Ross - the least respected friend?

The issue of how all of the friends make fun of Ross's profession has come up in a number of threads now, but I don't think that's the real problem. Even if I had a friend who worked in a field that I would consider as lame or boring, I still wouldn't make fun of him, especially if he were as close a friend as Ross is to the other 5. After all he's their friend, so why do they have to mock him because of his profession? They seem to like hanging out with him or having him around, so he can't be that geeky or boring when he's off work. I myself sort of agree with the basic idea that paleontology (sp?) is not interesting at all, but it's not like Ross is only capable of talking about work related stuff.

Furthermore, there's one scene in 804 that really bothers me, it's when Rachel asks the group who of them believed Ross that she came onto him and not vice versa. None of them believed it, not even the guys. They are his best friends and yet none of them believes him. They could have at least pretended, especially Chandler, since he didn't have to worry about a room mate having a go at him, like Joey may have had to at that time. Another example where no one would believe Ross even though he was right is TOW the screamer, so this behaviour towards him has quite a history. Can anybody think of more examples? Or am I reading too much into scenes (like other people who jump up and down, because somebody entered Central Perk 14 seconds after Phoebe said the she was supposed to meet a love interest ;) )

I also think that some of the jokes because of the three divorces are a little rough, given that he couldn't do anything about the first one failing, messed up the second one even before he got married (although only because all of a sudden Rachel was there), and the third one - well that wasn't even his idea and he was drunk for crying out loud. The whole group knows perfectly well what happened during his "marriage" with Rachel and how this divorce instead of the anulment came about, so they should know better than to make fun of him.

I'm not saying that Ross is an innocent angel as far as his failed marriages are concerned, but IMO you can't blame him for the failure of his first marriage at all, he needs to take most of the responsibility for the second one, although after the wedding he tried everything to get Emily to forgive him, and I think one should blame Rachel for his third divorce - not for the wedding/marriage. They got married while they were drunk and didn't know what they were doing. At this point Rachel could have shown that she had grown as a person and agreed to a marriage like Phoebe had with that ice skater, since the idea of being divorced again wasn't that appealing to Ross at all. Instead she forced him to get an anulment as soon as he could (which he didn't and that's the only aspect of this divorce, that I'd blame him for). Since he didn't get the anulment, she actually made up the worst possible lies about Ross just to speed up the official process and ended up getting her first and his third divorce. She was way over the top with her behaviour here and AFAIK none of the other four cared to say anything about it to her, which is probably even worse.

Just a few thoughts I had wandering around in my mind (and also I have to do /something/ at work ;) )

Andr�

"Andr� Knoche" wrote in message news:3c98cb20$0$9370$[email]...

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Because it's an easy gag. It's basically lazy writing. What I find annoying about this really is that Ross was scolded firmly for not respecting Rachel's career more, but his own career is not deemed worthy of respect. Bear in mind, though - at least we know what Ross does and that he honestly loves it. Rachel thinks Chandler is a "transponster", she lost a game over it, and even Chandler has admitted he doesn't really like his profession. Joey's profession is considered cool, but for a long time the writers suggested he was terrible at it.

It comes down to political correctness. It is kind of risky to make all the women like they are either in stupid professions or incompetent; therefore, they let the women be very good at neat things and make fun of the men. There is also that old impulse from jr. high school - very bright, well-educated people sometimes make others insecure, so you make fun of the guy who sat in the front row getting answers right. That was Ross.

They seem to like hanging

when

Clearly, there must be something very special about Ross, besides the fact that he's Monica's brother, that makes them want to put him in their wedding parties and comfort him when he whines endlessly. When a person is as frequently dysfunctional as Ross is, either people don't like him or there is something about him that makes it all worthwhile.

I myself sort of agree with the basic idea that paleontology

I'm like Mona - I think it's very interesting. I'd find Rachel's shop talk dull, but none so dull as Chandler's.

Plot device. The episode would not have worked without their disbelief. Somebody had to be lying; aren't we relieved it was Rachel? It means Ross was telling the truth AND beautiful Rachel had persued him. Otherwise he'd have been a lying SOB who begged Rachel to sleep with him, knocked her up, and then bragged about his conquest. This was much better. It doesn't say much about Rachel's character, but I kind of accept that she, as she told Monica "wants to be the one in complete control" of a relationship. (Remember the Regata Gala.)

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;) )

If it bothers you, recognize that Ross is better off every time he wins one of these arguments. I'd much rather watch him be pooh poohed and have folks have to apologize afterwards than the other way around.

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I think the fact that RACHEL makes fun of his three divorces is just sickening, since she was a big factor in two of them. She really isn't a very nice person.

The whole group

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marriages

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forgive

the

The one thing I'd really fuss at Ross about for regarding his second marriage was that he didn't think it through well enough. He moved way too fast, got married for all the wrong reasons, didn't settle his emotional baggage first and didn't know his wife well enough to realize she was a hateful, vengeful, nasty tempered shrew until he hit the altar. This was caused by very bad judgement. The first one wasn't really his fault; Carol obviously got married for the wrong reasons - may have been trying to "make" herself be straight because gay schoolteachers have had some huge legal problems.

Ross

(which

The biggest problem I have with that storyline is that the writers didn't really explore it enough. After all that history, for these two to end up at a Vegas altar has to indicate some sort of psychological struggle, inhibited impulses and unfinished business between these two. They ignored it. I do NOT think Ross would have married Joey in that condition, despite their jokes. It was also evident they must have TRIED to consummate, as they woke up together in the same bed in various states of undress. That marriage meant something. Maybe it didn't mean they should be married, but it meant they needed to work something out, and they didn't do that.

As for Ross being blamed for not getting the annulment; if I remember this correctly, Rachel expected Ross to unilaterally handle all the paperwork and legal matters involved on an anullment she wanted and he did not - and he told her that. RACHEL proposed to ROSS. Once married, RACHEL demanded an anullment from the marriage SHE requested, but she expected HIM to expend all the effort in getting it, even though HE did not want the annulment. And lack of annulment was declared HIS fault. How screwed up is that?

Since he didn't get the anulment, she actually made up the worst

up

about

They may not have known. I guess in Sitcom Land informing the Court of New York that somebody is a drug-abusing homosexual is not considered perjury and it won't lead to possible rescinding of parental visitation rights.

"abrahammy" wrote in message news:u%5m8.4505$[email]...

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hmm... if you're applying real world logic to this then you might as well apply it to all the stuff you and I said about Ross and Rachel's marriage. Since I hardly knew anything about Friends when S5 was first aired, I have to rely on what I've read here or elsewhere, but werent the contracts for S6-S8 signed when the filming for the finale of S5 had already begun? So you might say that when they finally got the actors to sign the contracts they had to come up with a cliffhanger instead of a show finale. So they figured "hmm, we're in Vegas and in urgent need of a cliffhanger, and we've got to get it done soon", now can you think of an easier cliffhanger than R&R getting drunk and getting married at one of those Vegas wedding thingies? It really came out of the blue, since for most of S5 they kept Ross and Rachel away from each other, and then all of a sudden they're married. Since they knew they couldn't handle the characters as a couple and still had at least three years to go with the show they *had* to split them up again - though the way they did it was questionable to say the least...

Andre

In article , [email] (abrahammy) usenetted:

If you're trying to get a quick divorce and the only way is to pin the fault for the marital breakdown on one of the two parties, people say all kinds of things just to get past those laws. The divorce decree is sealed. I don't think what you tell the court in a divorce like that would have consequences unless the child's mother were the one making the claims in the context of a custody dispute.

I could be wrong. But my divorce decree, dated 1983, from New York, says I was guilty of mental cruelty. Quite common.

wg