Friends: The Complete First Season

Until watching the complete first season of Friends, I have to admit I was never much of a fan. Now, however, I have a new appreciation for the show.

Debuting in 1994, the problem at the time may have been that I was too young to be able to relate to the problems facing the 20-something characters. Now that I'm older (though probably no more mature), I can find a lot more humor in the scenarios. From Chandler's smart-assed comments to Monica's obsession with neatness, I either know someone with each characteristic, or possess them myself.

It's amazing how much chemistry the cast had from the start. They all work very well together, and you'd swear that they'd all been friends for years before the show began. Of course, the smartest thing the writers ever did was giving each character equal screen time and never letting any of them dominate.

Season one features all 24 episodes that aired during the 1994-95 season. I was surprised how many of them I'd seen, considering I never really watched the show. Some of the episodes are pretty funny, and I must admit I found myself laughing out loud occasionally.

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer are all excellent in their roles as the six friends who frequent the coffee shop. It's unfortunate, though, that they've all been so typecast since then, because they obviously have quite a bit of talent.

Friends managed to do another thing right in that it casts guest stars who are not only recognizable names, but who fit their parts as well as the leads. From Elliot Gould as Ross and Monica's dad, to Morgan Fairchild as Chandler's mom, to Jon Lovitz as a stoned restaurant owner, they all seem as if the parts were written for them.

Friends may not be the best TV show ever to come out, but it has enough moments to make it worthwhile. The complete first season is great for fans, or anyone wanting to see what all the fuss is about.

Season One's 24 Episodes include: "The Pilot," "Sonogram at the End," "The Thumb," "George Stephanopoulos," "East German Laundry Detergent," "The Butt," "The Blackout," "Nan Dies Twice," "Underdog Gets Away," "The Monkey," "Mrs. Bing," "Dozen Lasangas," "The Boobies," "The Candy Hearts," "The Stoned Guy," "Two Parts," "All the Poker," "Monkey Gets Away," "Evil Orthodontist," "The Ick Factor," "The Birth," and "Rachel Finds Out."

The DVD presentation is not bad, and it's pretty good for a TV show. The picture is presented in it's original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and the picture is a lot better than I expected. It's pretty soft at times and a bit grainy at others, but on the whole it isn't bad. I had low expectations so I was pleasantly surprised. The audio is also better than I expected, though only slightly. The DVD is presented in 5.0 Dolby Digital (why not 5.1; I have no idea), but it really has no use for it. Whether it was presented in stereo or DTS wouldn't have made much of a difference for a show like this. Occasionally the laugh track (oops, I mean the live studio audience) manages to creep out of the surrounds, but otherwise the audio is pretty much restricted to the front channels.

There are a few extras in the set, though nothing really memorable. The pilot episode features a commentary by the producers, and that's really the most spectacular of the lot. Each episode apparently features extra footage, but I'm not familiar enough with them to have been able to pick it out. There is also a "Peek at Central Perk: Interactive Map," "Friends of Friends" (clips of guest stars), a "How Well Do You Know Your Friends?" trivia game, and a trailer for season two, which should be announced any time.

Friends: The Complete First Season, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
587 minutes, 1.33:1 full frame, 5.0 Dolby Digital
Starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer
Created by David Crane & Marta Kauffman

Friends: The Complete Second Season

By the end of its first season, Friends had already become the hot new thing. The cast members were instant stars, and the show was probably the only one in history that actually kept the same night and time throughout its entire run.

At the end of the first season, Rachel found out that Ross was in love with her. But when she went to meet him at the airport, he arrived with a new girl. On the season premiere of season two, Rachel has to deal with Ross’s new love, at the same time not letting Ross know that she knows. Also on the season premiere, Phoebe gives Joey, Chandler and Monica a haircut, which is just a clever (or perhaps not so clever) way of covering for the new looks of the characters.

Season two is when Ross and Rachel finally “get together.” Never really having watched the show other than a few scattered episodes here and there, I thought it was much later in the show’s run that this happened. In fact, I thought many of the episodes didn’t appear until much later.

This second season features memorable moments (for fans of the show, at least) such as Ross and Rachel’s first kiss, Joey getting a gig on Days of Our Lives, and televisions first ever lesbian wedding. It’s not hard to notice the popularity of the show simply by checking out the guest stars. They include Julia Roberts (who, in all fairness, wasn’t as big a star as she is today), Jean-Claude Van Damme, Brooke Shields, Chris Isaak, Tom Selleck and Charlie Sheen.

Season two is probably better than season one, if only slightly. It benefits from not having to establish the main characters, and being able to focus more on the story and supporting characters. Fans of the show will definitely want to pick this one up, but more casual viewers are probably content to watch it in syndication.

This boxed set includes the following episodes: “The One With Ross’s New Girlfriend,” “The One with the Breast Milk,” “The One Where Heckles Dies,” “The One with Phoebe’s Husband,” “The One with Five Steaks and an Eggplant,” “The One with the Baby on the Bus,” “The One Where Ross Finds Out,” “The One with the List,” “The One with Phoebe’s Dad,” “The One with Russ,” “The One with the Lesbian Wedding,” “The One After the Super Bowl,” “The One with the Prom Video,” “The One Where Ross and Rachel…You Know,” “The One Where Joey Moves Out,” “The One Where Eddie Moves In,” “The One Where Dr. Ramoray Dies,” “The One Where Eddie Won’t Go,” “The One Where Old Yeller Dies,” “The One with the Bullies,” “The One with Two Parties,” “The One with the Chicken Pox,” and “The One with Barry & Mindy’s Wedding.”

This is another impressive collection from Warner Bros. The picture and sound are pretty good, and there are some nice extras to round out the deal. The video is presented in 4:3 full frame, and actually looks quite good. It’s a little bit soft and grainy, but considering the quality you usually get on TV, you can’t ask for better. There’s never a time when watching a 23-minute episode of Friends when you think to yourself: “Man, I wish this picture was a little better.” The audio quality is average, despite being Dolby Digital 5.0. Why you even need 5.0 for a comedy TV show is beyond me, but here it is. Surround use is understandably absent, since there’s not much more than dialogue here.

Extras include audio commentary by executive producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane on two episodes (The One with the List and The One with the Prom Video), an interactive map of Monica and Rachel’s place, a “Friends of Friends” video guestbook, a “How Well do you Know Your Friends?” trivia game, and a DVD-Rom never-before-seen uncut version of “Smelly Cat.”

Friends: The Complete Second Season, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
566 minutes, 4:3 full frame, 5.0 Dolby Digital
Starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer
Created by David Crane & Marta Kauffman
Executive Producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman, David Crane

Friends: Season 5

The fifth season of Friends begins with the aftermath of Ross saying Rachel’s name during his wedding to Emily. Monica and Chandler have “hooked up” and are trying to keep their “relationship” a secret. Phoebe is about to have triplets, Rachel still has feelings for Ross, and Joey is just off doing what Joey does.

By this point in the show, it’s becoming more like a soap opera with intentional laughter.

As the season continues, Chandler and Monica get really serious, Ross tries to get over Emily and move on, Rachel and Phoebe try out new beaus, and Joey continues to try and make it in show business.

Season Five has the Friends crew in top form. They’re all perfectly comfortable in their characters, and the chemistry is astounding. Many of the episodes are quite funny, offering continuous laughs. Other episodes, however, seem to be trying too hard and aren’t all that funny.

Highlights from this fifth boxed set include “The One With All the Kissing,” in which Chandler kisses Phoebe and Rachel in order to cover up for them seeing him kiss Monica, “The One With Joey’s Bag,” which finds Joey carrying a handbag that looks remarkably like a purse, and “The One Where Ross Can’t Flirt,” which is pretty self-explanatory.

The episodes in Season Five are: The One After Ross Says Rachel; The One With All the Kissing; The One Hundredth; The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS; The One With the Kips; The One with the Yeti; The One Where Ross Moves In; The One With all the Thanksgivings; The One With Ross’s Sandwich; The One with the Inappropriate Sister; The One with All the Resolutions; The One with Chandler’s Work Laugh; The One with Joey’s Bag; The One Where Everybody Finds Out; The One With the Girl Who Hits Joey; The One With the Cop; The One with Rachel’s Inadvertent Kiss; The One Where Rachel Smokes; The One Where Ross Can’t Flirt; The One With the Ride-Along; The One with the Ball; The One with Joey’s Big Break; and the two-parter The One in Vegas.

As with the previous boxed sets, Friends Season Five is presented in 1.33:1 full screen with Dolby Digital 5.0. However, unlike the previous boxed sets, this one features some decent extras.

Picture quality is pretty good, with rich color and excellent detail. Whites tend to drown out the actors on occasion (which is probably why they don’t wear white more often) and blacks are a little darker than necessary (sometimes the detail is hard to make out). Fleshtones are well-done, and there is no trace of any grain.

Audio is pretty good as well, but the 5.0 is unnecessary. A sitcom is pretty much all dialogue (this one is, anyway), so there’s really no need for the rear speakers, considering they get no use whatsoever. The front channels are used effectively, with dialogue and music coming from all three, and a few good instances of panning. For example, if a character is speaking offscreen, their voice will come from the side speaker, but when they walk into view, the dialogue will pan to the center.

Extras include an audio commentary by executive producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane on three episodes (The One Hundredth, The One with All the Thanksgivings and The One Where Everybody Finds Out). There’s also a 42-minute documentary (which was a full hour when it aired on TV – God bless commercials) called The One That Goes Behind the Scenes. It’s pretty much as you’d expect, featuring interviews with many of the behind-the-scenes folks, but not nearly enough of the cast or writers. There is also a two-and-a-half-minute featurette “On Location in London” which is not nearly long enough to even be worthwhile having on the disc, and “Gunther Spills the Beans,” in which the man himself talks about what will happen in season six.

Friends: The Complete Fifth Season, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
563 minutes, 1.33:1 full screen, Dolby Digital 5.0
Starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer
Executive Producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman, David Crane

Friends: The Complete Sixth Season

I don’t think I’ve ever maintained the exact same group of friends for six years.

Sure, we all stay friends with certain people for that long, but eventually somebody leaves, or somebody new comes in, ever so slightly changing the group. Friends, now in its tenth season, has kept the exact same cast for its entire duration, with no new main characters and none of the major characters leaving (and I’m sure the producers did everything they could to make sure that was the case).

This fact could not only be the show’s biggest flaw, but also its greatest achievement. While even some of the greatest shows on television have used the bringing in of new characters to broaden their possibilities (Seinfeld brought in Newman, one of the funnier mid-run additions), Friends refuses to give in. So in a way, they’re missing out on plenty of new opportunities, but on the other hand, they continue to deliver exactly what we want out of the show: new dilemmas for the characters we already know and love.

Some could argue that the sixth season is when Friends started to get a little ridiculous, with huge guest stars for the sake of having huge guest stars (Bruce Willis, for example), and storylines that bordered on just plain silly. But even if that’s the case, Friends is still more consistently funny in season six than a great majority of shows achieve at any point in their entire run. Sometimes it’s clear, though, just how difficult it is to come up with something for all six characters to do every episode.

Season six begins with the aftermath of Ross and Rachel’s drunken Las Vegas wedding, and Ross’s refusal to get an annulment because he “can’t have three divorces.” Other highlights include Chandler and Monica moving in together, Ross dating one of his students (whose father is Bruce Willis, playing Bruce Willis from what we can figure), and the flashback episode that “could have been.”

The 25 episodes included in this 4-disc set are: The One After Vegas; The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel; The One with Ross’s Denial; The One Where Joey Loses his Insurance; The One with Joey’s Porsche; The One on the Last Night; The One Where Phoebe Runs; The One with Ross’s Teeth; The One Where Ross Got High; The One with the Routine; The One with the Apothecary Table; The One with the Joke; The One with Rachel’s Sister; The One Where Chandler Can’t Cry; The One that Could Have Been (parts 1 & 2); The One with Unagi; The One Where Ross Dates a Student; The One with Joey’s Fridge; The One with Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E.; The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth’s Dad; The One Where Paul’s the Man; The One with the Ring; The One with the Proposal (parts 1 & 2).

Both audio and video are exactly the same as previous seasons. Picture is presented in 4:3 full frame, with good color and detail and very little grain. Audio is Dolby Digital 5.0 surround, but it’s mostly restricted to the front. But then, the show is pretty much all dialogue, so there’s no need for much surround use to be present, even though it’s always nice to have a 5.0 track just for the hell of it.

Continuing in the tradition of minimal extras (except for season 5, which had a nice behind-the-scenes documentary included), the sixth season features the same features as previous seasons. Executive Producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane provide an audio commentary on three episodes (The One Where Ross Got High, The One that Could Have Been and The One with the Proposal). The three are engaging speakers and are very proud of the success of the show, and we learn some nifty behind-the-scenes tidbits. However, we can’t help but feel that if they’re only going to do it for three episodes, why do they even bother? It almost feels like an insult; like they’re only doing it so they can say they did audio commentaries. Other extras include a “Friends of Friends” video guestbook, a short gag reel, trivia quiz, and a preview of season seven.

Friends: The Complete Sixth Season, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
569 minutes, 1.33:1 full screen, Dolby Digital 5.0
Starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer
Created by David Crane & Marta Kauffman
Executive Produced by Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman, David Crane

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