> Usually sitcoms die because the writers find one aspect of a character’s personality and exaggerate it and harp on it until the character becomes a caricature. _Friends_ may have gotten there in the end, but its strength was that the good middle years filled in the unformed characters they started with until they felt like real people you wanted to spend time with. _M_A_S_H \*went the same route with the same success until the last couple of lame seasons. _Big Bang Theory_ is similar. It’s in the bad last years now so everybody knocks it, but in another decade or two those will be forgotten.
Apparently “Friends” was not content to just phone it in for the last years; they taped in front of a live audience, and if they didn’t get enough laughs, they stopped taping and went to re-writes until the audience laughed enough.
> [@EllisDee](#):
>
> I think you were 10 years younger than their target audience. It was pretty squarely aimed at twenty-somethings.
>
> EDIT: That clip linked upthread about the condom PSA is funny as all get-out. That really stands up, and makes me nostalgic for the show.
I agree. At 47 now, I recall watching it in first run and my friends and I agreeing with the theme song - we were broke, our jobs were jokes, and our love lives were indeed D.O.A.
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### Author:  [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-about-friends/699269/45 "2014-09-27T04:50:42Z")
I think you’re all forgetting: Chandler was a transponster!
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-about-friends/699269/46 "2014-09-27T11:58:05Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#):
>
> Apparently “Friends” was not content to just phone it in for the last years; they taped in front of a live audience, and if they didn’t get enough laughs, they stopped taping and went to re-writes until the audience laughed enough.
For the exception that proves the rule, the response was IIRC overwhelming when Monica’s older-man boyfriend was revealed as _Magnum-Frickin’-PI_, to the point of necessitating a reshoot of Tom Selleck’s entrance minus the audience.
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### Author:  [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-about-friends/699269/47 "2014-09-29T02:05:40Z")
> [@etv78](#):
>
> I think you’re all forgetting: Chandler was a transponster!
That’s Miss Chanandler Bong to you! 🙂
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### Author:  [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-about-friends/699269/48 "2014-09-29T17:06:42Z")
Friends was a very competent, enjoyable show. I wasn’t really in to it at the height of its popularity, but that was largely because of my “mainstream pop culture is stupid!” attitude at that age.
What’s really interesting to me, though, is that it’s something of a cultural phenomenon in China these days, I understand. It’s very popular for learning English and there are even a couple cafes meticulously modeled after the one from the show. The lifestyle depicted in the show apparently holds a lot of appeal to many younger Chinese. I’m not quite sure how to feel about it, but I suppose I can certainly think of worse cultural exports.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-about-friends/699269/49 "2014-09-29T21:05:33Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> For the exception that proves the rule, the response was IIRC overwhelming when Monica’s older-man boyfriend was revealed as _Magnum-Frickin’-PI_, to the point of necessitating a reshoot of Tom Selleck’s entrance minus the audience.
I was just watching one of the Tom Selleck episodes the other day!
A couple of things immediately stood out as a product of the 90s:
- Phoebe’s boyfriend of the week carried a quarter in his sock so he could use the public payphone.
-Joey’s maroon oversized boxy Henley\* style long sleeve T-shirt looked exactly like the one I just found in the back of my closet and sent off with my in-laws to sell at their yard sale.
-
_a style of t-shirt consisting of several useless buttons in the front right below the collar that was frequently sold by J Crew, LL Bean, Eddie Bauer, Gap, American Outfitters and other popular “outdoorsy” retail stores in the 90s._
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### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-about-friends/699269/50 "2014-09-29T21:46:05Z")
Henley shirts have been quite popular for a few years now.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-about-friends/699269/51 "2014-10-01T00:26:44Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> \
> A couple of things immediately stood out as a product of the 90s:
>
> - Phoebe’s boyfriend of the week carried a quarter in his sock so he could use the public payphone.\
I think Friends basically spanned the time when cellphone became very popular. They started out not using them, if I recall correctly, then everyone had one all the time by the end.
One of the things that really struck _me_ about the series was the pants - holy crow, those were some high-waisted pants, on the boys and the girls!
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