The place for Ross discussion, of course!

(Ideas for better titles are welcome, as well!)

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but in watching reruns, Ross is one of my favorite characters. I know, he could be annoying and anal, but his consistency is what I like.

Some of my favorite moments are Ross moments: the couch moving (Pi-VOT!), his "sound", the moistmaker.

I also loved how committed David Schwimmer was to Ross' goofiness. I recently saw the episode where Ross plays his sound for everyone, and the facial expressions and mannerisms just killed me.

The Ross of the first three or four seasons was great. I could (almost) see why Rachel went for him. Then the producers turned him in Angry, Psycho Nerd and ruined everything.

The one aspect of Ross I loved more than anything was that he was the "sensible" Friend. He was the scientist, his mind was orderly, and he had a love of logic that often clashed with Phoebe's daffy spirituality. (He was definitely Monica's brother, except his compulsion for order took a different form.) Ross got laughs when his orderly mind came up against his romanticism, his geekiness, and his insecurities. You could see Ross short-circuit whenever logic met passion, and his befuddlement at being unable to process the conflict was always funny.

Deranged Ross was never funny.

By the end Ross was my least favorite character. I just always felt that the writers put him into situations that were just contrived and stupid. I felt that Ross was smarter and more logical than that and wouldn't be that dumb.

An example was the episode when he got leather pants and he got hot in them and couldn't them back up. I thought that Ross would have been smart enough to realize what happened, tell his date that, and deal with it in a smarter way, not the stupid taking suggestions from Joey as to how to solve the problem.

You're right, zekeburger, but I still laugh harder at the "paste pants" scenario than almost anything else on the series. When he slaps his face and gets the paste in his hair? Gut busting, for me at least.

Ah yes, Paste Pants. Definitely one of the funniest of the series. Actually, my two favorite moments are Ross moments - Paste Pants and Holiday Armadillo. Love him!

Ok, that gets ten kinds of words, at least.

The stuff he did was just stupid and I was like "come now, Ross. You're not that stupid." And I hated how his voice got so...high and too reminiscent of the guys in my high school towards the end. I remember this one episode where he was getting high on helium, or something equally idiotic, and I was just "shut. up."

Earlier today, I saw the episode with Carol and Susan's wedding, and I loved Ross there. He was all moody and torn up about it, then he saved the marriage, and danced with Susan, and was so wonderfully dimensional. Later on, he was TOW All The Divorces. Yeah. No need to mock me for that.

Ross was my favorite friend. I guess some of the situations he got into were stupid and contrived (and I think I even read somewhere that David Schwimmer didn't like the direction Ross was going) but a lot of that stuff was funny. Most of my favorite Friends moments involve Ross:TOW Ross Flirts ("I happen to like 8-year-old boys", "Was I talking to her about GAS?", PIVOT!, TOW Ross' Teeth, the tanning episode ("I'm an 8!"), the leather pants one, the Holiday Armadillo, TOW Ross' Sandwich ("MY SANDWICH????"), the one where he was dating the dirty girl, plus some others I can't remember now.

One of the funniest Friends moments for me was TOW the Blackout, when the cat jumps on Ross' back and everyone is singing "On top of the world" while you see Ross thrashing in the background.

The thing I liked best about Ross were his beautifully timed awkward statements: "Or, you know, Rachel and I should be together...and we should have some kind of...m-message service." He just delivers them so perfectly. And I love when he rambles and digs himself in deeper and deeper: "So, to sum up: we're having fun. You look young." I agree, towards the end they took that aspect over the top, like in "TOW Ross is Fine," but IMHO, DS handled it just right and kept things watchable.

I don't know...I like sweet, geeky Ross from the earlier seasons, but I have to admit, I like crazy Ross just as much, if not more. Getting addicted to maple candy, doing The Routine with Monica, PIVOTTT, etc. I think by the final season, they managed to balance his sweet side with his crazy side pretty well. (The exception being TOW Ross is Fine, because that was just painful).

I love Ross' way of giving the finger without giving the finger!

I like the episode with Ross' first date after the divorce from Carol (where he returns the egg to the girl) and they meet Carol and Susan at the restaturant. Susan has to leave and Ross invites Carol to join them and his date ends up leaving. I really felt for him when he suggests that they just put a pin on the whole lesbian-thing (or something like that), because being with Carol is just so comfortable. I think it was really well-done to show how hard it was for Ross to start dating again after being married to his high school sweetheart.

All of the characters did stupid things for the sake of plot. If they were acting with all their neurons firing, Monica definitely would have known how to deal with frizzy hair in the Barbados eps. and would not have have walked around looking like she did and Rachel would have given the guy in that bar her cell phone number instead of the phone number at the apartment. Like Ross, they were both dumbed down for the sake of the plot of the week.

I think you're right, especially when they were paired up. If there was a non-romantic storyline involving two of the characters, it seemed only one would have the functioning brain!

"PIVOTT" aside, I think Ross was funniest when he wasn't the focus of the story. He seemed to really be the voice of reason--as long as it wasn't his life, which he totally screwed up at every turn. Pitting his scientific mind against the non-traditional intelligence of Phoebe and Joey was always good for a laugh. One of his funniest bits is when Joey is going to get Susan Sarandon's brain on DOOL.

Ross: So let me get this straight. After the brain "transplant", you are going to be her?

Joey: Yeah--why is this so hard for you to understand, man? I thought you were a scientist!

You can just feel that Ross' head is about to explode.

I agree completely. In re-watching the show, Ross has some of the best comedy moments in the series. I think I laugh harder at the Ross moments than with any other character. In addition to the moments you mentioned I also love the leather pants scene, his routine with Monica, and the girlfriend with the dirty apartment.

Not to mention his area of work went from something worthy of respect to a "why would ANYONE want to go into this field" profession. I mean even in the commentary the producers admited how much disdain they had for the profession of archeology to the point where it went from the study of fossils to just dinosaur geeks. They even made Ross dumber in this field as well, after losing his entire speech, Charlie pretty much single handedly recovers the entire speech and coments on how little Ross recalled of it.

And this is a guy with a P.H.D.? In a field that is a legitamately facinating field that goes beyond "dinosaurs" and geeks who still play Dungeons & Dragons?

Ross is one of my favorite characters, and always has been, from the very start of the series till the very end. In my opinion, David Schwimmer was the best comedic actor on the show. His facial expressions alone should have won him multiple Emmys. He's a master at physical comedy, also has great comedic timing, and I give him full credit for keeping the character watchable and likeable (for me, at least) during the last two seasons when he was starting to get a little crazier then normal. When I look back on the entire series, I realize that most of my favorite Friends moments ever involve Ross in some capacity: PIVOT!!; Paste Pants; the spray-on tanning (I'm an 8!); Emma's birth; actually, the entire pregnant Rachel arc, because it heavily involved Ross and he was hysterical throughout; etc. The list goes on and on and on. David Schwimmer also pretty much owned Season 1 for me. I think he was the true breakout star of that season. In all honesty, I don't have a bad word to say about Ross's character or David Schwimmer's portrayal. I know a lot of fans think he got annoying towards the end, and while I can certainly see a difference in his characer, I never thought he was annoying. To me, he was consistantly the funniest Friend (if Chandler's character wasn't ruined after he and Monica got engaged, he would have shared this title, but I digress).

So true. Same with Phoebe not believing in evolution...I loved that she called him on it, and that she was totally right - but he didn't change. His spazzy perfectionistic intellectual stuff was a thing of beauty: "...And that should conclusively prove that I had the idea for Jurassic Park first" and the whole naming-the-fifty-states-before-he-could-have-dinner thing..."Y'know, maybe it's this hard because there aren't fifty states! I have forty-nine, and there are NO MORE!" It was silly stuff, but he worked it just perfectly.

And oh my god, I forgot the maple candy. "I don't know what to say, sir." "She doesn't know what to say!!" Hysterical.

Oh, I LOVED that whole Chandler/Ross trip! "Do you have a closet I can lock him in?". And my favourite: "I wish I had thought this through". *rofl*

And one of my all-time favourites Ross-quotes from TOW Ross Is Fine:

ROSS: L.O.V.E. Love. L is for life. And what is life without love?

RACHEL: Oh my God, are we supposed to answer?

ROSS: O is for "Oh wow".

etc. It's all in the delivery! Awesome.

I agree. I remember tellling my friends Ross was my favorite character on Friends and them being completely disgusted, but DS impeccable portrayal of this character was perfect and he was always great at physical comedy.

Ross will always be my favourite friend. David Schwimmer had brilliant comic timing, and always did the best with everything they gave him. I loved the chemistry he had with Phoebe. In fact he had good chemistry with all of the actors, and his character was consistently sweet to every other character on the show. Buying a bike for phoebe, kissing Joey for that audition, missing an interview on TV for Rachel....Wish he would have hooked up with Phoebe instead of with Rachel. I think Phoebe was the only one who really got him. That said, Schwimmer and Anniston were good too. He was great with physical comedy - esp in the German Detergent episode - UberWeiz!!! Also in the later seasons, he was the best at dramatic scenes. The scene where Ross and Rachel break up was well acted by both. Schwimmer really nailed the heartbreak.

I always liked Ross, he was such a goof how could you not love him? The Pivot episode with the couch ... the Lift episode with the porsche, and omg the "My Sandwich" episode, were all so damn hilarious.

I think the "My Sandwich" episode was my favorite though.

And given the title of this thread. Yes Ross, I do agree, YOU WERE ON A BREAK!

Ross was always my favorite too. He was the only reason I watched the show during it's last seasons.

PIVOT! and Holiday Armadillo are two of my favorite bits, but I hate Paste Pants. It doesn’t even make any sense. Why would leather pants shrink in the 2 minutes it takes to go to the bathroom?

Anyway, I also loved the episodes where he moves in with Joey and Chandler (tap dancing pimp, hehe) and trying to get the apartment from Ugly Naked Guy.

I will agree that Ross got lot more crazy and borderline psychotic as time went on to the point where he was pretty close to a caricature of himself. But I guess I'm one of the few who liked that version of him; sappy Ross who's too chicken to do anything about the whole Rachel situation at the beginning bugged. I swear, I was screaming at him to suck it up already. Psycho Ross finally got some personality.

One of my favorite moments, besides the aforementioned "PIVOT!!!" incident, the leather pants fiasco and holiday armadillo, is the whole "MY SANDWHICH!" bit. That breakdown was hilarious if only because a.) my mom makes those sandwiches all the time for Thanksgiving and I'd be pretty damned pissed if someone stole it and then threw it away, and b.) I think that was Ross's biggest reaction to anything up to that point and it was kind of shocking. I also love the bit where he takes up the keyboard again. It's all about the head motions. Now that I think about it, DW is a great physical comedian.

He's good with subtle stuff as well... witness "Russ". The man was brilliant in both parts.

Now that I think of it and read everyone's moments listed above, he's probably the best actor on the show. He's definitely the best with physical comedy.

And this was probably the writing, but I thought Ross and Monica were VERY well written as brother and sister. I wouldn't say this about just anyone... but they were better than Michael and Lindsay Bluth.

It's too hard to choose a favourite Ross moment, but up there is 'PIVOTTTT!!' and 'Lift and slide. Lift and slide' . DS is really good at the comedy expressions, and he has impeccable timing.

He's also really good at the sad stuff-in TOW The Prom Video when Rachel goes off with Chip, his defeated facial expression just gets me every time.

I think it wasn't so much that the pants shrank as that Ross's legs were bloated from being hot and sweaty (no, I really hadn't thought it out this thoroughly until I read your post!) and once he got the pants off, he couldn't get them back on.

Man, the slapping himself in the face with the paste hand gets me laughing so hard I'm crying, every time.

The scene is that much better thanks to Joey's "assistance." "I am putting out fires all over the place!"

Re. The leatherpants: Did anybody else think that the scene would end up with the girl thinking Ross was doing something else in the bathroom? The paste thing didn't help that.....maybe I just have a dirty mind.

I'm glad they didn't go there for the joke.

I love when the baby store girl was flirting with Ross and she said, "Wow, a paleantologist who works out! You're like Indiana Jones!" and he starts to think for a moment and declares "I am like Indiana Jones!"

Yeah, I loved Ross - or Schwimmer's portrayal of him. Along with Chandler, he was one of my favorites in the earlier seasons. Unlike Chandler, Ross remained consistently funny in the later seasons. David had great facial expressions and is one of the better physical comedians out there (and the best of the cast, of course). However, I also think Schwimmer had the most range of the male Friends and could bring dramatic skills when needed; it's something I felt that Perry and LeBlanc were mediocre at, save for the latter character's crush on Rachel in season 8...

I have always liked Ross. He like the other characters started acting really stupid so I can't single him out for that.

I will say that the two things that irked me were the multiple marriages and "we're on a break" thing. Yes, you were on a break but could he not recognize that sleeping with someone the same day/next day (I can't remember) of breaking up would be hard to swallow? I never got that he got that b/c if he did he would not have been so insistent for so long. It was like he felt so guilty that he was trying to convince himself that it was all good in the neighborhood.

Loved the Holiday Armadillo.

I always liked Schwimmer more than Ross. Ross was the best character in season 1 and carrie dthe show that year. But then the writers kept making Ross more and more pathetic. Still, even when they had Ross doing idiotic stuff, it was still watchable because Schwimmer always did something to make you laugh.

One of my favorite moments in the later years was when Ross was hitting on the pizza delivery girl and started talking about gasses. Schwimmer's timing was great.

I forgot all about when he took up his keyboard again. His facial expressions were priceless.

I love him in TOW the Embryos, when the girls lose the apartment. Ross as the 'host', asking the questions is just great! He gets all pissy when Rachel touches the board, and when he breaks out the Lightening Round, I just lose it. Probably my favorite episode, thanks to Ross.

This always bothered me too. It wasn't that you were technically wrong, it was that it was a shit thing to do. I don't care if it was out of revenge for Mark or to get Rachel back or because he was devastated - it was a wrong thing to do, even if they were technically on a break. Trying to defend it always bothered me ("how did I know this wasn't a break UP," etc.) because it took away from it.

I think that I never found myself on his side though was because I blamed him for break in the first place. I found his jealousy and his intrusion into Rachel's life horrible. It bothered me to no end that he thought he should bring a picnic basket to her work. I understood his frustrations that she was working so many hours, but it was a new job and he did not do enough to support her. He was acting like a spoiled brat. Part of me always suspected that he liked that she was "just a waitress" because that gave him the power. He was the adult, he had the book smarts and the high-paying job. I think he was threatened by Rachel and at could at least assert himself as the breadwinner when she was scraping by. But when she found a job that she was good at and became an equal, he flipped and had to put her in her place and mark his territory. If she had sent him all that crap (the love bug, etc.) to his office, no way he would have thought it was sweet. He was a professional - he should have known better and his behavior was unexcusable. Have a rational conversation with your girlfriend and explain to her that you're feeling neglected. And trust that she loves you back - don't be so damn insecure that you can't stand that she works with a man. Don't humiliate her at work and totally disregard her feelings and explanations.

Sorry - I liked Ross on many occasions and thought DS was brilliant, and thought the break up story line was handled wonderfully and written perfectly, but that jealous/dominant aspect of his character always bothered the hell out of me. And then I remember that these are not actually real people....

Definitely one of the all time great scenes. I love the look on Schwimmer's face when Ross realizes that he's saying something wrong and just can't stop. He looks absolutely terrified but incapable of doing anything about it. And then when admits to himself what he was doing, he's so embarassed. Perfect scene.

One of the funniest Ross moments ever is when the pizza girl says earlier that her haircut makes her look like an eight-year old boy and when Ross sees her again later he tries to smoothly flirt with her by saying, "I happen to like eight year-old boys!"

"History - A
Science - A
Maths - A
Gym - long pause .........."

"I'm a medical marvel"

13 Memorably Unpopular Characters From Popular TV

Holy crap, that's harsh. Ross has gotten on my nerves at times, but to put him in the same category as Steve Urkel or Cousin Oliver from the Brady Bunch? Yikes.

I agree. I never hated Ross as a character--in fact, in the beginning he was one of my favorites. He was kind of a know-it-all but I identified with that, and I thought Schwimmer played him well and made him very sympathetic. (I also believe he didn't cheat on Rachel--sleeping with someone after your significant other breaks up with you is not "cheating," no matter when it happens, IMO). But man, did he ever get a bum deal from the writers. I thought his inclusion on that list was totally unjustified.

I posted over in the 90210 thread that as soon as Ross's named popped up, the list lost credibility. It makes no sense to even include a main cast member, a cast member that was responsible for the success of his show (say what you will about how awesome Chandler is, how hot Jennifer Aniston is, etc.--the show wouldn't have thrived or taken off it like it did without a major love story, and the love story wouldn't have been near as good without someone as neurotic as Ross. I'm not saying that was the only reason the show was successful, please don't misunderstand me, but it was a very huge reason).

People are way too quick to defend Rachel in every argument with Ross when she was responsible for as many stupid things as he was.

And the list also seems to really focus on the last five seasons of Ross's character, when he was goofy and zany, as opposed to the bumbling, insecure, Woody Allen version of Ross from the first five.

Yeah, terrible list in parts.

Personally I have no problem with Ross on this list. From the beginning he was my least favorite friend. He can be funny at times, but I just don't like him.

Yeah, but it's a "Most Hated" characters list. I mean, the other characters on the list include Cousin Oliver, Scrappy Doo, and Urkel. Even if some Friends fans don't individually like Ross, there is no way Ross is in the league of some of those other characters. Ross has nowhere near the level of universal fan hatred that, say, Scrappy Doo had. Hating Ross isn't a fan "phenomenon" the way hating Wesley Crusher was among the Trek folks. I just don't see it as comparable.

I think people who don't really like the show Friends or know much about it, hate David Schwimmer. Or they did back in the day when it was super popular in its first three seasons.

I have no idea why. To me, he's incredibly admirable. When I heard that he supports rape crisis centers, all the estrogen in my body sang.

The show couldn't have been the success that it was without all 6 actors, including David Schwimmer's Ross. To put him on a list entitled "memorably unpopular" is absurd.

He was the most popular character at the beginning, no? The one that the directors wanted to pay the highest pay, but he insisted that all 6 Friends were paid the same.

In other words, he's some sort of saint.