I watched the show when it was on and, between original airings, reruns & dvd, am pretty sure I've seen every episode. While I agree that it started out as a great comedy, by the end it was some of the worst, most annoying writing on television. Somewhere along the line the writers seemed to run out of wit, so whenever a laugh was needed, they would take one of the characters' flaws so far beyond believability that it would be cringe-inducing. Joey would get so stupid that he shouldn't have lived past childhood. Monica would get so obsessive that no one in their right mind would possibly tolerate being around her. Same for Ross's whiny-ness. It was just sad and pathetic what they did to the characters in pursuit of some cheap laughs. I hoped for a return to form when Paul Rudd guested as Phoebe's boyfriend, as it seemed like the show was trending back to somewhat believable characters. Unfortunately, none of the main characters went back to their old selves and it spiraled to the point that I was hoping someone would show up with a chainsaw or an axe.

Are you kidding me? AITF was the #1 rated show in the country in 71-72; 72-73; 73-74; 74-75; & 75-76. FIVE seasons IN A ROW! No show EVER has come close to matching that. NONE.

MASH was never #1 in the ratings for a season...not once. Heck, The Cosby Show did better in the 80s than MASH did (it was #1 for three years in a row).

I agree that the writing often got lazy.

All too often they had to fall back on caricature when they didn't have anything to do with certain characters. So while Rachel was off doing the corporate drone thing, Joey became retarded and Phoebe turned into a super-flake. When they didn't know what to do with Monica, she became an OCD uberbitch. When Ross didn't have a big story arc he became a pathetic whiner or obsessive stalker-type.

On retrospect, it seems like "Friends" really was Rachel's show. She's the character who had the most straight-through story arc. She was the character whose entrance kicked off the series. She was the character who never fully lapsed into a self-parody.

My favorite sitcom ever.

Curiously most of my friends, and my wife, can't believe that I like Friends that much, or even that I like Friends. I have a kind of "alternative" tastes in music and movies, I mean I like mainstream but I also like independent, obscure, foreign movies/music. They think Friends is too "simple" for me.

I don't think so. I think it's the only show where I laugh really loud. And I'm a Chandler fan. I like his kind of humor/irony.

Could he BE any more humorous?

Don't forget to raise both eyebrows and tilt your head to either side.

Rachel would be my fav character definitely