The One Where No One's Ready

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“The One Where No One's Ready”
Friends episode
Episode no. Season 3
Episode 2
Written by Ira Ungerleider
Directed by Gail Mancuso
Guest stars Tom Selleck as Richard Burke (voice only)
Peter Dennis as Sherman Whitfield
Original airdate September 26, 1996
Episode chronology
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"The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy" "The One with the Jam"

"The One Where No One's Ready" is the second episode of the third season of the American television situation comedy Friends, which aired on NBC on September 26, 1996.[1] The plot centres on Ross's (David Schwimmer) anxiety as his friends take too long getting ready for a function that evening.

The episode was written by Ira Ungerleider and directed by Gail Mancuso. It is one of the few bottle episodes of the series; the bulk of the episode takes place on only one set and there are no guest stars, with the exception of two brief cameos.[1]

Contents

[edit] Plot

Ross arrives at Monica's apartment to discover Joey, (Matt LeBlanc) Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) are not yet dressed for a function that evening. Joey in this episode sits on the chair Chandler was recently sitting in causing an argument between them while Ross yells at Rachel causing her to say she will not go to the function. Chandler then gets ready while Ross tries to win back Rachel and get her to come to his function. Chandler then tells Joey to get ready and Joey does but steals the cushions which Chandler describes as "stealing the essence of the chair". Chandler then knowing Joey was wearing no underwear stole his underwear. Joey not wanting to wear a rented tux which another man has been in wears all of Chandler's clothes and starts doing leg stretches. Ross tells Joey to give back the cushions and tells Chandler to give back the underwear, Joey in turn tells Ross to drink chicken fat to win back Rachel. Rachel says that's not a bad idea and tells Ross to do it but changes her mind when she realises Ross will actually do it she then realises how much he loves her. The episode focuses on the difficulties the group has in getting ready.

Meanwhile, Monica (Courteney Cox) is thrown into doubt after her ex-boyfriend Richard leaves a message on the answering machine (a voice cameo by Tom Selleck). [1]

[edit] Production

The Bottle episode format of the series was conceived by executive producer Kevin S. Bright as a way of saving money for other episodes by using a single set and no guest stars.[2] The success of this episode led to the format being used at least once per season thereafter, with episodes including "The One with Monica's Thunder" and "The One with the Last Night" being based solely around the six core cast.[3] Bright believes these episodes were some of the best of the series.[2]

[edit] Reception

Entertainment Weekly notes that the episode "owes a large stylistic debt to Seinfeld", specifically citing the 1991 episode "The Chinese Restaurant", which also plays out in real time. It rates the episode C and calls the answering machine gag "derivative of George Costanza".[4] The authors of Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends call it "forgettable"; "The script is dull and the performers seem to know it, with none of them trying particularly hard to make it work".[1] All Movie Guide says it "stands out for the way it realistically portrays how group inertia can slow you down".[5]

Popular reaction is more positive; the episode appeared on one of the first region 1 "best of" DVD releases[6] and it was voted the third most popular episode in an NBC poll in 2004.[7]

[edit] Trivia

  • This episode only has two sets and one of them is only appears in the scene that the credits run through.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Sangster, Jim; David Bailey (2000). Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends, 2nd ed., London: Virgin Publishing Ltd, pp.135–137. ISBN 0-7535-0439-1. 
  2. ^ a b Bright, Kevin S.. (2005). Friends: Final Thoughts [DVD]. New Wave DVD and Warner Home Entertainment.
  3. ^ Visual reference. (2005). Friends: Final Thoughts [DVD]. New Wave DVD and Warner Home Entertainment.
  4. ^ Staff writer. (2001-09-15). Review: Season 3 (1996–1997). Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-06-18.
  5. ^ Collar, Matt (undated). Friends: The One Where No One's Ready (TV episode). All Movie Guide (at answers.com). Retrieved on 2007-06-28.
  6. ^ Time Warner (2000-11-14). "Warner Home Video Brings the Emmy-Winning TV Show FRIENDS To DVD and VHS for the First Time on December 19". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-06-28.
  7. ^ Staff writer. "The one with the best of 'Friends'", MSNBC, 2004-05-03. Retrieved on 2007-08-22. 

[edit] External links

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