How the Friends characters changed

A huge amount has been written about Friends over the years. That is to be expected, given it is a TV show that defines an era, whether you love or hate it. Much more will be written when the long-awaited cast reunion finally happens after its COVID-enforced delay. It was supposed to be filmed in March but there is currently no date scheduled for either filming or broadcast. But how did the characters themselves change over the 10 seasons & 236 episodes? Let’s look at Chandler Muriel Bing.

Firstly, his character could have been very different if either Jon Cryer or Jon Favreau had been cast as Chandler over Matthew Perry. Not that those two gentlemen seem to have suffered from missing out on the part. Jon Cryer was already an established star thanks to his roles in Hot Shots & Pretty In Pink. He went on to be the only character that appeared in all 12 seasons of Two & A Half Men. Jon Favreau meanwhile, played Monica’s boyfriend Pete Becker in Series 3, and has gone on to direct 2 Iron Man films, Elf & The Lion King.

Style

If you go back & watch the first season, Chandler’s wardrobe choices are mostly awful. Maybe that’s why he was told in an early episode that he had “a quality”. Not a quality for dressing at that point but his sartorial choices did improve. He mainly stuck to smart jeans & shirts, when he wasn’t wearing an immaculate suit for work. But the occasional bowling shirt was thrown in for good measure, as well as his infamous sweater vests.

The hair, other than that floppy mess he had in the first season, stayed pretty much unchanged for the remaining 9 years. He always liked looking clean & cool, apart from a brief dalliance with growing a mullet in Season 6.

I guess we have Phoebe to thank for that, after she cut Joey & Chandler’s hair. But the less said about her attempt to make Monica’s hair look like Demi Moore’s the better.

Humour

Chandler’s fundamental sense of humour never really changed. It was always acerbic & razor sharp. But his jokes did develop in tandem with his character.

It’s well known that Matt Perry was the only actor allowed into the writer’s room to help contribute to crafting Chandler’s multitude of killer lines.

Early on, some of Chandler‘s zingers were like a stand-up comedian, and he could treat some of his Friends like hecklers with some wicked put-downs.

Matthew Perry’s favourite Chandler joke demonstrates this perfectly. From Season 2’s opener, “”The One With Ross’ New Girlfriend”:

“You should go see Frankie, my family’s been going to him forever,” Joey says to Chandler. “He did my first suit when I was 15… No, wait, 16. No, excuse me, 15. When was 1990?” Chandler responds: “OK, you have to stop the Q-tip when there’s resistance!”

But as the character evolved, so did his comfort in being the butt of the jokes. He could also indulge in some displays of goofy geekery, and show a new side to his personality. One such example was dressing up as a rabbit for a party & arm-wrestling Ross, who was dressed as an armadillo.

Maybe it was down to his relationship with Monica, or maybe that’s a coincidence, which as Chandler rightly pointed out to Phoebe is “jo-incidence with a C”.

Romantic Relationships

As Chandler once said “Until I was 25, I thought that the only response to ‘I love you’ was ‘Oh, crap!’”.

It was a recurring theme that Chandler Bing was consistently hopeless at relationships. This was even the case until he & Monica got engaged, when he finally seemed to get his act together.

The repeated romantic disasters with Janice, which resulted in him fleeing to Yemen to escape her screeching clutches, were typical of his complete romantic inability.

But, somehow love found a way, and it found its way to London at the end of Season 4. Despite Monica stating she’d never go out with him, after he’d peed on her to kill a jellyfish sting, she somehow ended up in the bed of Bing. From then on they were inseparable & clearly a great partnership. Their personalities & own individual neuroses complemented each other brilliantly.

Their determination to become parents, despite their fertility issues, showed Chandler’s growth. There’s no doubt that it wouldn’t have been a storyline that could have happened without his relationship with Monica showing his caring side.

Monica’s stable influence also allowed him to reconcile with his estranged father Charles before their wedding.

Friendships

What about his relationships with the rest of the Friends? Well, the other one that defines Chandler is his friendship with Joey. What appears early on to be a classic roommates friendship, with pranks & jokes aplenty, becomes a brotherhood. So much so that one almost can’t function without the other, especially when Chandler has to move to Tulsa.

The genuine love they have for each other is so obvious on screen and it’s no surprise that the 2 Matt’s are best friends in real life.

Their relationship is so iconic that in 2019 it was voted the best on-screen friendship of all time,, beating Monica & Rachel into second place.

Jobs

“What is Chandler Bing’s job?” asked Ross, and the best Rachel or Monica could come up with was “a Transponster”, which Monica pointed out, isn’t even a word!

For the record, he was doing statistical analysis & data reconfiguration until he quit after being relocated to Tulsa. He then moved into advertising. That change of career brought him in line with the rest of the gang, who were all in jobs they had genuine passion for – actor, chef etc.

He went from being someone content to take a good wage in a job he clearly didn’t enjoy, to a married father of 2 successful in a role he revels in. That is a great example of Chandler’s growth.

Chandler Bing was & will always be my favourite Friend – could he BE any more grown up?

That’s our list of ways Chandler Bing changed from Season 1 to Season 10 in Friends. Do you agree or disagree with our points or have anything to add? If so, leave us a comment below.

More of our Friends articles HERE

Read IMDB information on Matthew Perry HERE.