Friends: The Poll

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Child No.2 has become obsessed with watching Friends and as a good parent, of course I spend quality time with her while she does, which means I have watched many more episodes than I ever did first time round. And she wants to know who the best "Friend" was? Well, I'm not that good a parent. So, I hand the decision to you, my internet pals. Just don't vote for Rachel or Ross.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Chandler! 27
Phoebe! 21
Joey! 18
Rachel! 12
Ross! 10
Monica! 2


Not me I'm the Emotional Type (Ned Trifle II), Monday, 5 January 2009 22:51 (fifteen years ago) link

No!

Pain don't hurt. (Pillbox), Monday, 5 January 2009 22:52 (fifteen years ago) link

fuck this show

Phoebe is the least annoying.

redmond, Monday, 5 January 2009 22:53 (fifteen years ago) link

joey

8====D ------ ㋡ (max), Monday, 5 January 2009 22:54 (fifteen years ago) link

HOW YOU DOIN

The boy with the Arab money (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Monday, 5 January 2009 22:55 (fifteen years ago) link

<3 this poll

i went for rachel cuz i'm weird now. loved phoebe tho, and she's a fellow alum. but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

Surmounter, Monday, 5 January 2009 22:56 (fifteen years ago) link

I remember first time round I hated (hated is too strong a word though) Joey. But now he brings the most laughs for sure. Ross, on the other hand, is rarely funny. And a real asshole when Rachel and Joey try to get it together.

Not me I'm the Emotional Type (Ned Trifle II), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link

obviously phoebe

lex pretend, Monday, 5 January 2009 23:06 (fifteen years ago) link

Ross is horrible. Chandler probably least annoying overall, though once Rachel stopped being whiney self-entitlement princess, she was OK as well. Phoebe way too self-consciously wacky on too many occasions and appallingly written, without an actual coherent character at all.

ailsa, Monday, 5 January 2009 23:17 (fifteen years ago) link

Whodini

The Way of the Diamond Spirit (Oilyrags), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:19 (fifteen years ago) link

Chandler.

Monica is the worst. By the later series she had developed into a seriously grating, unattractive character. Ross is just this dopey guy you could probably stand to be around in real life.

chap, Monday, 5 January 2009 23:35 (fifteen years ago) link

Not me, I can't imagine ever wanting to hang around the guy. Caught an old one on E4 the other day where he was in a furniture store telling everyone how many times he'd "done it with her" (Rachel). Also, there was that whole weird thing where it turned out his first kiss was with his sister, ick ick ick. Dude's a grade-A jizzbucket.

ailsa, Monday, 5 January 2009 23:40 (fifteen years ago) link

Rachel least annoying by massive distance, but Joey probably funniest

Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:40 (fifteen years ago) link

For a long time I would have said Chandler, but now I think maybe Ross.

The Resistible Force (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:42 (fifteen years ago) link

Phoebe is the least annoying.

― redmond, Tuesday, January 6, 2009 9:53 AM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

how someone could think this is such a gigantic mystery to me that it kind of reawakens my sense of wonder at the incredible diversity of life on this planet

dugong.jpg (jabba hands), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:43 (fifteen years ago) link

chandler sucks. i shocked myself by voting for joey.

(never watched this while it was on btw, but the reruns they are unavoidable)

Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:43 (fifteen years ago) link

fuck this show

― There was even a brief period when I preferred Sally Forth. (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, January 5, 2009 5:52 PM (51 minutes ago) Bookmark

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Mad Vigorish (Eisbaer), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:44 (fifteen years ago) link

i went about 2-3 years without seeing an episode until recently. good to get some distance.

Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:45 (fifteen years ago) link

I remember saying to one girl that "Friends" was quite interesting in that none of the characters are meant to be sympathetic at all.

She immediately smiled and asked which character I thought she was most like.

I answered "Rachel"

I was right, wasn't I?

Mark G, Monday, 5 January 2009 23:46 (fifteen years ago) link

joey is the least annoying

2009 (latebloomer), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:49 (fifteen years ago) link

one of my fave funny moments is with just Ross, Rachel and Phoebe when they're in UNG's old apartment and he decides to take it but then Rachel and Phoebe prevent him from seeing Chandler and Monica making out from the window by jumping up and down excitedly so much that he ends up joining in. can't find it on youtube tho.

Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:50 (fifteen years ago) link

i hate the living shit out of this show, but when i do get stuck watching it, Chandler is the only one who ever makes me laugh. i like him more in the later episodes when he has trouble w/ smoking and he's starting to get a little chubby.

fwiw (rockapads), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:51 (fifteen years ago) link

I swear to god I was going to start this poll today after seeing an early episode of "Friends" that was actually really funny (I'd forgotten how awesome Phoebe was as a character compared to all of the others). Said episode contained an extended subplot where Phoebe told Ross she didn't believe in evolution that was really, really awesomely resolved.

^likes black girls (HI DERE), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:52 (fifteen years ago) link

(Phoebe and Joey are the most consistently funny.)

^likes black girls (HI DERE), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:53 (fifteen years ago) link

i think they should've all just disowned her for not buying evolution

Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:54 (fifteen years ago) link

Chandler is a funny guy. The only one in the show.

xxp, laughing at or with? Or near?

ledge, Monday, 5 January 2009 23:54 (fifteen years ago) link

The show really found its groove in the middle of the first season, and peaked in the second when Tom Selleck made his appearance. Basically, you can trace the decline of the show in the curious decision to switch Joey's hair from floppy locks to late nineties fade.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 5 January 2009 23:57 (fifteen years ago) link

Joey, because he's adorably dumb and also very cute.

Sara R-C, Monday, 5 January 2009 23:58 (fifteen years ago) link

honestly ross's monkey from the first season had the most charisma out of all of these tools and even he had the god sense to bail.

2009 (latebloomer), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:58 (fifteen years ago) link

god sense

2009 (latebloomer), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:59 (fifteen years ago) link

har

2009 (latebloomer), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:59 (fifteen years ago) link

i think they should've all just disowned her for not buying evolution

Well, the thing was she basically just said it and kept running with it because Ross, as a Man of Science, wouldn't let it go. When she hit him with "scientists used to think the Earth was flat; surely you can admit there is a possibility that evidence later on might prove evolution wrong...?" and he grudgingly agreed, she hit him with "omg how can you just abandon your scientific principles like that; how will you face your colleagues?" and sent him slinking out of the apartment. Then she turned to Rachel and Monica and said, "Well, that was fun!" and continued the conversation re: the main plot point (which I think was their awful downstairs neighbor).

The line where I lost my shit was when Ross presented a bunch of fossil research, to which she said, "Wow, I didn't know all of this. But the interesting question is 'Who put these fossils there?'"

^likes black girls (HI DERE), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 00:00 (fifteen years ago) link

alfred otm, i liked the first 2 seasons, lost interest pretty quickly afterward. i like phoebe, but i'm gonna say rachel because i think jennifer aniston hit the best balance of being funny and actual acting that went beyond bug-eyed reaction shots or courtney cox grimaces. she and lisa kudrow are by far the most talented people on the show, but i think the fact that she was a pretty gifted tv performer has sort of been lost in the endless soap opera of her life (and of course her middling film career).

tipsy mothra, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 00:21 (fifteen years ago) link

ross

cozwn, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 10:43 (fifteen years ago) link

^^ otm

special guest stars mark bronson, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 10:47 (fifteen years ago) link

this show is funny. like stevem, hadn't seen it for aeons but when it's on e4 1) it's funny 2) schwimmer is funny as balls.

special guest stars mark bronson, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 10:50 (fifteen years ago) link

they all became insufferable self-parodies after series four when, or so it seemed, the writing became painfully forced and almost every bit of dialogue was an obvious setup to a punchline.

that being said, like steve I caught a few of the early episodes recently and there were times when it was really good.

umm, chandler. but only for S1&2.

margaret thatcher sex tape (Upt0eleven), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 10:56 (fifteen years ago) link

Phoebe is the least annoying.

This is a misprint?

Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Tom D.), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 10:57 (fifteen years ago) link

they all became insufferable self-parodies after series four when, or so it seemed, the writing became painfully forced and almost every bit of dialogue was an obvious setup to a punchline.

wtf it's sitcom.

you can't get precious about 'friends'. i thought it got funnier as it got more self-parodic tbh.

special guest stars mark bronson, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 10:58 (fifteen years ago) link

wtf it's sitcom.

you can't get precious about 'friends'.

I'm not precious about it, I just think there was a major dip in quality when the show became really successful and, presumably, the writers felt the need to repeat the trick. In the early series they were amusing but, at least moderately, believable characters. Later they were just caricatures and I found the show to be pretty unwatchable.

margaret thatcher sex tape (Upt0eleven), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 11:05 (fifteen years ago) link

first season or two pretty unwatchably unfunny. got way funnier mid to late run

ross or joey but everyone has their share of funny bits which often ends up being down to the acting rather than the characters or lines

conrad, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 11:09 (fifteen years ago) link

Ross is best. I always enjoy Schwimmer's acting, even more so because he runs with the gag even when it makes the character look stupid, when you just know that the others insist on getting the smart line or showing their best side or whatever

Phoebe - totally, totally awful. She was irritating enough as the quirky one, but at some point the writers forgot even about that, and just turned her into a nasty, whining asshole. One time the others arrange a picnic in the park for her, and her reaction is 'The park? That sucks! That's a crap surprise!' She's like that, every bloody line.

*kills self*

Ismael Klata, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 11:43 (fifteen years ago) link

you NEVER run on a barge

conrad, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 11:50 (fifteen years ago) link

"Space Cowboy."

If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 11:56 (fifteen years ago) link

The most irritating thing about Ross is that he doesn't get his comeuppance. Dude does not deserve Rachel at the end no way, sir.

Not me I'm the Emotional Type (Ned Trifle II), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 12:04 (fifteen years ago) link

Rachel and Joey - ahhhhhhh...
Monica and Chandler - meh...
Pheobe and Ross - now you're talking. They could whine together for all eternity.

Not me I'm the Emotional Type (Ned Trifle II), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 12:05 (fifteen years ago) link

rachel's pretty dreadful in her own ways too, ned.

doggy1998: im only only 10 and i listen to music like this (stevie), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 13:44 (fifteen years ago) link

Oh yeah, but I loved the stupid J & R plotline for some reason.

Not me I'm the Emotional Type (Ned Trifle II), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 14:07 (fifteen years ago) link

Joey and Rachel? That was unbearable, talk about running out of plots.

chap, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 14:09 (fifteen years ago) link

Seasons Two and Three were the peak, especially when Tom Selleck played Monica's boyfriend.

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 30 August 2019 18:21 (four years ago) link

The purity of opinion untainted by experience

one sip of milk tells you if it's sour

plus i hate Schwimmer's face

like Twitter Nixon i like Kudrow in the movies

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:33 (four years ago) link

it's fucking Friends and it has that homicidal theme song, fuck it forever

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:37 (four years ago) link

fucking yuppieporn coffeehouse fantasy of NYC

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:38 (four years ago) link

friends is better than f troop morbs

Seany's too Dyche to mention (jim in vancouver), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:38 (four years ago) link

to whom?

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:40 (four years ago) link

it knocks the phil silvers show into a cocked hat

Seany's too Dyche to mention (jim in vancouver), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:40 (four years ago) link

what the f is a f troop even (skateboards away)

McGrief the Crying Dog (Old Lunch), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:43 (four years ago) link

every generation needs a tv show that ruined NYC for good.

Yerac, Friday, 30 August 2019 19:45 (four years ago) link

yeah this show was atrocious, certainly morally much worse than oh say turning a racist war criminal into a cute fake twitter account full of "tellin' it like it is" bullshit

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:54 (four years ago) link

not ruined, made more assholes move here xp

see also S&tC, Girls

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:55 (four years ago) link

"these gen z pussies don't like the retrograde cultural politics of a show written by boomers, this gen z nerd is here to tell you that doesn't matter because the show was lame anyhow"

Seany's too Dyche to mention (jim in vancouver), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:55 (four years ago) link

isn't assholes moving to NY basically what made NYC

Οὖτις, Friday, 30 August 2019 19:56 (four years ago) link

Dutch East India Co were pretty big assholes

president of deluded fruitcakes anonymous (silby), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:58 (four years ago) link

sounding a lil Trumpian there xp

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 30 August 2019 19:59 (four years ago) link

xpost ha! I thought during my post about a poll of Friends, s&tC and Girls ruining nyc but I don't make polls.

Yerac, Friday, 30 August 2019 19:59 (four years ago) link

I have a friend that used to get very very upset about the show Felicity ruining nyc.

Yerac, Friday, 30 August 2019 20:00 (four years ago) link

I already did a poll for shows about young women "making it" in NYC, having trouble finding it tho

Οὖτις, Friday, 30 August 2019 20:06 (four years ago) link

ok, not a poll but here it is TV Shows about single ladies living in NYC

Οὖτις, Friday, 30 August 2019 20:08 (four years ago) link

I think Chris Noth has given interviews where he gets all grumbly about s&tc ruining nyc.

Yerac, Friday, 30 August 2019 20:11 (four years ago) link

the idea that friends was some level of awful but seinfeld is worth shit is a venn diagram i could ignore all day

theRZA the JZA and the NDB (darraghmac), Friday, 30 August 2019 22:43 (four years ago) link

your opinion on seinfeld is worth similar to morb's on friends tho.

Seany's too Dyche to mention (jim in vancouver), Friday, 30 August 2019 22:44 (four years ago) link

ive tried with seinfeld, i really have

hes ok in cars getting coffee, i mean i dig the unashamed asshole thing

theRZA the JZA and the NDB (darraghmac), Friday, 30 August 2019 22:47 (four years ago) link

boring show

brimstead, Friday, 30 August 2019 22:49 (four years ago) link

larry storch is still living

brimstead, Friday, 30 August 2019 22:50 (four years ago) link

I remember seeing a feature on Entertainment Tonight back in the day about the upcoming season of new 'Seinfeld clones', including Friends. The next year, they ran basically the same story about 'Friends clones'.

a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 30 August 2019 22:51 (four years ago) link

think I agree with darraghmac

also, hard to believe any of these shows ruined NY

Dan S, Friday, 30 August 2019 22:56 (four years ago) link

sitcoms don't ever really feel like they're in the city they're supposed to be in and are generally filmed elsewhere afaict

Seany's too Dyche to mention (jim in vancouver), Friday, 30 August 2019 22:57 (four years ago) link

it's mostly S&tC that gets the ruined ny treatment. xpost

Yerac, Friday, 30 August 2019 23:03 (four years ago) link

I liked Seinfeld a lot. Friends was always mindless entertainment that I never understood the popularity or appeal of the actors. I have no desire to rewatch either.

Yerac, Friday, 30 August 2019 23:05 (four years ago) link

S&tC and Girls did seem to show NY in a way that the earlier sitcoms didn't

Dan S, Friday, 30 August 2019 23:07 (four years ago) link

also Broad City

Dan S, Friday, 30 August 2019 23:08 (four years ago) link

i am sure there are tons of articles written about s&tC but it did encourage the popularity of boozy brunches, overpriced cupcake chains, move to nyc so it can be your very homogenous dream mall etc. etc.

Yerac, Friday, 30 August 2019 23:11 (four years ago) link

Lol, Seinfeld knocks Friends out a the weigh in and Friends is so shook it never bothers showing at the match.

And I think Seinfeld has dated rather poorly in some respects.

Mazzy Tsar (PBKR), Friday, 30 August 2019 23:12 (four years ago) link

Neither Seinfeld nor Friends takes place in NYC. Both are located in a dream world that exists nowhere on earth, inhabited by characters who are more homunculi than humans. You may as well say that Plautus 'ruined Rome' as that either one of these phantasms 'ruined NYC'.

A is for (Aimless), Friday, 30 August 2019 23:29 (four years ago) link

I can't even explain why I found Friends far less insufferable than Seinfeld, on which it was ostensibly based.

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 30 August 2019 23:31 (four years ago) link

Friends beat Seinfeld at its own game; it truly is a show about nothing

calstars, Friday, 30 August 2019 23:40 (four years ago) link

S&tC and Girls did seem to show NY in a way that the earlier sitcoms didn't

Friends and Seinfeld were filmed in Los Angeles

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Friday, 30 August 2019 23:48 (four years ago) link

xpost Seinfeld is never in the running for ruining nyc. No white trustfund kid ever moved to nyc because of seinfeld.

Yerac, Friday, 30 August 2019 23:48 (four years ago) link

this is a great time to bring up morbs' ny stand up career.

Yerac, Friday, 30 August 2019 23:49 (four years ago) link

morbs moved to ny because of i love lucy

Seany's too Dyche to mention (jim in vancouver), Friday, 30 August 2019 23:55 (four years ago) link

Good! As Jerry usta say, "One in a row."

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 31 August 2019 00:04 (four years ago) link

however even as a kid I knew the Lucy apartment address (623 E 68 St) would be in the middle of the fucking East River.

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 31 August 2019 00:14 (four years ago) link

Welcome Back Kotter ushered in the great sweathog migration to Brooklyn.

Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Saturday, 31 August 2019 00:21 (four years ago) link

ed norton inspired a generation of youngsters to become sewer workers

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Saturday, 31 August 2019 00:23 (four years ago) link

xp lol

didn't realize you were a life-long NYer morbius!

Dan S, Saturday, 31 August 2019 00:23 (four years ago) link

NJ (Sopranos country) til age 30

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 31 August 2019 00:28 (four years ago) link

tho I have gone to school or worked here since 18

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 31 August 2019 00:29 (four years ago) link

however even as a kid I knew the Lucy apartment address (623 E 68 St) would be in the middle of the fucking East River.

Frasier's apartment is in a zeppelin floating hundreds of feet above Lake Union

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Saturday, 31 August 2019 01:08 (four years ago) link


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