I don't mind a Friends comparison. As you know, I'm a huge Friends fan, and I agree that they wrote relationships well. So, I think that's a great idea. Seeing later work by one of the Friends creators, 'Episodes' is proof again that he is good at creating and maintaining relationships. There is something very stale in the writing team for TBBT, and it needs to be rectified if they are going to go on for another 2 seasons.

@MurphAndTheMagicTones said:

@SeinfeldFriend said:

Very true Murph. I think the difference is that Bernadette​ was always intended to be a partner for Howard, whereas Penny and Leonard, although obviously the plan was always for him to fall for her, they have had their own storylines and characters, so they have not written them together particularly well.

If you'll forgive the Friends comparison, I think Monica and Chandler (until they really got into the adoption storyline) was a great example of working the two characters into an effective relationship. In many ways, putting those two together made more sense than having Ross & Rachel together, and you know they didn't even contemplate the possibility until season 3.

Maybe they need to pull in a couple of writers whose sole purpose is to write the Penny/Leonard relationship. The storyline this week could have worked but it lost something in the translation. But getting someone in from the outside, someone who can give a fresh perspective on the characters and where they could end up, could be a big shot in the arm and let the show avoid the hard downward slide virtually every single show suffers by this point, even Friends.

IMO Ross/ Rachel just doesn't fare well in repeat viewings. I wonder how we were so tolerant of the whole "will they/won't they", which seems so played out now. But I do have to remember that back then it wasn't as old and tired as it seems now. But the Monica and Chandler relationship stills plays great. I rarely watch the show in repeats (ok, pretty much never), but I recently stumbled across the episodes where everyone finds out about them, and they are still funny and touching.

@Gothish520 said:

@MurphAndTheMagicTones said:

@SeinfeldFriend said:

Very true Murph. I think the difference is that Bernadette​ was always intended to be a partner for Howard, whereas Penny and Leonard, although obviously the plan was always for him to fall for her, they have had their own storylines and characters, so they have not written them together particularly well.

If you'll forgive the Friends comparison, I think Monica and Chandler (until they really got into the adoption storyline) was a great example of working the two characters into an effective relationship. In many ways, putting those two together made more sense than having Ross & Rachel together, and you know they didn't even contemplate the possibility until season 3.

Maybe they need to pull in a couple of writers whose sole purpose is to write the Penny/Leonard relationship. The storyline this week could have worked but it lost something in the translation. But getting someone in from the outside, someone who can give a fresh perspective on the characters and where they could end up, could be a big shot in the arm and let the show avoid the hard downward slide virtually every single show suffers by this point, even Friends.

IMO Ross/ Rachel just doesn't fare well in repeat viewings. I wonder how we were so tolerant of the whole "will they/won't they", which seems so played out now. But I do have to remember that back then it wasn't as old and tired as it seems now. But the Monica and Chandler relationship stills plays great. I rarely watch the show in repeats (ok, pretty much never), but I recently stumbled across the episodes where everyone finds out about them, and they are still funny and touching.

I agree that Ross and Rachel's relationship doesn't hold up to the test of time as well as Monica and Chandler's does, which is strange because I didn't care for Monica and Chandler during the original run. If Friends were to air today, I believe Rachel would get on the plane to Paris at the end instead of staying with Ross. I think their relationship was great for the time period they existed in (mid to late 90's), but Monica and Chandler's is more organic.

I also agree that none of the relationships on TBBT are written all the well. Maybe it's because the show is mostly written by middle-aged men who know how to write about nerdisms more than relationship dynamics? They didn't set out to write about three relationships when the show first began; it just kind of evolved that way over time, whereas Friends kind of always had that dynamic at its core.

I have to agree, too. I used to look forward to watching Big Bang but it's just not that funny anymore.