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Friends first premiered in 1994 and went off the air in 2004. Throughout its 10 seasons, Ross and Rachel became one of the most iconic couples in TV history. Thanks to reruns and streaming sites, the show has been viewed and beloved by multiple generations. So what do fans think of the couple today?

Friends Ross and Rachel
Ross and Rachel from ‘Friends’ | Robert Isenberg/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

Some fans of ‘Friends’ prefer Rachel and Joey

While Friends is no longer on Netflix, the show was added to the streaming site in 2015 and resided there for five years. While on Netflix, the sitcom gained new fans, and more and more fans began shipping Rachel and Joey over Rachel and Ross.

“Unpopular opinion but Rachel and Joey suited a lot more than Rachel and Ross,” a fan tweeted.

“unpopular opinion but… Joey and Rachel should’ve ended up together on the show friends. Ross just loved the idea of Rachel and put her on a pedestal then would get mad when she ruined his perfect image of her. Joey was the one who loved Rachel for EXACTLY WHO SHE IS,” a Twitter user wrote.

Other fans wish Rachel never gave up the job in Paris

“I got off the plane” is one of the most iconic and well-known lines from Friends. In the series finale, Rachel decides to reunite with Ross and stay in New York City with him instead of taking a job in Paris. The scene where Rachel leaves her flight to go to Ross’ apartment makes the couple endgame in the series.

As more modern audiences watch Friends, some fans are no longer happy with the storybook ending between Ross and Rachel. Instead of wanting the two to end up together, fans wish Rachel had gone to Paris.

“sitting here thinking about rachel’s ending in friends…girl got her dream job in paris and gave it up for a cheating, manipulative, annoying man ….couldn’t be me,” one fan tweeted.

“I can’t believe people like Ross from Friends. He was the most insecure, egotistical man. From accusing Rachel of cheating to sleeping with someone else to dating his student to stopping her from taking her dream job in Paris. Useless man,” wrote a Twitter user.

Ross and Rachel are still a timeless couple

Critics of the pairing often point out Ross and Rachel’s back-and-forth nature, as the series of tropes the couple went through are viewed as toxic. Despite the criticism, Ross and Rachel are still a beloved couple to die-hard fans of Friends.

“I absolutely adore Ross and Rachel. They’re my all-time favourite TV couple and the reason why I got so into Friends… For all their ups and downs throughout the show, it’s fun rooting for them and it gives you something to look forward to with an incredibly sweet and satisfying payoff at the end. They were entertaining and ultimately, that’s what a TV show is meant to be,” a Reddit user wrote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSkLLVPjf3E

“Yeah, I don’t necessarily need TV characters to be realistic, they just have to be believable, compelling and make me care, which is exactly how Ross and Rachel made me feel,” another Reddit user wrote.

In Friends, David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston had the chemistry as actors to make the pairing captivating for 10 seasons. The writers of the show also made Ross and Rachel go through nearly every TV trope imaginable. Nowadays, the general consensus seems to be that while Ross and Rachel would be a dysfunctional couple in real life, they made sense as a sitcom couple.

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