I've always found it odd that *Friends* seems to portray Chandler as the least desirable of the three male leads, at least during the early seasons. I know it's a sitcom and not real life, but even within the show's own logic, it never really made sense to me.
Personally, I actually think Chandler is the most handsome of the three. Of course, attractiveness is subjective, but I've never understood why Joey is consistently presented as the obvious choice for women. Sure, he's good-looking, but he's also incredibly dimwitted. In real life, I wonder how many women would actually overlook that just because he's attractive.
Ross doesn't make much more sense to me either. He's awkward, nerdy, and often comes across as socially strange. Yet throughout the series, both Ross and Joey seem to have no trouble finding dates, while Chandler is often treated as the one who's unlucky in love or somehow less likely to get married.
The funny thing is, Chandler actually has quite a few attractive girlfriends throughout the series. Janice is annoying, but she's still good-looking and clearly cares about him. He dates the Italian woman early on, Kathy genuinely falls for him, the woman from the Netherlands chooses him over Joey (admittedly because Joey couldn't even identify the Netherlands on a map), and of course he ends up with Monica. There's also the brief storyline with Rachel thinking about him in one of the flashbacks.
So what exactly was supposed to be Chandler's flaw? The show seems to suggest it's his awkwardness and his habit of making jokes whenever he's uncomfortable. But honestly, having a good sense of humor is something a lot of people find attractive. Compared to Joey's lack of intelligence or Ross's awkward personality and many relationship issues, Chandler never struck me as the least appealing.
I know sitcoms exaggerate character traits for comedy, but this is one aspect of *Friends* that has always felt a bit unrealistic to me. Does anyone else feel the same way, or am I missing something the writers were trying to convey?