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Jennifer Aniston almost had to leave Friends
Saul Austerlitz, the author of the book Generation Friends , says in an excerpt published by Entertainment Weekly Muddling Through early in Friends history.
According to EW , if Muddling Through was picked up, Aniston would have had to quit Friends , an NBC show, halfway through the first season.
Per Austerlitz, then-NBC boss Warren Littlefield and Preston Beckman, the network’s head of scheduling, decided to compete with Muddling Through by putting out a series of unreleased Danielle Steel film adaptations at the same time slot as the sitcom.
The rest is history: Muddling Through aired for just 10 episodes on CBS, between July and September 1994.
Show all 30 1 /30Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 30. "The One with Chandler in a Box" Season four, episode eight This list wouldn’t be complete without a post dedicated to Chandler and Joey’s friendship. After a multi-episode arc that sees Chandler falling for and then kissing Joey’s girlfriend Kathy, the former is struggling to get his roommate to forgive him. Joey thus sentences him to spending Thanksgiving inside a wooden crate. Kathy, of course, shows up during dinner to give Chandler an emotional farewell – prompting Joey to open Chandler’s box and tell his friend to go be with Kathy. Sweet.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 29. "The One with the Cop" Season five, episode 16 Joey thinks he’s in love with Monica, Phoebe meets a police officer, but none of this matters – the beating heart of this episode is Ross’s attempt to purchase a new sofa and get it to his apartment without paying the delivery fee. Rachel and Chandler agree to help him, only for Ross to repeatedly instruct them to “pivot”, “pivot”, “pivot”, in one of the funniest, most memorable scenes in the show’s 10-year history.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 28. "The One with the Sonogram at the End" Season one, episode two In the second episode of Friends’s first season, Ross and Susan struggle to find their places as co-parents at the onset of Carol’s pregnancy. The storyline manages to address both Ross’s and Susan’s angst in a rather sensitive way, with a sweet denouement when both of them hold Carol’s hand during her ultrasound. (Side note: Carol is played in this episode by Anita Barone, though the part ultimately went to Jane Sibbett for the rest of the show.) An unrelated scene in which Rachel brings her engagement ring back to her former fiancé Barry (while the orthodontist’s young patient awaits) delivers a nice dose of comic relief.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 27. "The One with the Memorial Service" Season nine, episode 17 This episode aired for the first time in 2003, and it’s fascinating to see how Friends delivered its take on the beginnings of social media. Ross has discovered an alumni website for people who went to his and Chandler’s college – and is understandably fascinated to find out his former crush “lost an ear in a boating accident” and had a failed business. He and Chandler, naturally, end up posting false updates about each other. While the episode is filled with the kind of Friends jokes that haven’t aged well (quips about Chandler being gay, comments about women not wanting to sleep with a weird man), Ross’s need for his former classmates’ attention prompts him to hold his own funeral wake – which of course doesn’t go well.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 26. "The One where Emma Cries" Season nine, episode two As Rachel struggles to get her newborn daughter to stop crying, Ross and Joey fight over the latter’s decision to propose to Rachel after she gave birth. The dispute escalates to hilarious heights when Joey begs Ross to punch him – only to dodge the blow, leaving Ross to painfully hit a pole. Things only get worse when Joey takes Ross to the hospital and asks one insulting question after the other. The punching incident is played for laughs a second time after Joey, wanting to demonstrate how natural it is to duck when a punch is approaching, ends up hitting Ross in the face. The whole thing is just goofy and classically funny.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 25. "The One with All the Rugby" Season four, episode 15 Ross tries to impress his English girlfriend Emily by playing rugby with her friends, and ends up rather seriously injured in the process. But the funniest plotline of the episode involves Monica, who grows increasingly obsessed by a light switch in her apartment that seemingly doesn’t do anything. Courteney Cox does a wonderful job at bringing to life Monica’s increasing frustration – and who can’t relate to her level of dedication when it comes to solving an inane problem? Meanwhile, Chandler tries to escape his relationship with Janice by telling her he’s moving abroad – specifically to 15 Yemen Road, Yemen.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 24. "The One where Rachel Has a Baby – Part One" Season eight, episode 23 As Rachel progresses through the phases of labour, she and Ross are left sharing their room with several couples, one after the other. There’s the couple that overshares, the couple that fights (with a great guest appearance by Debi Mazar) and ultimately, Janice (Chandler’s ex) with her new husband. I happen to find most TV birth episodes a bit, well, exhausting – so many times, they’re an overwhelming combination of high-running emotions, screams, and physical approximations – but this one is genuinely funny.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 23. "The One with All the Jealousy" Season three, episode 12 Ross showers Rachel with gifts at her office, setting the stage for the pair’s break-up a few episodes later. Monica strikes up a romance with her colleague Julio, who writes a poem inspired by her and titled The Empty Vase. Those make for nice sitcom moments, but Matt LeBlanc is the real star of the episode. Joey finds himself in an embarrassing situation when auditioning for a part in the Broadway play A Tale Of Two Cities and is asked to use the advanced dance skills he listed on his résumé – a brazen line. After failing to train a group of performers to do the instructed choreography, he is asked to perform the dance himself and winds up running away. The whole storyline is hilarious, and it’s a rather original take on the lying-on-your-CV trope.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 22. "The One with the Dirty Girl" Season four, episode six Per the titular plot, Ross dates a woman who happens to have an extremely messy apartment. The episode’s best scene, however, comes when Phoebe and Monica partner up to cater a funeral. When it seems like the widow is trying to avoid paying Monica, the latter can’t work up the courage to confront her. Phoebe, however, is having none of it and delivers an impassioned speech about the importance to get paid for one’s work. The moment is empowering, played for laughs, and stands out as an instance of Phoebe’s trademark audacity.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 21. "The One with the Blackout" Season one, episode seven A power blackout in New York City might not be the most thrilling premise in the history of television, but it is brilliantly executed here. Chandler takes the cake when it turns out he’s stuck with a Victoria’s Secret model he admires – and his internal monologue grows increasingly panicked as he tries to interact with her. Meanwhile at Monica’s apartment, Ross tries to tell Rachel he loves her but is interrupted when a cat jumps on his back. It’s a lively episode that showed Friends’s potential from season one.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 20. "The One with Ross's Sandwich" Season five, episode nine Another classic one-liner. When Ross finds out someone at work ate his Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich – “the only good going on in [his] life” – he goes in a rage at work and winds up yelling at his superior, who not only ate some of the sandwich but threw the rest away. “You threw my sandwich away? MY SANDWICH! MY SANDWICH,” he yells, loud enough to scare away the pigeons in the Flatiron district. To this day, “Ross when he finds out his boss ate his sandwich” remains the gold standard for anger among Friends fans.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 19. "The One with Ross's Wedding – Part Two" Season four, episode 24 Two pivotal arcs in one episode! First, Monica and Chandler sleep together for the first time after a guest at her brother’s wedding mistakes her for the mother of the groom. Then, just as it looks like Rachel is finally ready to let Ross go and let him marry Emily, he says the wrong word at the altar. This was only the season four finale, yet it foreshadowed the end of the series six seasons later in more ways than one.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 18. "The One with Ross' New Girlfriend" Season two, episode one Ross and Rachel’s on-off love story provided some of Friends’s funniest, saddest, and most memorable moments. In this instance, Rachel returns from the airport, where she intended to surprise Ross and confess her feelings for him – only to find out he had reconnected with an acquaintance named Julie, now his girlfriend. Aniston’s comedic talent shines as Rachel goes from one mishap to the next – falling from an airport chair, splitting her forehead open, using a bouquet of flowers to stop the bleeding, and running up the stairs to tell the other friends about Julie’s arrival.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 17. "The One where Rachel Tells..." Season eight, episode three Ross’s reaction to Rachel telling him she was pregnant with his child wasn’t great, but it was funny. After a couple episodes’ worth of build-up, Rachel finally feels ready to break the news to her ex – only for him to focus on his outrage upon finding out that condoms are only 97 percent effective. Jennifer Aniston delivers a great performance as the calm, confident Rachel, which contrasts brilliantly with Schwimmer’s outrage as he calls the president of the condom company.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 16. "The One with Unagi" / "The One with the Mix Tape" Season six, episode 17 Who could forget “unagi”, the concept Ross supposedly learned during his karate training (which is actually the Japanese word for freshwater eel)? After Rachel and Phoebe take a self-defense class, Ross explains – somewhat disdainfully – that being able to defend oneself in a controlled environment is different from being able to do so when the attacker strikes by surprise. The rest of the episode sees the group trying to scare one another – adding “unagi” to the list of Friends catchphrases fans still reference today.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 15. "The One with the Stripper" Season eight, episode eight Forget about the main plot line, which centres around Monica’s efforts to throw Chandler a late bachelor party and unknowingly hires a prostitute instead of a stripper. The best part of the episode – and the reason why it deserves the 15th spot on this list – is a scene in which Ross gets caught between his girlfriend Mona and Rachel’s father, Dr Leonard Green, who has just found out that Rachel is pregnant to Ross’s child. Ross ends up in the unfortunate position of having to explain both how much he cares for Rachel – to Dr Green – and why he doesn’t want to be with her – to Mona. The situation escalates when Joey leaves a message on Ross’s answering machine, accusing him of “knowing something about” the “hooker” in Chandler and Monica’s home.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 14. "The One with the Embryos" Season four, episode 12 This season four instalment has the right balance of emotion and humour. On the one hand, Phoebe goes through IVF and anxiously waits to find out whether the process was successful – knowing that her brother and his wife can only afford to try once. On the other hand, Rachel, Monica, Chandler and Joey embark on a silly contest to determine who knows the other friends best. That particular story line ends not only with Monica and Rachel having to trade apartments with Chandler and Joey – it also gave viewers a cult sequence that sees Ross going over the top as the host of the group’s trivia game, and the two women losing their flat because Rachel doesn’t know that Chandler’s TV guide gets delivered to “Chanandler Bong”.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 13. "The One Where Ross Is Fine" Season 10, episode two If you feel the need to state multiple times in a conversation that you are doing just fine, you most likely are not. Ross learns this lesson the hard way in season 10, after finding out that Rachel and Joey are dating – while he himself is in a relationship with paleontologist Charlie Wheeler (Aisha Tyler). Yes, Ross was too often a lacklustre romantic partner, but David Schwimmer is a brilliant comedian whose talents shine as he brings Ross’s manic energy to life.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 12. "The One with the Holiday Armadillo" Season seven, episode 10 How could we possibly forget David Schwimmer’s performance as the Holiday Armadillo, the character invented by Ross in an attempt to get his son Ben interested in Hanukkah? Even when Chandler comes close to unknowingly ruin his friend’s efforts (by showing up dressed as Santa Claus), the episode keeps the sweet, heartwarming tone expected during the holiday season.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 11. "The One Where Ross and Rachel Take a Break" Season three, episode 15 Chronologically, this episode directly precedes The One with the Morning After. Rachel and Ross have a major argument due to Ross’s insecure behaviour, which causes him to smother his girlfriend while she’s trying to deal with a stressful situation at work. Ross tells Rachel he’s “tired of having a relationship with her answering machine” and brings up Rachel’s oft-maligned mentor Mark. What’s interesting here is that Ross is getting upset over a situation he helped create in earlier seasons, by – rightfully – urging Rachel to spread her wings, become assertive, and ultimately chase a fulfilling career. The fact that he can’t handle her success and its impact on their personal lives speaks volumes, and many couples might relate.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 10. "The One with the Morning After" Season three, episode 16 The break-up episode to rule them all. When Rachel finds out that Ross slept with someone else shortly after they decided to take a break from their relationship, she makes it clear there’s no going back. Seeing the two of them split (for valid reasons!) after trying to find each other for so long is a bitter experience, but the point of no return occurs when Rachel realises the other woman was there when she visited Ross’s apartment. Not to sound overly involved in the lives of these two entirely fictional people, but it’s impossible to watch and not feel it all: Rachel’s anger, Ross’s despair as he tries and fails to fix the unfixable, and the sadness of two people who tried, tried and tried again to make it work but couldn’t.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 9. "The One with Frank Jr" Season three, episode five Two elements land this episode a spot in the top 10. First, Phoebe tries to bond with her half-brother Frank Jr, with difficulty – and while she’s understandably frustrated when she realises how little they have in common, the storyline sets the basis of their unique sibling relationship.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 8. "The One Where No One's Ready" Season three, episode two No, nothing groundbreaking happens in this episode. It’s season three. Ross is growing increasingly frustrated because his friends – including his now-girlfriend Rachel – are taking too long to get ready for an important event. But Monica, who is distracted after hearing a message from Richard, goes through a truly agonising mishap involving her ex’s answering machine, which escalates to unforeseeable heights. Plus, Rachel ends up putting Ross in his place after he yells at her in front of the rest of the group. Ross was a funny character but often a horrible boyfriend, and it’s truly refreshing to see Rachel call him out on his behaviour.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 7. "The One with Barry and Mindy's Wedding" Season two, episode 24 Yes, Rachel’s awful experience as the maid of honour at her ex-fiancé’ Barry’s wedding is hilarious – and it culminates with an unexpectedly uplifting rendition of "Copacabana". But the real stars of the episode are Monica and Richard, who end up breaking up because they don’t see eye to eye when it comes to having children in the future. Their split takes viewers somewhat by surprise – Richard was, after all, ready to go through all the stages of parenting again “if he had to” – and rings impressively true.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 6. "The One Where Ross and Rachel...You Know" Season two, episode 15 It’s season two. Ross and Rachel are transitioning from their initial friendship to their first attempt at a romantic relationship. Meanwhile, Monica falls in love with Richard Burke, the older ophthalmologist whom, according to many fans, she should have chosen over Chandler (and whether you agree with that take or not is entirely up to you). It’s vintage Friends – and this episode set up storylines that framed the rest of the sitcom for many seasons to come.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 5. "The One with the Birth" Season one, episode 23 In the penultimate episode of the first season of Friends, Carol give birth to Ben, further exploring the family dynamics of Carol, Ross and Susan as co-parents. Ross and Susan’s near-constant fighting causes them to get locked in a closet with Phoebe – an unlucky accident that ends up giving them the chance to bond in earnest. In short: The One with the Birth puts same-sex parenting on the map, and yes, it does so at times in a very 1995 way, but it’s overall touching and tackles the theme in a rather convincing way. Plus, the side storyline that sees Joey bond with a single mother as she goes through labour shows a sweet, unexpected side of his character.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 4. "The One Where Ross Got High" Season six, episode nine At first glance, this isn’t one of Friends’s most memorable tour de forces. The Thanksgiving episode begins with the ordinary concerns – Monica doesn’t want to tell her parents that she and Chandler are living together, Ross and Joey are itching to get dinner over with so they can spend time with Joey’s attractive roommate Janine and her friends – but it escalates into amazing levels of absurdism. Rachel’s failed trifle, which includes beef, remains a cult reference. But most memorable is Judy Geller’s monologue when she puts all six friends in their places one by one, swiftly handling everyone’s issues – from Monica’s reluctance to tell them about her relationship with Chandler to the revelation that Ross smoked pot as a teen.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 3. "The One with the East German Laundry Detergent" Season one, episode five It’s filled with many of the moderately funny Friends staples – Chandler’s unsatisfying relationship with Janice, Joey’s romantic troubles, and of course, “Ugly Naked Guy”, Monica’s neighbour from across the street – but the laundromat scene alone salvages the entire episode. What begins as an innocent attempt at learning how to wash her clothes by herself sees Rachel stand up for herself when another woman tries to steal her cart. It’s not just a fundamental element of the character journey that sees her grow from a spoiled young woman who has never had to fend for herself into an accomplished professional and capable parent. It’s also a moment that will ring true to many who have moved to New York over the course of their lives: the city, because it’s so big, overpopulated and filled with overachievers, has a way of teaching even the most timid of wallflowers how to advocate for themselves.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 2. "The One Hundredth / The One with the Triplets" Season five, episode three Lisa Kudrow carries this season five episode – which, as one of its two titles suggests, was the 100th of the show, on her shoulders as Phoebe, who agreed to be her brother’s surrogate, gives birth to triplets. Kudrow gives a memorable performance as Phoebe’s feelings escalate from fear (while she readies herself for contractions), to frustration (when her doctor turns out to be an overly dedicated fan of the Happy Days character Fonzie) and, finally, to sadness (when her last-minute request to keep one of the babies fails to materialise). It’s a touching take on surrogacy, which manages to address some of its emotional entanglements while still showing how Phoebe can move on with her life and find her place as the babies’ aunt.
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Friends' top 30 episodes – from worst to best 1. "The One with the Lesbian Wedding" Season two, episode 11 In 1996, The One with the Lesbian Wedding gave viewers the first same-sex wedding between two women shown on network television. Sure, the episode itself isn’t without flaws (some might argue that Carol and Susan’s wedding remained fundamentally heteronormative) but it remains one of the milestones from Friends’s legacy. It’s also moving and plants the seeds for some of the most enduring character arcs of the show, from Joey’s soap opera career to Monica’s professional woes and Rachel’s evolving family dynamics (beginning with her parents’ divorce). Phoebe’s storyline, which sees her supposedly possessed by the spirit of a recently deceased elderly massage client, is full of her character’s trademark whimsy and quirkiness. This is, in many ways, the quintessential Friends episode.
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Aniston went on to play the iconic Rachel Green for all of Friends ‘s 10 seasons.
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