The Perfectly Imperfect Male Protagonists Of F. R. I. E. N. D. S

The all time favourite American sitcom, “F.R.I.E.N.D.S” had its pilot aired on September 22nd 1994, that’s almost 25 years ago. Even after so many years, it manages to be one of the most liked sitcoms. That is the reason why Netflix brought back the series online. The cast of the series allegedly still receives $1 million per year as the show still gets its viewership. It is still telecasted on Comedy Central.

The show revolves around the lives of six friends who live in Manhattan and their problems with jobs, love life, friendships and basically, adulting. The three female characters, Rachel, Monica and Phoebe are played by actors Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow respectively. On the other hand, the male characters, Ross ,Chandler and Joey are played by David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc.

By the oxymoron perfectly imperfect, I mean the way the flaws of the male characters were portrayed along with instances that made us fall in love with them.

1. Chandler Muriel Bing.

This guy who hates “Thanksgiving” had a disturbed childhood as his parents split up in front of him after his mother revealed that his “gay” father was caught making out with the butler. Though it took a very long time for him to fall in love, he finally got the love of his life. Chandler’s character is one of the funniest sitcom characters till date. He uses humour as his defence mechanism to get out of awkward situations.There are so many times we fell in love with him. Firstly, during Mr. Heckles death, Chandler closes the door saying, “Good bye Mr. Heckles. We will try to keep it down”. The way he takes care of the chick and the duck. The way he wasn’t scared to quit his boring job and start all over again. Last but not the least, the way he takes care of Joey -from lending him money for auditions to having a “Joey room” in their new house, Chandler has shown how he can be a good friend, an amazing husband and a doting father.

2. Ross Eustace Geller.

This highly knowledgeable palaeontologist had to face too many hardships in matters of his love life. He got married to a lesbian and later got divorced after which, he found out that his ex wife is pregnant with his baby. He later had many relationships and finally started dating his childhood crush, Rachel, but things didn’t go quite well. He again had two other divorces with Emily(British lady) and Rachel(drunk accident) and also had a baby girl with Rachel (another drunk accident). Although most of the times, we hated Ross for his over possessiveness or obsession with knowledge, there were times when we all wanted a guy like Ross. He walked Carol(his lesbian ex wife) down the aisle when her own parents did not accept her marriage with Susan(her lover). He bought Phoebe her first bicycle and gave up the chance of coming on TV as he had to take care of Rachel. He is also such an amazing dad to both of his kids.

3. Joseph Francis Tribbiani AKA Joey.

God, how can someone be so adorable yet so dumb? This kid made us roll our eyes as well as laugh hard with his charm. This Italian actor, who wants “Girls on bread” looked so adorable whenever he did or said something stupid. He thinks there is no “selfless deed” but he himself did so many selfless deeds. He was a support to some pregnant woman whom he didn’t even know, he was ready to marry his best friend only so that she didn’t have to be a single mother to her child, and he forgave his best friend who kissed his girlfriend.

Aren’t these reasons enough to love these guys?