[delurk]
Hey all---dedicated group reader and occasional poster.
There was a first or second season episode where Chandler and Phoebe were watching TV (at Rachel and Monica's, of course). The show on the telly is Three's Company. Chandler, being Chandler, says something along the lines of, "Oh, this is the one with the misunderstandings," and Phoebe says she's seen it already.
How prophetic.
I am in the process of taping my 10-12 favorite episodes from the syndicated reruns (hate doing it because they clip out lines and sometimes the pre- and post show sequences), and I am struck at how bad the writing has become.
It is my not-so-humble opinion that the show was strong and funny when it began because the characters, while mildly exagerrated, were fairly believable, and most of the humor (or at least the best humor) was organic to the characters. Examples-- TOW All the Poker, TOW Where No One's Ready, TOW With the Embyros. Situations that were funny not because of the outlandish nature of the event, but because of the people involved.
Watching this season--and in particular the 3 episode arc with Paul (Bruce Willis)--was a sad thing. Seeing Ross hide underneath the couch and the bed was painful--you could have substituted nearly anyone in the situation and it would have had the same impact. It wasn't funny because it was Ross, it was funny (actually, it really _wasn't_) because of the old "So-and-So doesn't know someone is eavesdropping!" gag. Somehow, the writers have abandoned the strengths of the cast and the show and gone back to the Sitcom Cliche Handbook to write gags and storylines. I've already ranted about my opinions on what the writers have done to Ross, and many of you have written similar sentiments regarding Monica. Schwimmer and Cox-Arquette are talented performers, as are the rest. Let them shine as they once did, instead of reducing them to interchangeable, screeching Jack Ritter echoes.
Please, please, please -- let these characters return to normalcy and grow, as Lisa Kudrow has asked. If the writers cannot find humor in the everyday, in the movement into the 30s (age-wise), then the show needs new writers.