Friends Sucks This Season

In My Humble Opinion
1

What is it with this show? I’m a habitual viewer of the show, even the two daily re-runs and the weekend repeats, but this is ridiculous. Is it just me or have this season’s episodes begun to suck air.

They just aren’t funny anymore. Monica is a shrill, complaining, controlling harpy and looks rather anorexic. Pheobe has become quite snippy, unlike the airhead she previously portrayed. Joey continues to be the dolt with a heart. And Ross, well, he’s just hopeless. Even Chandler has lost his zing.

What happened? Am I the only one who feels this way? Weren’t the previous seasons better comedic ventures than these last five (?) episodes they’ve aired? What’s your take?

2

Yeah I can relate to that.
Monica has been like this last season too…way too thin for her own good. And she seems so shrill and petulant. I just wanna look at Chandler and say, “Why are you signing away your life to be married to her, you poor poor man?”

Pheobe is a bit snippy.

Ross and Rachel I still kind of like. Joey usually saves most of the episodes…they should all be centered around him.

Chandler just isn’t funny anymore. Maybe its because I’ve been watching the show a lot and his charm has worn off on me. Maybe its the glasses. Or just lousy scripts. I’m gonna go with the latter…either way, he isn’t the Chandler we knew and loved!

The most promising character is Tag. He’s cute, a bit airheaded, sexy…ahh. (I’m with Rachel on him. Love the new assistant!!)

3

It’s like an addiction. I keep watching. I set the VCR when I have to attend a meeting on “must-see t.v.” night. I keep hoping for a good, funny Friends like in seasons past. I’m continually disappointed each week.
What happened to episodes like:

The Thanksgiving Day football game for the Geller Cup;

The episode when Chandler meets the foreign chick (name escapes me now) who uses him for sex–but he wants more;

The peek-a-boo shower episode when Joey finds out his father is sleeping around with that “poodle stuffer”;

Or the one when Rachel runs to the airport to pick up Ross upon his return from China to learn he has fallen in love with Julie?

Those are just a few of my favorites that come to mind right now. They never fail to get a laugh or at least a snicker from me.

This season’s episodes are just dry and boring. The best part of the last night’s Friends, IMHO, featured nasal-voiced Janice. What has happened? Should I continue my addiction or just give up?

4

I think that their new contracts spent so much money on their salaries there wasnt much left for the better writers.

These people make $750,000 per episode, right? yeah, I think thats it.

5

Some may recall the Friends Trivia thread, in which I and a few others blatantly drooled and fawned over this show. With that in mind, you would assume I would come charging in here screaming bloody murder about how you uneducated heathens are unfairly trashing my show.
Unfortunately I can’t, because you’re all right. I think all the main players are sick to death of their characters and the show in general and they’re just phoning it in to fulfill their contract.
The older shows are friggin’ classics. I wish they’d bow out gracefully. I think the term we are searching for here is Jumping the Shark.

6

I think “jumping the shark” is an excellent term to describe the recent downward spiral taken by some of our favorite shows. It especially applies to Friends, however, I have to disagree with some of the votes cast on the link you provided.

IMO, the cast, writers, and producers executed a beautiful swan dive into Jaws’ mouth when everyone found out about Chandler’s affair with Monica. Since that, we’ve had them go to Vegas (in one of Pheobe’s most annoying scenes ever IMHO), disagree over Tom Selleck, move in together and become engaged. The story line is now dead. Let’s bury it-- or marry it-- and move on.

I’ll continue watching and taping, hoping for a fresh story line with fewer inane subplots and better writing.

Friends Writers, if you’re listening, please do something. And quick.

7

So far, so good

I thought the season premiere was GREAT.
I didn’t at all like the episode where Rachel teaches Joey how to sail.
I loved last week’s show, especially the whole “They are having sex in front of my doctoral dissertation” Ross fiasco.

**Some isolated Comments **

Last season was great up to the point where the Monica/Chandler relationship was revealed. It was downhill ever since. Fortunately the show is bouncing back strongly.

Phoebe is losing her charm. At this point she is even disposable.

Joey, Rachel and Ross are carrying the show this season. Ross has become cooler and funnier lately. David Schimmer is nicely exploiting his innate ability to be humorous through odd gesticulations and a very apt modulation of his voice intonation that neatly fits the emotions that he is trying to convey, whether they express sarcasm, surprise, or innocence.

Courtney Cox is hot again! That in itself is good enough excuse to accept Monica’s annoying “I’m getting married” hysteria.

Chandler is bouncing back. Last season’s semi-metamorphosis into a cooler, more confident guy took a lot from his charm. This season we are seeing sparks of the old Chandler, which only spells good news for the show.

8

Can you have too much character developement? The “classic” Friends were hilarious because the characters were put in funny situations. Now it’s just characters (who can be funny in and of themselves) but no comedic backdrop.

Janice’s return was pretty funny.

An aside. How come the guys think the show isn’t funny anymore because the girls got skinny?

9

I got in on the Friends phenomenon a little late, but what the hell, I’ve been watching for over a year now, I think I can comment.

As far as I can tell, Monica has ALWAYS been a shrill Type A control freak. Acquired taste, I guess. That doesn’t really annoy me unless it develops into some ridiculous misunderstanding (like the “handmade gifts” debacle). I do think that her past weight troubles have been brought up waaaay too much, especially since they’re past.

Joey needs something to do. Right now he’s basically The Minor Goofy Situation Waiting to Happen, and I can see that getting old (like “We were on a break!!”). Everyone else has gone through at least one serious crisis or emotional situation…too many, in the case of Ross and Rachel…and I don’t see why Joey couldn’t have one as well.

Phoebe has always been a dependable buddy/catalyst/opposing view, and this season has been no different. (The way she won the maid of honor contest was classic.) If it ain’t broke…

I nearly gave up on Rachel after the interminable “We were on a break” sludge-fest. She’s a little better now, but too…flighty for my tastes (wasn’t there a better way to get Tag on board?).

As for Ross, there’s always been something about this somewhat gawky intellectual type who’s been dragged through the mud too many times to count that’s appealed to me. I sympathized totally with him through all three marraiges, and I think the show would be much better served by allowing him to rise above all his past failures.

Chandler…well, he’s Chandler, what more do you need to know. Certainly hope the marraige situation is settled quickly, though. As a man with his own life, he’s the life of the party; as Monica’s ball and chain, he’s a drag.

The stories haven’t been too far out of the ordinary, except for the marriage subplot (and I really hope this gets closed out ASAP). Good to see workplace humor, always one of the sticking points of the show, still playing a significant part.

In short, overall it could be better, but I think it’s a little premature to say that the franchise “sucks”. Wait until the end of the season and then we’ll see.