Is it me or t he only friends character who seems real and not annoyin

[Trekker4747]

Re: Is it me or t he only friends character who seems real and not ann

"Joey" would've been so much more awesome with Chandler in it, er... providing the dropped Monica and the kids.

 

[Hermiod]

Re: Is it me or t he only friends character who seems real and not ann

Pff. Rachel was by far the least annoying character, and probably not coincidentally also the one who grew up and developed the most during the course of the show, followed by Chandler. While she could still be superficial and vain, she was a hell of a lot more mature than Ross by the end.

Maturity has little to do with whether or not someone is annoying.

Aniston moaned her character a better job so she could wear more glamourous clothes on the show.

What did said job entail ? Who knows ? She has a standard over-designed TV career-woman office that's completely impractical for actually doing any work, designed by someone who has clearly never worked in one and filled with so much "stuff" that there's no room for that most essential modern office tool - a computer. Ralph Lauren runs on paper memos and handwritten documents, does it ?

The job that nobody can quite explain might have been funny if they hadn't already done that with Chandler.

Well, whatever she does for a living she must have been good at it since Louis Vitton were willing to move her to Paris, pay for her daycare and pay for Ross to visit his daughter whenever he wanted. Not only that, but her previous employers were even willing to take her back when she decided not to go.

That's why she's annoying. At least there was some semblance of reality to the others.

 

[Jenee]

Re: Is it me or t he only friends character who seems real and not ann

Hermiod. It's a television program. It's entertainment. It's fantasy.

deep breath ... in with the good, .... out with the bad ...

No, that's not Rachels, nor Aniston's fault. It's the fault of the writers.

 

[Gojirob]

Re: Is it me or t he only friends character who seems real and not ann

Pff. Rachel was by far the least annoying character, and probably not coincidentally also the one who grew up and developed the most during the course of the show, followed by Chandler. While she could still be superficial and vain, she was a hell of a lot more mature than Ross by the end.

Monica became hyper-obsessive, controlling and shrill. Joey's intelligence dropped to that of a brain-damaged toddler. Ross turned into an insanely jealous borderline psychotic. Phoebe ended up as a mean-spirited, spiteful bitch. Even Chandler wound up somehow more emasculated and wimpy than he was at the start. Only Rachel came out of the gradual character assassinations in a better position than she began, if only because of her low initial baseline as the spoiled, vapid, naive one.

I still love the show and find it funny, but in hindsight it's a textbook example of what happens to characters when the writers gradually expand their 'popular quirks' to become their entire personalities, because they know it's an easy way to guarantee a laugh. "Okay, we just ended a fairly emotional scene. Should we cap it with a gag by having Chandler say something sarcastic, or Joey saying something stupid?"

Just like on 'Married' when Al, who always had bad luck, used to have the occasional horrible luck, and then the rare nuclear bad luck. In later seasons, the nuclear bad luck became the norm, while hyper-nuclear was seen on occasion. Geez, he's a loser. Point gotten. Missed in all that was the bad luck making the rounds of the characters-a lot more funny, IMHO.

Then take Joe on 'Wings'. They took that 'long-suffering' thing so far, he became an unlikeable doormat. I mean, with all the women Brian had literally and figuratively screwed, its Joe who gets the stalker no one believes in and he gets taunted about. Thankfully, in the very last seasons, the writers must have caught on and toned it down a bit.

If it weren't for its legendary finale and Dick Loudon's surreal uber-vengeance on the people of of that town, I might mention 'Newhart' as well.

'Find the obvious trait and magnify to the Nth' can make for some lousy TV writing and lousier viewing.

 

[Hermiod]

Re: Is it me or t he only friends character who seems real and not ann

Hermiod. It's a television program. It's entertainment. It's fantasy.

deep breath ... in with the good, .... out with the bad ...

No, that's not Rachels, nor Aniston's fault. It's the fault of the writers.

I'd suggest it's the fault of everyone who contributed to the character - writers, directors and the actress.

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: Is it me or t he only friends character who seems real and not ann

Pff. Rachel was by far the least annoying character, and probably not coincidentally also the one who grew up and developed the most during the course of the show, followed by Chandler. While she could still be superficial and vain, she was a hell of a lot more mature than Ross by the end.

Maturity has little to do with whether or not someone is annoying.

Aniston moaned her character a better job so she could wear more glamourous clothes on the show.

What did said job entail ? Who knows ? She has a standard over-designed TV career-woman office that's completely impractical for actually doing any work, designed by someone who has clearly never worked in one and filled with so much "stuff" that there's no room for that most essential modern office tool - a computer. Ralph Lauren runs on paper memos and handwritten documents, does it ?

The job that nobody can quite explain might have been funny if they hadn't already done that with Chandler.

Well, whatever she does for a living she must have been good at it since Louis Vitton were willing to move her to Paris, pay for her daycare and pay for Ross to visit his daughter whenever he wanted. Not only that, but her previous employers were even willing to take her back when she decided not to go.

That's why she's annoying. At least there was some semblance of reality to the others.

And illeglaily subletleting it or not, Monica could never afford that apartment of hers.

 

[payndz201]

Re: Is it me or t he only friends character who seems real and not ann

And illeglaily subletleting it or not, Monica could never afford that apartment of hers.

I once went on the Friends set, and Monica's apartment wasn't actually all that big in reality - it just looks it because the cameras are shooting ten feet back from where the fourth wall would be. (Incidentally, Central Perk was absolutely minuscule. It looks much larger on screen because it's an odd shape that gives it a forced-perspective effect.)

At its absolute maximum - and like Central Perk, it's a weird shape, so most of its dimensions are a lot less - Monica's living room is roughly 25' by 18'. If I knocked my living room and kitchen into one, it wouldn't be far off that size, and I live in a fairly small flat.

Admittedly, I don't live in Manhattan, so I have no idea what the going rate for an apartment that size would be now...

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: Is it me or t he only friends character who seems real and not ann

Well it depends on how we want to compare the size of her apartment. As you said, saw and are aware they build the sets in a "trapazoidal" shape to make them seem bigger than they really are, to give a "depth effect" on a 2-D TV.

So, is Monica's apartment as big as it looks on TV or is it as big as it is in "reality" with the trapazoidal shape.