Friends: Season 08  (2001)

Theatrical Release Information:
Friends: Season 08

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