Originally Posted by oilman:
“Despite trying many times, I have never managed to watch a complete episode from beginning to end as the "humour" is so predictable.
Contrast that with Cheers, Frasier, Taxi etc.”
At the time I found the humour in the first few series of Friends to be quite refreshing. I struggle to watch it now but that's mainly because I rewatched it so many times in my 20s that it's now stale.
I think you can sometimes have this thing where a show is so successful that it defines a genre to the extent that the original is eventually is seen as cliched. What I mean is that Friends lead to a lot of shows trying to copying it's format and style of humour - so for someone that didn't watch it the first time round you look back and think "well this is all a bit boring/predictable".
I actually have this problem with Seinfeld - I tried to watch it for the first time about 10 years ago and I was just bored. I made it half way through the third series and gave up. But I love Curb your Enthusiasm.