Friends 912 - The One With Phoebes Rats (1 Viewer)

[Sam Davatchi]

Season 5 is when the quality began slipping,

Are you sure about season 5? Season 5 is where Chandler and Monica’s hidden relationship started. For me that was the peak of the show.

 

[Michael Martin]

Are you sure about season 5?

Yes. Season 5 definitely had some highlights - TOW Everyone Finds Out, for instance - but it's definitely where characterization began to slip and quality of jokes declined.

For example - TOW All the Resolutions. Ross wears leather pants to his date, then proceeds to idiotically pour every single bathroom substance on his legs. Stupid, lame sitcom cliched jokes based not on character.

And don't even get me started on Ross' hair in later seasons...

 

[Sam Davatchi]

It’s definitely true that at the very beginning. Ross was the shy person who had no success and experience with women and Chandler was the other way. Starting from season 2, they swapped the characters. Ross became the person who dated a lot and Chandler the troubled person with women. They probably changed their characters because of the actors. They found out that it suited them better.

Or you can also explain it, it’s possible. It happens in real life. People change a lot in real life. It’s also refreshing and fun to see them go through different moods and behaviors because of the events that has happened in their lives. It would be very boring if they all stay the same way and do the same things from start to end. Might sound corny but life has of course ups and downs. You are never the same.

 

[Michael Martin]

It happens in real life. People change a lot in real life.

I'm very much for character growth and exploration. However, IMHO, Friends long ago left any connection with realistic character growth.

I understand the shows need time to find their own rhythm, and actors take time to really understand their characters. However, the writers and producers of friends have managed to take Ross, Monica and Rachel and make them nearly unrecognizable.

How many people do you know have changed so much as to be utterly different in the space of 8 years? I am a different person from who I was in 1994, but someone who knew me well 8 years ago would not be at a loss to notice some familiar traits and quirks. For me, Ross (and the rest of the characters) exist now only to spout off the lines given them. Consistent, believable character growth and deepening have been abandoned.