# Okay, I'll start it. Ahem: Friends 5/6, or The Last One **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2004, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810 "2004-05-06T12:24:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/21 "2004-05-07T12:50:52Z")
Howcum all the women wound up: Married with children (Monica) Engaged (let’s face it) with children (Rachel) Married and planning to have children (Phoebe)? I think I need another whole thread about _this_, especially after the _Sex and the City_ finale . . . ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/22 "2004-05-07T12:52:10Z")
I posted the following in the “Boy Did the Friends finale ever suck!” thread: The finale was OK. Not great, but OK. I would have had Rachel fly to Paris, and the next day go to the airport to meet her mother with Emma. Of course, instead of her mother, Ross brings Emma, tells her he loves her, tells her he’s arranged a year’s sabatical at a French university, and gets down on one knee and proposes. But then I’m a hopeless romantic. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/23 "2004-05-07T13:02:29Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I would have had Rachel fly to Paris, and the next day go to the airport to meet her mother with Emma. Of course, instead of her mother, Ross brings Emma, tells her he loves her, tells her he’s arranged a year’s sabatical at a French university, and gets down on one knee and proposes. Could your scenario _be_ any better than what actually happened? The absence of Emma really annoyed me. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/24 "2004-05-07T13:30:24Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Howcum all the women wound up: > > Married with children (Monica) > Engaged (let’s face it) with children (Rachel) > Married and planning to have children (Phoebe)? > > I think I need another whole thread about _this_, especially after the _Sex and the City_ finale . . . I assumed it was sort of a “See, they’re married, now there lives are boring and you don’t need to care about them anymore!” kind of thing. Of course, they had to leave Joey single so people would watch the spin-off. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/25 "2004-05-07T13:37:24Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I would have had Rachel fly to Paris, and the next day go to the airport to meet her mother with Emma. Of course, instead of her mother, Ross brings Emma, tells her he loves her, tells her he’s arranged a year’s sabatical at a French university, and gets down on one knee and proposes. > > But then I’m a hopeless romantic. What about Ben? He wouldn’t even leave the country for emily and she was his wife because of his son. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/26 "2004-05-07T13:51:58Z")
Although I stopped watching this show several years ago, we watched after Survivor just because we hate CSI even more. I thought it was lame, illogical and predictable and won’t turn out to be memorable in any way at all. Exactly how I thought Friends should end. I didn’t have any strong emotional ties to it and didn’t care if it stayed or went. In fact, I have declared that I think the networks need to impose a season limit on shows in order to keep the storylines fresh and innovative. Too many series have been on far too long and should have been killed long before they died: Roseanne, Friends, ER, Mad About You, all reality shows… I propose a three-year limit on dramas and a one-year limit on sitcoms. And for no other reason than to employ writers… Reality shows should simply be banned. I watch 'em, but I think, like Donald Rumsfeld, they are a symptom and symbol of all that is wrong with the world at this moment in time. Further, what has annoyed me the most about this is the “end of an era” thing people are crying about. People, this show is not going away. (Like Seinfeld, and this includes Frasier and any other long-term sitcom that’s dying this season.) There just aren’t going to be any more new ones. You can watch Friends three or four times a day, every day, and probably for the next ten years, on TBS, and probably TV Land and who knows what other networks have purchased rights to reruns. I’m sure the producers will also make a blue fortune on the “Complete Boxed Set of All Ten Seasons of Friends!” for only $169.99 plus shipping and handling. Order now while limited supplies last. DVD player not included. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/27 "2004-05-07T13:52:13Z")
> [@Caricci](#): > > The absence of Emma really annoyed me. See, the presence of Ross really annoyed _me_. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/28 "2004-05-07T13:54:19Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I posted the following in the “Boy Did the Friends finale ever suck!” thread: > The finale was OK. Not great, but OK. > > I would have had Rachel fly to Paris, and the next day go to the airport to meet her mother with Emma. Of course, instead of her mother, Ross brings Emma, tells her he loves her, tells her he’s arranged a year’s sabatical at a French university, and gets down on one knee and proposes. > > But then I’m a hopeless romantic. Either that, or you really liked the last “Sluts in the City”, with the French drama. 😉 I was unimpressed with the Friends finale. It was one of their most boring episodes. I liked the clips from the past shows waaaaay better. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/29 "2004-05-07T13:57:24Z")
> [@Mr Jim](#): > > What about Ben? He wouldn’t even leave the country for emily and she was his wife because of his son. Nevermind the confusing sentence construction above, although I agree with the sentiment… I couldn’t figure out why it was okay with Ross to let Rachel take Emma overseas. And they were all, “Boo hoo, we’ll never see each other again…” Hello? Rachel’s kid is Ross’ kid. You think he’s not ever going to want to see his own daughter again? It seemed to me as if the entire cab to airport chase was pointless becuase of course, he’s going to want to see his kid so there will be plenty of opportunity to get back together. That was just dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/30 "2004-05-07T14:03:58Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > It seemed to me as if the entire cab to airport chase was pointless becuase of course, he’s going to want to see his kid so there will be plenty of opportunity to get back together. > > That was just dumb. Plus, are there no return flights from Paris? Couldn’t they have talked, and then Rachel come back to New York? It’s not like they were going to Super-Glue her to the Eiffel Tower, fer chrissakes. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/31 "2004-05-07T14:07:50Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Nevermind the confusing sentence construction above, although I agree with the sentiment… I couldn’t figure out why it was okay with Ross to let Rachel take Emma overseas. And they were all, “Boo hoo, we’ll never see each other again…” Hello? Rachel’s kid is Ross’ kid. You think he’s not ever going to want to see his own daughter again? It seemed to me as if the entire cab to airport chase was pointless becuase of course, he’s going to want to see his kid so there will be plenty of opportunity to get back together. He doesn’t even care about his son, so why would he care about his daughter? Really, the way it should have ended was to have Ross go to France. The way it ended, you know their relationship will fail in 2-3 years, because the problem was always that Ross is a selfish twit. To resolve that, you needed to have Ross want to be with Rachel with an unselfish gesture… by picking up HIS life and following her dream. Hell, they even had a perfect setup, at the moment Phoebe remidns Ross he needs to buy a ticket to go past security… just cut away and and when Ross gets to the gate, he has a ticket to Paris! It would have reoslved the basic problem by making the character follow a proper dramatic arc. Having Rachel stay means neither character grows (and it made for a lame story, too) which invokes Santayana’s rule about repeating history. Too bad, because despite the backlash you’ll hear, it was a genuinely first-rate show, one of the best sitcoms of all time. It went out at just the right time. It was just not a closing episode on par with some other classics. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/32 "2004-05-07T14:33:23Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Either that, or you really liked the last “Sluts in the City”, with the French drama. 😉 > > I was unimpressed with the Friends finale. It was one of their most boring episodes. I liked the clips from the past shows waaaaay better. I don’t get HBO, so I have only seen one episode of Sex in the City while at a hotel. Didn’t do much for me. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/33 "2004-05-07T18:14:45Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > See, the presence of Ross really annoyed _me_. That too, Eve. My husband was bitching, moaning, whining and complaining about what a procrastinator Ross is, but really Ross is just a big wimp. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/34 "2004-05-07T18:19:35Z")
Oh! Oh! One other thing, do people involved in open adoption like that just take the baby or babies fresh from the uterus directly to the cab like that? And, I’m sorry, it’s just not realistic for Monica and Chandler to leave them to go across the hall like that either when they’re so young. I saw the baby monitor and all, but it’s not likely to happen. Sure, the not knowing it’s twins thing is unlikely too, but at least they made it into a joke. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/35 "2004-05-07T18:29:15Z")
My coworkers are trying to figure out what song Ross was humming at the beginning of the show (coffee shop scene) when the rest of the cast joined in. Any help? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/36 "2004-05-07T18:40:00Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#): > > My coworkers are trying to figure out what song Ross was humming at the beginning of the show (coffee shop scene) when the rest of the cast joined in. Any help? Theme from _The Odd Couple_. You have very young coworkers, I take it. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/37 "2004-05-07T18:43:26Z")
As usual, **Eve** , you are a peach. My coworkers are in their early 40s. Since I’ve never seen _Friends_, I didn’t even know what they’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/38 "2004-05-07T18:57:16Z")
An open letter to all writers of TV series finales: Forget Paris. Do not have any characters considering going to/staying in Paris. It’s been done, it’s unoriginal, it’s trite. Think of another city on the planet. Got that? Fine. Yours sincerely, FtG PS: while you’re at it. No twins, triplets, etc. Ever. Same reason. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/39 "2004-05-07T19:16:02Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Too bad, because despite the backlash you’ll hear, it was a genuinely first-rate show, one of the best sitcoms of all time. It went out at just the right time. It was just not a closing episode on par with some other classics. Just out of curiosity, what do you (and everyone else) consider the classic closing epiodes? I’m guessing MASH, for starters. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810/40 "2004-05-07T19:16:49Z")
From AP reviewer Frazier Moore: " . . . But at least the world can rest easy knowing Rachel and Ross sealed their heretofore uncertain future as TV’s least-hot couple since, well, Monica and Chandler." [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-start-it-ahem-friends-5-6-or-the-last-one/243810.md?page=3)