Utterly trivial observations about comedy

[Pink Gregory]

In Friends, it's never addressed how Monica and Chandler ended up living opposite each other. It's mentioned several times that Monica's apartment was previously their grandmother's, but not how Chandler came to be in the other one. Given they did quite a few flashback episodes it's strange they never bothered covering it.

especially when it's established that Chandler, Monica, Ross and Rachel have all known each other for years before they moved in, rather than becoming friends because they live across the hall

[Gurke and Hare]

According to sitcoms 90% or more of New York apartments seem to be found by word of mouth.

[Pink Gregory]

According to sitcoms 90% or more of New York apartments seem to be found by word of mouth.

You'd think the idea of inheriting rent controlled apartments from family could be a rich comic vein, but it's never been done really. 

[Icehaven]

especially when it's established that Chandler, Monica, Ross and Rachel have all known each other for years before they moved in, rather than becoming friends because they live across the hall

Yep exactly, I mean I'm sure it's not supposed to be coincidence, it's just given Rachel moves in with Monica in the pilot and a later flashback episode deals with Joey turning up it seems odd they never made a thing of how Chandler ended up living opposite his best friend's sister.

[Pink Gregory]

Yep exactly, I mean I'm sure it's not supposed to be coincidence, it's just given Rachel moves in with Monica in the pilot and a later flashback episode deals with Joey turning up it seems odd they never made a thing of how Chandler ended up living opposite his best friend's sister.

I suppose that's the disappointment of Friends - I'm not a Friends hater but I can understand why people dismiss it as glossy pap - they're not all that fundamentally different people in spite of their difference.  Rachel, Monica, Ross and Chandler are all from middle-class, professional backgrounds; Rachel and the Geller's fathers are both doctors, Chandler's mum is a somewhat successful writer; but it's then sort of immaterial that Phoebe is basically from the streets and that Joey from a second generation italian immigrant family who most of the time is just a jobbing actor. 

Granted, young professionals in Manhattan in the 90s/2000s probably weren't all that diverse or class-mixed, and definitely aren't now.  But you see opportunities for them to be interesting and they're never really taken.  Which explains the broad appeal I suppose.

[Uncle TechTip]

In Seinfeld, up to season 4, if George or Elaine wanted to enter Jerry's apartment, they had to buzz the intercom and Jerry would leave the door ajar. By season 5, they dispensed with this awkward exchange and both of them were suddenly able to enter the block and the apartment themselves. Maybe they moved into the same block between seasons, and Jerry stopped putting the latch on.

Thinking on, Kramer was always able to open the door himself, why did Jerry have to leave it ajar? Maybe the other two didn't know how handles worked?

[dissolute ocelot]

Yep exactly, I mean I'm sure it's not supposed to be coincidence, it's just given Rachel moves in with Monica in the pilot and a later flashback episode deals with Joey turning up it seems odd they never made a thing of how Chandler ended up living opposite his best friend's sister.

The Friends Wiki on Fandom.com is incredibly detailed about this kind of stuff, but doesn't explain why Chandler was there. Chandler's old roommate Kip dated Monica for a while before the show started, but that doesn't really explain anything (my imaginary backstory would be that Kip was living there first and Monica helped her brother's friend Chandler move in while Monica and Kip were dating, then Monica and Kip broke up and Kip was ostracised).

[Icehaven]

(my imaginary backstory would be that Kip was living there first and Monica helped her brother's friend Chandler move in while Monica and Kip were dating, then Monica and Kip broke up and Kip was ostracised).

Yep I like that, particularly how it was Kip's apartment first but he ended up leaving it because of the six kicking him out of the gang. I concur.

[Utter Shit]

Some fucking coincidence that you can see right into Ross' apartment from Monica's as well.

[Darles Chickens]

Some fucking coincidence that you can see right into Ross' apartment from Monica's as well.

Not his first apartment I don't think. Afterwards he moved into Ugly Naked Guy's apartment, who they'd all been observing for years.

[Icehaven]

Some fucking coincidence that you can see right into Ross' apartment from Monica's as well.

Not his first apartment I don't think. Afterwards he moved into Ugly Naked Guy's apartment, who they'd all been observing for years.

Yep he lived in a different one for the first few series until Emily made him move, then he lives with Chandler and Joey for a few episodes until UNG's apartment becomes available and he ends up getting it.

[turnstyle]

Please rest assured that all your questions, and more, will be answered in the inevitable Friends prequel, coming to a streaming service near you!

You won't believe who turns up in episode 8 as a grumpy newspaper seller! (OK, you will, it's David Schwimmer).

[Utter Shit]

Not his first apartment I don't think. Afterwards he moved into Ugly Naked Guy's apartment, who they'd all been observing for years.

Oh yeah good point!

That Monica/Chandler apartment thing genuinely twisted my melon a bit...even though I know the backstory of four of them knowing each other from their teenage years, I still somehow sort of worked on the assumption that they got to know each other through happening to live in the same apartment block. Very weird.

[The Mollusk]

Please rest assured that all your questions, and more, will be answered in the inevitable Friends prequel, coming to a streaming service near you!

You won't believe who turns up in episode 8 as a grumpy newspaper seller! (OK, you will, it's David Schwimmer).

Ooh can it be called "... But First, Coffee"?

[Icehaven]

Being as we're digging deep here, there's also inconsistency as to how much they can see into the apartments. Ross/UNG's apartment is lower down than Monica's, as when the friends watch UNG they're looking down, and when Ross is looking into Monica's he looks up. In the episode when Phoebe sees Chandler and Monica going at it from Ross's she can only see them because they're right by the window, and you can't really see much further into the room, however in the episode when Phoebe is secretly keeping a dog in Monica's apartment and Monica is at Ross's and she calls Phoebe, she can apparently see everyone in the room including the dog on the couch, when from the previous view she'd never have been able to see that much.

Also when we see Ross's apartment from Monica's you can only really see the bit by the window and the edge of his couch, but when they used to watch UNG they saw him do all sorts of things, so unless he did everything in the few square feet by his window it's unlikely they'd have actually been able to see him that much.

I'll stop now before I get on to the impossibility of where the rest of Ross's windows are.

[Captain Z]

I also highly doubt they would have been able to create a strong enough 'poking device' out of chopsticks and tape to reach all the way across to UNG's apartment.

[Mr Vegetables]

In an early episode Joey knows that people eat birds, then in a later one he is incredulous at the very concept! This bothers me a lot more than it really should

[kalowski]

Basil Fawlty thinks his car will start without him being in it! Talk about suspension of belief!!!!!