User reviews

I know what I am getting when I watch this show. Sometimes it can be extremely funny, sometimes it can be predictable and boring. The stories and relationships tend to become more absurd as the seasons go on. It's O.K.

To this day, the worldwide success of Friends is still a bit of a mystery to me.

Sure, the show has its moments, but nothing that groundbreaking or laughing-out-loud funny that would have justified all the accolades.

Friends was a very ambivalent show: it had the pretense of being believable, while still relying, and heavily so, on the same old Sticom 101 material.

The characters were supposed to be oh so modern and new, but in the end they all fell into a stereotype, as the show was devolving into a comedy-soap. Whatever development the characters had, it was either short-lived, flimsy or a "Flanderization" (ie. comical and unrealistic exaggeration of a specific trait that wasn't so dominant earlier on).

The core of the show, the infamous Ross+Rachel love story stopped being interesting after the equally infamous "we were on a break!" debacle. Both changed their mind and heart at the drop of a hat, which seriously harmed the empathy. Long, drawn-out relationships work only if at least one half of the couple is genuinely suffering about the breakup or about being turned down. Both Ross and Rachel instead acted like 8th graders all along, being over each other and not over each other with no rhyme or reason.

It almost felt like them getting back together was the writers' Haily Mary pass... "We're out of ideas... Let's get Ross and Rachel share a kiss, or have a baby!"

The "happy ending" feels more like a token send-off to tie some loose ends, but it's really just another knee-jerk reaction of two adults who clearly can't put their act together.

The same lack of development hits Joey as well. Despite him being the least objectionable human being of the lot, if you're willing to gloss over his tactless approach to dating, he goes from being a suave ladies' man to a childlike moron who's more or less his married friends baby. His aborted love story with Rachel could have been a much better finale, given he was indeed showing a softer side. But, alas, it had to be Ross+Rachel.

Monica and Chandler shared a tragicomically traumatic childhood that left them scarred, so them finding each other made sense and, with all the exaggerated personality quirks (Monica is a control freak, Chandler is socially inept) they're the most believable characters in the end.

Phoebe can be fun on small doses, but she's clearly having mental issues, so shoehorning her into married life, albeit while still retaining her out-there personality, felt forced.

That's the most annoying side of the show: for all the hype and all the great reviews, Friends was just another sit-com, with plenty of forced drama. The innovative love story between a cute girl and a dork is still sold as a top feature, but I maintain it wasn't that great.

Oh well, at least the show has aged horribly, so the chances of it still being perceived as one of the best of all time are getting smaller. Nostalgia will still keep it going strong, but to those who loved it so much back then I ask... watch it again and see if it was worth all the praise.

Unfortunately friends is not my favorite show anymore. I started watching it recently after years of not even seeing a single episode and I just didn't find it as funny from the beginning. My favorite shows of all time right now are Seinfeld, the office, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Barry, and curb your enthusiasm. These shoes have made me laugh so hard and the writing just seems incredible at times. But then I watched friends because I had an HBO max subscription recently and decided to watch one of my favorite seasons which is season five. I don't know how to explain it but it just didn't seem very comical. I still love the characters and I don't think any of them are a bad actors in anyway and I don't even think that the writing is bad...there was just something about the type of humor that I'm just not used to anymore. I try to think that back in the day when friends was on live television I definitely would have been a fan who waited for the next episode to air and got ready to watch it with excitement. And that's pretty much the only thing I can imagine to try and keep myself from disliking the show. For now I'm just going to say it's just not the best anymore. Sorry! I will still have this show up there in maybe the top 20 just because it really did have great entertainment for viewers at the time of watching it while airing. Anyways, Thank you "Friends" for what you have done in the entertainment industry, but there are new shows out there that are better. Thanks for reading. -Sina

Series that despite the fame left me indifferent. I didn't find anything particularly memorable or funny in it and many of the jokes didn't even seem as funny to me as they should have.

To me, Friends will always be a show about dishonest people, one that would be completely without drama or intrigue if there wasn't always some sort of conspiracy or unnecessary lie keeping them from making any real progress. And yet, the constant sabotage keeps you interested, waiting to find out what happens next. This show and I have always wrestled with each other. It's not particularly well written or even well shot, with all kinds of strange camera, audio-sync, and editing errors that are frankly impressive for a show of this caliber. I fall in love with the characters, and then they totally violate my understanding of them. It's intriguing, yet infuriating. This show was groundbreaking, and it's beloved worldwide. But, I just can't quite get there. I respect this show, and I often enjoy it, but the tug-of-war is ongoing. Therefore, 7: good, but only passing.

Its comparable with Seinfeld has great jokes but not really memorable they just live on how overrated they are and how die hard there fans are about these mediocre sitcoms but Seinfeld has the titular Jerry Seinfeld And George Costanza they're great they play off each other better than anyone in Friends. Friends is decent it has at least one good joke per episode Joey and Chandler are great Monica is alight and Pheobe is iconic but the show focuses on the insufferable Ross and Rachel so much it ruins almost half the show. If you want light fun that isn't too cringey like the office and doesn't have too much weight watch Seinfeld. Friends is overrated, cringey and worst of all absolutely worst of all it has Ross and Rachel's scattered in every episode meaning there's hardly any episodes that are entirely good. Will and grace, fresh prince these similar sitcoms are a bit better and aren't full of Ross and Rachel.

It surely is the most overrated show of all time. It has its moments and I laughed a few times, but I really do not get all that hype. And that drama with Ross and Rachel... unbearable. "The Big Bang theory" and "How I met your mother" are way better.

Recently I was reading reviews about the the show "How I met your mother" and about 80 % of the reviewers who didn't like HIMYM were comparing with Friends: some writing that HIMYM was a copy of Friends, some writing that Friends was 100 times better,etc.Friends and HIMYM are two different shows. Fruiends is a linear story,while HIMYM is a more complicated line of story with a lot of flashbacks. I have enjoyed some episodes of Friends and specially when other actors o actresses were playing a role (Bruce Willis, Tom Selleck, Isabella Rossinnelli for example), but also some other episodes were boring. Also some reviewwers mention that the team of Friends wanted to surpass the record of Steinfeld (another quite different comedy) and therefore the episodes became repetitive and boring !!

Friends is funny but vastly overrated. ------------------------------ The show cotton candy for your brain, you don't feel emotions when watching friends... You just sit, and laugh at the silly jokes that aren't often that good. The characters are average at best and arguably there's only two funny characters. It's a pity that this overrated TV series is above Suits, Mad Men, Archer, and South Park, and shares a list with Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and House of Cards. Friends being so highly rated on IMDb kind of makes me loose hope in humanity. It's completely fine if you watch this and you enjoy it, but don't rate it as highly as other TV masterpieces.

This is a very fun series and I enjoyed watching but I feel like this series is a bit overrated.

It took me 2 seasons to just start liking it. Still i find some episodes boring. Im in 3rd season. I found How i met your mother better than friends.

Friends has some undoubtedly funny moments and was well cast. The guest appearances were fun and the storylines mostly worked. I found Ross to be an unbearably annoying character, not very funny and whiny. Monica and Phoebe were hilarious and loved their characters.

I started watching friends as a teenager and i thoroughly enjoyed it. However, my opinion changed as i grew older.

Friends is entertaining when you're bored and need a quick fix of comedy, one liner after one liner and the funny Chandler Bing (by far the best character) but the adolescent ways of the show made it hard to bare as i got older. Suddenly 20 and 30 something's were still acting like teenagers (when we'd all grown up)and everything was so superficial, always about dating, hair and this 'perfect' group friendship that rarely exists in real life.

The character Phoebe is unfunny and it's annoying that we have to suffer such dumb characters over and over again. Ross was a well drawn character, Joey wasn't and Monica and Rachel were OK but shout and squeal just a little too much.

After about series five or six, i stopped watching as plots involving Monica baking cakes got tedious and the on/off relationship between Ross and Rachel grew extremely boring.

Watch this if you like a quick laugh but go for the early 'good' series, when the characters had not all slept with each other yet.

I can't say words words can describe this Series is so great the characters Joey , Chandler Monica , Ross , Rachel is so so so great

A very average show, I remember loving it at the age of 10-12, but then on a rewatch a realised the flaws. Yo be honest it's not that funny, the jokes are not clever abd are lazy. I watched drew gooden doing a video about laugh tracks, did you know five minutes of the show is just cannned laughter and no talking.

I appreciate the fans and once was a fan.

The most baseline of its kind. and some of the best chemestry i've seen. some timeless comedy, but some jokes are rehashed a little too much. i cant really care too much about the drama, so there is not much that keeps me interested. watched s1 and feel like i've seen enough.

6/10: pretty good but not really for me

It is a fun thing to look back on and it set some stuff up for future sitcoms. This show often is either a hit or a miss often more misses because of the laugh track. Some jokes are funny but its also from the 90s and things can change overnight but overall i still very much enjoy this show chandler and joey obviously the best characters.

The current promo for the upcoming season almost brought me to tears. Already publicizing this as the last season (as if we all hadn't already heard), the net is creating nostalgia that will guarantee strong viewership throughout the 2003-2004 season. It will be a sadder day than the time we lost Seinfeld, or Mad About You (for the earlier seasons, not the last one). It's rare that a sitcom can have this kind of longevity without ever losing it's audience. Especially when everyone assumed that the "baby curse" would be the signal of the show's demise. Friends has reinvented and reinvigorated itself numerous times, and Thursdays will never be the same.

Dont get me wrong, i like this show. But then, it most certainly is not the best show ever. There are some equally good, if not better sitcoms out there who don't get enough recognition. Although the comedy is quite funny, overall there is no storyline and the episodes get monotoned, unrealistic and quite frankly, boring. Again, its a great show, i agree but there are definitely way better shows ou there ike himym or the office. And to all those who say that himym is a rip off of friends, friends is not the first of it's kind either. But again, this is one show that everyone has to watch sometime in their life so go ahead!!