I remember it starting and getting bored within 3 episodes.
Never got the hype or modern condemnation. It was just another dumb sitcom. Then again, it had Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston in their career spring.
i never found "Friends" funny.
Aniston's seethrough-blouse-nipples were great.. but i could watch a better 90s show with superior seethrough-blouse-nipples on "Married With Children"
You know what’s awesome? You’re so far in the minority on this one it’s hysterical. It’s also hilarious you apparently have the show figured out after watching 3 episodes 30 years ago, when it ran for 10 seasons.
Friends was a great show, and it was hilarious, and it’s still hilarious.
It’s become cool to bash on this show by 2020’s virtue signaling douchebags…which right off the bat should tell you it’s a great show and worth watching.
I'm glad you're into it. It's all yours.
shareI noticed that trend, too; it kinda fascinates me. I think because Friends is such an icon of the '90s and one of the - if not the - biggest shows (certainly sitcoms) of that era, it's almost like a symbolic demolition of the preceding generation's Golden Calf.
When I first watched Friends I thought it was one of the best shows ever and became quite a Friends junky. I still think that it's funny, although I haven't rewatched it in quite some time. With that said, my opinion has mellowed somewhat, especially as I took in other sitcoms. Currently, I think Community (first few seasons), Arrested Development (TV seasons - not Netflix), and The Good Place are some of the best sitcoms I've seen.
Bashing on Friends is "in" right now. I don't really care. I get why people find it bland. It does kinda have that milquetoast thing that most network sitcoms have/had. That said, it's got great cast chemistry and some really good one-liners and scenarios. I remember laughing until my sides hurt at episodes like The One with the Holiday Armadillo and I think the sharp writing in the bottle episode The One Where No One's Ready is really great stuff.
All that said, I get some complaints, and I won't defend the show after season 8-ish (although "Bamboozled" is also hysterically great). Even by 7 (with the Holiday Armadillo!) it was slowing down.
Still, the unearned hatred it's getting is fascinating and almost funny to me. People just like to rip on it. The funniest/dumbest ones are the ones who complain it's "offensive". Get a life.
Oh, and this isn't Friends-specific, but I also hate when people complain about laugh tracks in old shows. Partly because half of the shows they site used live studio audiences (so the laughs are real) and partly because they inevitably use edited videos with the "laugh track" removed as "proof" they aren't funny. The timing is off because they aren't reacting to the laughs! It's just a pet peeve of mine.
I loved this show back then. Haven't watched it in many years. Don't know how it would hold up.
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