David Crane Movies

In the tradition of past "February Sweeps," this episode of Friends originally ran 42 minutes rather than the usual 30. It is more than enough time for the various plot strands to unfold, beginning with a disastrous bachelorette party for Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), wherein the male stripper turns out to be a really creepy guy (played by a past master at "creeps," Danny DeVito). Also, Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Ross (David Schwimmer) recall an embarrassing incident from their college days, and, in a sequence currently missing from the syndication print of this episode, Joey (Matt LeBlanc) makes a fool of himself on the TV game show Pyramid (which explains why that series' host Donny Osmond makes a guest appearance). ~ All Movie Guide

Originally running 65 minutes (and later re-edited as two separate programs for syndication), the final episode of Friends finds Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) on the verge of leaving New York for her new job in Paris. Just before the big departure, stalwart "coffee guy" Gunther (James Michael Tyler) lets slip to Rachel that Ross (David Schwimmer) is still madly in love with her. Meanwhile, Mike (Paul Rudd) informs his new bride, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) -- already the mother of triplets -- that he'd like to start a family. And as Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) prepare to move into their new Westchester home, adoptive birth mother Erica (Anna Faris) gives birth to twins. ~ All Movie Guide

In the concluding half of Friends' ninth-season finale (originally telecast as a single, 75-minute "special"), Joey (Matt LeBlanc) is shocked by Rachel's (Jennifer Aniston) declaration of love during a trip to Barbados. Under any other circumstances, Joey would be delighted, but in this instance he doesn't want to hurt Ross (David Schwimmer), who after all is the father of Rachel's baby. All this changes, however, when Joey catches Ross locked in a hot embrace with Charlie (Aisha Tyler), starting a chain reaction of events which ends in the kiss heard round the world. But before this season-ending cliffhanger transpires, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) must choose between two suitors, one of whom is currently embroiled in a cutthroat game of ping-pong with Monica (Courteney Cox). ~ All Movie Guide

In this conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast along with "Part One" as a single hour-long special), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) gives birth to a healthy baby girl after 21 hours' labor. The engagement ring that Rachel's mom (Christina Pickles) gave to Ross (David Schwimmer) in hopes that he would propose to her daughter ends up in other hands. Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) uses subterfuge to meet her "dream man" (another hospital patient). And in the midst of all the excitement, an aroused Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) sneak off to a hospital closet for some "quality time." This final episode of Friends' eighth season concludes as Joey (Matt LeBlanc) pops the question that fans of the series have been waiting for all year. ~ All Movie Guide

As expected, the eighth season of Friends picked up exactly where season seven left off -- that is, a few minutes after the wedding of Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Monica (Courteney Cox), with Joey (in a WWI uniform for his role in an upcoming movie) serving as best man. Also as expected, the mystery surrounding the pregnancy of one of the female Friends regulars is solved, with Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) turning out to be the one in the family way. It would take a few additional episodes, though, for Ross (David Schwimmer) to step forward as the father of Rachel's child. This plot development, however, did not lead to another wedding. Though Ross and Rachel were about to become parents, they did not see the need to become husband and wife, and in fact, both of them dated other people throughout the rest of the season, with Bonnie Somerville becoming a quasi-regular in the role of Ross' steady date Mona. In the course of season eight, Joey found himself falling in love with the pregnant Rachel, an affection culminating in a proposal at the tail end of the season -- just after Rachel had delivered a healthy baby girl, named Emma. Whether or not this would lead to a lasting relationship between Joey and Rachel was something that would have to be resolved during the next season. Meanwhile, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) had quite an eventful romantic life of her own, briefly pairing with guest stars Sean Penn (uncharacteristically cast as a nice guy) and Alec Baldwin (more characteristically cast as a well-meaning doofus whose overbearing enthusiasm drove everybody crazy). In keeping with this "celebrity guest" kick, Brad Pitt, husband of series regular Jennifer Aniston, showed up in one episode as one of Monica's high-school acquaintances. Though Pitt received no onscreen billing, his appearance was lavishly publicized throughout the civilized world, and was even deemed worthy of that loftiest of honors -- a TV Guide cover. Two Emmy awards were presented to Friends during its eighth season: the show itself received a statuette, as did Jennifer Aniston for Outstanding Lead Actress. Despite the formidable competition of CBS' Survivor, Friends remained the top-rated program on network television, posting a 15.0 in the Nielsens. ~ All Movie Guide

Season eight of Friends begins just after the wedding of Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Courteney Cox). Though this neatly ties up a loose plotline from season seven, there's another strand still dangling, namely: is Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) pregnant? A comedy of errors results in the misapprehension that virtually every one of the female "Friends" is pregnant except Rachel -- and there's quite a scramble to determine the identity of the father (or fathers). In other developments, Chandler's too-tight shoes cause him trouble during his first dance with Monica; Joey (Matt LeBlanc) tries to use his speech as best man as an audition for a big Broadway role; and Ross (David Schwimmer) has an interesting interlude with one of Monica's co-workers. Originally slated to air on September 20, 2001, this episode was moved back to September 27 due to ongoing network coverage of the 9/11 tragedy; indeed, the episode is "Dedicated to the People of New York City." (Note: Christina Pickles' appearance as Monica's mother is considerably larger in the DVD version than in the original broadcast version, in which her lines, and her billing, were cut.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single hour-long episode), the gang continues to imagine what their lives would have been like had they made different choices. In this "alternate reality," Ross (David Schwimmer), still married to Carol (Jane Sibbett), enters into a ménage à trois with a very familiar third party. Also, Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) hit it off despite the fact that Monica is overweight and still a virgin. And Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) carries out her fantasies with famous soap opera star Joey (Matt LeBlanc). ~ All Movie Guide

As indicated by its title, this is the 100th episode of Friends. It is also the episode in which Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) finally gives birth to the triplets she has been carrying on behalf of Frank Jr. (Giovanni Ribisi) and his wife, Alice (Debra Jo Rupp). While the gang anxiously awaits the arrival of the "replacement" obstetrician, Joey (Matt LeBlanc) experiences sympathy pains (or is it pangs?) along with Phoebe. As the big moment arrives, Phoebe makes a momentous decision. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Using Chandler's (Matthew Perry) new computer, Ross (David Schwimmer) draws up a list of plusses and minuses to decide between Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Julie (Lauren Tom). Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Chandler try to help compile the list, and guess what happens next. Elsewhere, Monica (Courteney Cox) goes to work for Mockolate (that's chocolate without chocolate). Comic actress Mary Kay Place (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) directed this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Few ensemble sitcoms of the 1990s and early 2000s commanded as much love and devotion from its fans as the immensely popular NBC series Friends -- and few such sitcoms generated as many "water-cooler conversations" as the characters' lives and loves evolved over the series' ten-year run. Set in New York City, the action largely took place in two neighboring loft apartments. One of these was the home of Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), who can be described as the series' "rock" -- or better yet, "den mother." An assistant chef who later ran her own restaurant, Monica lived with her best friend, Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), who had come to New York after running out on her wedding; employed as a waitress in the earlier episodes, Rachel later became a buyer for a retail fashion chain, and finally an assistant to a high-profile designer. Occasionally dropping into Monica's apartment was her brother, Ross (David Schwimmer), a paleontologist who spent most of the first season coming to grips with the fact that his wife, Carol (Jane Sibbett), had declared herself a lesbian and divorced him (Carol would later give birth to Ross' son Ben, whom she and her partner insisted upon raising themselves). Across the hall from Monica's flat lived Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), an aspiring actor whose professional luck was generally bad until he landed a continuing role on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives -- as a man with a woman's brain! Joey lived with "corporate guy" Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), who was regarded as the class clown of the bunch. A frequent guest at both apartments was Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), an airheaded will-o’-the-wisp who never quite got it all together at any one time.

When the "friends" weren't at home or at work, they could be found hanging out at Central Perk, a Greenwich Village coffeehouse manned by Gunther (played by real-life "coffee guy" James Michael Tyler, who did not receive screen credit until well into the series' run), where Phoebe occasionally performed as a folksinger. Gradually and inevitably, many of the friends became lovers. First it was Ross and Rachel, a relationship that came to a screeching halt in season three when Ross slept with another woman when the couple was "on a break." Ross then ended up marrying the prickly Emily Waltham (Helen Baxendale) during a jaunt to England in season four. That this alliance was doomed from the start was demonstrated when, during the ceremony, Ross said Rachel's name instead of Emily's. After the dissolution of the marriage, a drunken Ross and Rachel impulsively got hitched in Las Vegas at the end of season five, but they soon realized that they'd acted too hastily, and were themselves divorced. In season eight, Rachel gave birth to Ross' baby, a girl named Emma. Meanwhile, Chandler and Monica, who after "getting it on" at Ross' wedding ceremony tried to keep their relationship a secret from everyone, were married at the close of season seven. They would later discover that they could not have children, whereupon they adopted a baby from a woman named Erica (Anna Faris). In a similar vein, the whimsical Phoebe had earlier agreed to be artificially inseminated so that she could bear a child for her half-brother, Frank (Giovanni Ribisi), and his wife (and former teacher), Alice (Debra Jo Rupp). Ultimately, Phoebe gave birth to triplets. Phoebe also had another sibling, a twin sister named Ursula -- actually the same character played by Lisa Kudrow in the earlier NBC sitcom Mad About You, which was still in production when Friends debuted on September 22, 1994.

The series' tenth and final season (2003-2004) wrapped up several loose plot strands. Having admitted that he always loved Rachel, Joey proposed to her, but the marriage never came off -- and in an eleventh-hour decision, Rachel forsook plans to move to Paris, and returned to Ross. After several desultory relationships, Phoebe married a nice guy named Mike (Paul Rudd). And as Friends approached its two-part finale, Erica, the birth mother of Monica and Chandler's soon-to-be-adopted baby went into labor -- and surprisingly delivered twins, which they named Erica and Jack. After the storyline of the series ended, Joey would end up moving out of New York, heading to L.A. to pursue a film career, thereby setting up the premise of Matt LeBlanc's spin-off sitcom Joey. At or near the number one ratings slot throughout most of its run, Friends also earned a veritable warehouse of Emmy Awards -- not to mention full-fledged stardom for all of the series' regulars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide