Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[Minneapple]

16 hours ago, Camille said:

Wouldn't it make more sense--and save more time--to have just one day a month to celebrate everyone born that month? That's how every workplace I've been in has done it.

Probably. But, at this particular office it was just one guy who insisted on doing the cakes. He would sometimes drag other people it (like when he was on vacation, he'd email others to let them know of the upcoming office birthdays). I mean it's not the worst thing, I guess. Just amusing in light of the Seinfeld episode.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 7/12/2019 at 12:37 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

I couldn't stand Seinfeld.    I only saw a few episodes, but none of them were funny. 

I also didn't like it until I understood that the audience was not supposed to find the four main characters likeable.  Then I found it very funny.   They are relentlessly selfish and awful, even when being kind would solve a problem and make their lives more comfortable.   In general I usually feel more sympathy for their enemies - my sympathies were entirely with the Soup Nazi, for example, especially having gotten soup from the actual restaurant and seeing how people would wait in a line surrounded by easily available detailed menus, both paper and posted, and not decide what to get until they got up to the register - when they'd start to ask if there was seafood in the seafood bisque, etc.   Are you fucking kidding me???  Bite me!  No soup for you!

[Shannon L.]

56 minutes ago, ratgirlagogo said:

I also didn't like it until I understood that the audience was not supposed to find the four main characters likeable.  Then I found it very funny.   They are relentlessly selfish and awful, even when being kind would solve a problem and make their lives more comfortable.   In general I usually feel more sympathy for their enemies - my sympathies were entirely with the Soup Nazi, for example, especially having gotten soup from the actual restaurant and seeing how people would wait in a line surrounded by easily available detailed menus, both paper and posted, and not decide what to get until they got up to the register - when they'd start to ask if there was seafood in the seafood bisque, etc.   Are you fucking kidding me???  Bite me!  No soup for you!

Omg.... I work in concessions at a movie theater with a fairly extensive menu.  There are paper menus in line and a huge posted one and I can't not even begin to tell you how many families/groups walk up and then start looking at the menu and asking each other what they want!  I have to clench my teeth to not say anything.

The only saw a handful of episodes of Seinfeld.  It wasn't really my thing.  But, I did like Master of My Domain. There was another one that took place at a beach house that I was enjoying until the moment that George slipped lobster into the Jewish girl's food (ex-girlfriend who ended up there at the same time, maybe?).  At least he said he did, but even if he didn't I thought it was really nasty of him to say it.  Before that, though, there was some amusing stuff happening.

[Bastet]

4 minutes ago, Shannon L. said:

There was another one that took place at a beach house that I was enjoying until the moment that George slipped lobster into the Jewish girl's food (ex-girlfriend who ended up there at the same time, maybe?). 

No, she was Jerry's girlfriend, and she had walked into George's room by mistake while he was taking his swim trunks off - after a swim in a cold pool, so there was shrinkage.  She told George's girlfriend, with whom he had not yet had sex, about his small penis, and the girlfriend came up with some sudden thing she had to do back in the city and split. 

[Shannon L.]

3 minutes ago, Bastet said:

No, she was Jerry's girlfriend, and she had walked into George's room by mistake while he was taking his swim trunks off - after a swim in a cold pool, so there was shrinkage.  She told George's girlfriend, with whom he had not yet had sex, about his small penis, and the girlfriend came up with some sudden thing she had to do back in the city and split. 

That's right!  I remember now.  It was the conversation about shrinkage, their insistence that women were aware of it only to have Elaine respond "It shrinks?!" that had me rolling.  That ending, though, not so much.

[Bastet]

Just now, Shannon L. said:

It was the conversation about shrinkage, their insistence that women were aware of it only to have Elaine respond "It shrinks?!" that had me rolling. 

It shrinks?
Like a frightened turtle.
Why does it shrink?
It just does.
I don't know how you guys walk around with those things.

I love Seinfeld, and have to chuckle at "I thought I was the only one who hated it" posts, because every time "I hate Seinfeld" is posted as a UO, a slew of people join in to agree.  Based on ratings and its extensive syndication run, it must have more fans than detractors, but it certainly has its share of the latter.

The wildly popular sitcom I could never get into in the slightest was Cheers, so I definitely relate to the "Um, I'm not seeing whatever all you people are seeing" reaction to something that gets a ton of positive attention and still gets referenced many years later.

[Danny Franks]

On ‎7‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 2:42 PM, Shannon L. said:

Agreed.  In fact, I think it's Noah Schnapp (Will) who is the best of all of them.  He was especially underrated last season.

If all things were equal, Schnapp would be the breakout child star, at least of the four boys. He's shown so much range and power, for such a young actor. But Finn Wolfhard seems to have the industry machinery behind him, every bit as much as Millie Bobby Brown does. I find him to be the least convincing of the four boys, as they get older. There's something very artificial and 'perform-y' about the way he plays Mike.

[DearEvette]

3 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

If all things were equal, Schnapp would be the breakout child star, at least of the four boys. He's shown so much range and power, for such a young actor.

Totally agree.  Season 2 he blew me away.  I think it is a shame he didn't get as much to do this season.

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

also didn't like it until I understood that the audience was not supposed to find the four main characters likeable. 

I wonder if a lot of viewers took a while to warm up to the show for this^ reason.

[DoctorAtomic]

I didn't watch much Seinfeld because I was in college at the time and we all lived with a lot of people so there wasn't too much TV time. 

I read a great article after the show ended though that kind of explained that the network hated the show because the main characters weren't supposed to be likeable and that the jokes weren't typical sitcom 'open setup punchline' which is why they forced in a laugh track. 

The ending within that context is exactly then what should have happened. 

[MargeGunderson]

14 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I didn't watch much Seinfeld because I was in college at the time and we all lived with a lot of people so there wasn't too much TV time. 

I read a great article after the show ended though that kind of explained that the network hated the show because the main characters weren't supposed to be likeable and that the jokes weren't typical sitcom 'open setup punchline' which is why they forced in a laugh track. 

The ending within that context is exactly then what should have happened. 

I loved the finale. Unrepentant assholes to the end.

[Ambrosefolly]

On 6/8/2019 at 2:48 AM, Joe Hellandback said:

1. Dawn is the best thing to ever happen to Buffy, both the character and the series. 

.......

6.  Alexandra Paul (Lt. Stephanie) was the best Baywatch girl.  

7. Kate Jackson was the sexiest Charlie's Angel.

While I wouldn't go that far about Dawn being the best thing to happen to Buffy, but I never hated her and didn't mind that she was a "bratty" teenager. The vast majority of teenagers are annoying;it is almost their default setting. (And as so one mentioned, Dawn quickly had every reason to be bratty: she found out she was a key and her life was a lie, her mother died, all while being hunted hell goddess) But she also was willing to sacrifice herself without a moment of thought when the hell dimension opened. It is why I wasn't bothered by Mike's behavior last season, or even this season of Stranger Things. Yeah he was kind of a jerk to Hopper and what he said to Will during their argument was a bit insensitive, but he is a young teenager in the throws of first love (a love that Finn has the play with more intensity than most actors have to) and he went back to Will's house to beg for his forgiveness in the rain. I know a kid the same age as Mike that had to be put in a mental hospital because of a bad reaction to breaking up with his first girlfriend. There is always a lot of "should ofs" that we tend to put on teenagers, even if they later try to correct past behavior of their own conscious. Teenagers don't act that way, a lot of adults don't act that way. We tend to do the wrong thing initial and think better of those things later.

I also thought it was a huge amount of fan service that 

Spoiler

Eleven went off to live with the Byers after Hopper died.  While I think she is friendly Joyce and Joyce is very motherly, she has a maternal biological family that offered her a home and a room last season and her mother's name is still on the birth certificate.

Alexandra Paul was one of the few actors, male or female, that made a remotely believable lifeguard. 

Same with Kate Jackson playing a detective. 

Edited July 15, 2019 by Ambrosefolly

[selkie]

3 hours ago, Ambrosefolly said:

Alexandra Paul was one of the few actors, male or female, that made a remotely believable lifeguard. 

Same with Kate Jackson playing a detective. 

Paul apparently grew up a swimmer, got into triathlons as an adult and  finished Ironman Hawaii before knee problems meant she had to largely give up running. So yeah, she had the right physique to be an ocean lifeguard. 

[PepSinger]

UO: I’m enjoying this season of Big Little Lies.

[bmasters9]

Another unpopular opinion of mine: between the two great crime dramas of the 70s that were filmed in their namesake locations (O-R Jack Lord Five-O on CBS, and The Streets of San Francisco on ABC), even though Five-O lasted longer than Streets (12 seasons' worth for the CBS show, spanning the end of one decade [the 60s], all of the next [the 70s], and the beginning of a third [the 80s], as opposed to the 5-year run of Streets on ABC [1972-77]), I personally believe that Streets is the far better show of the two, because that one hardly ever got boring, and never dragged-- it was action-packed week in and week out, and Karl Malden, Michael Douglas and Richard Hatch (not to leave out, all the many and varied guest stars) helped to make it so (and the all-in-one DVD release of Streets is one of the best values I've ever had in a television disc release).

With Five-O, on the other hand, as I said in another thread long ago, I had to stop a long time ago after 2/3 of the run, because I wasn't planning on putting money down on the latter third (albeit I did get the 12th and final go [1979-80] as a curiosity piece), based on what I heard about how bad the latter third of the run got (of course, maybe I'm wrong; after all, everyone is welcome to his/her own opinion).

Edited July 22, 2019 by bmasters9

[Joe Hellandback]

Oh and in my Xexer theory note that Joxer's descendent in The Xena Scrolls is actually into Xena's descendent, not Gabby's. 

Plus the first few seasons of Seinfeld are very weak and not worth bothering about. 

Edited July 16, 2019 by Joe Hellandback

[ratgirlagogo]

On 7/15/2019 at 5:40 PM, bmasters9 said:

Another unpopular opinion of mine: between the two great crime dramas of the 70s that were filmed in their namesake locations (O-R Jack Lord Five-O on CBS, and The Streets of San Francisco on ABC),

I would pick The Rockford Files or Columbo as superior to either.  Unless I'm not understanding your location criterion?

[bmasters9]

2 minutes ago, ratgirlagogo said:

I would pick The Rockford Files or Columbo as superior to either.  Unless I'm not understanding your location criterion?

What I mean by that is that Five-O and The Streets of San Francisco were actually filmed in the places that they were named for, whereas Rockford and Columbo were filmed on Universal's backlots, IINM-- does that explain it?

[ratgirlagogo]

7 minutes ago, bmasters9 said:

 Rockford and Columbo were filmed on Universal's backlots

I know they were in part, especially for the internal scenes, but for the outdoors stuff so much of both was filmed all over Los Angeles.  

[bmasters9]

10 minutes ago, ratgirlagogo said:

I know they were in part, especially for the internal scenes, but for the outdoors stuff so much of both was filmed all over Los Angeles.  

Did not know that! I thought that when a Universal series was filmed on backlots, that was that.

[Blergh]

Here's an old UO from 21 Jump Street: I have to say I've never understood why Johnny Depp became the breakout star and NOT Peter DeLuise. I always thought he was more interesting and talented than Mr. Depp. 

[Katy M]

22 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Here's an old UO from 21 Jump Street: I have to say I've never understood why Johnny Depp became the breakout star and NOT Peter DeLuise. I always thought he was more interesting and talented than Mr. Depp. 

I literally saw 2 episodes of 21 Jump Street and Peter Deluise is who jumped out at me, also.  Although with only 2 episodes, I don't have much of a sampling.

[DoctorAtomic]

iirc 21 Jump Street was one of the more diverse casts on tv at the time. 

[topanga]

2 hours ago, Blergh said:

Here's an old UO from 21 Jump Street: I have to say I've never understood why Johnny Depp became the breakout star and NOT Peter DeLuise. I always thought he was more interesting and talented than Mr. Depp. 

I always liked DeLuise better. also. But Depp had that "cute and angsty bad boy" look going for him. 

[MaryPatShelby]

On 6/26/2019 at 8:34 PM, kiddo82 said:

I also think, even in this day and age, there is still a place for syndication.  Who among us hasn't rekindled a love with an old favorite because it just happened to be on while we were channel surfing?  Or hasn't stumbled upon something he or she might never have purposely sought out?  Who hasn't lost the better part of a Sunday to friggin 6 hours of SVU before prying him/herself off the couch?  (anyone?  Okay, maybe that last one is just me).  But that's the beauty of TV that you don't have to sift through.  It just happens to be there at the right time.

The bolding is mine, because so much this.  If there hadn't been syndication, I would never have watched Designing Women, The Nanny, New Adventures of Old Christine, or The Middle, all of which are right up there on my list of favorite sitcoms of all time (The Nanny, I'm sure, being the most U of UOs!).  Then there's Still Standing, Something So Right, Reba, Yes Dear, Frasier, Scrubs....the list goes on; all sitcoms I've only seen in syndication and that I still will watch any time they're on.  Hey, no one ever called me discerning!!!

[proserpina65]

Not entirely sure this is an unpopular opinion, but since I have seen positive mentions of the show, here goes:

I didn't get to see From Earth to the Moon when it originally ran because I didn't have HBO at the time, but I probably would've loved it then.  Now, however, after weeks of watching actual NASA footage, particularly of the various Apollo missions, I have to say I was greatly underwhelmed.  Some of the casting was great, some not so much, although none of the acting was bad, exactly, but reenactments, no matter how well done, couldn't begin to live up to the real thing.

I have to admit there were three episodes, though, which did impress me: the one dealing with the Apollo 1 investigation, the one about the wives (although the book The Astronaut Wives Club covered the ground better), and the one about the development of the Lunar Module.  That one, surprisingly, made me tear up at the end; I guess it was how much the men involved in the project were emotionally invested in its success.

[Miss Dee]

I am watching Friends episodes on Netflix before going to sleep. Just rewatched the Season 3 finale, and: 1) Rachel was an asshole for manipulating Bonnie into shaving her head, but 2) she still did Bonnie a favour because Ross was an asshole about it too.

[Chas411]

They were assholes but “you can see the moonlight bouncing off her head” still always makes me laugh.

I always think the two of them deserved each other but I always found Rachel to be the more selfish of the two. As controlling as Ross I thought he was at least consistent in wanting to be with Rachel. Rachel on the other hand didn’t want him half the time yet didn’t want anyone else to have him either.

[Katy M]

12 minutes ago, Miss Dee said:

I am watching Friends episodes on Netflix before going to sleep. Just rewatched the Season 3 finale, and: 1) Rachel was an asshole for manipulating Bonnie into shaving her head, but 2) she still did Bonnie a favour because Ross was an asshole about it too.

1. Bonnie had shaved her head previously and said she was thinking about doing it again.  Yeah, Rachel gave her a nudge, but Bonnie in no way did it against her will.  But, if your point was that Rachel encouraged her out of selfish bad motives, I agree.  The funny thing is, though, who would want a boyfriend that would break up with someone because of something superficial?  That's clearly what she was hoping for.

2. He was a jerk about it, but not quite as much as may get taken away from the fact that he broke up with her.  He did not come in, see her, and immediately dump her.  No, he clearly didn't like the way it looked, but that's OK. I'm a firm believer that you can hate your significant other's haircut, or think they've put on too much weight and still love them.  He broke up with Bonnie because Rachel said she wanted him back.  Bonnie and Ross had only been out a few times, or something.  They didn't have some deep commitment.  He would have broken up with her once he found out Rachel was willing whether she had shaved her head or not.

11 minutes ago, Chas411 said:

I always think the two of them deserved each other but I always found Rachel to be the more selfish of the two. As controlling as Ross I thought he was at least consistent in wanting to be with Rachel. Rachel on the other hand didn’t want him half the time yet didn’t want anyone else to have him either.

Yes, Rachel was horrid.  She would wait until he was in a relationship and then try to break them up.  I guess I'm mostly thinking about Emily.  But even so, when he came back with Julie, she should have just been honest with him instead of being all manipulative and passive-aggressive.

[Chas411]

Yeah I hated what a bitch she was to Julie. I also hate hate HATE that the show vilified Emily in order to show us how important Rachel was To Ross.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Ross and Rachel were both horrible (Ross moreso, IMO), and you know what I've realized? It's just as well they ended up together, so no one else would have to suffer being in a relationship with them!!

I like to think Julie and Russ had the greatest romance of all time, or that Emily lived a Jane Austen-style love story, while Ross and Rachel basically ended up like the Lockhorns.

[Katy M]

37 minutes ago, Chas411 said:

Yeah I hated what a bitch she was to Julie. I also hate hate HATE that the show vilified Emily in order to show us how important Rachel was To Ross.

I know.  Like we're supposed to think it's unreasonable that Emily demands that Ross cuts out the woman whose name he said instead of hers at their wedding.  What a clunky sentence.  I would have done the same thing.  actually I would have stopped the wedding then and there, but that's beside the point.  And then when she calls a year later to see about getting back together, everybody is like "NO!  Don't you remember how horrible she was?  She ruined your life."  Um, not so much.  OK, demanding Ross move and get rid of anything Rachel ever touched was over-the-top.  I won't try to deny that.  But, she was the one giving up everything else.  She was leaving her country, her family (although that doesn't seem to be that much of a sacrifice), her job, and coming to a country to be with her husband who said the wrong name at her wedding.  Come on. In no way can Emily be seen as the monster in this story.  The monster is Ross.  Even Rachel realized she made a mistake and decided not to attempt to break up the wedding.

22 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

or that Emily lived a Jane Austen-style love story

Wouldn't it be awesome if Emily somehow ended up with Mark.  And Ross found out, of course, otherwise it wouldn't much matter.  Actually it would be kind of funny it all of their exes paired off somehow. Mona and that guy from Rachel's office that I couldn't stand.  Elizabeth and Tag. 

[FormerMod-a1]

I always thought Ross and Rachael brought out the worst in each other.  I never understood why so many people wanted them together.

[AntiBeeSpray]

5 minutes ago, aquarian1 said:

I always thought Ross and Rachael brought out the worst in each other.  I never understood why so many people wanted them together.

I could hug this post. I couldn't see why so many people wanted them together either.

[Wiendish Fitch]

1 minute ago, AntiBeeSpray said:

I could hug this post. I couldn't see why so many people wanted them together either.

Right?! Nothing in common, always sniping at each other, actively sabotaging each other's relationships with other people, treating every mistake or obstacle like the end of the fucking world, basically behaving like selfish, spoiled adolescents, what is the appeal?!

[Irlandesa]

It's interesting because not liking Ross and Rachel is one of those popular unpopular opinions.

In the scheme of the general public, not liking them might be considered 'unpopular' but online, it sometimes feels like the complete opposite. 

So my unpopular opinion is that I did like them.   I hated that they were on and off for 10 years because that was just lazy writing but I liked their chemistry and their soapy twists

Other opinion....I never got into Chandler and Monica.  I felt more for Monica and Richard and even Monica and Pete than Monica and Chandler.

[DkNNy79]

5 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

It's interesting because not liking Ross and Rachel is one of those popular unpopular opinions.

In the scheme of the general public, not liking them might be considered 'unpopular' but online, it sometimes feels like the complete opposite. 

So my unpopular opinion is that I did like them.   I hated that they were on and off for 10 years because that was just lazy writing but I liked their chemistry and their soapy twists

Other opinion....I never got into Chandler and Monica.  I felt more for Monica and Richard and even Monica and Pete than Monica and Chandler.

I liked early Ross and Rachel, but once they broke up they should've stayed broken up.

I agree wholeheartedly about Chandler and Monica.  I always only saw them as friends.  

[Miss Dee]

I was happy with M&C, but I gotta tell ya: I was waaaay more into Pete this go around. I'd have followed Jon Favreau around like a puppy.

[Katy M]

I love Monica and Chandler.  I was shipping them before they were a couple (or before I knew the word shipping as anything but having to do cargo).

[Dr.OO7]

7 hours ago, Katy M said:

But even so, when he came back with Julie, she should have just been honest with him instead of being all manipulative and passive-aggressive.

Or kept her mouth shut and learned to get over it.

I absolutely hated that, and how we were supposed to root for her in all this. Offering someone crappy advice in the guise of being helpful is despicable. 

"Don't sleep with her! Women love it when you don't sleep with them!"

Edited July 23, 2019 by Camille

[ParadoxLost]

4 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Other opinion....I never got into Chandler and Monica.  I felt more for Monica and Richard and even Monica and Pete than Monica and Chandler.

I think I liked every relationship Monica was ever in.  What I liked most about Chandler and Monica was them hiding it and everyone else finding out.  Beyond that it was mostly that the stayed together and didn't do the Ross / Rachel relationship obstacle course.

[sistermagpie]

34 minutes ago, Camille said:

I absolutely hated that, and how we were supposed to root for her in all this. Offering someone crappy advice in the guise of being helpful is despicable. 

This is making me think of how annoying I found Ross, though. Seems like he had a crush on her in high school and never got over his sense of nerd resentment/entitlement that he was the smart one and she was the shallow cheerleader who overlooked him. Then when she started to have a career he was threatened and constantly interfered with it. It was bad enough when he humiliated her with a singing telegram on her first day, but that ep where she's having an all-night work crisis and he shows up demanding a picnic?

Which points to yet another thing that made them a terrible couple, neither had any respect for the other one's career. Who would want to be with that?

[tribeca]

On 7/12/2019 at 2:49 PM, Camille said:

Wouldn't it make more sense--and save more time--to have just one day a month to celebrate everyone born that month? That's how every workplace I've been in has done it.

No no Jim tried that on The office. He was not a popular guy after that. 

[kiddo82]

9 hours ago, Katy M said:

He was a jerk about it, but not quite as much as may get taken away from the fact that he broke up with her.  He did not come in, see her, and immediately dump her.  No, he clearly didn't like the way it looked, but that's OK. I'm a firm believer that you can hate your significant other's haircut, or think they've put on too much weight and still love them.  He broke up with Bonnie because Rachel said she wanted him back.  Bonnie and Ross had only been out a few times, or something.  They didn't have some deep commitment.  He would have broken up with her once he found out Rachel was willing whether she had shaved her head or not.

You're right that it was more or less an excuse to break up with Bonnie but his initial reaction and behavior was really, really off putting.  I mean, it's okay to not always like the way your significant other looks, nor am I saying that seeing your suddenly bald headed girlfriend can't be jarring, but he was repulsed by her.  I mean, he didn't even want to touch her head because of the...cooties? And it's not like this was his first time meeting this woman.  He knew he was otherwise physically attracted to her (and let's be honest, bald Christine Taylor is still pretty hot) so why be so rude about the whole thing?  He could have just as easily told her the truth that he wasn't over Rachel.  You know what?  Good for Bonnie in the end.  She's way better off.

And yeah, Ross and Rachel were pretty toxic for each other but their fight in the very next episode is classic.  From "You fell 'asleeeeep'?!" to "We are soooooo over"/(fake cry) "FINE BY ME!" to "Don't worry about me falling asleep.  I STILL HAVE YOUR LETTER!" to "It's not that common, it doesn't happen to every guy, and IT IS A BIG DEAL!"  ("I knew it!") 

[Misslindsey]

I did not like Jim and Pam on The Office. I take part of that back. I liked early seasons Jim and Pam, but somewhere during the duration of the show I thought they became so smug and unlikeable.

[Katy M]

7 hours ago, kiddo82 said:

You're right that it was more or less an excuse to break up with Bonnie

But, it really wasn't. Ross and Bonnie were still technically together when he came downstairs to yell at Rachel for "balding his girlfriend."  He broke up with Bonnie to get back together with Rachel, and I'm sure that's what he told her.  No excuse needed.

[Ohwell]

I'm watching a discussion about the Mr. Rogers movie starring Tom Hanks, and I was reminded that I always thought Mr. Rogers was creepy as hell. 

[Shannon L.]

5 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

I'm watching a discussion about the Mr. Rogers movie starring Tom Hanks, and I was reminded that I always thought Mr. Rogers was creepy as hell. 

I saw the documentary about him and like the look of the new movie because he seemed like a great person, but I never cared for his show and thought that his puppets were really creepy, so I tuned out when he went to the Land of Make Believe (is that what it was called?). 

[Winter Rose]

14 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

I think I liked every relationship Monica was ever in.  What I liked most about Chandler and Monica was them hiding it and everyone else finding out.  Beyond that it was mostly that the stayed together and didn't do the Ross / Rachel relationship obstacle course.

The sneaking around is actually the part of Monica and Chandler that I didn't like. It was fine at first but they dragged it on so long and the "they don't know that we know that they know that we know" got so absurd that it was just annoying. I know it's one of the most popular but it's one of my least favorite episodes of the show.

I also think Monica and Chandler were aided by Friends being an ensemble show. There wasn't always the pressure to write them something to do, some episodes could focus on them while others could focus on the other characters. I think that made it easier to make them the stable couple of the show. Although ironically, while I don't dislike the pairing (despite how I might come across), I still preferred both characters as individuals before they got together.

[Bastet]

7 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

so I tuned out when he went to the Land of Make Believe (is that what it was called?). 

Yep.  Or maybe the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

I didn't dislike it, but I really only liked Daniel Striped Tiger -- because he was a cat, and I've loved cats since birth, and, even though I couldn't have articulated this at the time, because he was shy, and so was I.  Although Lady Elaine could be fun, and I liked when she stood up to the king (another aspect of my personality).  So I guess her too.  But I barely remember the others, because the trips to the Land of Make-Believe weren't my jam; by far my favorite part of the show was when he'd use Picture Picture to show the factory tours he took - I loved seeing how things were made.  Even as a kid, I was always more drawn to the real (or at least the realistic fiction).

Edited July 23, 2019 by Bastet