The One With the Thing: All Episodes Talk

[WendyCR72]

I remember some write up talking with, I think, Marta Kauffman and Kevin Bright, where they said Chandler and Phoebe were initially seen as side/secondary characters to the other four, which makes sense if Joey/Monica were to be a couple with Ross/Rachel. But apparently, Matthew Perry made Chandler pop right out of the gate, so all six were made "equal", so to speak.

Of the six, however, ironically, if one had to leave, I think Phoebe would have "lifted right out". No offense to Lisa Kudrow, who did great work, but Phoebe seemed to be the least invested in of the six and got the usual "B"/side plots. Heck, even a story named for her arc, "The One With The Embryos", was overshadowed by the ingenious trivia game and apartment switching.

[Madding crowd]

I know Monica and Phoebe were roommates in the beginning but it never seemed like Monica and Rachel would be friends with her. Kudrow was good in the part, but it often seemed like Phoebe looked down on the others and was uninterested in their lives and things they liked to do.

[Jax7917]

On 6/12/2018 at 12:31 AM, Madding crowd said:

I know Monica and Phoebe were roommates in the beginning but it never seemed like Monica and Rachel would be friends with her. Kudrow was good in the part, but it often seemed like Phoebe looked down on the others and was uninterested in their lives and things they liked to do.

Yeah I always felt like the 5 of them were the main characters and phoebe was just there on the sidelines . Mostly because she always had B storylines but also partially because her personality seemed so different from the others . I mean Joey had a dumbness to him but he was also into the same stuff as Ross and chandler whereas phoebe was just off on her own mostly and had a different type of personality than the girls . 

[BonnieMax]

On 2/1/2016 at 11:04 AM, Inquisitionist said:

Happened to watch The One with the Birth (1-23) this weekend, and realized that the nurse was played by the same actress who later played Joey's agent, Estelle.  According to IMDb, June Gable played Estelle in an earlier episode (The One with the Butt, 1-6), but her scenes were cut.  After appearing as the nurse, she showed up as Estelle nine times.

I just saw this one about a week ago ! Really good ep. I like the guy who played the doctor ( actor Jonathan Silverman) , I agree with Rachel, he was cute ! And it was really sweet  how Joey befriended the pregnant lady who was going to have to have her baby on her own! Is was fun seeing Leah Remini in that role !

On 6/11/2018 at 9:31 PM, Madding crowd said:

I know Monica and Phoebe were roommates in the beginning but it never seemed like Monica and Rachel would be friends with her. Kudrow was good in the part, but it often seemed like Phoebe looked down on the others and was uninterested in their lives and things they liked to do.

I never saw Phoebe as looking down on the others or being uninterested  in their lives . I saw her as just being very spacey and air headed marching to the beat of her own drummer, but not in a snobby way !

[Bort]

I just wish they’d told us how Phoebe ended up in their friend group. We saw or were told how everybody else met except for her. Maybe she’d have seemed less like she’d “lift right out” if we saw how she came to be Monica’s roommate in the first place.

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

I always assumed Monica ran an ad for a SWF roommate and Phoebe was the least wacky applicant in mid-90’s Greenwich Village. 

[Buzz11]

On 6/11/2018 at 10:31 PM, Madding crowd said:

I know Monica and Phoebe were roommates in the beginning but it never seemed like Monica and Rachel would be friends with her. Kudrow was good in the part, but it often seemed like Phoebe looked down on the others and was uninterested in their lives and things they liked to do.

I always pretend that Phoebe did to Monica what the group did for Rachel, kind of a more experienced city dweller whenever Monica and her became roommates and Phoebe taught Monica all kinds of life lessons and by the time we meet them in the preimier Monica has grown out of her spoiled daddy girl phase. I was always curious about how Monica and Rachel’s path diverged, they mention Monica going to cooking school; so how did that work? She graduates HS then moves straight to her grandmas apartment and becomes a chef? Meanwhile Rachel is pledging a sorority? Where was Monica when she was 20, u know?

 

something tells me there are secret clues in the scene where Joey has his head in the turkey... correct me if I’m wrong that scene pre dates the premier?

Edited June 24, 2018 by Buzz11

[helenamonster]

I mean, Monica and Rachel not staying in touch after high school is not unusual. I'm fortunate enough to still be in regular contact with my high school best friend (it helps that we both moved to the same city) but I had many close friends in high school that I haven't spoken to since we graduated...people just go their separate ways sometimes and you see them at reunions but your lives are now so different that there's really no point in trying to reconnect.

I don't think it's ever said where Monica or Rachel went to college. Monica presumably went somewhere with a culinary program, got her degree, then moved in with her grandmother (or just took over the apartment on the DL to keep it rent controlled) and started working in the city. Rachel either went away to school (she mentioned in a high school flashback that she wanted to go somewhere warm) or just stayed in the NYC/Long Island area and went somewhere local, then met Barry and moved in with him.

[AriAu]

So, how did David Schwimmer's acting ability deteriorate so badly during the series. I saw the One with the Princess Leia Fantasy" last night and he was really, really good, from line delivery and physical acting standpoint. By the end, he was so clearly going through the motions that it was sad....almost a characature.

By the way, really, really funny episode-Phoebe at her wackiest, "Joey and Janice's day of fun", sharp writing and perfect Elliott Gould/Jack Geller...and of course the surprise reveal at the end. Even Joey had some clever lines and excellent delivery-"that's the spirit...what can we do about it".

[Jax7917]

I don't think schwimmers acting got worse , I think the writing for him got worse . He started the show as a hopeless romantic who you rooted for , and later on became an annoying caricature who followed in joeys footsteps of jumping from girl to girl . I'd Say  the writing for him changed the most out of the characters as the series went on . Rachel changed because she matured , he got more immature as the series progressed . 

[RainbowBrite]

13 hours ago, Jaclyn88 said:

I don't think schwimmers acting got worse , I think the writing for him got worse . He started the show as a hopeless romantic who you rooted for , and later on became an annoying caricature who followed in joeys footsteps of jumping from girl to girl . I'd Say  the writing for him changed the most out of the characters as the series went on . Rachel changed because she matured , he got more immature as the series progressed . 

They also realized/decided that he really thrived doing physical comedy, so they threw him into more and more "zany" situations where he could show off his "skills".

[Madding crowd]

I’m not Ross ‘jumped from girl to girl ‘. Most people I know dated a number of people before

getting married. Ross always wanted a relationship, Joey just wanted sex. I still love the show and watch it every day, It was a show about single people and they eventually settled down ( except Joey). 

[Bort]

1 hour ago, RainbowBrite said:

They also realized/decided that he really thrived doing physical comedy, so they threw him into more and more "zany" situations where he could show off his "skills".

They took it too far, though. For instance, TOW Ross's Tan. Yeah, ha ha, Ross hasn't got the common sense given to a gnat and can't figure out when to turn/not-turn and got multiple front-side spray tans.

[Jax7917]

1 hour ago, kariyaki said:

They took it too far, though. For instance, TOW Ross's Tan. Yeah, ha ha, Ross hasn't got the common sense given to a gnat and can't figure out when to turn/not-turn and got multiple front-side spray tans.

In his defense , that booth was ridiculous lol  it sprayed more than every 5 seconds 

[Nordly Beaumont]

And why on earth would you have to wait five seconds after the spray stops before turning around? Just turn around when it stops! 

But I'll always be happy for the word "Mississippily"

Edited June 29, 2018 by Nordly Beaumont

[Meushell]

Wasn’t sure where to put this, and this thread seemed to fit the best. According to TV Tropes...

Quote

Try to find any fan of the show who actually liked Mark. Though Ross and Rachel is somewhat a Broken Base, fans were relieved when Rachel and Mark never got together.

Is he really this unpopular? I never had an issue with him myself. He just seemed like a nice guy. I know the show later reveals that he was after Rachel, but I felt that was the show’s way to justify Ross’ actions. “See, he really was a threat.” Even with that in mind though, I find him to be an overall likable character.

[Katy M]

2 hours ago, Meushell said:

Is he really this unpopular? I never had an issue with him myself. He just seemed like a nice guy. I know the show later reveals that he was after Rachel, but I felt that was the show’s way to justify Ross’ actions. “See, he really was a threat.” Even with that in mind though, I find him to be an overall likable character.

I really never gave him much thought as a character.  He was just a plot device.  But, no, he wasn't a bad guy.  He helped Rachel get a job (though it is weird that he would potentially put his job in jeopardy recommending a complete stranger), and while he may have liked Rachel, he never tried to "steal" her.

[Bort]

3 hours ago, Meushell said:

Is he really this unpopular? I never had an issue with him myself. He just seemed like a nice guy. I know the show later reveals that he was after Rachel, but I felt that was the show’s way to justify Ross’ actions. “See, he really was a threat.” Even with that in mind though, I find him to be an overall likable character.

I don't even buy that the show reveals Mark was "after Rachel." He liked her, was attracted to her, but he never did anything to undermine her relationship with Ross (Ross didn't need Mark's help anyway, he undermined his relationship just fine on his own). Mark asked Rachel out once she and Ross had broken up, but there's nothing wrong with that. He didn't even ask right away, he waited a respectable amount of time first.

[Inquisitionist]

Re-watching Season 4 on Nick@Nite, I've noticed that Phoebe got really bitchy and mean during her pregnancy, which they others understandably sloughed off as hormone-related.  But did she just remain mean after giving birth?  Or had she morphed from sweet and ditzy to mean and judgmental earlier than that?

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

She turned into a bitch because of hormones (“Pregnant ladies are mean! We don’t understand biology!”—the Friends writers, probably), and the writers loved bitchy Phoebe so much more than ditzy Phoebe, they just kept her that way. 

[Madding crowd]

I thought she was always kind of mean, especially to Ross and Chandler. 

[Meushell]

@Katy M, @kariyaki

Thank you. Yeah, he was mostly a plot device, but still overall likable. I was wondering if there was some major fandom hate that I didn’t know about, or if it was basically one TV Troper projecting their opinion on every fan. 

Personally, I think it would have been interesting if Rachel did up with Mark as her final. Not because he goes after her or because she secretly liked him all along (or wants to spite Ross), but because she realizes he’s just a nice guy.

[Crs97]

On a related topic, I think Monica had the most normal boyfriends on the show.  I shipped her with Chandler early on, but if the show hadn’t decided to go there, I could have pictured her with Pete long-term.  I liked Richard and Monica together, too.  She had a few doozies, but all in all I thought she had the most mature relationships of the group.

[Jax7917]

6 hours ago, Crs97 said:

On a related topic, I think Monica had the most normal boyfriends on the show.  I shipped her with Chandler early on, but if the show hadn’t decided to go there, I could have pictured her with Pete long-term.  I liked Richard and Monica together, too.  She had a few doozies, but all in all I thought she had the most mature relationships of the group.

I agree . I liked what the show did with her relationships and who they put her with .. and I think with chandler , one of the reasons everyone loves them together is because they weren't set to be a couple from day 1.. their relationship evolved so naturally . 

Rachels " relationships " were the worst . I feel like besides Ross , every guy she dated was meant to be a joke .. tag, Bruce willis ,  joshuAA and even Joey . They didn't give her Monica type relationships and I was mostly bored with her love interests who she unrealistically drooled over and obsessed over but they never gave her a real relationship besides Ross 

[Katy M]

19 minutes ago, Jaclyn88 said:

I agree . I liked what the show did with her relationships and who they put her with .. and I think with chandler , one of the reasons everyone loves them together is because they weren't set to be a couple from day 1.. their relationship evolved so naturally . 

Rachels " relationships " were the worst . I feel like besides Ross , every guy she dated was meant to be a joke .. tag, Bruce willis ,  joshuAA and even Joey . They didn't give her Monica type relationships and I was mostly bored with her love interests who she unrealistically drooled over and obsessed over but they never gave her a real relationship besides Ross 

Probably because Ross and Rachel were end-game so if they gave either one of them a real relationship with someone else, there could have been fan backlash when they broke them up to get R&R together.  I didn't mind them when they were first together, but they've never been one of my favorite TV couples. But, all the breaking up and getting back together was annoying.  I pretty much only really liked Chandler, Monica, early Phoebe and sometimes Joey.

[Bort]

18 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Probably because Ross and Rachel were end-game so if they gave either one of them a real relationship with someone else, there could have been fan backlash when they broke them up to get R&R together.  I didn't mind them when they were first together, but they've never been one of my favorite TV couples. But, all the breaking up and getting back together was annoying.  I pretty much only really liked Chandler, Monica, early Phoebe and sometimes Joey.

Yeah, but they still gave Ross decent long term love interests. Bonnie, Elizabeth, Emily, Mona... The best Rachel ever got was Tag and Joey, the rest were cartoons.

[Jax7917]

3 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Yeah, but they still gave Ross decent long term love interests. Bonnie, Elizabeth, Emily, Mona... The best Rachel ever got was Tag and Joey, the rest were cartoons.

Yea I'd say Emily was a real love interest . Besides what they turned her character into , I liked them together . 

I thought they made tag into a cartoon too . 

[Katy M]

3 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Yeah, but they still gave Ross decent long term love interests. Bonnie, Elizabeth, Emily, Mona... The best Rachel ever got was Tag and Joey, the rest were cartoons.

Bonnie was only in a couple of episodes*, Elizabeth was as much of a joke as Tag or Paul, and his relationship with Mona mostly revolved around Rachel being pregnant.  I'll give you Emily and Julie, though

* And, I feel like even without Rachel wanting him at that moment, he may have broken up with her because she shaved her hair. 

[Bort]

17 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Bonnie was only in a couple of episodes*, Elizabeth was as much of a joke as Tag or Paul, and his relationship with Mona mostly revolved around Rachel being pregnant.  I'll give you Emily and Julie, though

* And, I feel like even without Rachel wanting him at that moment, he may have broken up with her because she shaved her hair. 

Ross still dated Elizabeth for quite a while. Mona too. Bonnie was fleeting, yes, but if Rachel hadn't sabotaged it, he'd have dated her longer.

Rachel had Danny, the sister-lover. JoshuAAA, who scares easy. She dated Tag the longest, which wasn't a whole lot.

[Katy M]

11 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

but if Rachel hadn't sabotaged it, he'd have dated her longer.

There's no way of knowing that.  He was offput by her shaved head (which may or may not have happened without RAchel, she had had a shaved head before), and was very quick to jump when Rachel beckoned.   They were still in the early phases.

 

13 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Ross still dated Elizabeth for quite a while. Mona too.

I thought we were going for quality, not length of time.  Elizabeth was fine as a character, but Ross was an idiot around her and I still can't believe he didn't get fired.  And, I didn't quite get him and Mona.  I would have been out the door the second I found out Rachel was pregnant.  Barring that, when he gave me a key and then changed the locks.  That's a message, Mona.

[Inquisitionist]

19 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Rachel had Danny, the sister-lover. JoshuAAA, who scares easy. She dated Tag the longest, which wasn't a whole lot.

 I wouldn't say Joshua scared easily.  The guy was just coming off a divorce (papers not even signed yet) and Rachel acted like a crazy person around him. 

[Bort]

10 minutes ago, Inquisitionist said:

 I wouldn't say Joshua scared easily.  The guy was just coming off a divorce (papers not even signed yet) and Rachel acted like a crazy person around him. 

Oh, I know, I was just quoting Rachel.

[Nellise]

21 hours ago, Katy M said:

And, I didn't quite get him and Mona.  I would have been out the door the second I found out Rachel was pregnant.  Barring that, when he gave me a key and then changed the locks.  That's a message, Mona.

It did lead to one of Ross's best lines: "In a way, I judge her for not breaking up with me sooner." I like when the characters would realize they were the ones being crazy and own it. Also, Rachel's "Yeah, well, that oughta do it" when she opens the door in the wedding dress.

[Jax7917]

13 minutes ago, Nellise said:

It did lead to one of Ross's best lines: "In a way, I judge her for not breaking up with me sooner." I like when the characters would realize they were the ones being crazy and own it. Also, Rachel's "Yeah, well, that oughta do it" when she opens the door in the wedding dress.

Haha love those 2 lines also ! 

[Meushell]

If you’re rewatching Friends. Do you watch it all the way through? If not, where do you stop?

I’m having my own rewatch now, and I don’t know if I should see it through to the end or not. I just don’t really remember it being funny in the last few years, and I got really tired of the Ross and Rachel stuff.

[Jax7917]

1 hour ago, Meushell said:

If you’re rewatching Friends. Do you watch it all the way through? If not, where do you stop?

I’m having my own rewatch now, and I don’t know if I should see it through to the end or not. I just don’t really remember it being funny in the last few years, and I got really tired of the Ross and Rachel stuff.

I do watch all the seasons but I think where I start getting a little bored by it is after Rachel has the baby . I get why they made her pregnant .. because her and Ross have been broken up for so long by this point and  they had to do something so the characters stay connected , but I just didn't care for the baby storyline and by that point , all the chemistry between Ross and Rachel was gone for me . The first 5 seasons were the best . 

Edited August 17, 2018 by Jaclyn88

[Bort]

I don't ever do a complete rewatch. Between TBS, Nick at Nite and Paramount networks' reruns, I just watch whatever they're playing. There's almost always a Friends episode rerunning these days.

[Nellise]

I do a complete rewatch, but I start slowing down toward the end of season 6. The first 5 seasons I tend to watch a few episodes at a time, then after season 6 I'll watch an episode maybe every few days. It sort of works nicely since that way it gives enough time for me to not get sick of the first 5 seasons by watching them too often.

The only episodes I really don't like watching are the ones in the last season where Rachel has the haircut where her hair is covering her eyes most of the time. I have an irrational hatred for that haircut. Jennifer Aniston still looks good when she pulls her hair back in those episodes so it's definitely just the haircut that bugs me.

[Jax7917]

I liked her hair in the last season but couldn't stop staring at how annoying it must have been because her bangs were constantly in her eyes . I didn't like her hair when it was extra short or extra long ( during the Bruce Willis season ).. I thought she looked prettiest during the time she was dating Ross , though I never found her to be too pretty . 

Edited August 17, 2018 by Jaclyn88

[Bort]

I also hated the bangs in the last season. The extra long phase in season 6 was because she was filming Rock Star. I liked the short hair, though I seem to be one of the few. Even Jennifer didn't like the short hair, but she said she had to cut it because the Rock Star extensions messed up her hair.

[DkNNy79]

21 minutes ago, Jaclyn88 said:

I liked her hair in the last season but couldn't stop staring at how annoying it must have been because her bangs were constantly in her eyes . I didn't like her hair when it was extra short or extra long ( during the Bruce Willis season ).. I thought she looked prettiest during the time she was dating Ross , though I never found her to be too pretty . 

Agree.  CC had the most classically beautiful face of the three ladies.  Unfortunately, she hasn't aged as well as the others.

Like Estelle (Joey's agent) said, Monica's face on Rachel's body would make the ideal woman.  Or something along that lines.

[Jax7917]

15 minutes ago, DkNNy79 said:

Agree.  CC had the most classically beautiful face of the three ladies.  Unfortunately, she hasn't aged as well as the others.

Like Estelle (Joey's agent) said, Monica's face on Rachel's body would make the ideal woman.  Or something along that lines.

Yes agree that Courtney had the prettiest face . I always found Jennifer Aniston overrated looks wise . I've always heard people say how gorgeous she was but I never saw it . Her hair is gorgeous though I will give her that . 

[helenamonster]

On 8/17/2018 at 1:33 AM, Meushell said:

If you’re rewatching Friends. Do you watch it all the way through? If not, where do you stop?

I’m having my own rewatch now, and I don’t know if I should see it through to the end or not. I just don’t really remember it being funny in the last few years, and I got really tired of the Ross and Rachel stuff.

I haven't done a dedicated, actually-sit-down-and-watch rewatch it quite a while, but I have the 10-season DVD set and will usually just rotate through it while I'm cleaning my apartment, folding laundry, etc. I prefer the DVDs to streaming the episodes on Netflix as I'm pretty sure the Netflix episodes are the versions that are edited for syndication. And it's not that there's a lot in the full versions I'm really dying to see, it's just that the cuts in the syndicated versions are so obvious (and sometimes really sloppy) that it sets my teeth on edge, even when I just have the show on for background noise.

[Bort]

5 hours ago, helenamonster said:

I'm pretty sure the Netflix episodes are the versions that are edited for syndication

The Netflix episodes are the original broadcast versions. The DVDs have extra scenes inserted that weren’t in the original broadcast. Syndication cuts more out. 

[helenamonster]

19 hours ago, kariyaki said:

The Netflix episodes are the original broadcast versions. The DVDs have extra scenes inserted that weren’t in the original broadcast. Syndication cuts more out. 

Ah, ok...I had the DVD sets long before Netflix got the streaming rights, so I think I'm just used to those extra scenes and it's really obvious to me when they're cut out.

I don't have cable anymore so I haven't watched the Nick @ Nite reruns in a long time, but those were always very sloppily edited for syndication to the point of sometimes being unwatchable. They also, like, wouldn't air right on the half hour/hour marks? The commercial breaks would get longer and longer and the episodes would be starting at weird times like 11:37 or 12:52.

[JNM5505]

On 8/17/2018 at 1:33 AM, Meushell said:

If you’re rewatching Friends. Do you watch it all the way through? If not, where do you stop?

I’m having my own rewatch now, and I don’t know if I should see it through to the end or not. I just don’t really remember it being funny in the last few years, and I got really tired of the Ross and Rachel stuff.

i used to be able to watch one whole season at a time in a single sitting (about eight hours) but not anymore. The characters and plot piss me off too much that I am only able to watch two or three episodes at a time. I have been seeing an episode here and there on TBS and MeTV lately, and it's making me a bit nostalgic. But I still wouldn't binge-watch a entire season all at once.

Also, as to where I begin, I begin on TOW Girl from Poughkeepsie. (Firefox is asking me if I mean 'housekeeping' so I have no idea if I spelt that right l o l  l o l)

[slf]

On 8/7/2017 at 5:28 PM, Crs97 said:

What I cannot understand is that you and your new partner would decide it was okay to mock your old partner, the person you hurt extremely deeply.  I also don't understand why you would never think to  apologize to him ever for any pain you caused him. 

What's interesting to me is that Ross' homophobia is always talked about like it's some poor-form response to Susan sometimes being rude and Carol having not consulted him about what to name the baby. Not, ya know, the other way around which makes far more sense to me. I'm struggling to remember Ross apologizing for his bigotry.

Edited September 4, 2018 by slf

[WendyCR72]

On 8/19/2018 at 3:53 PM, JNM5505 said:

Also, as to where I begin, I begin on TOW Girl from Poughkeepsie. (Firefox is asking me if I mean 'housekeeping' so I have no idea if I spelt that right l o l  l o l)

Just for the record, you did. Congrats.  :-)

[Nellise]

13 hours ago, slf said:

What's interesting to me is that Ross' homophobia is always talked about like it's some poor-form response to Susan sometimes being rude and Carol having not consulted him about what to name the baby. Not, ya know, the other way around which makes far more sense to me. I'm struggling to remember Ross apologizing for his bigotry.

I must be missing something, when was Ross being bigoted? Other than him saying it would've been nice to know Carol was gay before they got married (which isn't really homophobia, is it?), he was upset because his wife cheated on him and left him, it just happened to be with a woman. They were together over 5 years and Ross still clearly loved her when they had the episode in the restaurant together so Ross's animosity was losing someone he loved and not about Carol being a lesbian. I think most people wouldn't be happy having to be around their ex and the person the ex cheated with. Ross actually seemed overly accommodating to Carol given what she did to him and the way Susan talked to him. Carol never seemed to apologetic toward him, it was mostly "this is who I really am, sorry not sorry, suck it up Ross."

[JNM5505]

People get so sensitive these days. l o l

Ross was never homophobic! As Nel said, Ross was heartbroken that he had spent five years with Carol–and as a matter of fact, I would love to know how they started, but I am positive she was the first woman Ross moved on from Rachel with–only to find out that she was cheating on him for at least a year and ended up being a lesbian. Now, I firmly believe Carol was bisexual; why else would she have stayed with Ross. But since these episodes aired in the mid 1990s, I would say bisexuality was not really understood as much as it is today. There was either gay, lesbian, or straight. Now we have a million sexual orientations.