# What was so unappealing about Friends? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876 "2004-09-30T17:05:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/41 "2004-10-02T02:15:52Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Actually, I want to change my answer now. Now that I think about it, not only was the show just not funny, but I didn’t like the characters either. They seemed more like _caricatures_ than characters. Well, the thing is, they started as characters and morphed into caricatures. I think Bill Simmons [summed up](http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/040507) the series pretty nicely: > [@](#): > > The first season of “Friends” was the closest anyone ever came to capturing Generation X on TV. The characters discussed misunderstandings from “Three’s Company,” made jokes about “Joanie Loves Chachi,” even hummed the theme from “The Odd Couple.” They were constantly fending off nitpicking parents and nosy neighbors. They busted each other’s chops, made constant wisecracks, ripped each other’s latest boyfriends and girlfriends. Some of them had a little money, others were pretty much broke, and there was always tension between the haves and the have-nots. And they were always happiest just sitting around and doing nothing. > [@](#): > > The first sign of trouble happened at the start of Season Two, when Rachel realized that Ross was in love with her, planned on reciprocating … and he came back from China with an astonishingly average-looking new girlfriend. So Rachel spent a few episodes pining for him – which was outrageous, since she could have had anybody, but she was settling for this horse-faced doofus – and he was too dumb to notice. When he finally realized what happened, we had an old-fashioned love triangle on our hands, which Ross attempted to solve – with the help of his buddies – by making a pro-con list, which Rachel somehow stumbled across. Eventually they ended up together. > [@](#): > > So that started the downfall. Suddenly Ross and Rachel were doing oogly-googly stuff, Rachel wasn’t working in the coffee shop, Joey was getting acting jobs, Chandler was banging out one-liners like Shecky Greene, everyone had money … these were becoming people I couldn’t identify with anymore. > [@](#): > > To everyone’s eternal horror, “Friends” had evolved into a Chick Show (the dreaded cousin to the Chick Flick). Episodes revolved around Ross and Rachel’s on-again/off-again romance, or Monica dating Tom Selleck, or some B-list celebrity making a cameo. Meanwhile, Matthew Perry was losing weight at warp speed and taking all the comedy with him. Suddenly, male characters were confessing “I love you” while the studio audience went bonkers – just a room full of females shrieking in delight, like one of those Oprah episodes where Oprah gives away blenders to the entire audience. When Ross and Rachel started having problems and bickering for entire episodes, that was it for me. What was this, the Lifetime Network? ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/42 "2004-10-02T15:38:33Z")
A lot of the series revolved around Rachel and Monica wearing body-hugging knit shirts in a 40-degree apartment. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/43 "2004-10-02T15:51:27Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > A lot of the series revolved around Rachel and Monica wearing body-hugging knit shirts in a 40-degree apartment. Or Monica wearing a fatsuit, one of the most jaded, offensive, non-funny comedy shortcuts known to man. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/44 "2004-10-02T16:29:26Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > A lot of the series revolved around Rachel and Monica wearing body-hugging knit shirts in a 40-degree apartment. did it make them look hot? (no not in the temperature sense) ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/45 "2004-10-02T18:52:06Z")
Friends didn’t appeal to me because it was a rip-off of one of my most beloved TV programs: _Living Single_. LS, featuring an all-black cast, was canceled after five years while Friends was allowed to continue forever. And yet I believe LS was the superior product, go figure. I could watch LS reruns till Kingdom Come. Can’t say I’ve ever watched a Friends rerun willingly, and I probably never will. The theme song is a HUGE turnoff, for one thing. It gets my gag reflex going like nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/46 "2004-10-03T01:11:59Z")
I hardly ever saw anything clever on a Friends episode. The Simpsons had the presence of mind to mock its use of catchphrases, but it seemed that the Friends writers thought that “Could it BE any more \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_” was hysterical. It wasn’t very clever the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/47 "2004-10-03T02:54:45Z")
> [@Ryan\_Liam](#): > > did it make them look hot? (no not in the temperature sense) Yes re: Anniston, but the underlying network manipulation was just too much. The girls were on display everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/48 "2004-10-03T03:14:00Z")
> [@TeaElle](#): > > Or Monica wearing a fatsuit, one of the most jaded, offensive, non-funny comedy shortcuts known to man. Yes, that was always painful. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/49 "2004-10-03T03:22:53Z")
> [@Judith Prietht](#): > > I recall some folks being upset that the cast and show didn’t offer a diverse representation of life in New York, but then again neither did Seinfeld, really. Minority characters–with several prominent exceptions like Charlie and Ross’s Chinese girlfriend–were pretty much shunted to the side, narratively. I think it represents the Upper East Side accurately enough. It was a funny enough show, but like all sitcoms it became incestuous. The fatal flaw of all sitocms or shows like the OC or 90210 is the fact that no romance can last longer than the three or four episodes a guest star will appear on. That works with Joey or the commitmentphobic Sienfield cast, but unless you want to introduce a brand new character permenantly or make your characters perpetually single, at some point they must date each other to have a long term relationship. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/50 "2004-10-03T11:55:28Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > Yes re: Anniston, but the underlying network manipulation was just too much. The girls were on display everywhere. Actually, I beg to differ. The girls were not on display enough. 95% of the reason that I watched was to see what Jennifer Aniston was wearing. Far too often, nothing special. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/51 "2004-10-03T13:35:50Z")
Asking someone “why do you hate Friends?” seems a bit like asking someone “Why do you hate the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard?” Or “Why are loud cell phone conversations on the subway bothersome?” Or maybe “Why does Carrot Top make your skin crawl?” Bad is bad. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/52 "2004-10-03T14:19:58Z")
Except, of course, the things you mentioned, **Loopydude** , are disliked by most people. Friends wasn’t, which is what makes it interesting that some people disliked it. Lots of good reasons given here, but I have to agree with **RickJay** , too: Anything that is popular gets people who hate it simply because it is popular. The opposite is true, too: Anything that is popular gets people who love it simply because it is popular. Aren’t people fun? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/53 "2004-10-03T14:28:22Z")
Y’know, I never disliked it because it was popular; to me it lacked appeal from the 1st episode on. I would have asked “What is _appealing_ about Friends?” I thought Jennifer Aniston was way hot, but as soon as her character began speaking, I wanted to turn off the sound. I guess it’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/54 "2004-10-03T19:26:10Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Y’know, I never disliked it because it was popular; to me it lacked appeal from the 1st episode on. I would have asked “What is _appealing_ about Friends?” I thought Jennifer Aniston was way hot, but as soon as her character began speaking, I wanted to turn off the sound. > > I guess it’s just me. I felt the same way about Seinfeld. Never got it, never understood why others thought it was so funny. But I never ask people to explain what makes something funny. You can’t explain humor. ---
**Author:** ![International\_Playboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/48db29/32.png) [@International\_Playboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/International_Playboy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/55 "2004-10-04T13:41:34Z")
I enjoyed Friends up until the time Ross was getting married in England and accidentally said Rachael’s name at the altar instead of his fiancee’s. That’s when it jumped the shark for me. I never did care much for Ross, thought he was a weenie of the grandest scale. And though I enjoyed looking at Jennifer Aniston, Rachael became as annoying as Ross to me after the wedding fiasco with the on again, off again romance. The only characters that were really funny to me were Joey and Chandler when they shared an apartment. As a previous poster mentioned, they were no longer as funny after Chandler moved in with Monica. I stopped watching Friends for Survivor, only catching Friends on an occasional rerun. I did make it a point to see the final episode and like others, felt it was a mediocre ending. ---
**Author:** ![jeevmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@jeevmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeevmon)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/56 "2004-10-04T15:11:39Z")
I enjoyed the first few seasons of “Friends,” and I think my enjoyment started declining right around the time that Ross stopped being Charlie Brown and was given a bewildering array of psychoses and neuroses whenever the writers needed a third storyline to fill out an episode. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876/57 "2004-10-04T15:26:46Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > Lots of good reasons given here, but I have to agree with **RickJay** , too: Anything that is popular gets people who hate it simply because it is popular. I seriously don’t think that’s true to a large extent with _Friends_. I like a bunch of popular TV shows, past and present, but _Friends_ was just cringeworthy. But it’s not like I spent any spare time watching it for the purpose of hating it; I would just see it if people I was with were watching it. It would have been more interesting if the writers went through with [some of the episodes they talked about doing](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0423041friends1.html). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-unappealing-about-friends/266876.md?page=2)