Obviously, plenty of people are tuning into Friends: It's been the No. 1 rated TV sitcom for a record six consecutive seasons.

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But many 20- and 30-somethings who you might think would be the show's biggest fans say the sitcom has been stuck in second gear for years - and some never have tuned in.

North Avondale resident Dale Marie Pontz, 25, says she stopped watching when Rachel and Ross broke up the second time.

She says it had funny moments - Chandler's witticisms and Ross's short-lived music career - but that it's exhausted all possible story lines and twists.

"To me, the show had its ending already in mind when it began," she says. "The only unpredictable part was that Joey and Phoebe didn't end up married."

What's she watching now? While her friends are addicts of American Idol and The O.C., she says she mostly watches HGTV, Comedy Central and ESPN.

Bellevue resident Karl Dailey, 32, says he's a big TV-watcher, but that Friends isn't in his lineup.

"If Tru Calling is a re-run, I will probably tune in, but my must-see TV is on other networks on Thursdays," he says.

He says he started watching Tru Calling when it premiered on Fox last fall and likes it because it's "unlike any other show on television."

Walnut Hills resident Rob Thornton, 25, says he thinks Friends is funny but that it hasn't made his regular lineup, either.

Instead, he watches The Simpsons and The Family Guy, NBC's Scrubs and Frasier and more recently, The Apprentice.

One of 25-year-old Kendra Hull's favorite shows - HBO's Sex and the City - has already ended, and the other, Frasier, is also on its way out this year.

The West Chester Township resident says she'll be watching Scrubs from now on.

"As funny as it is, it can also be so touching - which is a rare combo," she says. Tina Riffe, 37, of Mount Lookout says she makes an effort to see NBC's Will & Grace because it's consistently funny, and that she also likes Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

She also admits she migrates toward reality TV shows - The Bachelorette, The Apprentice - when she's flipping through the channels.

"I think there's something very appealing about escaping reality by watching a reality show," she says.

But she says she's not stuck on any one show.

"Thank God it's spring and there's lots to do in Cincy besides watch TV," she says.

Lauren Bishop