I must admit to never watching “Friends” on television, after watching the first season on DVD however i became hooked and bought all seasons as they came out through season 7. Now that i see there are only four episodes left in the show i feel the need to watch the end play out…the problem is i would need a nice summary of the important events of seasons 8, 9, and 10 thus far. I only want the events i need to be caught up on to follow the remainder of the show, leaving out unneeded details so i can enjoy the episodes as they are released on DVD later and still be suprised from time to time. if anyone thinks they can supply such a summary, I would be gratefull.
Seasons 8, 9, and 10, huh? So that would be…from Monica and Chandler’s wedding on, then?
Season 8: Well, Mon and Chandler got married, obviously, and during the reception Rachel fessed up to being pregnant but wanted to tell the father before she told everybody else whose it was. There was a lot of hinting that it was her ex, the cute little assistant guy, but it turned out to be Ross. During the pregnancy, Joey realized he had a thing for her, then she was having some sort of complication (I’m not sure what, I missed those episodes) and wound up moving in with Ross. While she was in labor, Ross’s parents give him his grandmother’s engagement ring and harass him about proposing to Rachel. He puts the ring in his jacket and says he’ll think about it. Joey knocks the ring out accidentally while he and Rachel are alone, and when he’s down in the floor looking at it, Rachel sees him, thinks he’s proposing, and says yes.
Season 9: Hijinks ensue in the season opener, but it all gets straightened out. Ross and Rachel do well living together for a while, but it gets very awkward with the whole dating-other-people thing, and Rachel winds up taking the baby and moving back in with Joey. She and Joey date for a while, but wind up breaking it off. Monica and Chandler have been trying to conceive since Emma was born, but learn they have infertility problems and decide to adopt. Phoebe gets pretty serious with Mike, then her ex David(the scientist guy that went to Russia, Hank Azaria) comes back to New York for good. She and Mike split up, and gets together with David.
Season 10: Phoebe dumps David and gets back together with Mike, and they get engaged, and then married. Monica and Chandler get promised a baby, and they buy a house out in Westchester or someplace. Rachel gets fired because her boss catches her interviewing for another job, on the same day Ross gets tenure. A guy she used to work with at Bloomingdales (the one Ross was so jealous of), runs into her and offers to see if there’s something available at the fashion house he works for (Gucchi, maybe, I don’t remember offhand). She’s offered a great job, but it’s in Paris. And that’s the last new episode. Since then it’s been nothing but reruns.
There’s probably some other fairly important stuff I’ve missed, but that should be enough of the backstory to follow along.
I think that’s all of the major plot points. Chandler got transfered to Oklahoma after falling asleep in a meeting. Monica was going to move with him, but stayed in New York because she got a job at a nice restaurant. Chandler eventually quit, moved back to New York, and started working at an ad agency.
Ross and Joey were chasing after the same girl for awhile, who started going out with Joey, but then got involved with Ross. Joey sees them kissing, of course, so he finds Rachel and kisses her. He’d only been avoiding a relationship with Rachel out of respect for Ross.
If you want episode-by-episode summaries, I suggest TV Tome. The summaries are short, but manage to cover all of the basic points.
In one of these seasons, an actual black person is spotted. This, of course, is how we know the show isn’t real, because black people don’t actually *live * in New York.
Thanks guys…but when and how is Rachel’s baby concieved? Obviously Ross and Rachel do it sometime during season 7 unknown to us, was it just a night of unexpected passion? was there a reason they re-opened that door without telling anyone about it? How did everyone respond?
Let me make sure i understand what’s going on at the moment
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Chandler and Monica are hapilly married and living in (Monica’s apartment?), waiting to adopt a kid so they can bolt out of NY?
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Phoebe is married to Mike and living (with him?)
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Rachel is raising her 2-3 year old child and living where? She is considering taking a job that will bring her to Paris
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Joey is still across from Monica and now has a past with Rachel…hows his acting career? how long was he on Days of Our Lives?
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Ross is…?
Also important…are all the characters in a pretty good place? is there any dissention among the group? Is Ross “over” Rachel by this point or is there still a hinted romance? How are Phoebe and her husband together?
this further info would be appreciated
How many of these multimillionaires will have careers post-Friends, do you suppose?
Of the fellows, only Matthew Perry seems to have any real talent; he’s just had bad luck (and judgment) getting good vehicles. David Schwimmer, thank goodness, wants to return to the stage, so maybe he won’t be inflicting himself on the public at large. I just can’t see Matt LeBlanc having any kind of career short of Branson, MO, or Japanese TV commercials.
Both Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow have been very canny in getting good small roles in independent films and building their resumes and acting skills (and reputations). Courteney Cox? Maybe she can get a job slipping heself under doors for people who have locked themselves out of their apartments.
It was a night of unexpected passion (on videotape - you’ll love it, trust me) just before Monica and Chandler’s wedding. Everyone finds about it afterwards, and was pretty supportive. She was living with Joey at the time, and he was okay with having a baby around.
Correct. They are both living in Monica’s apartment, waiting for their adopted kid to be born (the mother’s all picked out and everything), and they’ve already found a house.
I think they’re both living in Phoebe’s apartment.
She’s living with Ross. No current romance.
Joey is still living across from Monica, and has no current romantic interest. He’s back on Days of Our Lives (a brain transplant from a woman, if I remember right), and he’s done a few movies, too.
Ross is living in Ugly Naked Guy’s apartment (who left some time ago), and now has tenure at his University.
Monica and Chandler - good place. They’re ready to start a family. Everyone’s a little sad that they’re leaving (especially Joey), but nothing serious.
Phoebe and Mike - good place. Just married, no problems yet.
Joey - same place. Brief spurt of character development during the Rachel thing, but he’s back to the “How you doin’?” character now. A spin-off is centered on him (in California, I think), so I don’t expect much more than a “big break” in the future.
Ross and Rachel - who knows. The remaining episodes will probably center around them. Neither is in a relationship now, but they are living together. They’re mostly “over” each other, although Ross may still be a little “under” Rachel.
Right. They’ve bought a house. The kid is on the way (the biomom is in the late stages of pregnancy) and both are working.
Right.
She’s still living with Joey, across the hall from Monica and Chandler. She is considering the job in Paris, that was the revelation from the very last new episode.
He’s still on DooL, as far as I know. He’s still across the hall.
A jackass? 
Well, Joey hates that Monica and Chandler are moving. Ross and Rachel are the neverending story. There won’t be closure on that until the last episode, no doubt. Phoebe and Mike are disgustingly cute together, actually. They’re a good couple but I will admit that I adore David and I hate that Phoebe dumped him for Mike when Mike was (at that time) commitment-phobic. (Okay, that’s probably because I love Hank Azaria and he always seems – in real life and in his roles – to get the short end of the romantic stick, which makes no sense, because he’s adorable!)
Well, Matt LeBlanc has at least a one season commitment out of NBC for his spinoff, Joey and they’ve just signed Drea DeMattea from The Sopranos to play his sister, so there could be some promise to the show.
Matthew Perry has his sequel with Bruce Willis coming out (The Whole Ten Yards?) this weekend or next, we’ll see how that goes. His flick with Salma Hayek (Fools Rush In) is on cable every other day and is very cute, he could have some mileage in the light romantic comedy genre for a while, I think.
Aniston will continue to redefine herself by doing small films like The Good Girl, moving away from broad comedy. She can find some traction that way, and let’s face it, she doesn’t ever need to work again, financially speaking, so she can pick and choose her roles quite carefully in order to build her post-Friends career, and no doubt will. She seems pretty show business savvy. I also anticipate that she’s going to take some time away from the spotlight to start a family.
Courtney Cox also doesn’t need to work again, thanks not only to the show but to the Scream movies, for which she had a “back end” deal. She’s about to have a baby, she’ll probably take a few years off and start a re-invention process in 2006/07, maybe even doing a pilot for a drama series.
Kudrow has been hinting about spending some time in her husband’s native France. She’s also mentioned wanting to have another child. I foresee her also taking some time, then coming back in some edgier small comedy roles more akin to Clockwatchers than Lucky Numbers or those mob movies with Billy Crystal and DeNiro.
Schwimmer, well, I vote that he takes his money and becomes a hermit in the Nevada desert. No, I don’t just vote. I pray. I don’t know what he’s planning to do, but it will likely be painful, unwatchable and, because fate is a bitch, wildly popular despite his presence.
Doh. You’re right. I’ve been watching the Season 9 reruns, and I forgot that Joey and Rachel live together in Season 10.
Also, I’m no longer sure whether Phoebe lives with Mike or the other way around. They had planned to move in together in Season 9, but that didn’t pan out. Mike made Phoebe get rid of a painting in her place, but that’s not a good indication either way. Have they actually showed either one moving?
There was an episode which showed the guys (Chandler, Joey and Mike) moving a sofa either into or out of Phoebe’s, a heavy sofa, and of course they were interrupted numerous times and weren’t able to put it down, but for the life of me I couldn’t tell you if they were moving Phoebe out of her apartment or moving Mike in. 
Why don’t people like David Schwimmer? His Ross role certainly seems admirable in a selfless, sensitive, sort of way.
Cox and Perry are definitely workaholics. According to interviews they “need jobs” after Friends. Why can’t they leave the jobs for other actors with net worths under $50 million?
Oh, and did anyone mention that Rachel has definitely let it be known that she’s (re)interested in Ross?
Personally, I think Ross made a mistake when he let Mona get away.