User reviews

I am stunned to discover the amount of fans this show has. Haven't said that Friends was, at best an 'average' sitcom, and not as great as others have made out. Let's face it, if it wasn't for the casting of Courtney Cox Arquette, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston and Matt Le Blanc, then who knows whether this show would've lasted as long as it has done. I very much doubt that. Although as the series progressed, Friends got more progressively predictable, lame and boring that I couldn't care less about the characters- of whom are the most overrated in TV history- or of their plight, nor of who was sleeping with whom. And it went from being funny in the first four seasons to occasionally funny. And even when it had all these A-list Hollywood actors from the movie world, I still didn't bother to tune in. The writing in Friends became stale that I lost interest in this show from the sixth season onwards and as for the ending, well it was predictable to say the least.

What was annoying though was that this lasted for ten seasons, whilst some of my favourite shows lasted for only three, four seasons for instance and were eventually cancelled and taken off the air for good. The show should've came to an immediate halt by the time the cast wanted bigger salaries. In truth, as much as the series waned, it was the show that was bigger than the actors themselves, not the other way round.

When it ended in 2004, I was so relieved to see the back of this sitcom. Now, there is talk of a friends reunion show coming to our TV screens very soon. And yet, I for one will not be looking forward to it whatsoever.

This show is so overrated. I don't get how it is as popular as it is. The humour is just lazy most of the time, and it relies too much on the audience laughter to help the jokes land. A perfect example of what doesn't work about this show is in an episode where Joey is looking for a stage name. Chandler suggests he makes it Joseph Stalin, and Joey doesn't pick up on the joke. If this was a clever show like Modern Family or The Office, Joey would go to the audition and make a fool of himself. There would be clever writing, he would probably say something that would be interpreted wrong because of his name. However, since this is FRIENDS, he comes home to the apartment and says something like "Apparently there already is someone called Joseph Stalin, and murdered a bunch of people". That is the whole joke. That's not clever. That's not even that funny. It is just lazy comedy writing.

The over extended story of six young people looking for love with the right guy or gal was funny for a while, but eventually ran out of steam. It boasted many memorable moments, but also plenty of groaners to go with it, usually in the form of various guest stars who's guest spots were pretty badly exploited and under utilized (like Bruce Willis, Ben Stiller, Alec Baldwin, Jon Lovitz, etc). Billy Crystal & Robin Williams had a fun bit once though, but Tom Selleck was the only guest star to have actually had a respectable character.

When they came up with the Joey/Rachael storyline coupled with Rachael getting pregnant and giving birth to baby Emma, the wheels had most definitely fallen off the wagon.

But then again, that should have been obvious from the 1999 season finale in Las Vegas. The only real highlight of that finale was watching the Rachael dis-robes and walks around naked in her apartment sequence, allowing everyone a look at the then 29 going on 30 Jennifer Aniston bear her 5'5" figure in the dark lit sets of Warner Brothers. The staff clearly spent the last of their talent writing that scene and Rachael's embarrassment at dis-robing herself even though there was no one around to see her naked and her quick adjustment to being naked in her home and the forbidden joy of it.

6 stars out of 10.

Ranking Friends four stars at some point years ago, and I think I was being generous.When the show was on the air I called it three stupid girls, two stupid guys and a rat face. I sort of get the appeal. The viewers of it during the day are today's parents of snowflakes. The dialogue on the show is interchangeable. Stupid people like that. You don't have to concentrate or get confused about the characters. Watch the first couple seasons of Sunny in Philadelphia, if you really want to see how 20-something left wing idiots behave.

Apparently, there are two totally different kinds of human beings... Those who love 'Friends' and those who love 'Seinfeld'... As for me, I've never ever laughed or chuckled or even smiled at any of Friends' 'genial' jokes. And I've tried hard, trust me... On the other hand, watching the Seinfeld show is like tasting a good old wine - it gets better and better with every experience. Indeed, two totally different experiences: on one side 'Friends', a rather shallow and superficial social and sex addictive show; and on the other side 'Seinfeld', an immortal (and so funny !!!...) testimony of our human true self. Irrespective of how many 'smart' gadgets our pockets or homes can bear or hold, just watch Seinfeld and dare acknowledge (sadly or comically, whatever...) what we, humans, really are... PS: Yes, I was a college nerd (some 40+ years ago...) and I totally resent those comparing meaningless "Friends" with Chuck Lorre's Big Bang Theory. No relation at all, NONE.

being born in 1992,i remembered watching friends with my aunt,sister and mother when i was young… I'm in my twenties now, i saw the show was on comedy central and added it to my recordings and within a few weeks i have a collection hundreds of episodes to watch. i watch a couple of episodes everyday and average of one/two laughs every episode (provided by Chandler/Ross/Phoebe) (joey really made me laugh at the "thursday third day" line). i won't bad mouth this show because it is a decent show to watch but as a comedy, the hype and excitement around it is exaggerated. maybe as a guy it doesn't really excite me that much (so much to say the best show ever) most of the story lines are about relationships and happy endings.. its like an escapism. i like the cast, i like the show but it just doesn't have that gutso… i would rate it 7 out of 10 but simply because of its over hyped I'm going to give it a 4.

It's not the worst thing on TV, but nowhere near the best. For everyone who says it's horrible, lighten up. If you watched it more frequently you'd find something you like, and besides there's been much, much worse. As for being the "best sitcom on TV," I'd have to disagree. There's only one really great sitcom- Seinfeld- and everyone who's seen an episode knows it. I'd rather watch a rerun of Seinfeld than a new episode of Friends any day (if they were still making new episodes, of course). However, I'd also rather watch a rerun of Friends over any episode of According to Jim or Yes, Dear. And for everyone who says Jerry was bad in Seinfeld because he almost cracked up in many episodes, that's because the episode was so funny nobody on the set could keep a straight face. Actually, when I see him almost laugh it makes me crack up because I know the joke really IS that funny. Back to the subject at hand, if you want mediocre, go with Friends. It's not that horrible.

I know that this show is still popular and liked worldwide but the jokes are really, really cheesy.

Yes, I had friends who loved Friends. I, however, was not one of them. Whether it's because I found the entire premise to be far fetched and antidotal or because I disliked the characters themselves, I can't be certain. Each of the troupes were shallow and flat no matter how 'good' the actor or actresses were when attempting to breathe life into them. Not unlike other shows which dominated the airwaves, it was not a 'must see' and I found better use of my time. That hasn't changed. Age hasn't improved it. This is still an empty, hallow time waster.

It is rarely comical, often repetitive, and rife with uninteresting characters and annoying laughter cues. It's difficult to fathom how a sitcom as tepid as this is so beloved. Completely overrated. Sparse points for Joey, Chandler, and Phoebe. Innumerable demerits for Rachel, Monica, and Ross, especially. There's not enough positives to glean from this program to deem it watch-worthy.

Ross looks like he is always on the verge of crying, Monica and Chandler are way over the top and not funny. Joey, Rachel and Phoebe are good but I cannot believe this show is/was so popular

Way too overrated, has aged poorly.

All characters are awful.

Storylines aren't interesting, compare the storylines to The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, and there isn't any competition.

I watched 2 episodes (don't know from which season) and the comedy was kinda dumb. I don't understand why this is so popular but maybe I just watched the bad episodes and the rest is great. Might give it another chance but for now I'd rather just keep rewatching the office cause that's a great show.

I always loved watching friends. It makes me laugh everytime at the same jokes it's all fun but today while watching season 8 episode 8 thr is a scene where rose and his girlfriend chatting about a sculpture a statue of our Hindu God Ganesha. Rose and his girlfriend ( Mona ) starts kiss and his girlfriends feet break the statue that scene is so disrespectful towards our culture. I request to Remove it. It hurts our religious sentiments in Hindu religion we worship lord Ganesha first in every prayer by watching his scene where she bymistake knocks the statue down breaks my heart. Really need to think about it. We love friends we love watching it in India everyone loves it even when we wer little we use to watch it on television it is connected to us so much . The meaning of friends is friends who is always thr for each other. Nowadays you won't get true friends but by watching friends u can experience the true meaning of friends also thr are the always and forever. I always loved watching friends. It makes me laugh everytime at the same jokes it's all fun but today while watching season 8 episode 8 thr is a scene where rose and his girlfriend chatting about a sculpture a statue of our Hindu God Ganesha. Rose and his girlfriend ( Mona ) starts kiss and his girlfriends feet break the statue that scene is so disrespectful towards our culture. I request to Remove it. It hurts our religious sentiments in Hindu religion we worship lord Ganesha first in every prayer by watching his scene where she bymistake knocks the statue down breaks my heart. Really need to think about it. We love friends we love watching it in India everyone loves it even when we wer little we use to watch it on television it is connected to us so much . The meaning of friends is friends who is always thr for each other. Nowadays you won't get true friends but by watching friends u can experience the true meaning of friends also thr are the always and forever.