Ben was born either at the end of season one or the beginning of season two. So, I guess you don’t lose too much street cred since you liked it for such a short time.
I ignored Friends for the first few seasons (in fact, I think I ignored them until they were in syndication and my wife insisted we watch).
I repented. There was a great deal to like about that show, and whatever wasn’t to like about it was generally (until near the end) outweighed by the good.
I like Friends, will see what episode is on in reruns, if I’ve nothing else to do, or just want to kill a half hour.
Some of my favorite episodes are Chandler gets Joey a job–and Joey begins to treat it like a role (this in fact may almost be my favorite–except for); Phoebe finds out the truth about her father (which is one of my all time favorite episodes of anything); Marcel, because everythings better with monkies; Anything with the parents of Monica and Ross.
“We are soooooo over!”
“Uh, uh, uh, FINE BY ME!”
Don’t get me started. We’ll be here all day.
Ah, but Ben was only in, like, four episodes. The rest of the time, he was conveniently off-camera with his mother. The kid was more of a rarely-used prop than a character. Contrast that to entire runs of episodes that centered on Emma or those triplets.
Count me in as another Friends lover… I feel the same as the OP described… I can’t help it, it’s an addition I have to watch every so often!
i’d call myself a casual watcher, but not a fan. I saw a Friends’ PS2 game at the store the other day, I couldn’t imagine anyone buying that.
only one thing really bothered me throughout the show’s run. Ross & Monica are siblings. Ross is jewish - we know this because of the whole Hannukah Aardvark episode (and others) Monica, his sister, seems to be very much NOT jewish. Now, I know a lot of Jewish people like Christmas Trees (some of us even call them Hannukah Bushes, but here ain’t no such thing - and that’s for another thread anyway) but these 2 people are siblings! One may reasonably assume, given the characters of Judy & Jack Geller, that their children would have been raised with the same religious background. I realize the writers wanted to have the Tree for Monica to decorate in her O/C-A/R fashion - but they could have at least have had her say someting like “Yeah, I’m jewish but I love to decorate” in the first season’s Christmas episode and that would have answered it for the entire run of the series. All they had to do was state it once, and the fans would except it as a given every time it came up
You’re kidding me. Please tell me it was just a fancy trivia game.
Interesting. I’ve never given it a thought, much less been bugged by it. Did any other episodes deal with their religion? Goodness knows I’ve only seen each one about twenty times, but I can’t remember.
I’m such a geek that I bought the Friends Game and had my other geeky Friends friends play it with me. It’s really fun, though not so much if you’re not a fan. Sometimes you have to act out scenes. I had to act out the one where Ross and Joey take a nap together! And don’t think my partner didn’t guess it correctly too
And the pizza delivery episode? That’s one of my favorites.
Ross: "You know that smell that gas has?.. "
"Lots of other gas smells..."
Something about his delivery of that scene just cracks me up. Don’t get me started on the video of Chandler singing Space Oddity
“…commencing countdown engines ON”
I think my top 2 favorite scenes (that made my laugh harder than I’ve ever laughed at a sitcom) are:
– In the last 30 seconds while credits are rolling of the ep where Ross decides he’s going to play the bagpipes for Monica & Chandler’s wedding. He tells everybody to sing along and Phoebe starts “singing” literally with the bagpipe… Every time I see it I laugh so hard I tear up!
– Ross wearing his leather pants, stuck in that girls bathroom
One of my personal favourites, if we’re going to start quoting:
“You know how sometimes you come home and throw your coat over a chair? Well, instead of a chair; it’s a pile of garbage. And instead of a coat; it’s a pile of garbage.” - Ross, describing the slovenliness of his newest girlfriend.
Chandler had the best lines, all of them aimed at Joey:
“How do you not fall down more?”
When picking Ben up from the NY Transit Authority office (after accidentally leaving hm on a bus to hit on girls), they have to flip a coin to decide which baby to take home. One baby is wearing ducks and the other clowns. Joey says “Okay, heads for ducks, because ducks have heads!” and nods with a sage look on his face. Chandler just stares at him for a second and then blurts “What kind of scary ass clowns came to YOUR birthday parties?”
The episode where they were trying to sell the entertainment center, and Joey was explaining to Chandler how he got locked into it (by the guy who then robbed their apartment bare): “Boy, you know what I’m gonna do if I ever see that guy again?”
Chandler: “BEND OVER!!!”
If I had to pick one favorite scene, it’s be the one where they play the trivia game, Chandler and Joey against Monica and Rachel, to see which pair knows the other pair better.
The stakes are the girl’s apartment against the guys getting rid of the duck and the chick.
The questions are so funny.
“Joey had an imaginary childhood friend - name him.”
“Maurice”
“What was his occupation?”
“Space Cowboy!”
“What was Monica’s nickname when she was a field hockey goalie?”
“Big Fat Goalie!”
“Rachels claims this is her favorite movie…”
“Dangerous Liasons”
“Her actual favorite movie is…”
“Weekend At Bernies!”
And really, really not so much fun if you lose a game of it because the answer printed on the card was flat-out wrong!
…grumble grumble damnit, no, Monica did not propose to Chander…she tried to, but teared up too much, so he wound up having to propose to her…stupid card grumble grumble…
Oh, I’d forgotten about that. I was trying to think of my favourite moment for each star (I warned you all - did you think I was kidding?), and I think that would be mine for Ross. My favourite moment for Rachel is when she slams the door after scaring off her casual boyfriend by wearing her wedding dress and saying “I doooo” when he comes to the door, and says, “Well, that oughta do it.”
My favourite moment for Joey is when he discovers Rachel and Chandler eating off the hall floor, looks at them for a moment, then takes his fork out of his jacket pocket and says, “What are we having?”
I’m still working on the rest of them.
So it’s turning into a “favorite lines” thread? Cool by me…
- What happens to the old Christmas trees?
- They go into the chipper.
- Why do I get the feeling that’s not as happy as it sounds?
“Oh, look. It’s the woman we ordered.”
I could spend a frightening amount of time in this thread. I’ll try to restrain myself from submitting a three page post.
For overall episode, I think my favorite is the Thanksgiving one where Rachel puts beef in the trifle.
Ross: Oh man, it tastes like feet!
Chandler: I’m going to enjoy mine WHILST out on the balcony.
Mrs. Geller: No dear, you weren’t supposed to put beef in the trifle.
It did NOT taste good.
I think there they just call it “food”.-- Chandler on going to China to get Chinese food.
How many cameras were on you?-- Chandler again, commenting on how fat Monica looked in an old video (the camera adds 10 pounds!)
I think this is the episode of Three’s Company where there was some kind of misunderstanding!-- yea, Chandler really cracked me up.
The best was Joey (from memory so no nitpicking!): What’s wrong with the trifle-- whip cream? Good! Banana? Good! Beef? Good!