MovieChat Forums > Friends (1994) Discussion > What was so great about the show? It was...

What was so great about the show? It was an escape, what?

posted 7 years ago by thecritic (191)
16 replies | jump to latest

I mean I know the 90's were happy times, up economy, tech boom. But NO WAY IN HELL could these handful of people could live in NEW YORK in an apt. THAT BIG when most of them were seemingly unemployed/idiots.

Ross - teacher?
ross sister - cook?
chandler - office work
pheobe - musician/bum
joey - 'actor'
jennifer aniston charachter - fantasy girl that had dream jobs so the audience can vicariously live through her LOL

I mean these days people with decent jobs live in like closet time apartments. Just the the whole show was sill and juvenile. Even at a younger age I did not like it. Just found it stupid.

[–] tollyfan33 (71) 7 years ago

they lived in rent control apartment

[–] Michael_essien (54) 7 years ago

It was mentioned a few times that monica inherited the flat from her grandmother ( I think?) and because of rent control, it was pretty cheap given how nice it was

[–] Johanesse (431) 6 years ago

Well, to answer the show; What was so great about the show was it's overall good quality. It was engaging, funny and genuninely enjoyable. It had good characters and it had a catchy theme song.

[–] BillySlater (4097) 6 years ago

Monica, Rachel were the only ones who lived in the big apartment for a long period of time. Its been mentioned that it was rent controlled. 2ndly, Monica´s parents were wealthy and could have helped her out when she struggled for work. Same with Rachel when she was "just a waitress". Joey and Chandler´s apartment was small. It was made clear that Chandler never lacked money since he would often loan money to Joey. Joey also had money when he was working on Days of our lives.
Phoebe was a masseuse and was probably the least realistic out of all of them to live in her own apartment. I do remember her sharing with Rachel at one point though.

[–] Aphrodite (110) 6 years ago

Actually, Phoebe moved in with her grandmother, and when her grandmother died I assumed she inherited the apartment. After her grandmother died she often referred to it as her grandmother’s place.

And it was a similar situation with Monica. Her apartment actually belonged to her grandmother, which Monica illegally sublet when her grandmother moved away.

Good point about Chandler and Joey’s place. Chandler never did seem to struggle for cash, and would often lend people money. No doubt he paid most of the rent, and Joey just paid what he could when he had acting jobs. Plus the whole rent control thing, along with Monica, which I’m sure made rent pretty low. Also, it sounded like Chandler had substantial money saved up, as Monica said that his savings would pay for her dream wedding. Considering her parents were able to buy a vacation home with Monica’s wedding fund, it sounds like Chandler had a fairly decent amount of money saved. He also seemed to have no issue spending $8,000 for Monica’s engagement ring.

Sorry, I just recently bought the complete series and I’ve been doing marathon viewings. I’m on season 8 right now.

[–] BillySlater (4097) 6 years ago

Its funny sitcoms are supposed to be the most unrealistic shows on TV, and this is why the OP found the show stupid, because it wasnt realistic. Some people are way too pedantic. Curious to know Aphro, what seasons do you think are best?

[–] Aphrodite (110) 6 years ago

I just finished watching all 10 seasons, and my god has Monica become a colossal bitch! Couldn’t stand her by the end. In fact, I think after her and Chandler got together she got 10 times worse as a character. Super controlling, very neurotic, constantly screaming and just so over the top crazy. Ross was annoying and kind of a prick, but at least he was funny. Phoebe was a lot meaner than I remember her being when I first watched the show. She was still aloof and ditzy and nice, but there were quite a few episodes where she just came off as mean and not such a good friend. Joey got dumber, Chandler kind of became the punching bag and Rachel got a bit dumber too. I still enjoyed Joey, Rachel and Chandler though.

I think the best seasons are definitely the earlier ones. Monica wasn’t as annoying, Phoebe was still quirky and Joey wasn’t so dumb. The realism from the show is obviously lacking, for sure. They hardly ever seemed to be at work, they were constantly at the coffee house, Rachel went from waitress to fashion exec hella quick, and Monica’s apartment was pretty ridiculous. I mean even with rent control, Rachel was still a coffee house waitress and Monica was a low-level chef. Yet they showed Monica as one of the “rich” friends who could afford going to fancy restaurants. Low-level chefs don’t make that much money. Ross and Chandler I could understand, they both had decent jobs. But no way did Monica have that much money coming in. But with any show, you need to give up on some realism. Friends isn’t the first show to have the characters living unrealistic lifestyles, and I doubt they’ll be the last.

Sex and the City is another show that was completely unrealistic with the character’s living arrangements and lifestyles. No way in hell could a sometimes blogger make enough money to not only have an apartment like Carrie’s, but also have enough money to buy $500+ heels whenever she saw a pair she liked. Ridiculous.

[–] BillySlater (4097) 6 years ago

Agree about Monica. She just became way too controlling of Chandler and over the top annoying after they got together, and then he became a huge pushover. They kind of retconned his character too in one of the later episodes where he supposedly hates sports and football despite having a history of being a big sports fan with Joey in the early years.

[–] Aphrodite (110) 6 years ago

Monica was just so unbareable, and Chandler really did become a pushover. I literally could not stand Monica at all by the end. She was just so aggressive, controlling and just mean. And it bothered me how she kept bringing up Richard too, and right in front of Chandler. What the hell was that?

And you’re right, Chandler was a bit sports fan and also just a big nerd too. He loved playing video games with Joey too. He did used to watch sports on tv and go to games too with Joey and sometimes Ross. It’s interesting how I still enjoyed Joey, Rachel and Chandler, and even sometimes Ross too. Monica was just the worst, and Phoebe seemed to lose everything that was unique about her. Sure she still had her quirks, but she became so bland and “normal” halfway through the show. I didn’t like how mean she was at times too. I always remembered Phoebe as being the ditzy, aloof girl who was nice to everyone. She seemed so different with the second viewing all these years later.

[–] artguylarry (498) 6 years ago

It's usually been my opinion that when the "guy gets the girl" he's been chasing, the show's level of humor seems to tank. That's where the laughs are. We enjoy the cat & mouse chase. It happened with Ross & Rachel and Monica & Chandler in Friends, Fran & Max in the Nanny, Niles & Daphne in Frasier, We don't want to see the guy get the girl. We want to see him stumble over himself trying to get her.

Sorry, went off topic.

[–] Hans-Wilhelm (1320) 6 years ago

It just worked.

I liked all the characters and found them fun and funny.
The writing was good, I really liked the story lines and the actors themselves just made these characters work and make me like them.

Overall it was very funny. To this day I chuckle at certain lines from Joey or Chandler or Ross.

Joey "IN LONDON" or "stupid closet full of bugs" or "Joey doesn't share food"

Chandler "Joey's got a really bad hernia but that's nothing a little laser eye surgery won't fix"
"WHAA-PAH!" "I'm not great with the advice can I interest you in a sarcastic comment"
Ross "PIV-OT" "I'm the Holiday Armadillo"

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

The show was solid and it was also in the right place at the right time. It's one of those unfortunate pop culture items that suffers from reverse nostalgia where loads of people will claim it was awful even though many probably occasionally (or routinely) watched and enjoyed it back in the day.

[–] sut6432 (2832) 6 years ago

What was so great about the show?

Well, it was funny. There. Hope that answers your question.

[–] Freakflag1 (125) 6 years ago

Ross and Monica came from a wealthy family, it seems. Their parents might have helped them out some, or gave them a nice chunk of cash for graduations or something to put in their savings in case of emergencies.

Monica was using her grandmothers rent controlled apartment. Plus, Monica was shown to be frugal and cautious. She might couponed and been really good with saving money in other areas.

Chandler was also from a wealthy family. His mother was a huge, famous author. He probably had a nice chunk of change from her or access to money if he needed it. Plus, he did seem to have a good job in an office setting and even moved into a supervising position.

Ross was shown to be intelligent and had a job teaching and also did work at a museum. I'm sure he made pretty good money.

Phoebe was used to bumming and going with the flow..working odd jobs. She lived with her grandmother and her bills were probably low. We do see her become a masseuse so she probably made decent money and got tips as well.

Joey just seemed to live off Chandler a lot, borrowing money and bumming. He did get some good acting gigs but blew his money. If he hadn't had chandler, he wouldn't have been able to make it on his own. Plus, he'd often help himself to Monica's food and her apartment..so he just kind of bummed around.

Rachel was also from a wealthy family. It's shown that she tries to live without her families money, so I always thought she refused money from them. She worked as a waitress making very little..her check probably barely covered her half of rent. She probably depended on Monica to pay most of the bills and provide food, etc. when she magically got that fancy fashion job I'm sure she was able to contribute more because she was making more.

Out of all of them, joey and Rachel were the ones who would not have been able to live that lifestyle on their own..and maybe Phoebe, but phoebe did work As a masseuse.

[–] AP (5258) 6 years ago

but phoebe did work As a masseuse.

I recall one episode where it was revealed she moonlights at a fancy spa for cash, so I imagine she was well paid for that. She also sold the song Smelly Cat and appeared in a video, so I'm sure they carried her for a while.

[–] John Kyle (647) 6 years ago

Pretty women and tits with nipples showing