Just as an aside, Friends is also a great example of how much comedy writing on TV has changed over the last fifteen years. Comedies are granted more genre fluidity now (especially in this age of streaming) and Friends would have really benefited had it aired at any point over the last ten years. It's an accepted truth, almost, that sitcoms nowadays are not only allowed to use elements of drama almost at will, but also have fully-fledged dramatic (and occasionally surreal) episodes. Sure, you've always had shows which are comedy-dramas from the outset, but I'm talking more about shows like The Good Place, or BoJack Horseman, or Sex Education, or even elements of Rick & Morty and Master of None, where they come into the world as sitcoms but have such a keen eye for character development that the various plot points almost exclusively become dramatic storylines. I'm thinking about Chidi and Eleanor's relationship in The Good Place, or everything that happens in BoJack Horseman after the first season, or Dev's relationship with Francesca in Master of None's second season, or Rick & Morty's third season etc.
As much as the gay panic and class ignorance in Friends hasn't aged well, the later seasons' reluctance to raise the stakes and commit to grounding drama is probably what allowed some of the writing to go out of control - and it's probably why all six of the main characters end up as the most extreme versions of themselves. By season 10, Joey thinks he can talk to a stuffed bear on the phone and thinks that saying "bleh bleh boop" is speaking French, you know? That's not to say the show never had serious moments - like when Ross and Rachel argued long into the night and eventually broke up, or when Chandler was convinced Monica had left him for Richard - but those were often limited to the early days, when the show was about a bunch of 25 year-olds trying to make it in the big city, as opposed to it being about the lives of affluent adults on the edge of parenthood. I could easily watch any episode from the later seasons and it's still a very warm, comforting show, but it definitely lost something along the way.
Hell, even the Fresh Prince had moments like Carlton realising why he was pulled over with Will in season 1, or "How come he don't want me, man?" (which is the single best piece of acting in Will Smith's career) and 'Bullets Over Bel-Air' in its later seasons. I stand by what I said that it's the ultimate comfort-watch show, and that it's a testament to the writing that you can throw on any of its 200+ episodes and know exactly where you are in the time based on how the six characters are interacting with one another. It's just, it starts out in a version of the real world but by the middle seasons it's living in a fantasy and by the end it barely resembles life on Earth. I can't help but wonder what Friends would look like in this current era of dramedy shows where genre fluidity is more acceptable and where comedies only tend to have 13-episode seasons (at most). Maybe the "Chandler and Monica can't conceive" storyline is given a bit more weight, maybe Rachel leaves for Paris after all because Ross needs to be taught a lesson, etc.
