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(edited)
20 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

Perry may have been okay for the first five seasons. After that though he was already doing movies and he may have wanted to move on but couldn't because the show was still so popular. 

His drug problems were already evident in the third season.  You can see how skinny he is.

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Perry completed a 28-day program in 1997 for a Vicodin addiction.[51] His weight fluctuated drastically over the next few years and once dropped down to 145 pounds (66 kg). Perry later revealed that due to his addiction issues he does not remember three years of his time on Friends, "somewhere between season three and six."[55]

I wonder if he ever wanted to be a movie star though.  Maybe he just got caught up in everything.  

Here's a thread of all the Irish Uncle tweets.  I don't get the humour, but maybe some of you have Irish Uncles.

 

Edited by Ms Blue Jay
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2 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

His drug problems were already evident in the third season.  You can see how skinny he is.

I wonder if he ever wanted to be a movie star though.  Maybe he just got caught up in everything.  

I've seen him on TV shows and movies since the late 80s when he was still a teenager. He may have been caught up in the fast Hollywood life even then but was just unknown.

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4 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

I've seen him on TV shows and movies since the late 80s when he was still a teenager. He may have been caught up in the fast Hollywood life even then but was just unknown.

One of my favourites is "She's out of Control" from 1989.  The ratings for the movie are very bad but I love it.

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(edited)
18 hours ago, Hiyo said:

Bamboozled is a nice game but its no Cups. 

I am a Bamboozled fan through and through.  Even Chandler thinks it's the best game ever!  

In all seriousness though, The One with the Baby Shower is such a low key great epsiode because every story works perfectly.  Rachel and her mom at the shower, the boys playing Bamboozled across the hall, and add in a dash of neurotic Monica.  I don't know how often it worked out where every single plot hit its mark quite so well.  (The One With the Videotape is the other episode that jumps out at me off the top of my head.)  I even think the Bamboozled stuff is so strong that in a different episode that could have been the A plot.  

Edited by kiddo82
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2 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

 

I can't help but wonder if the show itself and the fame that came afterward played a part in torturing Matthew Perry.  Not everyone adapts to fame so easily.  David never seemed to care about acting, more about directing and outside causes.  Lisa was always married and didn't seem to care about fame or the Hollywood life.  Matt LeBlanc I think just wanted the show to go on forever.  But Matthew Perry, who knows.  

David's true love is the theater. He studied it in college and he co-founded the Lookingglass theater company with his college friends. He's still an ensemble member and has written, directed, and acted in productions at the Lookingglass and elsewhere. He probably would have done more Hollywood productions but he couldn't get cast in the type of roles which interested him. People just couldn't see him as anyone but Ross Gellar which frustrated him because he'd been doing all kinds of parts before and during Friends on the stage but Hollywood people just wanted him to be Ross.

I recently read an old interview that he did right before the last season where he said he'd made enough money that he could afford to turn down any roles which didn't satisfy him artistically or had nothing substantive to say.  

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Whoever does Cindy Crawford’s work deserves a hefty raise because she looked like it WAS 1994.

If they couldn’t get Elle for Cindy or Chrissy (or Chris Isaak) for Gaga, the ending of the Lady Gaga part would have been perfect if Lisa touched the guitar and said “too much” because it was TOO MUCH.

Lisa saying - about Friends - “that looks like a good show, I should watch it” cracked me up.

I am on record saying that I do not find “PIVOT!” as funny as the show thinks I should, but David and Matthew’s reactions while filming it has now elevated it for me.

The celebrity parts for the most part were much less intrusive than I thought they were going to be and overall I really liked the special and I’m not sorry to have watched it.

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4 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

Ross and Rachel, Monica and Chandler, Phoebe and Mike — remind me,  how were things left for dear Joey??  I can’t remember his “happily ever after” ending.  

Joey was headed for a spin off, so he didn’t get one.

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8 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I can't help but wonder if the show itself and the fame that came afterward played a part in torturing Matthew Perry.  Not everyone adapts to fame so easily.  David never seemed to care about acting, more about directing and outside causes.  Lisa was always married and didn't seem to care about fame or the Hollywood life.  Matt LeBlanc I think just wanted the show to go on forever.  But Matthew Perry, who knows.  

The more I thought about it I think he was the one to struggle the most with finding long term success post Friends.  David was find going back to theater, Jennifer was building her movie career, Courtney had Cougar Town, Lisa had The Comeback and then Web Therapy and did films.  Matt LeBlanc had Episodes, Top Gear and Man With A Plan.

 

Matthew? 

-Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (which I actually liked)

-Go On

-Mr Sunshine

-The Odd Couple Reboot. 

The first 3 only lasted one season.   And his last role was in 2017.  I think with the limelight being back on the reunion and with COVID, he was going to get judged one way or another based the few photos seen of him in the past few years.  And unfortunately, the creators and producers have to defend him on how he looks now.  

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9 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Some people's jobs are really fun.  Even I've had jobs that were fun every single day, but they weren't high paying!  Fun jobs are still jobs. 

I can't help but wonder if the show itself and the fame that came afterward played a part in torturing Matthew Perry.  Not everyone adapts to fame so easily.  David never seemed to care about acting, more about directing and outside causes.  Lisa was always married and didn't seem to care about fame or the Hollywood life.  Matt LeBlanc I think just wanted the show to go on forever.  But Matthew Perry, who knows.  

I think someone posted a quote here where Matthew Perry said that if he could tell his younger self something, it would be to do an eleventh season of the show. He also told Lisa Kudrow on CNN that he would have wanted to keep the show going. 

I think Matthew's problem is he always wanted to be famous, always wanted to be "that guy," but then he got the opportunity and had a hard time dealing with everything that came with it. He always felt like he needed that external validation, and if someone didn't laugh at Chandler's lines, they didn't laugh at him, which meant he wasn't funny or a terrible actor. He put a lot of himself into Chandler, and maybe he couldn't separate Chandler from himself. 

I was watching the show last night and whenever Chandler spoke, I started thinking about what was going through Matthew Perry's mind when he spoke those lines. How much he probably felt like shit when the audience didn't respond to Chandler's jokes like he wanted them to. 

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On 5/28/2021 at 4:26 AM, Lady Whistleup said:

I feel like David Schwimmer's Ross is the underrated actor of Friends. When I rewatch old episodes I'm amazed at how funny he makes Ross. The other episode that always makes me cry with laughter besides "PIVOT" is the episode where Ross moves in with Joey and Chandler and promptly annoys the hell out of them.

I think David Schwimmer was maybe the best overall performer on the show, even if Ross the character wasn't always the best written (to be clear I like Ross a lot and think he gets criticised too harshly but I can see why others don't.)

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I didn't realize the show gets so much criticism for its fatphobia. I can under the scrutiny, but I thought the the writers portrayed that part of Monica's life in a very sympathetic light, and Courtney played that part of her character's life with such joy. As someone with my own weight issues when I was younger (I have since lost the weight and kept it up), I "get" Monica. I preferred Monica over a lot of female characters back in that day who ate all of the time and remained thin.

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(edited)
1 hour ago, Mr. Meatball Man said:

I think someone posted a quote here where Matthew Perry said that if he could tell his younger self something, it would be to do an eleventh season of the show. He also told Lisa Kudrow on CNN that he would have wanted to keep the show going. 

LOL yeah it was me

54 minutes ago, memememe76 said:

I didn't realize the show gets so much criticism for its fatphobia. I can under the scrutiny, but I thought the the writers portrayed that part of Monica's life in a very sympathetic light, and Courtney played that part of her character's life with such joy. As someone with my own weight issues when I was younger (I have since lost the weight and kept it up), I "get" Monica. I preferred Monica over a lot of female characters back in that day who ate all of the time and remained thin.

The biggest issue that people have is that Courteney Cox is very thin and conventionally attractive, but she put on a fat suit and got laughs.  So yes, it reads like fatphobia to me because the show is saying fat = funny.  I totally get the criticisms.  There's a whole ending credits scene where they just make Courteney dance in the fat suit and the audience is going wild.  Fat people dancing = funny.  Personally I don't find it sympathetic.

A sympathetic portrayal of an overweight person would star an overweight actor I think.

Edited by Ms Blue Jay
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(edited)
53 minutes ago, memememe76 said:

 I preferred Monica over a lot of female characters back in that day who ate all of the time and remained thin.

That's a good point.  Sandra Bullock plays these characters all of the time in movies and Grace Adler on Will and Grace was one of the worst versions of this I saw on television.  She was supposedly a "pig" but you could see Debra's collarbone at all times.  It was very insulting and disingenuous.

Edited by Ms Blue Jay
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1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

The biggest issue that people have is that Courteney Cox is very thin and conventionally attractive, but she put on a fat suit and got laughs.  So yes, it reads like fatphobia to me because the show is saying fat = funny.  I totally get the criticisms.  There's a whole ending credits scene where they just make Courteney dance in the fat suit and the audience is going wild.  Fat people dancing = funny.  Personally I don't find it sympathetic.

I always thought that bit was funny because she's dancing like a goofball, not because she's fat. I laugh at "The Routine" too or whenever Joey tries to dance.

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Coincidentally, TOW No One’s Ready is on and it is kind of creepy that Richard’s DAUGHTER would leave a message like “hola!  Yesterday was REALLY fun” and whatever she said about the weekend in that tone of voice.  Tone it down, Michelle!

Also the take they used of Joey getting to the chair first was really clean and Marta was right, they should have stopped while they were ahead.

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4 hours ago, mtlchick said:

Go On

That was a damn good show. Was very disappointed when it got the axe.

As far as the reunion goes, I could've watched 2 hours of them sitting around and talking. Most of the other stuff was superfluous.

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(edited)
2 hours ago, Nellise said:

I always thought that bit was funny because she's dancing like a goofball, not because she's fat. I laugh at "The Routine" too or whenever Joey tries to dance.

I'm sure some of the audience is laughing AT her, but personally what I loved about the fat version of Monica dancing is how happy she seemed. Regular Monica is uptight and neurotic and brittle, but whenever we saw her when she was fat (or the "what if she was still fat"), she seemed sweet and happy. I love watching this, because there's so much joy in it.

 

Edited by TheOtherOne
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I kind of like that because Courtney was pregnant IRL in the final episodes it looked like Monica was gaining weight when she was about to be an adopted mom. I headcanon she went back to her bigger size after the show ended(and Chandler wouldn't care).

More great Matt LeBlanc tweets from Irish Twitter:

Buzzfeed article with reasons why Irish people think LeBlanc in the reunion looked like the typical Irish uncle :

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tanyachen/irish-twitter-matt-leblanc-friends-meme

 

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I liked all of Matthew Perry's post Friends shows except Mr Sunshine (I never saw it). I especially liked Studio 60.

I really hope whatever is going on with him he can find peace and live a happy life.

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(edited)
14 hours ago, mtlchick said:

Matthew? 

-Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (which I actually liked)

-Go On

-Mr Sunshine

I loved Go On! I was sad when it was cancelled. I thought he brought the right amount of humor and wistfulness to the role.

For the record, I don't mind that the cast got paid a lot to do this reunion for multiple reasons.

(1) The amount was negotiated before everyone started doing free Zoom reunions during lockdown

(2) Everyone else (the crew members, the directors, the editors, the camera operators, etc) were all paid to be there so why shouldn't the cast? Someone had to get paid union rates to go get the sets out of storage and reassemble them. Someone else got paid union rates to find replacements for the stuff that, ahem, disappeared after the show wrapped so that the set would be complete (like the cookie jar in Monica's apartment that Phoebe took home or the Magna-Doodle on the back of Joey and Chandler's door that someone took home after the show ended).

(3) These six people did not NEED to do this reunion. They could have stayed home and done a private zoom call in their PJs to reminisce about their time on the show.

(4) A lot of people made money from this reunion being made, so why should the six of them be the only ones to participate without being compensated? The show ended almost 20 years ago and there is still Friends merch with their faces being sold, so why shouldn't they be able to cash in on the show's popularity?

Edited by ElectricBoogaloo
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(edited)
43 minutes ago, ifionlyknew said:

I liked all of Matthew Perry's post Friends shows except Mr Sunshine (I never saw it). I especially liked Studio 60.

I really hope whatever is going on with him he can find peace and live a happy life.

I liked Studio 60 also.  I don't remember being able to get into his other shows, but I definitely tried at least the pilot of all of them.  I watched Studio 60 all the way through and I would have watched more if it stayed on the air.  I think the popularity of 30 Rock at the same time (and about the same topic) crushed it.  I gotta wonder if Aaron Sorkin hates Tina Fey ;). 

Edited by Ms Blue Jay
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(edited)
27 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

(4) A lot of people made money from this reunion being made, so why should the six of them be the only ones to participate without being compensated? The show ended almost 20 years ago and there is still Friends merch with their faces being sold, so why shouldn't they be able to cash in on the show's popularity?

Right.  The actors are purely being used as a marketing tool for HBO Max.  We as the audience just happen to benefit.  And like you said, because so many people put in the effort, it was a very high quality reunion.  I think people will tend to watch this more than once.  I've already watched it twice.

This time through I fast forwarded the guest stars.  And, I'm sorry, any time the creators spoke.  (Once was enough.)

I DEFINITELY rewatched any time the cast interacted with each other, and any time the cast did script readings.  Those are the only parts we really care about.

Edited by Ms Blue Jay
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3 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Why the heck are there deleted scenes from this reunion?  Why not just show us everything?  God, this drives me crazy!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPiIGTPjizC/

 

race.jpg

She didn't even take a bite with all the layers! Ya gotta take a bite with all the layers!

But yeah, the fact that they didn't show this when there was so much stuff they didn't really need is dumb.

 

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(edited)
2 minutes ago, TheOtherOne said:

But yeah, the fact that they didn't show this when there was so much stuff they didn't really need is dumb.

Also, the running time was an hour and 44 minutes.  So arbitrary.  So who cares?  Make it longer!

Edited by Ms Blue Jay
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56 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Why the heck are there deleted scenes from this reunion?  Why not just show us everything?  God, this drives me crazy!  Someone also pointed out that they deleted Courteney Cox wearing the turkey on her head to mimic the first time.

Link:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CPiIGTPjizC/

Screenshot:

race.jpg

It's stuff like this where you're like "It's great a member of BTS learned English from the show, but this gets cut out?"  And she only had one layer.  At least Matt and David committed to the dessert that tastes like feet.

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(edited)

Someone needs to recut this by editing out all the unnecessary guest stars, James Cordon, the fashion show (except Matt in the fashion show), Smelly Cat, and then edit in all the deleted scenes.

Edited by Hiyo
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I assumed there would be stuff that was cut (like I'm sure some "bits" were considered that just didn't land in execution), but Jen trying Rachel's trifle??? Folks, that's content!

Just hilarious to me that the show has endured in popularity for so long--and the reason anybody would be tuning into this--is because of exactly 6 people, and somebody at Warner/HBO was like "hmm yeah definitely less of them."

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(edited)
1 hour ago, helenamonster said:

I assumed there would be stuff that was cut (like I'm sure some "bits" were considered that just didn't land in execution), but Jen trying Rachel's trifle??? Folks, that's content!

Just hilarious to me that the show has endured in popularity for so long--and the reason anybody would be tuning into this--is because of exactly 6 people, and somebody at Warner/HBO was like "hmm yeah definitely less of them."

LOL, you're getting me so riled up!  The comments on the Instagram post are so good.  Those people are just like us.  Someone said that production had real balls to make everyone wait 17 years for this and then cut out important parts.

If it has to do with the show, the episodes, and the cast, then we want to see it.  Period.  

I also love how when James started saying Joey's lines about the trifle, Matt LeBlanc joined in SO HAPPILY.  As Matt has said, there's no bigger fan of Joey than Matt LeBlanc!  😄

If they release physical media of this reunion, and they do not include the deleted scenes, why I oughta!!!!!  I'm already getting pre-mad about it!  (Like Phoebe said about Ross, you love Rachel again, you re-love her) 

Reaction shot:

reaction.jpg

Edited by Ms Blue Jay
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3 hours ago, TheOtherOne said:

She didn't even take a bite with all the layers! Ya gotta take a bite with all the layers!

That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw that!

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(edited)

It's not like it was Jennifer who made the recipe, instead of Rachel (LOL) and I really doubt any of the other actors had to do it.  That said, if I was paid $3 million I'd probably eat it.

Edited by Ms Blue Jay
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I thought this was a strange mash-up of panel discussion with the live audience, more intimate remembrances with the cast on the recreated set without the audience, and the game night that did seem to have an audience (?) and guest stars. It was the more intimate chats between the six of them without the audience I liked best. The panel parts with James Corden should have been a different show, or sectioned off for the end or something. I didn't like the way it kept jumping around.

And I get that this was mostly fluff and didn't dive deep into any controversies, but I did think it was an interesting omission that when the creators were talking about casting they made no mention of the fact that Chandler was originally intended to be a gay character and the Matthew Perry didn't want to play gay so they changed it. That's something that's pretty well known in addition to the other casting stuff and I've never once heard Perry comment on it.

The testimonials from celebs and civilians alike felt pointless to me. Nobody tuned into this thing to see a bunch of randos telling us how the show affected their lives. We tuned in to see the six main actors and anything that robbed time from that was a cheat.

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I thought this was great.

I think my favourite part was Lisa Kudrow, just before she started playing Smelly Cat says something along the lines of "I should probably be Phoebe for this," pauses for half a second, says "OK", and she's Phoebe again! Superb!

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Jennifer, after Matt mentioned that everything seemed smaller: "We didn't get bigger!"

Matt: "Speak for yourself."

LeBlanc's dad bod is adorable. With his gray hair (come on, Schwimmer. You have to be coloring your's), and "fuller" physique, he was the best. Yes, if you watch Season One Joey, and compare him to Season Ten Joey, there was definitely a difference, even back then. But he has aged NORMALLY. I think I might go stream Man with a Plan, if I can find it. 

One thing I thought weird, was that during the entire reunion, Jennifer kept calling him "Joey," even when she wasn't talking about his character in the show. Did anyone else notice this?

As for the reunion, LeBlanc, Schwimmer, and Kudrow were the most "on." The other three, less so. When they did the table read for TWW Everyone Finds Out (one of my all time faves. I even wore my "But they don't know that we know..." t-shirt on Thursday in honor of Friends), Kudrow was FULL ON PHOEBE, yelling "Chandler and Monica, CHANDLER AND MONICA!" while Jenn was basically reading off the page. Lisa had me rolling.

I will never be able to watch Matt dive into that chair without cringing, ever again.

 

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28 minutes ago, ChicksDigScars said:

Jennifer, after Matt mentioned that everything seemed smaller: "We didn't get bigger!"

Matt: "Speak for yourself."

LeBlanc's dad bod is adorable. With his gray hair (come on, Schwimmer. You have to be coloring your's), and "fuller" physique, he was the best. Yes, if you watch Season One Joey, and compare him to Season Ten Joey, there was definitely a difference, even back then. But he has aged NORMALLY. I think I might go stream Man with a Plan, if I can find it. 

There's a really nice moment in Episodes where Matt (playing a conceited, arrogant and celeb-spoiled version of himself) watches an audition reel of himself when he was young - probably around 1990 - and kind of quietly recognises how he's aged, coming to terms with the fact he's not that hopeful, effervescent and stunningly attractive young man any more. There's a lot of pathos in that scene, and I doubt Matt had to act too hard to bring it because, while he's still a good looking guy, the difference between 21 and 45 is impossible to ignore.

Of course, given his character in that show. he almost immediately ruins it by sleeping with his teenage stalker.

But I do think he and Lisa are the ones aging the most naturally and still look the best. 

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1 hour ago, ChicksDigScars said:

One thing I thought weird, was that during the entire reunion, Jennifer kept calling him "Joey," even when she wasn't talking about his character in the show. Did anyone else notice this?

I noticed this about the chair accident.  Jennifer said something like "Oh, firefighters had to come to help Joey."

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On 5/29/2021 at 5:54 AM, kiddo82 said:

Re:  The Smelly Cat bit.  Was Chrissy Hynde not available or otherwise not asked?  I get why you want Gaga to help sell your product but as a celebration of the series Hynde makes more sense.  I didn't mind the bit overall though.  Especially for Lisa's "mine was still better."  😆

Or Chris Isaak. I loved when Phoebe said he needed to pick a masculine note when they sang it. 

 

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18 hours ago, iMonrey said:

And I get that this was mostly fluff and didn't dive deep into any controversies, but I did think it was an interesting omission

Also an interesting omission: not a single mention of Rachel/Joey. I get why, but it still came off as a little weird.

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On 5/30/2021 at 11:35 AM, VCRTracking said:

The lottery one has my favorite bit with Phoebe calling Ross "daddy".

My personal favorite bit of that was when Phoebe says:

"What a nice night to be running around on the street, looking for lottery tickets.

*beat*

And the wind certainly made it fun."

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(edited)

Absolute no on Chris Isaak ever since somebody shared this in the "Predators" thread:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4uBakXkCfQ

More on topic, I'm really happy and grateful that they did the reunion, but you guys are bringing up a lot of great points on things that could have been touched on instead of wasting time on the guest stars.  I am grateful to the creators as well, but it's always a weird detraction to hear from them.  

I don't think they needed to cut in and out of stuff.  I don't think everything needed to be jumbled together.  Odd direction choice.  I'm glad that they paid tribute to the game show as I think the Embryos is certainly the most accomplished and amazing episode the show has done.

I think that the real fans of the show kind of know Chandler's job.  Without looking it up my best guess is something like Statistical Analysis for a Large Multinational Data Processing company?  😄  He announced what it was when he did that personality test in like Season 3 when he wanted to get out of that job.

Edited by Ms Blue Jay
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57 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I think that the real fans of the show kind of know Chandler's job.  Without looking it up my best guess is something like Statistical Analysis for a Large Multinational Data Processing company?  😄  He announced what it was when he did that personality test in like Season 3 when he wanted to get out of that job.

Statistical analysis and data reconfiguration?

"I quit, and you learn what I do?!"

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