Did Friends "Jump The Shark"? Most Controversial, Unnecessary & Weirdest Storylines

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00:00Friends is a cultural icon, but even its most ardent fans can agree that along with all of

00:05the great moments, the show has also had some duds.

00:11The term Jump the Shark comes from a Happy Days episode where Fonzie waterskies over a shark,

00:16which many fans and critics feel was a big moment of decline in the show's quality,

00:20a sign of desperation to maintain viewer interest. Jumping the shark is what happens

00:25when a show sacrifices quality, believability, and story for an attention-grabbing moment.

00:29There's no definitive fan consensus on when, or even if, Friends truly ever pulled that stunt,

00:35but here are a few of the biggest contenders for storylines that were arguably potential

00:39Jump the Shark moments for Friends.

00:41Number 1. Joey and Rachel

00:43Joey and Rachel hooking up is often cited as one of the worst decisions the show made,

00:48and definitely qualifies as a possible Jumping the Shark situation. This plot,

00:52which started to develop in season 8 and continued into season 10,

00:56was controversial among fans, with many feeling it was forced and out of character for both Joey

01:00and Rachel. The pair had been great platonic friends for the show's entire run, and given

01:05that they had no romantic chemistry, the pairing felt inauthentic to many. At the beginning,

01:10the characters themselves can't even really believe it's happening.

01:14After our date last night, did you feel a little weird?

01:17Oh my god, you did too? It totally freaked me out, what was that?

01:22And the pairing never really had the romantic chemistry that other pairings on the show did.

01:26It felt to many viewers that the writers had just run out of ideas after eight seasons and

01:30were throwing anything at the wall and hoping it stuck. The coupling also threw a wrench into

01:34the Friends group's dynamic, which was the real heart of the show. Thankfully,

01:39eventually everyone realized that this pairing just wasn't meant to be.

01:42Well, how come Monica and Chandler could do it?

01:46I guess they weren't as good friends as we are.

01:48Number 2. Ross's Third Divorce

01:51Ross always had romantic problems, but the fact he managed to get married and divorced

01:56three times in the span of time that it took most characters to just find one person to marry

02:00strained believability for some fans. His third divorce is thus sometimes pointed to as a

02:06jumping-the-shark moment by fans. Ross's infamous line during his wedding to Emily

02:10I, Ross, take thee Emily, take thee Rachel,

02:14signified a comical but forced plot twist that felt unrealistic and pushed the character into

02:19a caricature of repeated failed marriages. Then, after Ross drunkenly marries Rachel and

02:24puts off getting an annulment, the repetitive lament of three divorces in subsequent episodes

02:28became a running joke that, for some viewers, undermined the character's potential for emotional growth.

02:34You didn't get the annulment?!

02:36Well, I tried, but when I got to my lawyer's office, all I could hear was,

02:40three divorces! Three divorces!

02:42Number 3. Ross and Mona

02:44Ross's relationship with Mona in season 8 often felt shoehorned in and at times hard to believe

02:49as a real pairing. It often felt so clear that the writers were just using Mona as yet another

02:54obstacle for Ross and Rachel. Mona is introduced at Monica and Chandler's wedding, and Ross quickly

02:59becomes involved with her. However, their relationship is riddled with contrivances that

03:04seem designed to add unnecessary drama, to the point that Ross even fails to inform Mona that

03:08he's having a baby with his ex-girlfriend Rachel. Ross also goes to comedic extremes to keep Mona

03:14from finding out that he and Rachel are living together, turning their relationship into a series

03:18of farcical situations rather than a meaningful plotline.

03:21I love Rachel.

03:22What?!

03:22Oh, but not that way. I mean, I'm not in love with her.

03:26Number 4. Chandler and Monica?

03:28This is definitely one of the more contentious jumping-the-shark-moment options because so many of us

03:34actually love this pairing. And Monica and Chandler do work well together as a couple.

03:39Their idiosyncrasies complement each other, and their friends-to-lovers arc truly feels genuine.

03:44So then, how could it be a jump-the-shark moment?

03:46It seems the problem some people have isn't with Monica and Chandler as a couple, but with the fact

03:51that they worked so well together that their pairing signaled the show changing from one about

03:55friends to one about couples. Prior to Monica and Chandler becoming an item, the show was one focus

04:00of the group's friend dynamics, with the occasional exception of Ross and Rachel trying to make their

04:05relationship work every few episodes. Once Monica and Chandler were together, it was also clear that

04:09the show had decided that Ross and Rachel were endgame. So that left only two of the six not

04:14destined to be with someone else from the group. For most viewers, this isn't a sign of desperation or

04:19lack of quality in the way a jumping-the-shark moment is, just a signal of change coming to the show.

04:25Number 5. The Joey Charlie Ross Love Triangle

04:28Charlie, a sophisticated paleontologist, is introduced in Season 9. She initially seems

04:33like she's going to be a great match for Ross, but he fumbles after learning that she's

04:37previously dated two Nobel Prize winners. Joey instead swoops in, and then goes on to date

04:43Charlie for four episodes, leading to an awkward love triangle. Joey and Charlie eventually realize

04:48they don't actually have anything in common, and she leaves him for Ross. While this love triangle

04:53did lead to one of Ross' last hilarious meltdowns,

04:57I'm sorry, it must be the pressure of entertaining. Overall, the arc just felt convoluted and poorly

05:02thought out. Letting Ross have a normal relationship with someone who actually shares his interests

05:07could have been an interesting change of pace for the show. But again, she just seems to be there as

05:12a plot contrivance instead of an actual character with a story and purpose.

05:16Number 6. We Were On A Break

05:18Rachel and Ross' on-again, off-again relationship is one of the central threads of Friends. But some

05:23fans felt that their on-a-break versus broken-up drama, which started in Season 3, dragged on a

05:28little too long. The initial incident kind of just felt like a ploy by the writers to keep their

05:33endgame couple from being together forever too soon into the show's run, with Rachel and Ross

05:38deciding to take a break from their relationship and Ross immediately running out and sleeping with

05:42someone else, only to be surprised that Rachel was unhappy about it.

05:46We were on a break!

05:48Even becomes a running gag on the show, which would have been funnier if Ross and Rachel didn't

05:53continue to have the same repetitive relationship problems over and over until the very end.

05:57I mean, he was possessive, he was jealous, he could never just let the little things go.

06:03Looking back, some fans see this incident as a jumping-the-shark moment, if not for the show,

06:08at least for Rachel and Ross' possibility of having a genuine relationship.

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07:33Number 7. Joey getting flanderized. As we've discussed, flanderization is when a once mostly

07:40normal character is oversimplified over time to the point that things that were once just quirks

07:44become their entire personality. Over the course of the show, Joey somehow goes from a himbo that's

07:50not terribly bright, but certainly able to function as an adult, too.

08:02In earlier seasons, his simple-mindedness, womanizing tendencies, and love for food were

08:07facets of a more well-rounded character. However, as the series wore on, these traits became his

08:13defining features. Joey doesn't share food! Joey's other traits were sanded away until he seemed

08:19to be completely unable to grow or mature in any meaningful way. Arguably, the increasing

08:25exaggeration of Joey's goofier character traits, particularly his supposed stupidity,

08:30were a signal of the show's larger shift in quality for the worse.

08:33Number 8. Everyone else getting flanderized, too. While Joey's flanderization is notable,

08:38he certainly isn't the only character whose complexities got sanded away for the sake of

08:43some easy jokes. In fact, it pretty much happened to everyone. Take Ross, for example.

08:48I am not a crazy, jealous person. Early seasons portrayed Ross as a somewhat neurotic but compassionate

08:54paleontologist dealing with heartbreak. However, as the series progressed, his character became

08:59increasingly desperate and cartoonish. This led to plenty of comedic moments.

09:03L is for life. And what is life without love? Oh my god, are we supposed to answer?

09:10But it also made Ross feel like a real person. In the later seasons, it sometimes felt like the

09:15writers were more interested in putting the characters in situations that would allow them

09:18to make callbacks to the better, earlier seasons instead of just creating new interesting narratives

09:22for them. This is it. Unless we're on a break.

09:26Over time, these exaggerated character traits and the frequent use of catchphrases came at the

09:31expense of relatable and believable situations, contributing to the feeling that the series had

09:35begun to jump the shark.

09:40So can any of these really be classed as the jumping the shark moment on Friends?

09:45While there's definitely a general consensus that the quality of the show started to falter in the

09:49later seasons, there's definitely no one single event that sparked it. The truth is that despite the

09:55show's less inspired or well-thought-out plotlines, Friends still managed to deliver standout episodes

10:00and water cooler events until the very end.

10:03I got off the plane.

10:07Ron Howard, who got his start starring on Happy Days, but you might know best as a director or the

10:13narrator on Arrested Development, has opened up about the behind-the-scenes issues during the creation

10:17of the jumping the shark episode. It was really a jumbled mess from a writing standpoint. But he has

10:23also pointed out the important fact that while the episode is remembered as a dud, it definitely

10:28wasn't the end of the show's success. The show went on to be such a massive success for, you know,

10:36years after that. But I think a lot of good work was still done after that show. Likewise, Friends remained

10:42a huge success, with its final episode in 2004 drawing in a whopping 52.5 million viewers. Clearly,

10:50regardless of any bad story choices or weird narrative contrivances, audiences remained engaged

10:55with the show until the very end. And even if the later seasons weren't as great as the earlier ones,

11:01they definitely still had bright moments. Rachel navigating motherhood and her career in season 10

11:06gave her character some great moments of growth. Phoebe working hard to carve out the family life she's

11:11always wanted is a heartwarming plotline for a character who had gone through so many struggles

11:15in life. These more engaging, deeply felt storylines remind us that even as Friends evolved and

11:21experimented with different plotlines, the show retained its ability to create meaningful, humorous,

11:26and touching moments until the end.

11:28So I guess this is it.

11:30Yeah.

11:32This is harder than I thought it would be.

11:34That's the take. Click here to watch a video we think you'll love or here to check out a whole

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