Nellise

Ok thanks. I found a site that lists the timelines and it's definitely wonky with Ross and Carol (and with how old Ross is in general), http://friends.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline "1986: Ross and Carol get together, according to The One With The Flashback. He says they've been together for seven years in a flashback that took place in late 1993. 1987: Ross went to college. This doesn't match with his birthday and the fact that he skipped a grade 1988: Ross and Carol meet each other, according to The One With All The Thanksgivings. 1993: Ross and Carol have sex for the last time, where they conceive Ben. 1994: Ross moves out from living with Carol."

I don't think Ross met Carol until after he was in college for at least a year or two. Remember he finished his PhD before the show started and that's 3-4 years at a minumum for most programs and I think they were together 5-6 years(?). For some reason I remember someone saying Ross and Carol were together for 5 years (not sure if that's just the marriage or not), but I can't find anything to confirm that. But Ross definitely had some time in college before he met Carol to do the things that were referred to.

I don't mind that one since it feels mostly like friends goofing around and trying to one-up each other and it got a bit out of hand. The one I really dislike Ross in is the one with the male nanny, Sandy. Yeah, Rachel called him out for being stupid, but he still ended up getting his way, so I'm not really sure what they were trying to do there.

Cities can be diverse, specific neighborhoods within those cities often are not. Here's a demographic map of NYC from 2015: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/08/us/census-race-map.html The black population in the area the show was set is under 2%. Most of the Greenwich Village area is over 80% white and was probably even more so 20 years before that map was made.

I must be missing something, when was Ross being bigoted? Other than him saying it would've been nice to know Carol was gay before they got married (which isn't really homophobia, is it?), he was upset because his wife cheated on him and left him, it just happened to be with a woman. They were together over 5 years and Ross still clearly loved her when they had the episode in the restaurant together so Ross's animosity was losing someone he loved and not about Carol being a lesbian. I think most people wouldn't be happy having to be around their ex and the person the ex cheated with. Ross actually seemed overly accommodating to Carol given what she did to him and the way Susan talked to him. Carol never seemed to apologetic toward him, it was mostly "this is who I really am, sorry not sorry, suck it up Ross."

The only time I can think of that they mentioned a specific weight was when Monica and Ross were talking about wrestling as kids and Ross says something like "that's because you weighed 200 pounds!" as the reason Monica always beat him. Ross was probably exaggerating, but Monica also didn't try to correct him if he was.

Even though Monica was portrayed as being happy while fat, it was acknowledged as issue for her (she was sent to fat camp, and her doctors had apparently said something to her since she was aware of potential heart issues with her size). So for someone with weight issues, even losing 4 lbs is a big deal and really wasn't related to Chandler. It was only after Chandler called her fat she decided to make a drastic change. I think the idea is that young Monica was significantly bigger than they showed, but they were somewhat limited in making Courtney Cox look heavier without also making her look completely ridiculous.

I always thought that's what the joke was: there was no obvious reason for it and that Joanna did it so matter-of-factly. It's sort of the same as the bullying of Jerry/Gerry/Larry/etc on Parks and Rec, there was no reason for it to be so over the top vicious which was why it was funny although a lot of people disliked that too.

I actually don't have much of a problem with Rachel not remembering Chandler except that she's the one that remembered the Thanksgiving where Monica cut off Chandler's toe. It's more that Chandler didn't recognize her in the year before one when he knew she was the one Ross was in love with forever. That sort of breaks their "Bro" code from the college episode. Although, I guess at the time, Ross was married so maybe bro-codes go away then.

David wasn't supposed to be working at the LHC, he was just in some lab doing other research. You can still do subatomic research on equipment much less powerful than the LHC. The LHC is just for super high end cutting edge stuff that needs a ton of energy. It's also near Geneva, Switzerland which might be a place Phoebe would like to go so that wouldn't work for keeping them apart. Phoebe's joke was just that David would be free to come back if Joey managed to finish David's research for him. Other than David, what was Russian related? One reason David was sent there is that it's an old USSR city and can be thought of as a place they'd be doing atomic research (unlike say Venezuela), and Minsk is far enough away and not as easily accessible as maybe Moscow or St. Petersburg (or some other European city) where Phoebe might actually want to visit .

He did get his teeth fixed between seasons 4 and 5, but season 7 (the season after they're engaged) is when it's really obvious he's not right. He lost a ton of weight between 6 and 7 and his mannerisms in especially the early season 7 episodes are really weird. He can't smile properly, he moves his head around a lot every time he talks, and even his speech is a bit off. I think we must be watching the same episodes at the same time :). There's actually a really funny small moment right after Rachel says that and after the girl leaves. As she turns to go into her office, she makes a wtf face knowing what she said made no sense.

I think mostly that happened when it was something unexpected that happened that the audience liked. The audience was generally for any Ross+Rachel so that always got a positive response. I think in Friends most of the audience reactions were pretty genuine, like there's the blooper where the audience hates a joke and Matthew Perry even comments on it. It's not like Married...With Children where the audience is practically another cast member.

I feel stupider for having read that (the article, not your post).

Watching season 4/5 again I noticed there are 2 times there that characters break from Ross yelling. When Ross yells at the stripper in Chandler's office about the ring, you can see Joey break and try to hide behind Ross but they cut to a different take and Joey is back standing normally behind him. And I think it's when Ross yells "I don't care about the stupid band!" that Rachel starts laughing and they do a quick cut again. I just found it interesting those 2 happen within a few episodes of each other and aside from bagpipes scene there aren't really any others where they visibly break that couldn't be thought of as the character doing it too. Like Rachel laughing when Frank Jr. yells about his sister having his babies can be understood as Rachel actually laughing at that and not Jennifer Aniston being surprised (it was unplanned that he'd say it like that).

I think it's the way it's setup that causes a bit of confusion. Janice asks the group if any of them had ever almost hooked up, so a sort of "what might have happened premise", and when it comes back from the title it goes into the flashback. Other than the Rachel fantasy bit at the end, I think it's supposed to have actually happened. Although it sort of doesn't fit with the other flashback episodes that neither Rachel nor Chandler recognize the other one.

I do a complete rewatch, but I start slowing down toward the end of season 6. The first 5 seasons I tend to watch a few episodes at a time, then after season 6 I'll watch an episode maybe every few days. It sort of works nicely since that way it gives enough time for me to not get sick of the first 5 seasons by watching them too often. The only episodes I really don't like watching are the ones in the last season where Rachel has the haircut where her hair is covering her eyes most of the time. I have an irrational hatred for that haircut. Jennifer Aniston still looks good when she pulls her hair back in those episodes so it's definitely just the haircut that bugs me.

Everybody making fun of Joey when his date is punching him is pretty hard to watch.

It did lead to one of Ross's best lines: "In a way, I judge her for not breaking up with me sooner." I like when the characters would realize they were the ones being crazy and own it. Also, Rachel's "Yeah, well, that oughta do it" when she opens the door in the wedding dress.

But Monica seems to be. She was caught trying to film herself with Chandler ("I'm Monica. I'm disgusting. I stalk guys and keep their underpants."). I could see Richard going along with it just because it's something Monica wanted to do.

I don't know that she got turned into a raging bitch. At that point in the show Monica had started becoming the pretty insufferable version of the later seasons so I could understand someone who didn't know her not liking her at all. And Chandler was always noted as someone it took time to get to know and like. I also understand it wasn't an option for Joey to give them up for someone he just met. I think Janine was sort of rightly annoyed that they were the cause of her and Joey not working out and would force her to move.

I hated this episode. I don't want to watch "bad" tv even if it's done on purpose (I can't stand the Good Neighbor SNL sketches). The previous episodes were great and this ground things to a halt and added Justine parent drama as a capper just to make me dislike it even more.

Robert Carlock was a writer/producer on Friends too, so it's not like there's any excuse for it.

This was probably the best of the first 6 episodes, which isn't saying much. For every one joke that lands there are about 10 that don't this season. And I still think they've made a mistake turning Lillian into a main character. She worked much better as someone with a weird comment now and then. That whole "I know you know..." was a poor imitation of the Friends' version and went on forever.

Most of those people listed I think would've been terrible except for a few: I think Tea Leoni could have been a good Rachel, and Craig Bierko could have possibly done Chandler (but I think he's kinda got the crazy eyes so not sure how long that would've worked for). I wonder if they ever considered Snaro for Ross. He looked and sounded just like him.

I think they did a really great job of casting people in the non-romantic or stunt-casted roles outside of the main 6: the director from Joey's play, Isaac from the copy place, Eddie, all of the parents, Chandler's boss Doug, the waiters at the restaurants they'd go to, and all of the various work people they ran into.