# I think it's time to come out of the closet - I love "Friends" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370 "2006-03-14T22:09:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/21 "2006-03-15T01:07:28Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > ‘Friends’ had clever writing, and almost always made me consistantly laugh. There’s not a lot of shows I can say that about. > > I watched about half of the first episode of ‘Joey’, and I saw most of an episode a week or so ago. Does this show have completely different writers than ‘Friends’? Maybe I caught a bum episode, but man, it was as bad as any bad sitcom I’ve seen. I’ve watched maybe 5 episodes because I soooo wanted to like it. It sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/22 "2006-03-15T01:16:53Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > There, I said it, and I stand by it - I love the television show, “Friends.” I know full well that it is totally un-cool to admit you watched and liked this show (apparently no one liked “Friends” in spite of it being basically the number one comedy show for approximately 10 years :dubious: ), and I get all the inconsistencies and illogic and unreality of the show, but I love it anyway. I am well aware that they were all horrible characters that you would have never spoken to twice in real life (like any of us have opportunities to snub people like that in real life). > > I like watching these gorgeous people; I like their clothes and their hair and how cute all the guys were, and frankly, the girls too. I laughed long and loud at so many episodes, and I still enjoy them after many repeats. I cared what happened to their characters, and I’m still hoping that all the actors go on to continued success in their careers. Don’t be surprised when I pepper my posts with quotes and anecdotes from “Friends” (like that Ob-Gyn who delivered Phoebe’s babies who loves Fonzie.) > > You can all point and laugh now. I don’t care. I’ll be in the basement watching Season One on DVD. 😃 Hell, I liked it too. Monica was pretty. Rachel was hot. Phoebe was mind-bogglingly hot–okay, she wasn’t quite that when the series ended, but she looked good for a woman in her forties (reality) or mid-thirties (character). Chandler was hot too, I add as a mostly-heterosexual male. And I always enjoyed the mixture of soap opera and farce. The only thing missing was an admission that the couple who really belonged together was Rachel and JOEY. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/23 "2006-03-15T01:18:58Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > The only thing missing was an admission that the couple who really belonged together was Rachel and JOEY. This is just so wrong. Ross is Rachel lobster. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/24 "2006-03-15T01:33:50Z")
I was living in France when the show started, but one of the TV channels there ran episodes, in English. The first one I caught was the one where Phoebe builds an elaborate dollhouse that entually gets set on fire. I recall, when it was over, thinking, “there are some pretty clever jokes on this show”. I also remember thinking, “damn, those women are _hot_.” I watched it for the next couple of years, then caught the early seasons in syndication when I moved back to the States. For me, it started going seriously downhill when Ross hooked up with that British harriden and Chandler and Monica hooked up with each other. I think I saw only about three episodes from the last two seasons. But the first five or so had some great stuff. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/25 "2006-03-15T01:43:12Z")
I watched Friends the whole time it was on and I still watch it. Especially if the CSI rerun on Spike is one I’ve already seen a zillion times. Some episodes I can’t watch (Ross flirting with the pizza girl and anything about being “on a break”), but most are funny time and time again. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/26 "2006-03-15T01:59:33Z")
When my wife and I lived in Nunavut, we got TV channels from all over the place – cable company picking up channels from satellite. We would watch three or four episodes of _Friends_ a night, night after night. It was like having our own young friends in Manhattan. The last couple of seasons were sadly bad, but man, it meant a lot to us for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/27 "2006-03-15T02:04:51Z")
Courteney Cox was hot. Still is. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/28 "2006-03-15T02:15:44Z")
I also quite like **Friends** and have nothing but disdain for people who use it as the stereotypical stupid-show-that-only-the-sheeple-and-not-elitist-people-with-good-taste-like-me-watch. But I really don’t understand the whole Ross and Rachel thing. They just aren’t a good couple. What do they have in common? Ross should have stuck with Julie, Rachel should date Joey, and they can all remain friends. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/29 "2006-03-15T02:40:52Z")
I too enjoy “Friends”. I especially liked Phoebe. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/30 "2006-03-15T03:08:56Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > Monica was pretty. Rachel was hot. Phoebe was mind-bogglingly hot–okay, she wasn’t quite that when the series ended, but she looked good for a woman in her forties (reality) or mid-thirties (character) That’s funny, I came to ogle Rachel (early eps) and stayed for Phoebe (mid-to-late eps). Monica was a skinny neurotic with no softness in her, no attraction for me whatsoever. And the only guy for Rachel was that one behind the bar who was too shy to talk to her; he would have worshipped the ground she walked on just to be with her, and that would have suited her just fine. The humour was OK, in general; some good one-liners but no ground-breaking thematic work like _Seinfeld_ or _The Simpsons_. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/31 "2006-03-15T03:19:12Z")
Friends was great for me and my buddies for a couple of reasons. First, for whatever reasons, we got to watch it from the beginning and didn’t have that awkward coming in the second or third season and missing half the in-jokes thing. Second, it was ours. They were our age, and if we squinted really hard, we could pretend that those were the lives we weren’t having. So it made wiping runny noses and changing diapers seem like more of a valid choice, just because they were so delightfully messed up. And just to set the record straight, Monica was actually a real person the first couple of seasons, apparently her comedic timing was lodged in her fat cells because she became more of an unfunny caricature the more skeletal she got. Chandler, by comparison, grew yummier even as he got more neurotic. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/32 "2006-03-15T03:27:38Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I don’t care if it isn’t “in” to like Friends. I did. But half the time I only tuned in to see what Jennifer Aniston was wearing. And she definitely looked cutest in the seasons two and three era. I always liked Friends. Looking quite a bit like Chandler didn’t help me get laid as much as one might think… -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/33 "2006-03-15T03:40:44Z")
“This is ancient Earth’s most foolish program. Why does Ross, the largest Friend, not simply eat the other five?” The first few seasons were above-average for a sitcom, but that may well have just correllated to when Jennifer Aniston was really That Hot. There are definitely enough things wrong with the show that someone could dislike it for perfectly valid reasons; unfortunately, a big chunk of the people who “hate” it do it for the “cool factor”. As much as I might make fun of a couple of my female friends for NEEDING to watch it whenever the repeats are on… I’d definitely rather be watching repeats of Friends than anything sitcommy we’ve gotten since the networks decided to put all of their efforts into reality shows and prime-time soap operas. As long as you take it for what it is (light-hearted chick-oriented sitcom with a bunch of hot girls to keep the guys watching), there’s nothing wrong with liking Friends. It’s a B-minus show in a world of D-plus shows. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/34 "2006-03-15T04:30:31Z")
There’ve been funnier shows, but _Friends_ is can still get me to piss myself from laughing on a regular basis. We’ve got all 10 seasons on DVD, so it’s safe to say it’s a popular show in the Briston household. You’d think that would embarrass me, but you see I’m maxed out. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/35 "2006-03-15T04:41:13Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I don’t own the DVDs (the damn thing’s on six times a day, why pay for it?), but I do like watching the reruns. It may be worth noting that the DVD episodes include unaired scenes and are thus several minutes longer than the TV episodes. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/36 "2006-03-15T04:52:52Z")
Hello. My name is anyrose and I’m a Friends fan. It all started in 1994 with a show starring the boy i had a crush on thru-out high school (a Ross type) and my bestest bud in the theatre department (a Chandler type - only gay). I loved that Pheobe wasn’t as dumb as Ursula. She had a unique way of looking at and dealing with the world (her doll house comes to mind as the most creative expression of latent childhood) I’m glad Ross and Rachel ended up together at the end. The only thing I couldn’t connect with was after the engagement (season 7?) I no longer believed that Chandler & Monica were in love. Had Matthew Perry’s personal issues caused a rift in the cast? the chemistry (that had been present since the beginning even tho the characters weren’t romantic) with Courtner Cox was definitely gone. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/37 "2006-03-15T04:54:13Z")
I generally liked Friends. I used to watch it regularly until I started watching Survivor which was broadcast at the same time. But I still watch occasional reruns and have picked up some of the boxed sets used (and my street credibility is totally destroyed by now). It’s generally an entertaining show. The cast and characters are likable and the women are attractive. The scripts are usually good for some laughs. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/38 "2006-03-15T15:43:37Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > \my street credibility is totally destroyed by now > \ That’s okay. You can come down in the basement and watch it on dvd with the rest of us Friends geeks. I think Ross flirting with the pizza girl (who turned into Yola from “The Chris Isaak Show”) is probably the most cringe-worthy moment in the series. Although Rachel coming out in her old cheerleader outfit is right up there. :o ---
**Author:** ![Dob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Dob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dob)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/39 "2006-03-15T16:53:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Ross flirting with the pizza girl and anything about being "on a break Oh come on! Those eps were funny as hell! “Your haircut looks like a little boys…” “Not that its bad…I like little boys…” “You rambled on for 18 pages…front and BACK!” “Dont worry, if I need to sleep I can just read your L E T T E R!” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370/40 "2006-03-15T17:20:01Z")
The Ross/Rachel thing was just so damn tedious, but I enjoyed intermittent episodes mostly for Chandler’s sarcasm. But once the babies started appearing… blech. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-its-time-to-come-out-of-the-closet-i-love-friends/348370.md?page=3)