chubby', she was obese!

Agree - she wasn't just carrying a few extra pounds!

I think some people's annoyances are a bit silly. It's called 'artistic licence' - of course you can't portray an adoption / IVF process storyline in full detail, when it's a 20-something minute-long (comedy) episode.

You either accept you have to suspend your disbelief a bit, or let yourself get irrationally wound up.

[drogon1]

What winds me up all the time is how Monica happened to live across the hall from her brother's best friend and old college roommate. It's an awfully big coincidence!

Also how in the pilot and a flashback episode (when central perk was still a bar) that Chandler has to be introduced to Rachel each time and seems to have no idea who the hell she is despite the fact that his best friend had a massive well known crush on her and Chandler had even kissed her once!

[LimeRedBanana]

What winds me up all the time is how Monica happened to live across the hall from her brother's best friend and old college roommate. It's an awfully big coincidence!

Not really - it was 'needed' to facilitate the story lines, it's not real life, after all!

Also how in the pilot and a flashback episode (when central perk was still a bar) that Chandler has to be introduced to Rachel each time and seems to have no idea who the hell she is despite the fact that his best friend had a massive well known crush on her and Chandler had even kissed her once!

Covered off upthread - it was the pilot, they didn't know if the show was going to last, nor could they predict every story line over ten years.

[LimeRedBanana]

Apologies - I'm probably taking some of the annoyances too seriously (this is a light-hearted thread, after all!).

But it's a TV show, a comedy show.

If you want absolute strict adherence to real life, then set up seat outside your house, and watch your neighbours. It's probably going to be a hell of a lot less entertaining, though.

[drogon1]

@lime well that's the point, OP said it was a "light hearted" thread of our annoyances of the show. The disagreements and analysis of our annoyances aren't needed.

[Volvemos]

Hated the Rachel and joey storyline with a passion.

So did Matt Le Blanc apparently. He argued with writers/producers that Joey just wouldn’t do that, wasn’t in his character.

What winds me up all the time is how Monica happened to live across the hall from her brother's best friend and old college roommate. It's an awfully big coincidence!
Not really, word of mouth is big in the rental market. Someone looking for a flat, tells friend “Oh, my neighbour mentioned she wants to move in with her boyfriend”.

I decided I wanted to leave London in a hurry once and had a friend of a friend moved in and me moved out in two days. It was a lovely flat in Belsize Park and very cheap for what it was. The friend of a friend was kipping on my friend’s sofa and practically bit my hand off.

[Irisloulou]

I loved friends, i would record it on vhs and raced home to watch it.

I think it’s a bit like reading Enid blyton, you only acknowledge the sexism, racism now, so I can forgive that.

[tabbiemoo]

I love Friends and still laugh despite having seen every episode a thousand times. It was definitely of its time so it's daft to criticise it as if it was made today.
The only thing I ever didn't like was the Joey-Rachel story which was just unbelievable of the characters and I'm so glad they ended it quickly.

[Doesitevenmatternow]

I couldn't stand Ross' son Ben. So irritating.

I loved Monica and chandler when they were secret shaggers. The scenes where he is being European by French kissing all the girls are comedy gold.

I thought it was weird how we were all supposed to find it hilarious how much they hated Janice. She was actually really nice and they behaved like c**TS to her.

The episode where bonnie appears down on their summer vacation and shaves her head is bizarre. She arrives to be with Ross - they might not be serious but they are seeing each other. Then on that same trip he kisses Rachel and spends the night with her. Where does bonnie conveniently and cheerfully disappear to?