I get what you’re saying. As to point one, I agree. On the other hand, a comedy series with social commentary and philosophical aspects can still contain a lot of character development. For instance, the series Scrubs comes to mind where they definitely pull that off. But I get it’s not the point.
I agree employee number two, mostly on the friendship part.
I have a different opinion on Fenchurch. To me, their whole falling in love process was extremely well written and beautiful. Somehow it shows that someone who can’t find a place to fit in the whole universe in can still find someone to call home, and I thought that was really cool, but I do realize that it’s only my opinion and not a fact.
On another thread, a lemming pointed out that the author was on record, saying, he regretted how he wrote Fenchurch in the fifth book. I couldn’t find the quote in a quick search, but I found something else:
Douglas Adams frequently expressed his disdain for this ending in retrospect, claiming that it was too depressing and came about as the result of him having "a bad year;" "People have said, quite rightly, that Mostly Harmless is a very bleak book. And it was a bleak book. I would love to finish Hitchhiker on a slightly more upbeat note, so five seems to be a wrong kind of number; six is a better kind of number." He had planned to write a sixth book to undo this 'mistake', but never got around to it before his death source
Yeah, but it also says he later regretted how bleak he made the fifth book. And apparently, they get a different ending in the radio play.