Why It's Fashionable To Hate Friends Now

7. It's Not Meant To Be Super-Binged

Before really getting into the issues most of the new breed of "fans" seem to have with the show, it's interesting to point out - and important - that Friends was never meant to be watched in such quick fashion.

Regardless of the culture of playing 4 or so episodes of Friends in a row when it was originally syndicated on most stations around the world (long before Netflix picked it up), each character's story was supposed to have a slow gestation. We were supposed to watch Chandler go from terrified man-child to family man, Rachel from pampered princess to independent upwardly mobile professional, Ross from awkard idiot to genuine lobster, Phoebe from basket-case to her own ideal family life, Joey from... well maybe not Joey so much.

Watching them go through ten years of changes in a matter of days doesn't allow you to experience the nuances of their development, so of course they'd look like inconsistent monsters with wild, changing arcs. And it didn't help that their behaviour was so silly at times that it often took a break to get over the fact. You just don't get that respite with binging.

Still, the other reasons behind the Friends hatred deserve exploration...