Some of us find FRIENDS an escape during our rough days, while some find it funny. We have cried and laughed at the same time and we all love FRIENDS but the show certainly has its problems.
We all love F.R.I.E.N.D.S! It is considered to be one of the best comedy sitcoms by many. The show mainly focuses on six main characters: Rachel, who is, let’s say The Fashionista; Monica — the one who likes it organized!; Chandler — We all love his sarcasm, after all, Joey — Ah, so lovingly dumb; Phoebe — weird yet funny; and Ross — the intellectual chap. Some of us find this show an escape during our rough days, while some of us find it just fun to watch the show. We have cried and laughed at the same time and we all love FRIENDS but the show certainly has its problems.
The Humour Is Too Obvious
The jokes had extremely poor flavor and the humor is kind of outdated for today. It was a good show for its time but now the humor is too obvious and not very often did this show made me really laugh out loud, although a few jokes made me smile. The sitcom-style laughter in the background on every second line of the show makes or we can say forces the audience to laugh. We should all watch the sitcom again without the background laughter.
No Involvement Of Support Cast
The supporting characters were never too involved in the show throughout, it was always about the six main characters. The whole show revolves around 6 white characters and their lives. I really wanted to see Ross’s firstborn Ben growing up and his mothers. I understand all of them are protagonists but the involvement of support characters helps advance the show/plot and they also move the story forward.
No Character Development
I have not really seen any of the character’s personality development in the show. Right from the beginning Monica was a cleanliness freak and it was continued till the last season, Ross was forever an arrogant and sad character, Joey an Italian dumb stud, Chandler the funny guy from the very first episode (however, the best).
Lack Of Diversity
There were around 75% whites in the USA, 12% black and rest other races in 1995–2000. But we could only see 6 white and straight characters in the show who are somewhere homophobic and sexist. There were minor or unimportant characters of people of color. We can’t only blame the FRIENDS for the lack of representation or diversity, there were many more sitcoms where lack of representation can be seen.
Sometimes, It Got A Bit Annoying Too
At the time I found the characters somewhere a bit annoying. It is a show where six adults are whining about their lives and nobody is actually listening to each other. Let’s start with Joey, Joey's transition of slowly transforming into a dumber character. I have laughed at his stupid jokes a lot but after a point, his dumbness got little monotonous. “Joey speaks french” where Joey is supposed to audition for a role who speaks french and Phoebe tries to teach him but regrets later, Joey constantly burble gibberish. I find it one of the dumbest moments of Joey.
Phoebe getting mad for no reason, she’s a good actor or maybe the best one but her character gets annoying when she keeps getting mad without any reason and proves that she’s a bad friend (but she is funny).
Nothing Is Real
Well, nothing is real in the show, nobody can have the perfect majestic apartment as Monica. Monica is the head chef of a restaurant, Ross a professor and other characters also seem to have certain jobs but still, they all seem to sit around and chill a lot. Phoebe and Joey struggling with their careers but they never seem to care about the bills. It seems like someone else is paying for their lifestyles, lol. And DO (6 characters)THEY EVER GO TO WORK?
The show is full of insensitive dialogues and jokes. They have over and over cracked a lot of sexist statements. For example, Joey’s ad: “female roommate, non-smoker, non-ugly” well that is just one sexist statement. They have also made a lot of fat Monica jokes (remember, someone ate Monica?).
Judy and Jack Geller’s love towards Ross was somewhere unfair towards Monica, firstly because of her body weight and secondly because of her career choice or we can say non-academic profession. I personally hate Ross for getting insecure when his toddler son plays with a barbie and Chandler being paranoid of people thinking he is gay. The show has also shown trans-phobic and homophobic moments but again we can’t blame friends for such sexist, homophobic and transphobic moments, there were may more sitcoms just like FRIENDS.
Gender Stereotyping
Monica has always been in the kitchen, Phoebe a masseuse, Rachel into fashion, this is called gender stereotypes. Not only this but Ross stereotype male jobs by getting mad at Rachel when she hires a male nanny (Ross: what kind of job is that for a man — a nanny?). The male characters have objectified women in many episodes.
But there is a thin line between good and bad and at times catering humor might push you to the other side. Come on, haven’t we ever laughed on a sexist joke before? What can offend us, might make a lot of people laugh and we are no critique. An iconic show like FRIENDS might have a few loops but undeniably has a very special place in our hearts! Because somewhere, we have all laughed because of these six loving characters, sobbed while Ross and Rachel broke up, smiled when Chandler and Monica got married, cheered looking at Phoebe’s triplets, teared up laughing Joey punches Ross and cried when the purple door was shut forever.
Originally published at https://www.fuzia.com.