Which character was the absolute worst on Friends? It seems like a sacrilegious question to fans of the colossal hit NBC series. After all, every single one of them was lovable in their own way. Not to mention the fact that an entire generation grew up with each of these characters. For many viewers, Ross, Chandler, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, and Joey were their friends. They spent time with them each and every week. Felt their heartbreak. Laughed with them. And even judged them... what's friendship without a little judgement? Well, there's no doubt some fans have judged Joey.
By today's standards, so many things about Joey Tribbiani just wouldn't fly. But even in the 1990s and early 2000s, a lot of what Joey was up to, particularly with women, was frowned upon. But for that reason and many others, some vocal fans on the internet think that there were too many issues with Joey to ignore. Both in terms of the character himself as well as how he was designed. Let's take a look...
10 The Writers Seemed Bored With Joey And Just Made Him Dumb
Joey is responsible for some of the best episodes on Friends. Particularly because he played such a lovable dimwit. But there's no doubt that the gag wore thin after a while. Even though every sitcom character has a default position, Joey's was so repetitive that it lost a lot of steam. That's not to say that later seasons didn't have some great moments of Joey's stupidity. It just wasn't as interesting as where the writers took the other characters.
9 Joey Pretended To Be A Doctor With A Very Real Patient
Joey pretending to be a doctor in order to gain personal information from a patient in a hospital who Phoebe was interested in was a perfect sitcom episode premise. However, in reality, this was a downright terrible thing for anyone to do.
8 Joey Pulled A Cosmo Kramer With Monica's Fridge And Her Bank Account
We all have a friend who uses us. And we all complain about that friend. ...Joey was that friend in Friends. He used almost every main character for something at some point, but no one more than Monica. After all, he was constantly pulling a Kramer from Seinfeld by barging in and stealing all of her food. It was funny, but it made him kind of a terrible friend. ...And that's not even mentioning all the money he borrowed from her, Chandler, and even Ross and never paid back.
7 Joey Hooked Up With His Best-Friend's Girlfriend
To be fair, Chandler also hooked up with his best friend's girlfriend. But somehow Joey hooking up with Rachel was far more unappealing. Perhaps it was because he so desperately fell in love with her. Perhaps it was the fact that a lot of people straight-up hated the storyline. Matt LeBlanc himself stated that he hated the Rachel/Joey love story.
6 Joey Helped Ross Create The Julie/Rachel List
Not only was Joey a total womanizer throughout Friends' run, but he also inspired Ross to do a couple pretty reprehensible things regarding women. Perhaps none more notable as the Julie/Rachel pro and con list. Ross basically knew what he needed to do when reconciling his romantic interest in both women, but Joey (as always) treated the situation as though the women were objects. And he inspired Ross to do the same.
5 Joey Was Repeatedly Creepy With Rachel, Phoebe, And Monica
Joey just can't help himself with women. While there's honesty in that, the writers made Joey go a little too far on a number of occasions. This includes all the times he was downright creepy with his own female friends. Rarely was a joke missed regarding Joey wanting to see Monica, Rachel, of Phoebe without clothes on. Then there was that time with Monica's private photo.
4 Joey Left Ben On A Bus
Joey did what every parent has nightmares about doing... he left a baby on the bus. Ross entrusting Joey (and Chandler) with his baby for the afternoon turned out to be a massive mistake. As usual, Joey's interest in women superseded his responsibilities. It just so happened that his responsibilities in this instance involved a living, breathing, kid.
3 Joey Chose His Famous Friends Over His Real Friends
In one episode, Joey chose to occupy his real friends in order for them to miss his extravagant party filled with his soap opera colleagues. While he ended up getting caught and facing the consequences of his actions, there's no doubt that only a bad friend would do this. He may have had some legitimate concerns about how his friends would act around stars, but lying to them like that was thoughtless.
2 Joey's Love Of Food Was Another Example Of Poor Character Design
The writers of Friends seemed particularly uninspired when it came to the character of Joey. His arc basically went nowhere, unlike every one of the other characters. While Joey had some truly heartfelt moments on the show, his default positions reigned supreme in almost every instance. He liked women. He was dumb. And he could eat. Sure, some of the Joey loves food storylines were funny, but the writers spent way too much time on this trait, making Joey a little more awful than he needed to be.
1 Joey Used The Power He Had To Lure Women Into Sleeping With Him
Here's the truth, everyone uses the strengths they have to get what they want, including relationship and sex. Whether consciously or subconsciously, we do it when we dress up and go to a bar. We do it with our jobs. We even do it with our authentic connections to people and animals (who doesn't love a hot person with a puppy?). But Joey used his power in creepy ways. This includes taking on a roommate just so he could sleep with her. Then there are all the women on the sets of his various projects that he tried to manipulate into sleeping with him.
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