Yes she was, which is why the storyline went how it did.

I see a lot of dislike for Phoebe, but I liked her. Just re watching Phoebe mad at Ross. Too funny :t

I don't think how things went with Emily were all that unrealistic. After all, she also saw Ross and Rachel at the airport jetting off on her honeymoon.

They rushed into things, and she was the one making the huge sacrifice of moving to America to be with him. Then it all very suddenly and very quickly unravelled - after making that sacrifice he shattered her trust in him so she tried to regain control of the situation by controlling Ross too much. Finally, they realised it just wouldn't work - she couldn't just trust him, and he couldn't sacrifice things for her. If you take out the specifics like the wrong name at the wedding, it's not exactly an unusual story.

Link? or search term?

Yes, she couldn't fly back to America to film. But the resolution of the story would have come back to this (I don't know if they'd have had them married and living together throughout season 5 if she'd been able to stay). They had to demonise Emily to keep the audience rooting for Ross/Rachel.

Everyone having to lie to phoebe if they wanted/liked things she didn't approve of eg Rachel having a massage voucher for a massive corporate treatment place. Phoebe is my least favourite as I found her annoying and hypocritical

Good point, Ross was in the wrong rather than Rachel there

It's got swearing in it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59OJ17raqWw

When Phoebe met Frank Jnr for the first time, she didn't remember he was the guy who threw a condom into her guitar case instead of coins.

Wasn't he a different character?

Well he was the same actor, whether it was meant to be the same character, who knows? I;m guessing at the time of the incident they didn't plan to have him in it as her brother but when he was it made a little link between them which was quite quirky how they had already met.

Why would Phoebe remember some random guy who had thrown a condom into her case a few months before?

One of my favourite clips on the web.

I wonder if the fact that Baxendale was less than popular with the regulars had a bearing on the total change of her character? David Schwimmer has made reference to this many times that she 'didnt seem to want to get to know any of us'. Baxendale for her part once commented on how tight knit the group was - very much like the parts they were playing - and weren't too nice to 'outsiders'.
I agree with Salv here, particularly during the end of her time on the show, Emily was replaced with an alien duplicate.
Oh, and as this is a Friends gripes thread I have to say the episodes in London revealed the Yanks strange - to say the least - beliefs about the Brits. Oh look, a big red bus. Oh look, all Brits are posh twits.

It's not the first time that I've read that the cast were less than welcoming to 'outsiders'. Take out Jack, Judy and Gunther and there weren't too many 'major' recurring characters - Carol and Susan popped up occasionally, but not regularly, same goes for Estelle, Frank Junior, etc. Rachel's parents and sisters appeared in what, 2 - 3 episodes each? Did we ever see one of Joey's sisters more than once?

Most significant guest characters seemed to come in for a few episodes at best - and leave once their arc was wrapped up, never to be heard from again (Charlie, Gavin, Tag, etc.). Molly only lasted for 2 episodes, and there was no explanation for why she left.

Paul Rudd seems to be the only one that bucked the trend - but hadn't he done a film with Jennifer Aniston before his first appearance? Maybe they were a bit nicer to him.........

Why wouldn't she?

Do you remember the face of every person walking past you on the street?

That's interesting and something I didn't think of. You're right, Mike was on the show as a recurring character more than any other (consistently, ep after another), another being Gunther. When the actor playing Gunther was interviewed not too long ago, he had nothing but good things to say about the 6 of them, so he must have got on with them too.

I saw this thread and was thinking 'how could anyone have any gripes about Friends?' and then started reading and remembered my whinging the other day about the London wedding episode.

I hated this. I hated it at the time and it makes me cringe everytime I see it now.

To be fair, we (UK) probably don't show Americans in the best light a lot of the time however I thought these episodes went so far to the extreme they really were insulting. Just made us all out to be a load of right idiots! I think the most disappointing was that some of my best loved actors partook in it!

I love Friends but these episodes anger me

The only good thing about it was that they actually filmed it in London. Unlike a few other US shows I could name who were supposed to be in London but so obviously weren't (that's fine for budget reasons but understand that a red bus and phonebox does not London make!)

I remember in season 5 (or was it early season 4?) when Ross flies to London and because they didn't actually film it in London they just had him right outside her house in a red phone box.

Phonebox/red bus = London apparently.

The London episodes though didn't bother me. It was just poking fun at the cliches and stereotypes etc. I didn't see the harm in it.

If they threw a condom into my guitar case and then asked for it back... yes.

Maybe it happens to you on regular basis??

What about Janice?? I always thought she was too good for Chandler...

There is a chance that someone might remember someone from a months before who they saw for a few seconds but I wouldn't say it was a guarantee at all and the way I read it you made it sound like it was strange and a mistake she didn't.

He didn't remember her either

People will do anything to get their mugs on screen in the US!

No, but that's no guarantee I'd remember them from seeing them for 10 second.

It's not an error or really a gripe, it's realistic. Maybe you'd remember them but that's not proof everyone would.

What's a gripe is purely a matter of opinion. It may not be a gripe to you, but clearly it is to someone else.