'Friends' fans: did the series ever jump the shark?

[orangeyeahthatsright]

And if so, at what point in the series?

For me I think the episode with Emma's birthday party was where it all started to feel really laboured. Although it had been getting there since the episode where Phoebe blagged her way into Sting's house, for me anyway.

(Side note: I know Friends hasn't aged well in some regards, but that's not really where I'm going with this thread.)

@SoundTheSirens I agree, didn’t Rachel’s dad go nuts over Ross not marrying her, and the Gellers told all their friends at the anniversary party that they had got married?

OMG I'd forgotten that. Charlie and Joey might have been plausible as a fling, but as a relationship? No way.

@orangeyeahthatsright Joey following the Nobel prize winning boyfriends!! Madness. Although Benjamin Hobart is funny. ‘No it starts with a silent M’.

Surely the whole Murphy brown thing was in the 90s? When the vice president made negative comments about a single parent storyline in a tv show?

I don’t think it means single parents were ‘ruined’ but it certainly wasn’t without judgment. There are plenty of people judging it now.

@MissTrip82 never heard of that but where I grew up in the SE of England there didn't seem to be any old fashioned attitudes about single mothers in the 90's. The friends I had in that position just got on with it with the full support of their family and friends.

I assume New York where Friends was set and California where it was filmed were quite liberal places but I suppose there may have still been judgment of single mothers in other parts of the US.

The only thing that dates Friends is the technology.

Especially Chandler's laptop with its 28.8kbps modem that he's so proud of in series 2... 😂

And Ross getting paged!

I love friends. Like seriously love it. And even I can admit there are a lot of weird inconsistencies with the writing- plot holes, characters changing their personalities, strange storylines etc

And the whole story afterward where Ross is ‘fine’ about Joey and Rachel’s forced tomance.

wtf was that about it has never made sense to me. They hadn’t dated in 6 years!!!

Yes they were. I had eldest in 1994 unmarried, had quite a bit of grief from the midwives in hospital and definitely felt the disapproval many times while he was growing up

Emma was born in 2002. I really don’t think kids born to single parents were shunned and shamed then.

Im just watching the episode were Rachel tells her daddy shes pregnant and she is terrified so I think it was still an issue in certain circles. Dont forget they are from a community where everyones knows each other. It was quite funny as daddy is straight on the phone to get a booking at the Plaza and shes all excited then realises shes not even with Ross and tells her dad Ross wont marry her as shes “damaged goods” 😂😂

Oh I love Friends. My favourite episodes are Pivot & The One Where they all find out.

I hated Joey & Rachel - wrong on so many levels!

I also love when Chandler is talking to Erica about Monica already being a mum. But he would have to learn to be a dad. My friend when adopting said the same but with the roles reversed. It’s just poignant for me.

Emily was awful. Helen Baxendale was not good in Friends. The trip to London and the way it was shot was a bit of a turning point for me.

I don’t think Joey had good chemistry with any of the women he was paired with. Perhaps Matt LeBlanc is better at comedy than romance.

I recall an interview where she said the atmosphere was difficult, they weren’t that welcoming to her. Think it shows.

Oh that makes sense. I think she was give a duff script too.

Oh i dont know why people didnt like Sean Penn in it. I loved any episode with Ursula in it.

Her opening scene where she flips out at Rachel is so contrived. As if anyone brought up in English / British culture would react anything like that on meeting a group of people for the first time, even if she was soaked through from the rain.

They really did a job on that character, so that even when she is badly wronged by Ross, you don’t feel any sympathy for her.

I used to love Friends and so many scenes had me in stitches.
Now though I just think it's over rated

Yeah I agree about Emily and London. There's pre-London Friends which is very original 90s and then post London Friends where they're all shiny and tanned and loud caricatures of themselves.

Yes this is the point I go from loving it to tolerating it out of loyalty. Although I did think it perked up a bit in s8&9. But I could live without s5-7 & 10.

As if someone from the uk would be fazed by rain in nyc! No one acts like that. She would probably have apologised for bringing the British weather with her!

Agreed!