Author: Martyn

Now, I am currently suffering the flu and am whacked out on flu medication so, this may be crazy talk. But, something hit me like a bolt of lightning earlier today. The entire 10-year run of Friends was a social experiment set up by Doctor’s Niles and Frasier Crane. I haven’t quite figured out what that social experiment is, but I’m assuming it’s something to do with memory loss and post-traumatic stress.
First off, none of the friends really know anything about their own life’s.

In one of the early episodes, Joey and Chandler offer to take Ross to a hockey game for his birthday, and the date in that is said to be October 20th. He says, “my birthday was 7 months ago,” which would place his birthday in March, yet in the episode where Ross tries to punch Joey and breaks his thumb, they fill out his details, Ross says “you know my birthday!?” And Joey says “May-tem-ber???” And Ross says “OCTOBER 18”!
Ross’ age is a bone of contention across the whole series. He stays 29 for three whole series whilst the other friend’s age.

In the episode where Ross and his girlfriend Julie are getting a cat, Monica talks fondly of their childhood cat and even has his old toys. In the very next episode, when Monica is tasting the Fistachio product she says she’s allergic to cats and is for the rest of the shows run.

Phoebe often talks about her hard life living homeless on the streets, yet lived with her loving grandmother. She is fluent in French, yet in a later episode doesn’t speak a word of it.

The spelling of Rachel’s last name changes every year sometimes it’s ‘Green’ then ‘Greene’ then back to ‘Green’.
Chandler and Rachel met 4 times before the first episode is set and they don’t remember each other, she saw him get his toe cut off, you remember seeing someone get their toe cut off.
In the first episode it’s established that Ross and Carol split up a year prior to the episode, yet later that series Carol turns up 8-months pregnant. We’re also told that Carol was the only woman Ross slept with, but it later turns out he slept with an older woman in college.

Joey and Chandler’s apartment number changes from 4 to 19, whilst Monica’s changes from 5 to 20 without any of them realising. A whole episode set up the fact that Chandler has never cried, yet the previous series showed Phoebe make him cry.
Phoebe claims her dad left before she was born, yet later he walked out when she was 7.

Along with “get a life!” I hear you say “but Frasier and Niles were never in friends”.
No, they were never in friends. But, they did exist in the same universe. Phoebe’s twin sister, Ursula was a character in Mad about you, the characters from mad about you appeared in Friends. Chandler appeared in an episode of Caroline in the city. Caroline appeared in an episode of Friends, who else appeared in Caroline in the city?
Joey’s intelligence also takes a drastic knock over the years. He started out as an average guy then got dumber and dumber as the years went by.

What do you think? Does my theory hold any weight?
I’m likely to add more to this as further inconsistencies pop into my head.
I also think there’s something to the same people popping up with a new identity. Phoebe and Monica’s old Friend Amanda was later Joey’s agent, Bobby and Chandler’s psycho roommate Eddie, was Joey’s sister’s childhood boyfriend, Jimmy.