A lot of people on this board, others, as well as in forums, newspapers and magazines have been complaining that the last 2 seasons of friends have been reminiscent of a daytime soap opera. I find the truth to be the very different. In the last season, there were very few serious "mushy" moments, and a lot more goofing around and awkward situations. If I'm not mistaken, things like that aren't usually the focus of modern soap operas. I have also recently been rewatching the episodes from season 1. It seems from the start that there is always a serious moment or problem to be resolved. Every episode has at least one scene where the music starts playing for Ross&Rachel, or Marcel, or any of the others. Here's a few instances.
Ross asks Rachel if they could go out sometime ("grabbed a spoon") The Sonogram The funeral for R+M grandmother Chandler and his mom The scientist guy leaves for Minsk Marcel swallows the scrabble piece and grabs Ross' finger Ross and his Dad talk about fatherhood Rachel and Barry Rachel thinks about Ross and convinces herself to go to the airport
There are even some more at the start of season 2
Ross meets Rachel after dark in the coffeehouse The comparison list Mr. Heckles Dies (we'll try to keep it down) Marcel leaves
The list goes on.....
I just think that many of the posters who have complained about the show recently have been fans of the show since the beginning of the show to season 3. At this time Ross and Rachel together was what may have made them fans. They were content with the way the writers had gone about developing the characters. However, when the producers shelved the R&R idea, they felt like the only way to make the show as good as it was was to bring back that relationship. They seemed to complain about anything the writers did with the C+M and other non-R&R stories, mainly because they may fear that any other stories mean less of a chance for their favourite part to return.
You may call the characters repetitive, or the jokes similar, but I don't think anyone should call it a soap now, since the soapcom idea was what may have attracted them to the show in the first place.
NBCz