Friends
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Friends (disambiguation).
- For the use of the word in a general sense, see Friendship.
| Friends | |
|---|---|
 Friends title card |
|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Running time | approx. 22 minutes (per episode) |
| Creator(s) | David Crane Marta Kauffman |
| Starring | Jennifer Aniston Courteney Cox Arquette Lisa Kudrow Matt LeBlanc Matthew Perry David Schwimmer |
| Opening theme | Rembrandts - I'll Be There For You |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 22, 1994–May 6, 2004 |
| No. of episodes | 236 (List of episodes) |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Friends is a sitcom about a group of six friends living in New York City. It was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman and was originally broadcast from 1994 to 2004. The series focused on the lives of a group of six twenty-somethings (eventually thirty-somethings), consisting of three men and three women residing in Greenwich Village.
Friends was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television for NBC in the U.S., and was first broadcast on that network. It was followed by a syndication on other broadcast networks in numerous countries throughout the world. In the US, the first episode was aired on September 22, 1994, and the last on May 6, 2004.[1]
Friends was one of the most popular sitcoms in American television history, gaining tens of millions of fans all over the globe. The show won many awards during its run, including an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, and six straight People's Choice Awards for Favorite Television Comedy Series.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The show focused on the lives of a group of six friends: rich, spoiled "daddy's girl" Rachel Green; neurotically clean chef Monica Geller; quirky, ditzy, optimistic masseuse and folk/acoustic singer-songwriter Phoebe Buffay; naive ladies man and actor Joey Tribbiani; wise-cracking office drone Chandler Bing; and nerdy paleontologist Ross Geller. As the plot begins, Rachel has just left her fiancé Barry at the altar and moves in with her childhood best friend, Monica.[2] The pair live across the hall from Chandler and Joey and hang out with Monica's brother, Ross – who recently divorced his lesbian wife.[2] Then there is Phoebe - the "free spirit" of the bunch (and the quirkiest) and Monica's old roommate.[3] The settings for the show include Monica's apartment, Chandler and Joey's apartment, Ross's apartment, Phoebe's apartment and the local coffee house, Central Perk.[4]
After moving to the city, Rachel got her first job as a waitress in the coffee house. She later became an assistant to a buyer and personal shopper at Bloomingdale's,[5] and later a buyer for Ralph Lauren.[6] Monica struggled for success the first several seasons, but eventually became head chef at a well-respected restaurant. Chandler worked his way up the executive ladder specializing in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration before switching careers to a copywriter for an ad agency (by the last few seasons). After on-and-off success as a soap opera actor, Joey's career eventually stabilized with a regular part on soap opera (including Days Of Our Lives from which he had been fired earlier in the series' run) along with a few odd jobs. Palaeontologist Ross was working in a museum and eventually became a college professor. Phoebe made a living as a singer-songwriter and a masseuse (she also had lots of odd jobs throughout the series). Constant story lines throughout the series are the on/off romance between Ross and Rachel and, later in the series, the developing relationship between Chandler and Monica.
The show uses non-stop exaggerated, deadpan humor that are frequently not related to the plot. Some jokes are related to sexual activity, politics and innuendo, sometimes non-sequiturs. The show also occasionally developed on serious angles such as relationship breakups. Situational humor, ironic humor, and irony were also frequently used. Also, much of the humor is explained in many untold and unseen experiences of the main characters.
The show has provided an opportunity for consistent work by actors who were more active in the past. Elliott Gould played Monica's and Ross' father. Marlo Thomas (the star of That Girl) played Rachel's mother.
The show's theme song, "I'll Be There For You" by The Rembrandts, became a major hit after a Tennessee disc jockey looped it into a full length track and played it on the radio. The band's record label required them to write additional material and re-record the track as a full-length song, which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #17.
The popularity of the show was such that, by the end of the series, the six main cast members were each paid US$1,000,000 per episode.[citation needed] The six cast members had agreed to negotiate a common agreement, to prevent the undermining of one member or the other. Advertisements during the series finale, which attracted an audience of over 52 million viewers, cost $2,000,000 for a 30-second spot in the United States and CAD$190,000 in Canada.
[edit] New episodes
Due to the tremendous popularity of the show during its initial run, rumours of a reunion special or movie persisted well after the final episode had aired, with some even stating a deal for a special had been reached. [7] These rumours, however, have been continually denied by NBC and the six cast members. Courteney Cox Arquette, who played Monica Geller in the show, has said she would like to do one more episode, but she also said she would not like to do a flashback episode. Jennifer Aniston, seen as the least likely to reprise her role among the main cast due to her movie career, hinted in 2006 at the possibility of a Thanksgiving special. [8] However, Lisa Kudrow told Ryan Seacrest on E!'s coverage of the Emmy Awards red carpet that a reunion is simply a rumour.
[edit] Cast members
[edit] Primary characters
| Role | Actor |
|---|---|
| Ross Geller | David Schwimmer[9] |
| Monica Geller-Bing | Courteney Cox Arquette |
| Phoebe Buffay | Lisa Kudrow |
| Joey Tribbiani | Matt LeBlanc |
| Chandler Bing | Matthew Perry |
| Rachel Green | Jennifer Aniston |
[edit] Secondary characters
- Further information: List of recurring characters in Friends, List of significant others of Friends, and List of guest stars on Friends
Cox was originally approached for the role of Rachel, but convinced the producers that her personality was more suited for the character of Monica, which is the role producers first pitched to Jennifer Aniston, but Aniston also felt she was better suited for Rachel.[citation needed]
Behind the scenes, the show was known for its unusually cohesive and unified cast. The six main actors made deliberate and conscious efforts, from early on, to keep the show's ensemble format and to not allow any one of them to dominate. This included requesting that all actors on the show be nominated either for the same category of award (mostly "Supporting Actor") or not at all, and entering collective instead of individual salary negotiations.[10] The actors became such close friends that one guest star, Tom Selleck, reported sometimes feeling left out.
The character of Ursula (Phoebe's twin sister) first appeared in the sitcom Mad About You as a waitress. Kudrow played Ursula on both Mad About You and Friends. The shows creators did not originally intend for Phoebe to have a twin, but they added the character to explain why Kudrow was appearing on two different shows on the same network, at one time as a part of the same Thursday night line-up.
Friends featured many of its celebrity guest stars as secondary characters in the show. Most sitcoms use celebrities as cameos to raise ratings during important sweeps weeks, but many celebrities appeared on Friends throughout each TV season. These stars included Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Julia Roberts. One guest star who gained a recurring role was Tom Selleck as Monica’s older long-term boyfriend. The parents of the six were cast using celebrities—for example, Kathleen Turner played Chandler's drag-queen father and Teri Garr played Phoebe's flakey mom.
[edit] Running gags
Friends had many running gags throughout the span of the show. Some of the most famous include:
- The One... (episode titles)
- Almost every episode name starts with these two words. This is in reference to the fact that most sitcoms do not display the title of their episodes, so fans must discuss the main plot points with each other when referring to specific episodes. The only exceptions to this rule are the episodes 'The Last One' and 'Pilot', which is also known as 'The First One'. According to subtitles on the Friends DVD's, the pilot was called "The One Where it all Began", this allowing it to start the 'The One...' trend.[11]
- Fat Monica
- Monica, now slim and attractive, was obese as a child. She and the other characters would often refer to her "fat past" and several flashbacks throughout the series allowed us to see just how she looked then.
- Monica's personality quirks
- In some of the episodes, Monica is shown as a clean freak as well as person who loves to be in charge of organizing things such as parties. She is also known to be overly competitive and a bit aggressive. She also always has to be the hostess. However, one episode does show her to have a secret untidy room in her apartment that is full of junk.
- The Chick and the Duck
- In Season Three, Joey decided to take a chick (later grew up and became a rooster) as a pet for him and Chandler. Chandler got the duck in the days that followed as it was going to be slaughtered. Their names were simply The Chick and The Duck. The girls often disagreed with this and even decided to bet on whether they could make Chandler and Joey get rid of their pets. However, this simply caused them to lose their apartment instead. At the time, the fate of the chick and the duck were unknown, as they simply no longer appeared in future episodes. A new chick and duck were brought in as a gift to Chandler from Joey in the final episode. Their names were Chick Jr. and Duck Jr. It is revealed that Joey was told the original chick and the duck were taken to a special farm. This is said to spare Joey's feelings. When Rachel is asked to keep an eye on the new chick and duck, her response reveals they actually died. How and when they died is not revealed.
- Gunther likes Rachel
- When Gunther appeared in an episode, it usually involved his anything-but-secret crush on Rachel, who remains (usually) oblivious to his feelings throughout the show until the series finale.
- Ross' tendency to divorce
- Ross is married a total of three times throughout the course of the show, and each of these marriages ended in divorce.
- Phoebe's music
- Phoebe was often a busking musician at Central Perk and was known for her rather unusual, original songs, especially "Smelly Cat".
- "Oh...My...GOD!"
- Chandler's hard-to-get-rid-of girlfriend, Janice's catchphrase "Oh...My...GOD!" is used as her introductory line in her guest appearances. She is also known for her annoying, piercing idiosyncratic laugh.
- Chandler's humor
- Chandler would often drop sarcastic, snide remarks, typically in response to the actions of his friends (especially Joey). A psychoanalyst tells him that he probably "started using humor as a defense mechanism when his parents broke up." Chandler uses the exact words to justify himself occasionally.
- He is also known for saying phrases in the form of "Could [object(s)] be any more [description]?" His friends often imitated him using this phrase. For example, in the episode "The One Where No One's Ready", Joey dresses up in all the clothes that Chandler owns, and remarks, "Hi, I'm Chandler, could I be wearing any more clothes?" This phrasing is known to have been a significant influence upon popular culture (see below).
- "How You Doin'?"
- This is Joey's pick-up line. It has an identical effect on the majority of women he uses it on; they giggle uncontrollably and instantly warm to him.
- We were on a break!
- When Rachel and Ross broke up temporarily, and Ross slept with the Xerox girl Chloe, the two constantly argued about their subsequent breakup being for a good cause.
- Ugly Naked Guy
- The man nicknamed 'Ugly Naked Guy' lived in an apartment opposite Monica's. The group would often see him doing outrageous things while naked. The audience only sees him twice—first during "The One With the Poking Device" and then in "The One Where Everybody Finds Out". After several seasons of this gag, Ross manages to make an agreement with Ugly Naked Guy to move into his apartment. From then on Ross lived opposite Monica's apartment. However, in a flashback episode, we learn that 'Ugly Naked Guy' used to be 'Cute Naked Guy'.
- "I KNOW!" (Stressing both words)
- Monica's catchphrase.
- Phoebe's mysterious history
- There are many references to Phoebe's life on the street, run-ins with cops, being in prison, and even experiences selling sombreros to ethnic minorities. In fact, "The One with the Mugging" reveals that Phoebe mugged Ross in their teenage years. In another episode, "The One with the Girl from Poughkeepsie", Phoebe mentions she lived in Prague. Another reference is a conversation with Monica: "Okay, but you would not hold up well under torture?" "Oh, and you would?" "I did!" Another example is in "The One with the Turkey Sandwich", when Phoebe mentions that she once stabbed a cop who stabbed her first. Towards the end of the series, when Rachel is moving to Paris, Phoebe mentions how she will "be able to travel internationally again" when the Statute of Limitations runs out.
- Joey's ignorance
- Several times during the show Joey has been depicted as ignorant and slow-witted. One example is a scene in which Joey, who is attempting to pay back Chandler everything he owes him, needs a calculator to work out $500 + $500.
- Joey's eating
- Joey is shown during the show eating a lot. He often states that he loves food, and when asked if he would rather give up food or sex, he cannot decide. Other examples include an episode in which he eats Rachel's trifle, which is 'half English Trifle, half Shepherd's Pie'. While everybody is naturally disgusted by it, he likes it. After Ross says it tastes like feet, he responds: "What's not to like? Jam: good, Custard: good, Meat: gooooooood!" Another example of his appetite occurs when Joey succeeds in eating nearly an entire Thanksgiving turkey.
- "Gay" Chandler
- The sexuality of Chandler is questioned throughout the series. When Chandler asks what makes him seem gay, the only answer the others can think of is that he has a "quality". Phoebe admits in one episode that the first time she met Chandler she thought he was gay. In another episode, it is revealed that Chandler once kissed a man in a bar in Atlantic City. In his defense, Chandler states: "It was dark, and he was a very pretty guy."
- No one really knows Chandler's occupation
- Throughout the show the other friends never seem to be able to remember or show an interest in what Chandler's job is. This is why Rachel and Monica lose their apartment to Chandler and Joey in the game Ross devises to settle if the girls know the boys better than the boys know them. Led by a fiercely competitive Monica, the girls end up betting their apartment against the boys getting rid of the chick and the duck. The girls lose because they can't answer the question "What is Chandler Bing's job?", although Rachel attempts to answer with 'transponster'. Later, when Chandler quits, Monica finally finds out what he did: statistical analysis and data reconfiguration.
- Joey and Ross' proximity
- Joey and Ross have been shown many times to get involved in embarassing situations with each other, which gives the wrong idea that they are a gay couple. These include both liking to take a nap over each other, Ross practicing erotic speech with Joey, Ross kissing Joey to help him prepare for a role, both getting caught on the roof and trying to get down, etc.
[edit] Cultural impact
Friends has, in some areas, made a notable contribution to popular culture - in particular, language and fashion. The use of "so" to mean "very" or "really" was not invented by any Friends writer, but it is arguable that the extensive use of the phrase in the series encouraged its use in everyday life. [12] Also commonly said by the characters, particularly Monica, was the loud "I know!" The series has also been noted for its impact on everyday fashion and hair-styles. Jennifer Aniston's hairstyle was nicknamed "The Rachel" and copied around the world. Joey Tribbiani's catchphrase "How you doin'?" has become a popular part of American slang, often used as a pick-up line or when greeting friends. The show also inspired the cultural meme of the laminated list.
The phrase "Ross and Rachel" is used to describe an on/off relationship with a 'history', or in a situation like "Are you on a real break, or a Ross and Rachel break?" This is played as a joke in Scrubs: the janitor describes J.D.'s relationship with Elliot as "not exactly Ross and Rachel," which turns out to refer to two other employees in the hospital.
In India and South Korea, due to its phenomenal success and popularity, many copycat shows were produced based on Friends's plots and cast structure.
[edit] Production
Although the series is set in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, the series was filmed in California. The exterior shot of the Friends' apartment building is located at Grove and Bedford streets in the Village. (The building, located at 90 Bedford Street, has become a popular tourist attraction and residence. [13]) No scenes featuring cast members were filmed in New York. Even the show's opening is shot around a fountain on the Warner Brother's studio lot in California.
Occasionally, NBC would air "super-sized" episodes of their most popular sitcoms, including Friends. These episodes would run 40 minutes including commercials (or approximately 30 minutes without). In syndication, a majority of the "super-sized" episodes were cut down to fit a 30-minute time slot, except for rare cases in which there was too much essential plot development to the episode or series, as well as enough deleted scenes to make a two-episode story arc.
For almost the entire first season, there was no street outside of Central Perk, but merely just a painted backdrop. Production blurred the window somewhat and placed numerous plants in front of the window to hide this.
When filming the season cliffhangers, the studio audiences were removed, so that the nature of the cliffhanger would not be revealed to the public.
[edit] Product Placement
A Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 3000 stereo can be seen in the right-hand background in the girls' apartment. Bang & Olufsen make very expensive audio/video equipment and it's unlikely that at least half of the friends could afford it. This is also the case with highly expensive MartinLogan electrostatic speakers which can be seen in the guys' apartment beside the bedroom doors. The uncomfortable fact that Monica, Ross and Chandler generally earned significantly higher salaries than Joey, Rachel and Phoebe was the real world relevant foundation for The One With Three Steaks And An Eggplant.
[edit] Ratings
[edit] US ratings
The 66-minute series finale was named by Entertainment Tonight as the biggest US TV moment of the year 2004, and was the second highest rated show in 2004 beaten only by the Super Bowl. However, it did not surpass the ratings received by series finales for M*A*S*H (106m), Cheers (80.4m) or Seinfeld (76.3m), nor was it the most watched episode of Friends—that accolade remains with the Season Two episode "The One After the Superbowl", which aired on January 28, 1996 and drew 52.9m viewers. During the 2001–2002 season, Friends was the highest rated show in the United States.
[edit] AUS ratings
Since its debut on the Seven Network in 1996, Friends has been the number one show 5 times, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. In its first year on the Nine Network (1997), Friends ranked as the second most watched program, behind Australian TV drama, Blue Heelers. In the show's final two years, 2003 and 2004, Friends ranked as the third most watched scripted TV show, behind television shows CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Australian comedy, Kath & Kim. The final episode, broadcast on the Nine Network, received 2.27 million viewers. As was the case in America, this was not the highest rated episode of Friends. Several times in 1998, Friends received over 3 million viewers. Friends still holds the record for the higest rated scripted episode of television of the 21st century, with the honour going to the 2001 season finale.
[edit] Awards
Emmy Awards
- 2003 - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series - Christina Applegate
- 2002 - Outstanding Comedy Series
- 2002 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Jennifer Aniston
- 2000 - Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series - Bruce Willis
- 1998 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - Lisa Kudrow
- 1996 - Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series - Michael Lembeck (for "The One After the Superbowl")
- 2003 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy - Jennifer Aniston
People's Choice Awards
- 2004 - Favorite Television Comedy Series
- 2004 - Favorite Female Television Performer - Jennifer Aniston
- 2003 - Favorite Television Comedy Series
- 2003 - Favorite Female Television Performer - Jennifer Aniston
- 2002 - Favorite Television Comedy Series
- 2002 - Favorite Female Television Performer - Jennifer Aniston
- 2001 - Favorite Television Comedy Series
- 2001 - Favorite Female Television Performer - Jennifer Aniston
- 2000 - Favorite Television Comedy Series
- 2000 - Favorite Female Television Performer - Jennifer Aniston
- 1999 - Favorite Television Comedy Series
- 1995 - Favorite New Television Comedy
- 2000 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series - Lisa Kudrow
- 1996 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
[edit] Errors and inconsistencies
- Throughout the entire series, the apartment building shown (the one in which Monica and Joey's apartments are located) does not match the apartments' structures at all. A clear example of this is the fact that Monica's apartment has an external balcony and a large window, two things that are clearly not present in the apartment building shown every time a scene in their apartments started. However, her apartment could be on the other side of the building.
- In the first six episodes of Season 1, Chandler and Joey's apartment number was 4, and Monica and Rachel's was 5. Shortly after production began, it was decided that the apartment building where much of the show takes place was too big to have upper apartments with numbers as low as 4 and 5, so the numbers were changed to 19 and 20, respectively.
- In Season 3, "The One With the Flashback" Rachel and Chandler clearly act as if they've never met when they meet each other at the bar (later turned into the coffee house) - this is set three years before the episode (approximately a year before the beginning of the show, as Rachel and her friends mention her wedding, which she fled in the first episode, is in a year's time). Later on in episodes such as "The One With All the Thanksgivings" and "The One Where the Stripper Cries" it shows that Rachel and Chandler were introduced to each other during their high school/college days, and they even kissed at a college party. It is also important to mention that Monica introduces Chandler to Rachel in the pilot episode, so Chandler has "met" Rachel four different times. However, Rachel was a much more self-centered character before becoming a 'friend', so her inconsistency with remembering having met Chandler can simply be attributed to her previous lack of attention to others; this is also echoed when her sister appeared and did not remember Ross, even though having met him plenty of times previously.
- In "The One With Phoebe's Dad" Phoebe states that her father left her and her mother and sister before she was born, but in "The One With Joey's Bag" Phoebe's dad, Frank, tells how he was a terrible father and sang a lullaby, "Sleepy Girl", that he wrote himself to her and Ursula ("Sleepy Girl" is sung to the same tune as "Smelly Cat"). That would imply that he left after Phoebe and Ursula were born.
- In the episode "The One with the Flashback," Chandler meets Joey. This episode is said to take place exactly one year before the pilot, of 9/1993. However, Joey is seen in The One with all of the Thanksgivings, in an episode taking place in 11/92. And in the one with the sonogram at the end, Carol revealed she was pregnant a year after they split, but this is a year after the one with the flashback, meaning they must have got back together in the mean time.
- In the episode "The One with Joey's New Girlfriend", Gunther says he is making a list of people's birthdays, so Ross says, "Oh, mine is December." But in the episode "The One Where Emma Cries" Ross has to go to the hospital and while Joey is filling in a medical form for Ross, Ross tells Joey that his birthday is October 18. Also in the episode "The One with George Stephanopoulos" Chandler and Joey bring Ross tickets as a "birthday present" and Ross replies "Funny, my birthday was seven months ago." He then realizes the date is October 20, implying that his birthday is in fact in March.
- Ross and Monica are said to be Jewish, however, when Ross marries Emily and Monica marries Chandler the wedding is a Christian ceremony. This could be attributed to the fact that they are half Jewish, as mentioned in th episode where Monica and Chandler are trying to adopt a baby.
- In the episode "The One With The Blind-Date", Phoebe sets Rachel up with her good friend called Steve, in the date Rachel learns that he was kicked out of his own restaurant from taking drugs. Rachel has no idea who Steve is though when she meets him. In an earlier episode in an earlier series, Phoebe tells Monica about her friend STEVE who works in a restaurant and needs a head chef so Monica invites him round, Monica lets Rachel be waitress for her, so Rachel also meets Steve, and Phoebe tells Rachel about Steve smoking dope in the cab on the way to Monica's house, so Rachel must have known her blind-date as those two characters are the same character as its the same actor, same name, and both owned a restaurant and took drugs.
- In the first few episodes of Friends, it is established that Ross has never slept with anyone before Carol and she is the only one he has been with. Later, when Ross, Monica, and Chandler are "revealing secrets" about each other, it's revealed that Ross got drunk in college and slept with the cleaning lady. This would be before/during his relationship with Carol. But, Ross initially thought that it was Chandler who slept with the cleaning lady until Chandler points out that it was in fact Ross.
[edit] Merchandise
A few trivia games have been released over the years, as well as a trivia book. The trivia book spans Seasons one through eight. There have been two versions of a board game released, one being a cardboard box version with fewer questions and the other a die cast collector editon with more questions. Recently, a "Scene It" version of Friends was released with actual show clips, trivia questions and other puzzles on screen. The trivia includes questions from all ten seasons. A new PS2, PC and Xbox game called "Friends: The One with All the Trivia" was released simultaneously with the Season 10 DVD box set. It includes the voices of characters Janice, Gunther and Jack & Judy Geller as hosts. For the two Friends soundtrack albums, see Soundtracks (below).
[edit] References in other television series
- In an episode of King of the Hill, when Connie tries to get away from her family, she goes to her room and turns on the TV; you can hear the Friends theme song in the background when she turns on the TV. In another episode of King of the Hill, when Bobby is at the mall, he looks at all the videos on display. One of the TV's is displaying Rachel and Monica talking at the coffee house. In another episode, Bobby has a figurine of Chandler, but decides to give him away because he thinks after sex education, he'll be too busy having sex to play with toys.
- In an episode of Futurama, Lrr and his wife are watching Friends. We know this because while watching he says, "This is by far the most absurd of Earth's shows. Why doesn't Ross, the largest friend, not simply eat the other five?" His wife replies, "Perhaps, they're saving that for sweeps." Shortly afterwards, Lrr decides to stop watching, saying, "This is a Joey-heavy episode anyway."
- In a later episode of Roseanne, the family is sitting around the living room watching The Facts of Life, bored and not talking to each other, prompting Dan Conner to remark "Just think, this was the Friends of the early '90s." Also, in another episode, Roseanne fantasises about them getting stuck on an island (a rip-off of Gilligan's Island) in which mostly every character from the show was imitating a character from said show. When David walks out of the boat, and introduces himself to everyone, he says "I don't even like this show. I want to be on Friends."
- In an episode of Half & Half, Mona remarks, "Friends don't do friends, except on Friends."
- In an episode of Ellen, which was launched in mid-season the previous year to Friends, the title character tells somebody that she owns a bookstore with a coffee shop. The response "Very cool, very Friends" prompts her to complain, "Yeah, but we were here first!"
- In The Simpsons episode "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade," Bart watches the Japanese version of Friends. Later, Bart turns some of his classmates into the Japanese Friends in his mind when he gets bored during a test. In another episode, Homer, searching for a job, attempts to become Rachel's Irish cousin Seamus, with the line, "So yer all doin' each other, are ya? Well, who's gonna put out for old Seamus?" only to be disappointed to learn that Friends has now been cancelled. Finally, another episode with the Treehouse of Horror features them buying an automated talking house. One of the customizable voices is that of Matthew Perry: "Yeah, could I be any more of a house?"
- In one episode of South Park, Shelly (Stan's sister), while babysitting Cartman, is shown watching Friends; you can hear the theme song in the background. In another episode of South Park, Eric Cartman loses his "Funny Fuse," and Mr. Mackey, the school counselor, tells him not to worry because he can be a writer for Friends.
- Episode 93 of Animaniacs parodied of Friends called "Acquaintances", right down to the theme song (We Won't Ever Leave). Some of the Friends cast reprised their role in the short.
- In one episode of Married... with Children, Kelly walks into the room while Al was watching Friends. She asks why he is watching, knowing that he doesn't like Friends (he declared in a previous episode: "Don't have friends, sure as hell don't wanna watch them!"). Al says that if you mute the volume and watch with binoculars, you can see that Jennifer Aniston is not wearing a bra. . In earlier episodes, Al flips through channels after seeing Friends, coming across similar-named shows such as Pals, Homies and Amigos.
- In an episode of Family Guy where the movie Poltergeist is parodied, Stewie Griffin talks to the TV, obviously talking about the season finale of Friends and the situation between Ross and Rachel. He also talks about the Friends spinoff Joey. In another episode of Family Guy, "Death" arrives late to Quagmire's fake funeral, claiming he was at NBC sitting in on talks about the cancellation of Joey.
- Second-season promotions for the show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia parody the Friends fountain dance, with members of the cast assaulting one another.
- In the UK Saturday morning children's program, SMTV, the hosts filmed sketches of a sitcom called Chums, which is a parody of the show. The opening credits show the hosts playing in the fountain, which is also the opening of Friends.
- In an episode of Scrubs, the Janitor says to J.D. (talking about him and Elliot), "It's not like you're Ross and Rachel." JD doesn't understand whom he is talking about, and the janitor points to another doctor, who is talking to a nurse. "You know, Dr. Ross and Rachel from book-keeping."
- In the Will & Grace episode "No Sex 'n' The City", Jack McFarland and Karen Walker lament the fact that Friends was ending that season, as were Frasier and Sex and the City. Karen laments: "Oh, Jackie, what are we going to? What are we going to talk about at this water-cooler every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning?" (She later also imitated Chandler by asking, "Could a show be any funnier?")
- In an episode of Miami 7, while the British group, S Club 7, were trying to prove they were American, group member Paul says to the rest, "Okay guys, you all have seen Friends, group hug!"
- In the Saturday Night Live episode where Snoop Dogg hosted and Avril Lavigne was the musical guest, Snoop Dogg did a skit where he was upset about the end of Friends. In the promo for said episode, which did air during the Friends finale, he said, "Next thing you know, I'm gonna be on Friends!" to which Jimmy Fallon replies, "Bad news, Snoop Dogg..."
- In an episode of What I Like About You Holly asks her ex-boyfriend, "You know what I love about Monica, Joey, Chandler, Rachel, Phoebe and Ross?" Her ex replies, "That they're...friends." In another episode, when planning Valerie's wedding, Lauren mentions the centerpiece being dedicated to the greatest couples of all time: Romeo and Juliet, Marc Antony and Cleopatra, and Ross and Rachel.
- In episode 4.02 of NCIS, the character of Agent McGee uses too much whitener on his teeth. His colleague, Agent DiNozzo, immediately equates this to Ross' identical mistake in the Friends episode "The One With Ross's Teeth".
- In an episode of American Dad named Stan of Arabia, Hayley meets an Arabian student who says he went on an exchange trip to America. He asks what happened with Ross and Rachel.
- During the opening sketch in an episode of Saturday Night Live the final episode of Friends is parodied with George Bush in the role of Ross going to the airport to tell Rachel that he loves her.
[edit] Spinoff
After its finale in 2004, the spin off Joey was created. Only 46 episodes of Joey were filmed. NBC only aired 38 episodes. The show was cancelled on May 15, 2006.
[edit] Soundtracks
In 1995, WEA records released the Friends Soundtrack, a soundtrack album featuring music used in or inspired by the show. In between some of the songs, there was spoken dialogue from scenes from the show's first season. In 1999, a second soundtrack album entitled Friends Again was released.
[edit] DVDs
The entire 10 seasons of Friends have been released in various countries.
[edit] Worldwide broadcast
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Friends Air Dates Guide. Retrieved on 2006-08-22.
- ^ a b Friends Episode 1.01 - The Pilot. Retrieved on 2006-08-22.
- ^ Friends Episode 3.06 - The One With The Flashback. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ A flashback episode later reveals that the coffee house was originally a bar that was also frequented by Chandler, Monica, Phoebe and Ross before Joey and Rachel joined the group).
- ^ Friends Episode 3.12 - The One With All the Jealousy. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ Friends Episode 5.18 - The One Where Rachel Smokes.
- ^ "Friends may return with special episodes" RTÉ Guide, January 23, 2006. URL accessed May 16, 2006
- ^ CBS News (2006-07-17). Aniston: 'Friends' Reunion Sounds Good. Retrieved on 2006-11-11.
- ^ David Schwimmer directed several episodes.
- ^ Balancing friends and family. Retrieved on 2006-09-17.
- ^ Throughout the series 27 episode titles reference Rachel, 23 reference Ross, 15 reference Joey, 10 reference Chandler, 10 reference Phoebe and eight reference Monica.
- ^ "Top TV sitcom so transforms use of English" University of Toronto, January 7, 2004. URL accessed May 16, 2006
- ^ The E! True Hollywood Story: Friends
[edit] External links
- Official Friends site
- Official Friends Store at NBCUniversalStore.com
- Friends at Tv-Series-Guide.com
- Friends at TV.COM
- Friends at the Internet Movie Database
- Negative 1994 NBC research report about the pilot
- Friends at the Open Directory Project
- Friends at the TV IV
| Friends |
|---|
| Characters: Rachel Green • Monica Geller • Phoebe Buffay • Joey Tribbiani • Chandler Bing • Ross Geller Cast: Jennifer Aniston • Courteney Cox • Lisa Kudrow • Matt LeBlanc • Matthew Perry • David Schwimmer Other characters: Recurring characters • Significant others • Gunther • Janice • Guest stars Places: Central Perk • Joey's apartment • Monica's apartment Music: "I'll Be There for You" • "Smelly Cat" • Friends soundtrack • Friends Again See also: Season synopses • DVD releases • Awards and nominations • Episode list • Running gags • Director list • Joey |
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | Cleanup from October 2006 | All pages needing cleanup | 1994 television program debuts | 1990s TV shows in the United States | 2000s TV shows in the United States | BAFTA winners (television series) | Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe Nominee (television) | Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (television) | Best Musical or Comedy Series Golden Globe Nominee | Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Nominee (television) | Friends | Television series by Warner Bros. Television | NBC network shows | Nielsen Ratings winners | Sitcoms | Television shows set in New York | TBS network shows
