Friends is absolute garbage

The author was young and impressionable when the show was first on television. The adults in the room had better things to do.

Still do.

When Ross was on, it was whine and cheese.

"We need a new angle for the Friends 25th Anniversary thing. I know! Let's get someone to write about how much the show sucks! It'll blow up on Twitter when the fans clap back and we'll get a fuckload of clicks!"

Never liked it.

No R3 The show sucks.

She won me over with pointy nipples

I hated this show from the moment it first aired.

And yet, it was a wildly successful show that made enormous amounts of money for many, many people and still runs in syndication all over the world. The show was fine. Not groundbreaking television, but fine.

Criticizing a 25 year old show for not being woke enough by today's laughable standards is itself a dubious and laughable exercise.

Criticizing a sitcom for not being scientifically accurate is ridiculous. You may as well criticize Star Trek for making errors in quantum physics.

Articles complaining about pop cultural artifacts from a quarter-century are really beside the point. It's yesterday's news. Of course a show that old is not going to seem progressive or particularly relevant in 2019.

I hated this show, but the authoress is all of 28, a whiny millennial named Saachi.

She can fuck herself.

I don’t care that it wasn’t woke. I care that it wasn’t funny.

Friends remains wildly popular, R9.

Felt really fucking old today when I mentioned to my hairdresser today that my sister is a fan of Friends - and then realised that said hairdresser, who looked about twenty, had quite possibly never seen a single episode

I suspect that it garners a great deal of Hisssitude on DL because it was the first show to highlight a generation younger than your average DLer and it made them feel old.

Multiple Friends guest stars have, two and a half decades later, reported less-than-stellar experiences being on set. And then of course there’s the infamous 2004 lawsuit that Amaani Lyle, an assistant in the writers room, filed against the show for being forced to listen to the writers joke about Joey raping Rachel, and watch them pantomime masturbating, and mock “black ghetto talk.” (The judge ruled that the writers’ behavior was necessary for a creative environment, laying the problematic groundwork for a “creative necessity” defense to be deployed elsewhere.)

The show had its moments. I especially liked Kathleen Turner as Chandler's dad.

The show degenerated into a fraufest when Monica and Chandler got engaged and continued to go downhill from there.

Also, if ever someone were to give an award for whiniest bitch in the history of television programming, Ross would win hands down.

[quote]Friends remains wildly popular, [R9].

In Britain.

Ahem

When Dubya (remember that dickhead?) was blowing up the world and everyone was pretending everything was okay, we'd say, "Friends is on" as kind of a shorthand for apolitical basic bitches.

To be fair, as a non-American who grew up watching Friends, one thing Americans tend to neglect when they periodically claim the show is "absolute garbage" is that it is actually one of the most successful image campaigns America has ever pulled off. The show made American lifestyle cool and attractive to many of the non-Americans, and the American image it shaped for its international audience cannot be destroyed even by three consecutive Trump administrations.

P.S. Anyone remember Dermot Mulroney's cameo? He's so cute!

who is this asshole that turns every thread into a race bait thread?

R21 Where is the race bating? If anything it’s in the article and was not the purpose of this thread. The purpose of this thread is that the show sucked

I was in high school when Friends premiered, and even at that age I thought it was a pile of unfunny shit. The fact that it was set in NYC was laughable. It was NYC as Middle Americans imagined it to be. Lame AF.

The show really did suck balls. What was so funny about it? The mugging, lame attempts at sophisticated screwball humor...so fucking corny. And every white frau coast to coast attempting to mimic the Rachel...weary is my crown.

I'm still blown away by the fact that a seemingly large number of DLers never picked up on the fact that Rachel (Aniston) was supposed to be Jewish.

Especially given that they had her character tick every single box from the Jewish American Princess Stereotype list.

I hated it, too. Never laughed once. The characters were like the mean alphas from high school continuing on into infinity with their simplistic personalities, never once having to stray from their clique. The “eccentric” one, Phoebe, was so dumb.

I enjoyed the first season, but it really went downhill after that. Still, it never seemed any worse than any other sitcom. They're all bad to some degree.

I enjoyed it back in the day. Ridiculous sitcom fun; not the best of its day but not "absolute garbage." I like it a lot less on rewatch, but as the saying goes "you can never go home again."

You watch old CG animated movies, and they look barbaric. Old cartoons? Why did I like this, again? There are very few shows that are "classic" and re-watchable, but even those lose their luster after time. And if you're a woke SJW LOOKING for things to criticize in old media for twitter likes, then it will be fucking agonizing for you.

[quote]The show made American lifestyle cool and attractive to many of the non-Americans, and the American image it shaped for its international audience cannot be destroyed even by three consecutive Trump administrations.

What does this mean, exactly? What “lifestyle” was portrayed on “Friends?” To most of us watching in the US, it was horribly inaccurate and laughably unrealistic; the grand apartments and hairstyles, and hanging out in a coffee shop all day, but supposedly “struggling” (when most seemed to come from wealth or privilege), the lily-Whiteness of it’s version of NY. It’s all so laughable. I can’t believe the significance it had for some people.

Why exactly is “Friends” so beloved by non-Americans? Why does this post-Cold War, basic-bitch of a sitcom get the credit and not “Happy Days” or “The Brady Bunch,” or “I Love Lucy,” or even it’s contemporary, “Seinfeld?”

A lot of the sitcom conventions of people living in much wealthier circumstances than their backstory can explain, and of an all-white cast in a diverse city, weren't things people picked up very often on during the first couple of seasons. By the time people started pointing it out regularly, the show was entrenched and people didn't want to think too hard about their mindless entertainment.

R25 Rachel's being Jewish escaped no one's notice. Why on earth would you come to that conclusion?

To celebrate the show's 25th Anniversary, Warner Brothers planned an event in September at Bedford and Grove Streets, the building used for exterior of their apartment. Warner Brothers didn't show up for the hearing. Community Board 2 has voted against granting a permit.

Okay. It’s still popular all over the world.

It’s the most successful American TV show in Europe, all of Asia, etc.

There isn’t an hour this show isn’t on air worldwide.

Netflix didn’t drop it because it’s not doing well, they dropped it because it now costs too much to keep. They paid $100 million just to have it one year longer. That’s how much that show brings in.

The cast still makes $20 million a year off that show.

It’s one thing to say you didn’t like it but to act like it’s a flop? Come on.

Is it time for this thread again? We got it. You are all much too cool for an old TV show and have to keep telling everyone about it decades later.

Oh, look!

Oh, look!

Oh, look!

Oh, look! OCD Miriam the librarian makes an appearance to scold us! R37 This article was written today, cunt!

[quote] This article was written today, cunt!

And says exactly ZERO that is new.

[quote]Oh, look!

[quote]Oh, look!

[quote]Oh, look!

Which one of you bitches woke up Matthew Perry???

r25 , You mean Rachel Green who's father was Dr. Leonard Green played by Ron Leibman was Jewish!? I didn't know...

I can’t imagine being so vapid as to have encyclopedic knowledge of which threads were discussed and when

Most people don’t seem to know Rachel, Monica and Ross were all supposed to be Jewish.

Joey Italian.

The only WASP of the group was Chandler, since no one knows much about Phoebe

I am perhaps THE ONLY white female college student in the world that doesn't watch Friends on Netflix. FUCK! I know for sure that I'm THE ONLY white female college student that doesn't even LIKE NETFLIX!!!!!!!

[quote] I can’t imagine being so vapid as to have encyclopedic knowledge of which threads were discussed and when

Yeah. The problem isn't that there were 4 threads in the last 2 months saying exactly the same thing. It's that someone has the capacity to remember that.

I didn't watch it when it was on, as I didn't watch much tv those years and didn't own a tv. I discovered it through my college students, and now at least 15 years have cycled through and the new ones still know this show. Now I've seen quite a bit of it and I think it is a PERFECTLY constructed and very professional and enjoyable product. It's designed like highly successful and beloved snack food is designed.

A show with white people was and is successful all around the world proving once again that race does not matter. The OP can suck it.

R47 I think you left your white sheet at the bottom of your last post!

I never did care one way or the other for Friends; when I was in college we always tuned in but never really paid attention. It was merely a backdrop for "pre-parties" (lots of Greek socials occurred on Thursday nights and many of us met up to drink before the event). Everyone talked over it. The cast was always considered sexy and basically just served as eye candy and background noise. I don't remember anyone taking it seriously. We used to have "watch parties" for shows that people actually WANTED to see (Melrose Place for instance).

Joey and Ross were hawt!

Janice was the best thing about friends. They were awful to Kathleen Turner. She hates them

[quote]Which one of you bitches woke up Matthew Perry???

I thought I smelled shit. Tell Consuela it's time to change his bag.

Consuela Consuela bo beda, CONSUELA! ♥️R52

R45 runs a home for the terminally vapid

R15 Amaani Lyle sounds like a Grifter.

They were awful to Kathleen Turner?

Reese Witherspoon seems to like them.

For r56

I wonder why they were so kind to Reese and Christina but not Kathleen.

I wonder if Morgan Fairchild liked them.

Also

Why spend so much time spewing hate...just. don't. watch. it.

[Quote] Of course, this isn’t the first time Turner has spoken less-than-favorably about Friends, even this year. During a February interview with Gay Times, she said, “I don’t think [the show has] aged well. It was a 30-minute sitcom. It became a phenomenon, but no one ever took it seriously as a social comment.”

R61 Why does everything have to be a social commentary? Seinfeld was a show about nothing and was one of the funniest sitcoms of all time. If you want "comedy" with commentary, stick to SNL.

Friends, like all successful sitcoms, had a specific formula to their stories that paid dividends. People may complain about the lack of diversity or gigantic apartment, intentionally decorated like some mid-west house, but as a minority, I was used to not seeing people like me on these shows. At this time, UPN had a great lineup of shows with black actors/actresses. But every one of those shows were obligated to include a white person in the cast as a friend or co-worker because black people can't live in a world where you don't encounter white people. Apparently the cast of Friends could for multiple seasons.

If we are going to mention Friends then we must point out that it appears to be a white copy of Living Single. The creators started developing Friends in November 1993, Living Single was already on the air by that time.

All that said, the show is funny. You won't be keeling over from laughter but it's enough for a chuckle. Personally, I really enjoy watching Friends' bloopers. The cast actually likes each other so it's pretty hilarious at times. Compare this to the Bush era abortion known as Everybody Loves Raymond and Friends looks like a masterpiece. Plus, if you check ELR's bloopers, Ray is the only one laughing because everyone else HATES him.

I always found Living Single funnier.

Because R31, there was an entire thread on DL a few months back devoted to that actual subject and many DLers, especially those from places where there were not many Jews, never picked up on Rachel's background. It was rarely stated explicitly I guess.

This one R31 (always easier to search for DL threads on Google than on the DL search feature)

Which oddly enough was started by someone Muriel flagged as a Brazilian compromat troll.

r20 what the fuck is Rachel wearing in that clip? First, she shows up to work with her damn baby, cries, then proceeds to pass her baby along to a stranger/coworker. She is expected to give a presentation to a bunch of men in suits while wearing an off the shoulder top? In what world would that have been acceptable in an early-2000s NYC office setting with a suit and tie dress code? Pure fantasy.

Exactly r49. It was good for background watching, and the clothes were nice.

I'm amazed that such a mediocre sitcom is still such a part of the culture, 15 years after it ended. I'm biased, though, because I never liked it an thought it was stupid from day one. I feel the same way about Sex and the City, which ended at the same time. You'd think these shows were still being produced, the way they're still talked about.

One thing I will give the Friends cast credit for is that they've (so far) never jumped on the reunion bandwagon. I can only imagine how much of a fortune that would make them, but they've still said no. You kind of have to admire that.

I watched probably one or two episodes but it is so much a part of our culture that I feel I've watched it all. I have watched YouTube extracts. Never watched any of Sex and the City.

I admired it format. 22-23 minutes

3 acts, 3 stories.

Each act has 1 part of each story.

Story 1: main story

Story 2: counterpoint - about 1/2 main story's time

Story 3: usually just a little gag but it gets some time in each Act.

every episode, year after year after year. That's why it's very comforting and satisfying, like fast food.

I guess in that sense it is garbage but it pleases people around the world, for years, so in fact it was perfectly designed and executed.

Wait til they do this with Sex And The City. Now there’s a show without a single minority’s I need sight.

Minority in sight

I’m proud to say I’ve never watched a single episode.

God the people bitching about people mentioning a lack of minority characters are fucking exhausting! Fuck off would you please! Sorry you’re upset that white people are less and less the majority. GO TO BED WOULD YOU PLEASE!

r69 this may have something to do with saying fuck it to reunions. No point in trying to recreate magic when the original recipe is still paying dividends.

[quote]For the six main cast members, who earn two per cent of the show's syndication revenue, it means an annual income of $20m each - just from reruns. When Friends first aired, each cast member was paid $22,500 per episode, according to MarketPlace.

Friends is terrible. I'm not reading this thread but I hope this is also the consensus view.

I'd like to know what's so terrible about it? Popularity, Considering it seems like billions around the world now, have liked it. That must be why it's garbage and terrible. Like superhero movies, Coca-cola and McDonalds.

It's really not terrible, maybe average, but not the worst. I think The Big Bang Theory is terrible. Most of the case is butt ugly and they wear redicualous clothes (I know it's the theme of the show). At least Joey looked good till the 2000s and Rachel's body was and perky tits were fun to look at. I just wish they had never cast Matthew Perry, he gave off an asshole vide from the very start of the series.

"Most people don’t seem to know Rachel, Monica and Ross were all supposed to be Jewish.

Joey Italian.

Everyone knew this.

EVERYONE.

The only WASP of the group was Chandler"

Reese wasn't treated well on the show. It's why she never came back.

I wish we had seen David Schwimmer's big Jewish schlong when he was still young.

From what gossip has said, Aniston was at one point the holdout behind a reunion happening, as she was still pretending she was an A list movie star. Now that she's gone back to television, things might change, but Perry is such a fucking mess at this point, who knows.

R80-- check out this DL thread.

Clearly not everyone (though a surprising number of Muriel-flagged trolls posting on it)

r83 like it or not, Aniston was an A-list movie star for a like 10 straight years. Now she is just an A-list celebrity. Every guy wanted to fuck Jennifer and a lot of women wanted to look like her. She played her hand very well.

R85 = Chelsea Handler

R85 - true. Aniston has made so much money during her career that I suppose she can do what she wants whenever she wants. Or not.

Aniston was never an A-List movie star. Most of her movies were shit romantic comedies and only did middling box office.

"We're the Millers" was quite funny, though.

Anniston was an A star but never an A list movie star. She kept working though and bringing home the bacon! She must have more money than everyone!

Office space and the good girls are her best films

A movie star is able to get bank off their own name. Aniston's hits have been because she's been attached to someone who's proven box office. She's a TV star who got lucky. Very hit or miss film career (mostly misses).

Good Girl I mean

*meant. I give up! Have at me grammar trolls. It’s deserved

r91 but no one has really been able to do that in the 2000s, Maybe Will Smith for a while, but I don't know if a 2000s movie star that was putting butts in the seat on name ID alone. She was never the highest-paid actress so maybe you are right, but her career was steady.

Didn't read the article, don't care what a SJW millennial has to say, but the show was overrated tripe. Ross was the absolute worst and Monica wasn't far behind. Whiny, annoying and unfunny. That said, this show is still hugely popular with millennials.

Long Live Seinfeld!

Your job's a joke, you're broke

But you have everything.

You change your hip, expensive clothes 4 times a day

And your grandmas died and left you cheap apartments where you can stay

You'll be thinking of

Having sex with your best friend

You'll be having a bay-bee

It's so easy, it's a trend

Then you'll have sex with

Your other best friend

and 4 or 5 other people too

I don't think Aniston's a terrible actress, but honestly, she wasted so much of her prime years making forgettable junk (some of it complete garbage) for money and not establishing a good career. And she had the money already. It's a shame because the few decent pictures she has made she is quite good.

She tired HARD to get an Oscar nom a couple of years back, for a role against type and which she was great in. As another poster mentioned, she was also being bandied about for a nomination for the Good Girl.

I watched once and didn't like it at all and the theme song was vomit inducing. I heard the cast was extremely overpaid. I did, however, like The Big Bang Theory which was clever and their salaries were well earned.

I actually preferred the UK sitcom ‘Coupling’. Much funnier and way more sophisticated.

For the past 20 years, the networks have been trying in vain to recapture Friends. They've never hit gold again, like NBC did with that show.

I was in college in the mid-late 90s and there were only two shows that would shut down the campus each week: Friends and the X-Files. When those shows were broadcast, every student lounge would be packed, literally two hundred people in front of the big-screen tv.

Remember, this was when you still watched tv shows on an actual television, when they were broadcast.

I was never into Friends, but the mass X-Files viewings were loads of fun, a real communal experience.

I lived in Manhattan and our laundry room was usually full of people every night. I'd have to wait til 1 am to get a washer and a dryer. One day I overheard someone say "Don't call me on Thursday night when Seinfeld is on" and the other person said, "Nobody in NYC calls anyone on Thursday night when Seinfeld is on."

This gave me an idea and, sure enough, the laundry room was completely empty at 9:30 on Thursday nights. I put my laundry in the machine and was back downstairs at 10pm to throw it in the dryer. As I put my clothes in the dryer, the elevators started dinging and people poured out with their baskets of laundry. People just weren't that into LA Law.

I always wondered if the only reason Chandler and Monica became a couple was because, at the time, it was said the producers didn't like suggestions by some fans that Chandler and Joey be made a couple (because they acted like one anyway), so to put a stop to that, Chandler and Monica "suddenly" discovered they were in love.

[Quote] She tired HARD to get an Oscar nom a couple of years back, for a role against type and which she was great in.

Was it Cake??

I always knew it sucked. People loved it...and it was shit! I guess they lived vicariously through it. How pathetic.

No one has mentioned the irritating video to the theme song. Seeing that made me not watch the show, it all seemed so forced on us.

The theme song WAS then and IS now insipid. I fucking HATE that song. The show was so-so, but that opening - the "screenplay", filming, lighting, wardrobe, FUCK everything was just repellent.

Yes that thing where they’re on a sidewalk with a sofa and a lamp and water which is zany! I wish they’d all get their dump coiffed heads electrocuted.

wow, r107, I kinda loved the song. Everyone's got something about that show, though, I guess.

Dumb. Now I’ve had alcohol so am really ready to hate on friends with terrible syntax, spelling, and grammar. Fuck them.

A pox on her house, and all your houses!

Friends is perfection.

"Friends is perfection."

What makes you say that? Are you nuts or something?

"perfection"? LMAO!!!!! With so many great shows from so many different genres over the last 50 or so years, Friends is PERFECTION?? LOL!!!

I grew up in the 90’s and I NEVER understood the hype over this bland, lame, piece of shit sitcom.

R100, I don't think it's possible for them to do so anymore. The viewing market is too fragmented and there are too many choices for one show to become as popular as Friends.

Has any TV show of the 2010's been as widely popular? Maybe GoT ...?

It should've ended at the Monica/Chandler wedding. After that, the banana went black.

I was also in high school when it premiered, and I couldn't have cared less *until* stupid Friends fans insisted that my local "alternative" rock station play the damn theme as an actual song. Who wants to hear that cloying crap between Soundgarden and Blind Melon?

Yes to both r112.

There are, r113 and name one and I'm sure I'll agree. But, for me it is nostalgia and for having been bullied mercilessly, by my peers, it was just a pleasant fantasy where I wasn't in fear at school, at home, in the world; all TV is some sort of fantasy. If you buy in, your mind shifts to accept it, that's the purpose if fiction.

[quote] To most of us watching in the US, it was horribly inaccurate and laughably unrealistic;

Unlike most other '90s sitcoms, which were 100% realistic.

Funny, too, how everyone craps on Friends for its lack of diversity, but I don't remember many black characters on Seinfeld or Murphy Brown or Everybody Loves Raymond.

[quote] stupid Friends fans insisted that my local "alternative" rock station play the damn theme as an actual song. Who wants to hear that cloying crap between Soundgarden and Blind Melon?

I hate the Friends theme song. But I'd take "that cloying crap" over Soundgarden and Blind Melon any day. And I'll watch 100 episodes of Friends before I'll sit and listen to "No Rain" and watch the video with that damn bee girl.

I was neutral on the show, and did not watch it much. At the time, I did like the way the apartment was decorated. That's really why I watched it. It was kinda flea market chic. There is even some online article that shows you how to decorate like that apartment. Whatever.

It was fine. Not amazing. I think it was a lot better than The Big Bang Theory which was inexplicably a huge success.

Great show. The theme song is iconic and the cast was perfect.

I was always a big fan an still am. Every episode made me laugh out loud or at least smile. Screaming queens in this thread who hate the show are even funnier, though.

I never understood trashing something this successful and that so many people loved. Oh, I know, your taste is so much better. Your PornHub playlist is fascinating.

Long live Friends.

Friends was never great but the Buzzfeed writer’s main complaint is that it wasn’t “woke” enough, while praising the far less “woke” Frasier and Seinfeld.

I love Frasier and watch repeats all the time, but there are tons of jokes that are just “Roz is a slut” or “Daphne got fat” and their attitude towards being gay would certainly get wokesters in a tizzy today.

Seinfeld is even worse in that respect. I recently watched S4 on Amazon Prime and there are several episodes that are just cringe worthy and would never make it on air today. I mean, an entire episode on whether a woman has fake tits?

[quote] there are several episodes that are just cringe worthy and would never make it on air today

R124, that's probably true of all sitcoms from the 20th century. We live in very censorious times.

She lost credibility when she said she'd rather watch a Will & Grace rerun than Chernobyl

Too bad they didn't all have breakfast at Windows of the World the morning of 9/11.

Unwatchable in 2019.

Would not have guessed that Friends would drive DLEGs crazy. It was a relatively innocuous show, that was popular for the same reasons The Brady Bunch was popular.

If the Bradys allowed you to imagine a world where parents were always calm and loving and never lost their tempers or behaved irrationally and every childhood problem was worked out in 22 minutes, then Friends allowed you to imagine a world where you had a tight knit Brady-like family of friends well into your late 20s who were always there for you and lived in close proximity.

That was its main charm so I'm surprised it's triggering so many of you, unless the overwhelming hetero-ness is the trigger. (Though there was the whole Chandler's crush on Joey thing which totally mimics the crushes closeted guys get on their straight best buddies. Was much made of it at the time? I was too young to really realize the full significance.)

As for the whiteness-- fuck, have you ever seen white people in Manhattan? Especially (let's be real) white upper middle class Jewish people from suburbia. Even in 2019, they barely have Christian friends, let alone non-white friends and tend to congregate in the same bars and apartment buildings in Murray Hill. There are whole cadres of them, Jewish and Christian, whose diversity is one their Indian or Chinese friend who grew up with them in Syosset or Darien.

In what order will the cast of Friends die? 1. Matthew Perry

I'll be there for you R120.

[quote]In what order will the cast of Friends die?

Schwimmer is the only non-smoker in the cast.

then the way things go, he could be first. Never would have thought Sue Ann and Phyllis would out live Mary, Rhoda and Georgette.

But then I always knew Mary had diabetes.

"Great show. The theme song is iconic and the cast was perfect."

You sound like a typical "Friends"fan. Not too bright.

That theme song sucks donkey dick.

I never really thought it was funny and struggled to understand why it was so popular over in America.

People who watched this show wanted to BE the characters. They wanted to live their lives, their leisurely, fun, worry free lives. Never mind that the lives of the characters on "Friends" bore no resemblance to reality. It was a fantasy that the fans of this show clung to, the lives of these beautiful (except for Ross, young, carefree people.

The show made Jennifer Aniston into some kind of a super babe that supposedly every man wanted. The promotion of her as a sex symbol was relentless. She posed bare assed on the cover of the Rolling Stone to solidify her status as a gorgeous sex goddess. I never understood it. Look at her face; beady eyes, large nose, knobby chin. The other two women on the show were more attractive, but she got all the attention in that regard. And that stupid "Rachel" hairstyle! Oh my God. Another "iconic (along with the sofa and theme song)" aspect of this incomprehensibly popular show.

R137 I agree about Jen Aniston. I never understood the big deal over her looks. She has a huge Greek jaw from her father and looks like a Trans woman to me.

Gawker might not have been perfect, but it was fun and nasty for a good long while. Buzzfeed is just trash. I can't believe people read it, let alone post links to it here.

Whatever Aniston has, I remember the men all being so into her. She must hit that sweet spot of being cute but not intimidating. She’s like someone you would know, who was the high school homecoming queen that everyone loved. I got sick of all the tabloids with her lantern jawed mug wherever you looked in the 90’s. I wonder if celebrities ever get embarrassed at how much they are shoved down everyone’s throat.

Who didn’t know Rachel agreement was Jewish. Most NY sitcom chatracyers are Jewish. So are most media owners and Hollywood figures.

*Green

God this autocorrect 🙄

Fank you Joseph Goebbels.

Trashing a twenty-five year-old sitcom for not living up to your modern "wokeness"!

How [italic]au courant[/italic]!

I was early 20's when this was popular and the women would come into work and laugh and rave about this show. To me it was just another show to get through until Seinfeld came on.

OP If one has to use Buzzfeed to back up their point, you are a fucking stupid loser cunt

I never saw an episode until it was already in reruns, and I was never a huge fan, but it was light and frothy fun, for the most part, with an occasional touching moment. I'll occasionally watch it if I happen to be flipping past the channel in boredom, and I get a little chuckle sometimes. I've never tuned into a sitcom looking for deep meaning or cultural relevance. Isn't that what they're NOT about?

The author of that article is indian and she says one of the bad things about the show is that the characters are white. That kind of casual racism, and race guilt, is everywhere now. Imagine if a white author said that part of what makes an indian show terrible is that all the characters are indian.

I'm 41 and I think I might be the only person in my age group who has never seen a complete episode of Friends. I've only seen random parts of various episodes, and from what I've seen it wasn't all that funny.

She only realized it sucked after obsessively watching it for decades?

I found all the actors so ugly it was hard to give it a chance. If it was going to be consistently unfunny, couldn't they have at least found some hotties to play the parts?

I like Lisa Kudrow in other things but I hated Phoebe, so annoying

When Matt LeBlanc was so hot when he did the Married With Children spin off but he lost his looks quickly on Friends.

Matt lost his looks in a slow decline over decades.

R128 must be fun at parties.

Matt LeBlanc is so hot, and I was obsessed with David Schwimmer's lustrous thick hair.

A funny fact that I remember (in high school actually) was that Courteney Cox was supposed to be the "babe" of the show. I think that she was touted to be by all of the entertainment rags in the first season at least. Guys who actually watched this bland, so-so, "rice pudding" show seemed to gravitate to her and she did seem to be the actress that the network was promoting. Just a year later, it was as if no one even knew her name. Jennifer Aniston was EVERYTHING to everyone. All the guys wanted HER and all the girls wanted HER hair. Also, Matthew Perry was by far the hottest guy the first season, IMO. Later (due to fault of Perry's own - and it gets WORSE every season after..) - Matt LeBlanc took over quickly as resident stud. The power play of "hotness" was fascinating - if only the show was as well... It WASN'T....AT ALL.

For me, Matt LeBlanc was ALWAYS the hottest guy on the show.

From its pre-season 1 promotions, I made it a point to avoid "Friends".

Just from its promos, I could see and smell the bad TV it is. I'm a fan of bad, but, its gotta be good bad.

The publicity was defenitelyall about Courtney Cox initially. I remember the promos that made use of her Family Toes character to promote Friends series premiere.

Joey's over the top stupidity was never funny.

What’s crazy to me is how hot they made Cox look in Scream, especially in Scream 2. But maybe it was her bitchy character and raspy voice inn friends that turned me off to her.

Matthew was attractive in seasson 1 but quickly turned into the blob. Joey was the hottest but packed on weight. Muscle with fat on top doesn’t look good on his frame. Ross is the only male to maintain his looks throughout the show.

No one’s mentioning it but Brad Pitt gave Jennifer a lot of hotness credit. If the “Sexiest Man Alive” chose her, then she must be hot. I know their relationship really took of towards the end of the show, but that was her peak popularity.

And, Jennifer’s hairstyles really captured the ideal white girl looks of the late 90s early 2000s. She looked gorgeous with her hair crimped, straight or shoulder length. I get why she was popular.

Hating Phoebe:

Meanwhile- it's always sunny in philadelphia is going strong!

[Quote] . I remember the promos that made use of her Family Toes

Nice typo 😄

[Quote] What’s crazy to me is how hot they made Cox look in Scream, especially in Scream 2.

She did look good in Scream 2 (red streaks aside).

R3 You're probably right. I dated a guy who worked in marketing and he claimed that a lot of supposed "grass roots" pop culture movements were created by marketers. He cited that campaign to get Betty White to host SNL a few years back as an example.

r164 Gale Weathers was such a fun character. I liked Scream 1, but Scream 3 is my favorite. Such an intentionally campy mess. Especially when they are being terrorized in the house with those over the top actors. Loved it.

They weren't all thin either...Joey was chubby and Perry was like a see-saw with his weight.

R166 Courtney and Parker were great in Scream 3.

I heard that all theee actresses ate GE same salad every day for lunch. It’s no wonder what the guys were eating.

r168 agreed. But why did Cox hair look like a 3 year old with scissors was styling her hair?

[quote]Muscle with fat on top doesn’t look good on his frame.

Tom Cruise also has this problem.

[quote]And, Jennifer’s hairstyles really captured the ideal white girl looks of the late 90s early 2000s. She looked gorgeous with her hair crimped, straight or shoulder length. I get why she was popular.

She was popular because her look was attainable for average gals. She wasn't impossibly gorgeous or glamorous.

I like that the cast were and are genuine friends and that they banded together for salary negotiations. Aniston and Schwimmer were getting paid more, but they took one for the team and certainly made more money in the long run by doing so.

Aniston was decidedly NOT a beauty. She was vaunted to this spot by a good haircut. It did a good job of minimizing her un-classical features and oddly shaped ears.

All the guys had nice, round asses, I remember. Especially Schwimmer.

I thought I’m gonna hate it when I firstl heard about it.just another Seinfeld wannabe: group of friends living in NYC. But the cast are charming and it did have some really lol moments. It’s funny and entertaining enough , mostly what I wanna see in my sitcoms.

[quote]Seinfeld is even worse in that respect. I recently watched S4 on Amazon Prime and there are several episodes that are just cringe worthy and would never make it on air today. I mean, an entire episode on whether a woman has fake tits?

Seinfeld was a show about nothing. Every show/movie doesn't need some moral "woke" message.

Contrarians love attention.

I have to admit that I found SEINFELD quite entertaining at times. The series finale was a letdown though.