# It's almost 9PM... where's the Friends Thread? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2001, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226 "2001-09-28T00:54:08Z")\ **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:** [September 29, 2001, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/21 "2001-09-29T21:02:39Z")
Please don’t let it be Tag. Please don’t let it be Tag. Please don’t let it be Tag. I know! How 'bout Brad Pitt? Nah, that would be too easy. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/22 "2001-09-30T00:23:51Z")
Man, those are a lot of continuity gaffes. And I thought resurrecting Groundskeeper Willie’s supposedly hanged father for the Simpsons episode “Monty Can’t Buy Me Love” was bad. I’m kind of hoping it was Tag, because he was so hot, I’d love to see him come back for one more episode. Ahhh! I loved him!!! 😉 😉 😉 Okay, enough of that, simmer down. Maybe it was someone totally unexpected like…like…like that weird janitor guy from the older episodes. I’d even guess Mr. Heckles, except that he died, or Ugly Naked Guy, except that he moved. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/23 "2001-09-30T03:03:10Z")
I liked this show a lot in its prime, but the cracks are really, **really** starting to show now (note especially the inconsiderate big girl Ross has to dance with). I really don’t mind Chandler and Monica marrying so much as the complete change in the show’s dynamic it’s been forced through over the past couple of seasons. Rachel’s pregnancy smelled of desperation writing (the vaunted “shark jump”), and I have no idea where they can go with this, at least in a way that keeps the show funny. And of course, despite the fact that abortion as been legal for, oh, 28 years, not to mention one of the few options for women faced with unwanted pregnancy, we can’t have anyone suggesting something that icky on national TV, now, can we? So, uh, does anyone really want _Rachel freaking Green_ in charge of another human being? It looks like it’s up to the ever-dependable Joey and Phoebe to carry the torch, since they’re pretty much the only ones still without storyling-stifling commitments. Well, there’s Ross, but he’s been a prisoner of fate from day one, so I’m not getting my hopes up for him. Here’s to a passable, reasonably funny season… * * * “Well, I’m not quite at liberty to say…but basically, we have words and I kill him.” - Phoebe, on Ross’ future. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/24 "2001-09-30T15:41:43Z")
**DKW** : > [@](#): > > So, uh, does anyone really want _Rachel freaking Green_ in charge of another human being? She’s welcome to take charge of me… ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/25 "2001-09-30T16:15:01Z")
I liked the episode. I always like watching “Friends”. The only thing that pisses me off about the show is that Ross has become a totally dorky dork. He used to be cool, but now…sheesh. Monica and Chandler getting together was great! The whole “hiding it from everybody” arc was priceless. Remember the bathtub scene where they are taking a bubble bath together and Joey walks in? The whole thing where Ross is getting an apartment, then each character (I think) sees Monica and Chandler do It from Ross’s window? And everyone thinks Joey is a pervert who leaves his tighty whities in other people’s couches, and eats fried chicken while looking at naked chicks? Come on! You gotta love inane stuff like that. To me (except for the Ross degradation) the characters are just evolving. These people have to grow up somehow sometime. Monica and Chandler are married now. Rachel decided broke up with Tag because she wanted something meaningful and permanent (I think). Now she’s pregnant and keeping the baby. Joey…well, maybe he’s on his way, I dunno. Phoebe is just Phoebe. She knows who she is, has no excuses, to hell with everyone else if she’s kooky. I always enjoy the show. I’m a full fledged TVholic, and “Friends” part of my addiction, along with the rest of the Thursday night NBC lineup. And any new Star Trek series that’s on. (Enterprise 🙂 Scott Bakula…Mmmmmmm) And Roswell. And that new Smallville series that’s coming up, because Superman’s another addiction. So there. Lorie ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/26 "2001-09-30T18:11:53Z")
Lorie, you are absolutely right about Ross. In a quest for humor, they have made Ross almost intolerably dorky. It’s not endearing anymore, its embarassing. NBC Spoiler… in the commercials for this week, Joey is observed asking \* Phoebe \* to marry him. My two guesses are these: 1. The baby is Ross’, so R&R hook up again, Joey thinks it must be fate that all the Friends belong together, so he’s just speeding things along by asking Phoebe to marry him. 2. The baby is Joey’s, (or it \* could \* be Joey’s) so he’s practicing asking Rachel to marry him with Phoebe. stoid prognosticator ---
**Author:** ![Jeannie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@Jeannie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeannie)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/27 "2001-09-30T21:37:13Z")
Somewhere I read a preview of the upcoming episode (it may have been in TV Guide, but I can’t find it now). It said that Joey, thinking that Pheobe is the pregnant one, makes her a sweet offer (or something to that effect). So I am assuming that he is offering to marry her and be the father of her unborn child. Joey and Pheobe have always had a sweet little romance (well, not really a romance, but a deep affection for one another), and it wouldn’t surprise me that Joey would offer to marry her. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/28 "2001-09-30T21:59:55Z")
Awww!! That is so sweet. Gosh, what a great guy. 🙂 Maybe I’m a sucker, but I nearly fell apart reading that last post. Ah jeez, I’m such a dope. :o ---
**Author:** ![Peta\_Tzunami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@Peta\_Tzunami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peta_Tzunami)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/29 "2001-09-30T22:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeannie \* > \*\*He’s very involved (by sitcom single dad standards) in his son’s life, and I don’t see that he would abandon responsibility like that. \*\* Yeah…um…see…here’s the thing…seem strange to anyone else that Ross’s first wife, her wife and Ross’s SON (Monica’s nephew) weren’t at the wedding and Ross spent all his time being pseudo-kind to little girls to try and win a girl? Hmmmmm…we did. Personally, I’m waiting for that “very special episode of friends” in which Rachel loses the baby and Ross comes to comfort her (remember the broken rib, Ross misses his tv show eps?). Brad Pitt _would’ve_ been funny–guess that’s why the writers chose not to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Peta\_Tzunami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@Peta\_Tzunami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peta_Tzunami)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/30 "2001-09-30T22:23:30Z")
That is, we thought it was strange… ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/31 "2001-09-30T22:40:09Z")
Anyone else think the fat little girl gag was profoundly unfunny? I sure did. But then, being a fat big girl, I’m kinda sensitive about this stuff. And Jeannie, I think you nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/32 "2001-09-30T22:59:32Z")
Gunther was invited to bachelor party but not the wedding (which made for a funny bit in an episode last season). I guess the kid from Big Daddy was too busy to play the ring bearer. Who else could have been there but wasn’t? I’d love to have seen Chandler’s boss there. Any time we can see an ex-Tracey Ullman cast member (or a Simpson voice, ala Hank Azaria) in the show, I’m all for it. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/33 "2001-09-30T23:51:30Z")
Okay, I have a continuity error (I think) that is ruining this entire “who’s your daddy?” thing up for me. Doesn’t Rachel live w/ Joey now? And wasn’t the pregnancy test found in Chandler and Monica’s apartment? If Rachel really is the one that’s pregnant, WTF was she thinking? “Oh, I have a pregnancy test to take. I’ll go over to Chandler and Monica’s!” ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/34 "2001-10-01T01:00:26Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Peta Tzunami \* > \*\*\*\*\* Yeah…um…see…here’s the thing…seem strange to anyone else that Ross’s first wife, her wife and Ross’s SON (Monica’s nephew) weren’t at the wedding and Ross spent all his time being pseudo-kind to little girls to try and win a girl? Hmmmmm…we did._\*\*\*\* I thought his son was sitting next to him at the kids table and thought it was wierd he didn’t say a word to him. Anyway, holy crap I just spoiled it for myself, eh. So now I know 😉 Kinda like a murder mystery where it goes on too long so you end up skipping to the end just to see who dunnit. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/35 "2001-10-01T01:03:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KKBattousai \* > \*\*Okay, I have a continuity error (I think) that is ruining this entire “who’s your daddy?” thing up for me. > > Doesn’t Rachel live w/ Joey now? And wasn’t the pregnancy test found in Chandler and Monica’s apartment? If Rachel really is the one that’s pregnant, WTF was she thinking? “Oh, I have a pregnancy test to take. I’ll go over to Chandler and Monica’s!” \*\* KK, I had that problem too, but someone told me the answer to this gaffe on these very boards. You see, since the bride and groom can’t see each other prior to the wedding (tradition), Rachel was staying with Monica, and Chandler went back to stay the night with Joey. That’s why Rachel took the test at Monica’s house. It is sort of weird that Rachel just discovered the preg test- wouldn’t it have made more sense for her to want to ignore it? Or did Phoebe find it? That would be kind of mean if Ross didn’t say a word to his son. I guess he really is turning into a freak…😕 ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/36 "2001-10-01T01:30:54Z")
According to [this site](http://www.tvtome.com/servlets/GuidePageServlet/showid-71/epid-72740/) Ben was there in the episode. How bizarre they just ignored him. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/37 "2001-10-01T01:44:52Z")
cole sprouse is the big daddy kid. I didn’t see him. As to Ross not saying anything to him, we can assume he talked to him off camera. As bad as Ross has been, the one thing that has remained consistent has been his love for Ben. Phoebe found the test. Great explanation on the room switch. Of course the explanation is lmost unneccessary as the Friends have always acted like they have a four bedroom apartment anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/38 "2001-10-01T02:00:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by watsonwil \* > \*\*cole sprouse is the big daddy kid. I didn’t see him. As to Ross not saying anything to him, we can assume he talked to him off camera. As bad as Ross has been, the one thing that has remained consistent has been his love for Ben. \*\*\* > \*\* When Ross sat at the kids table he was to Ross’ immediate left. I don’t think they even looked at each other on camera. They probably did have some stuff for him to say but cut it. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/39 "2001-10-01T03:09:36Z")
Thanks, I wish I could take credit for that little explanation, but I can’t. Anyway. I still wonder…who is the father?! Man, it’s driving me crazy. Pondering and wondering and thinking. I hope it’s someone we “know” as opposed to some random off screen guy. Hey, what if it was Chandler? Wouldn’t that be so devastating for Monica, but great for the show’s ratings? (I’m too cruel sometimes.) ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226/40 "2001-10-01T03:36:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoggie \* > Thanks, I wish I could take credit for that little explanation, but I can’t. ALWAYS TAKE THE CREDIT! You are a man/woman? of honor! > [@](#): > > Anyway. I still wonder…who is the father?! Man, it’s driving me crazy. Pondering and wondering and thinking. I hope it’s someone we “know” as opposed to some random off screen guy. Hey, what if it was Chandler? Wouldn’t that be so devastating for Monica, but great for the show’s ratings? (I’m too cruel sometimes.) \*\* I don’t think they’d be able to call it FRIENDS anymore! The suspects: Joey- It would change the dynamic of the show greatly. Ross- Would make the most sense from a happily ever after perspective. Tag- The Favorite. He’s the most easily removed. Gunther- Honestly I’m the only one that has ever suggested this. I haven’t heard anyone else pitching it. NOT SUSPECTS, but something to think about: Richard- Monica’s Ex. Sparks would fly. Barry- Rachel’s original ex. Chip- Rachel’s prom date Chandler- As noted earlier. Fun Bobby- I just like the name. Jack Gellar- Ewwww… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-almost-9pm-wheres-the-friends-thread/84226.md?page=3)