Friends

:For other uses, see Friends (disambiguation).

Season synopsis

Season 1

We are introduced to Phoebe, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Ross, shortly after Ross's wife Carol has become a lesbian and divorced him. At this point, Monica, Phoebe and Ross all live alone, while Chandler and Joey live together. Monica's old school friend Rachel enters Central Perk wearing a wedding dress, having just run away from her wedding to Barry Farber and needing somewhere to go. She moves in with Monica, gets a job as a waitress at Central Perk, and struggles to work for a living, having previously lived a rich life.

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Ross finds his ex-wife Carol is pregnant with his child. In the penultimate episode of the season, she gives birth to a boy, named Ben, who is subsequently raised by Carol and her lover, Susan.

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In the pilot, Ross reveals he had a crush on Rachel in high school, and we see (unbeknownst to Rachel) that he still has feelings for her. Throughout the season, he fails to make his feelings known to her, and eventually Chandler and Joey persuade him to move on. In the last episode, on Rachel's birthday, Ross leaves for a paleontological trip to China - while he is gone, Chandler accidentally reveals to Rachel that Ross is in love with her. Rachel eventually decides she would like to start a romantic relationship with Ross, and goes to meet him at the airport when he returns from China, unaware that he is getting off the plane with another woman.

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Season 2

Ross is unaware that Rachel now has feelings for him, and has started a relationship with a paleontologist named Julie whom he knew at grad school and has met again while in China. Rachel is very unhappy about this and makes attempts to sabotage the relationship, eg: when Ross wants to consummate his relationship with Julie, Rachel tells him women find nothing sexier than a man who doesn't want to have sex.

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Rachel later goes on a date with another man, where she gets very drunk and leaves a message on Ross's answer machine saying she is over him. Next morning, Ross comes to Monica and Rachel's apartment and plays back the message with their phone. Rachel is forced to admit that she likes Ross, causing Ross to get very confused over his own feelings. He later comes to Rachel at Central Perk and angrily tells her she shouldn't have told him, and he is now over her, but after leaving, he comes back and they kiss passionately. Ross is unable to choose between Rachel and Julie - in the process of making a list of pros and cons for both women, he decides he really loves Rachel, and breaks up with Julie. Unfortunately, Rachel discovers the list of pros and cons he made, becomes angry with Ross and rejects him.

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However, later in the season, the group watches a video of Monica and Rachel getting ready for their high school prom. In the video, it looks like Rachel's date isn't going to show, so Ross's parents persuade him to take her instead. But just as Ross is about to, Rachel's date arrives and they leave together. Rachel is touched by this, and decides to start dating Ross after all.

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Joey gets a high profile acting job as Dr Drake Ramoray on the soap Days Of Our Lives, and earns enough money to move into his own apartment. Left on his own, Chandler gets a new roommate called Eddie, who turns out to be insane. When Joey states in an interview that he writes his own lines on Days Of Our Lives, the show's writers are offended and kill off his character. With no income for his lavish spending, Joey moves back into Chandler's apartment. Chandler had been struggling to get Eddie to move out since due to his mental problems, Eddie continuously forgot that Chandler had asked him to leave. Chandler and Joey solve the problem by moving out Eddie's things, changing the locks, and pretending they don't know Eddie when he comes to the door - Eddie assumes he has the wrong apartment and leaves.

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Phoebe finds she has a half brother called Frank, from her father's side.

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For a period, Monica goes out with Richard Burke, a friend of her parents' who is significantly older than her. They become very close, but break up in the last episode when Richard tells her he doesn't want to have children with her, having already had them with his ex-wife.

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Season 3

Rachel quits her job at Central Perk and tries to get one in the fashion industry. She meets a man named Mark who gets her a job in Bloomingdale's, but Ross becomes convinced Mark has ulterior motives, and becomes increasingly jealous. Tension between Ross and Rachel culminates on their anniversary, when Rachel is too busy at work to go to dinner with Ross. Instead, Ross brings some food to her work, but gets in the way and she orders him to leave. Back home, the two have an argument which ends in Rachel suggesting they take a break.

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Afterward, Ross goes for a drink with Chandler and Joey. Both he and Rachel independently decide to resolve their differences, but when Ross calls Rachel, Mark is there to check if Rachel is all right. Having heard him over the phone, Ross assumes the worst and hangs up. Feeling depressed, he ends up sleeping with a woman named Chloe. He tries to resume his relationship with Rachel without telling her, but she finds out, and after a prolonged argument, they break up.

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However, towards the end of the season, Rachel becomes upset when Ross starts dating a woman named Bonnie. In the final episode, the group goes on a beach trip, so Phoebe can meet up with a woman (also named Phoebe) who has information about her family. While at the beach, Bonnie unexpectedly turns up. Rachel is unhappy and persuades Bonnie to shave her head so Ross will be less attracted to her. Ross and Rachel argue about this and start to feel like they still love each other. The episode ends with Ross standing between Rachel and Bonnie's bedrooms, picking one, and going in.

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Season 4

The season begins with Ross entering one room and finding both Rachel and Bonnie. Ross decides to get back together with Rachel, and breaks up with Bonnie. Rachel writes Ross a letter of her feelings about them getting back together. It turns out to be a request that Ross take full responsibility for everything that went wrong last time, which he finds he cannot do, and they quickly break up again.

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While still at the beach, Phoebe learns the older Phoebe is actually her real mother. Phoebe tells Ursula, who makes it sound like she knew all along. Ursula produces their mother's "suicide note" (which she really wrote herself) which says "Dear Phoebe and Ursula, I love you both very much. P.S. Your birth mother lives in Montauk."

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Phoebe agrees to be a surrogate mother for her half brother Frank and his infertile wife Alice. Frank and Alice's embryos, conceived by in vitro fertilization, are implanted in Phoebe's uterus and she becomes pregnant with triplets.

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Chandler & Joey and Monica & Rachel compete in a quiz about each other, put together by Ross, to decide which of them knows more about the other two. The two teams make a bet – if Monica and Rachel win, Chandler and Joey will give up their pet chick and duck, but if Chandler and Joey win, they get Monica and Rachel's apartment. In the end, Chandler and Joey win, and swap apartments with Monica and Rachel. They live like this for a few episodes, then Monica and Rachel try to trade New York Knicks tickets to the boys in exchange for their apartment. Chandler doesn't think it's a fair trade, and they draw cards, with the winner getting the apartment and the tickets. Chandler and Joey win again, but when they get back after the Knicks game, they find the girls have moved all the guys' things back into their original apartment, and moved back into theirs. The boys agree to let living arrangements return to normal when, in exchange, Monica and Rachel kiss each other for one minute in front of them.

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Ross meets a British woman named Emily and starts dating her. When it is time for Emily to go back to England, she and Ross don't want to leave each other and they decide to get married. In the last episode, the group travels to London for the wedding - except Phoebe, who is too pregnant, and Rachel, who doesn't want to see Ross get married. At the wedding rehearsal dinner, Monica becomes depressed because she's not married, and a drunken man thinks she's Ross' mother. Chandler comforts her and they end up sleeping together.

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Rachel realizes she still loves Ross and decides to go to London and tell him. When she gets there, she sees him with Emily and decides it wouldn't be right to mess things up for him. The wedding goes ahead, but comes to an abrupt halt when Ross is supposed to say "I take thee, Emily" and instead says "I take thee, Rachel".

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Season 5

Ross and Emily's wedding continues after Ross' faux pas and they are married, but at the reception, Emily argues angrily with Ross and disappears. After everyone has returned to New York, Rachel tells Ross she still loves him and then starts laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, since he is now married. They both decide to forget it. Emily eventually calls Ross from England and tells him that she will only give the marriage a chance if he promises he will never see Rachel again. Ross agrees, but Emily continues to make unreasonable demands to keep him away from Rachel, such as moving to another apartment. Eventually, he decides the marriage won't work if Emily doesn't trust him and they divorce.

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Ross has already sold his old apartment at this point and can't get it back since the subletter is Emily's cousin, so he lives with Chandler and Joey for a period until he gets a new apartment for himself. He later loses his job at a museum when he gets angry at his boss for eating his Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich.

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In the 100th episode (third of the season), Phoebe gives birth to triplets - a boy named Frank Jr. Jr., and two girls named Leslie and Chandler (they had originally thought it would be two boys and a girl, and Phoebe was going to name one boy after Chandler). Phoebe tries to keep one after becoming attached to them, but finds out that Frank and Alice are unwilling to give up a child.

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After sleeping together in London, Chandler and Monica feel attracted to each other and continue an intimate relationship in secret. Joey finds out about it, but keeps it a secret for them. Rachel then finds out, but after she tells Monica and Monica denies it, Rachel pretends to be oblivious. Phoebe is the next to find out. However, rather than keeping it a secret or pretending to be oblivious, she plays mind games with Chandler by pretending she is attracted to him. When Chandler and Monica realize she knows about them, Chandler pretends he is attracted to Phoebe, but eventually confesses he is in love with Monica. Ross finds out shortly afterwards, and Chandler and Monica's relationship becomes public.

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Rachel gets a new job at Ralph Lauren.

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Towards the end of the season, Joey gets the lead in a movie, but travels to Las Vegas to find production has shut down due to lack of money. In the last episode, Chandler, Monica and Phoebe travel to Las Vegas to see him (he has stayed there waiting for production to restart, but has been lying to them, telling them he is filming for the movie), with Ross and Rachel following them later. They find Joey working as a Roman guard in the Caesar's Palace hotel lobby.

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On the plane there, Ross draws on Rachel's face with a felt tip pen - Rachel can't get it off and doesn't want to leave her hotel room, so Ross stays with her. They both get very drunk and Rachel draws on his face in return.

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Chandler and Monica decide to get married in a Las Vegas chapel, but just before they do, they encounter Ross and Rachel, still drunk, who have just wed at the same chapel.

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Season 6

After finding out that they are now married, Ross and Rachel agree to get an annulment, but Ross doesn't want to have been divorced three times and lies to Rachel, telling her he has had the marriage annulled when he actually hasn't. Rachel eventually learns the truth and forces Ross to go ahead with the annulment, but they are unable to get one as Rachel has added humiliating misinformation about Ross on the form, and they are forced to file for divorce.

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Ross gets a new job teaching paleontology at New York University (NYU).

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Chandler and Monica decide it's too soon for them to get married, and decide to move in together instead. Chandler moves into Monica's apartment, Rachel moves in with Phoebe, and Joey is left on his own. Later in the season, a fire wrecks Phoebe and Rachel's apartment. It is assumed that Phoebe's candles started the fire, so while Rachel moves in with Chandler and Monica, Phoebe moves into the less savory conditions of Joey's apartment. However, when the firemen find the fire was actually started by Rachel leaving a hair straightener switched on in the bathroom, Phoebe and Rachel swap. Rachel finds living with Joey quite enjoyable, while Phoebe is annoyed by Monica's constant attention and obsession with cleanliness.

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Towards the end of the season, Chandler plans to propose to Monica. In the final episode, he fails to propose at a restaurant when Richard, Monica's ex-boyfriend, appears. Later, Richard meets Monica at her workplace and tells her he still loves her. She considers going back to Richard when Chandler pretends he isn't interested in marriage (so she'll be surprised when he proposes) but Joey explains the situation to her. She decides to surprise him with a proposal and he says yes.

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Season 7

Phoebe and Rachel's apartment is restored after the fire. Phoebe moves back in on her own, while Rachel continues living with Joey.

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Joey resumes his role on Days Of Our Lives.

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In the final episode, it is time for Chandler and Monica's wedding, but the night before, Chandler gets cold feet and disappears. While he is gone, Phoebe finds a positive pregnancy test in Monica's bathroom, and assumes Monica is pregnant. Phoebe and Ross find Chandler at his office and persuade him to come back, but Chandler overhears Phoebe and Rachel talking about Monica's "pregnancy" and disappears again. He quickly returns on his own, however, deciding that a baby wouldn't be so bad. Chandler and Monica get married, but when Chandler tells Monica he knows about the baby, she says she isn't pregnant, and it wasn't her pregnancy test that Phoebe found. As the episode ends, it is hinted that it is actually Rachel who is pregnant.

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Season 8

It is confirmed that Rachel is pregnant, and in the second episode, the group finds out that Ross is the father (we learn they secretly slept together before Chandler and Monica's wedding).

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As Rachel and Joey continue living together, Joey starts to develop feelings for her. Feeling that Ross is missing out on his fatherly duties, Joey reluctantly suggests that Rachel move in with Ross, and she does so. Joey later reveals his feelings to Rachel, who politely rejects him.

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In the last episode, Rachel goes into labor, and while she's in the hospital Ross's mother approaches him with a ring to give to Rachel. Ross demures, saying it's far too complicated, but keeps the ring in his coat pocket. After Rachel gives birth to their daughter, Emma, Joey goes in to see how Rachel is doing and accidentally knocks over Ross's coat. The engagement ring falls out, and Joey bends down to pick it up. Rachel, seeing Joey on one knee with an engagement ring, thinks that he's proposing to her, and says that she'll marry him.

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Season 9

Ross, Rachel and Emma continue living together until they have a argument about their current relationship. Feeling it may not be right that she is living with Ross, and they have a baby together, but they are not in a relationship, Rachel decides to move back in with Joey, taking Emma with her.

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Chandler's job starts requiring him to spend the better part of the week in Tulsa. He puts up with this for a while, but when he finds himself working in Tulsa over Christmas, and a female associate comes on to him, he quits his job, and later gets one in advertising.

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Chandler and Monica try to conceive a baby of their own, but fail to do so. They go to a fertility clinic and find they are both infertile, so decide to adopt a baby.

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Phoebe starts dating a man named Mike Hanigan. They become close and decide to move in together, but when Phoebe asks about the future of their relationship, Mike tells her that since he has already been through a failed marriage, he doesn't want to get married again. Phoebe does want to get married, so they break up.

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Towards the end of the season, Rachel begins to develop feelings for Joey.

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In the final episode, the group goes to Barbados, where Ross is giving a paleontological talk. Phoebe takes her boyfriend David (whom she first met in the first season and got back together with in the previous episode) and Joey takes his girlfriend Charlie (another professor of paleontology whom Ross had welcomed to the city). Monica learns David is planning to top Mike by proposing to Phoebe, and calls Mike to tell him to get back together with Phoebe. Mike originally doesn't want to intervene, but later comes to Barbados and tells Phoebe he loves her and wants to marry her. Phoebe rejects Mike's proposal, but still resumes her relationship with him, letting David down gently.

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Joey and Charlie break up when they decide they have too little in common, and Joey subsequently learns Rachel fancies him. He originally decides not to act on it. Meanwhile, Charlie feels she still likes Ross, and they kiss. Joey sees them doing so, changes his mind about Rachel, and goes to her room and kisses her.

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Season 10

Joey and Rachel's intimate relationship only lasts for the first three episodes of the season, at which point they find that since their relationship has been platonic for so long, they are too uncomfortable getting physical with each other, and decide to be just friends again.

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As the season goes on, Mike proposes to Phoebe again, and they get married in a later episode.

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Chandler and Monica apply to adopt the baby of a pregnant woman named Erica and also decide to move out of their apartment into a house in the suburbs. In the final episode, Erica gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl, who are named Jack (after Monica's dad) and Erica (after Erica).

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Rachel goes for an interview for Gucci, but her Ralph Lauren boss is at the same restaurant where the interview takes place, and fires her. While moving out her things, she runs into Mark (from the third season) who gets her a new job – in Paris. The other friends hold a going-away party for Rachel and she says goodbye to each of them in turn, except Ross. He is upset about this until Rachel tells him it was too hard to say goodbye to him. They then sleep together.

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In the final episode, Ross realizes he still loves Rachel, and after she leaves for the airport to go to Paris, he goes after her to tell her. When he catches up with her and lets her know, she originally rejects him. Ross gets back to his apartment and finds a message from Rachel on his answering machine, telling him she does still love him and is trying to get off the plane. As the message ends, she arrives at Ross' apartment, and they kiss.

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The final episode ends with Chandler and Monica moving out of their apartment, and everyone going for one last coffee at Central Perk.

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Ratings

The 66-minute series finale was named by Entertainment Tonight as the biggest US TV moment of the year 2004, and was the second highest rated show in 2004 beaten only by the Super Bowl, however it did not surpass the ratings received by season finales for M*A*S*H (106m), Cheers (80.4m) or Seinfeld (76.3m), nor was it the most watched episode of Friends—that accolade remains with the season two episode The One After the Superbowl, which aired on January 28 1996 and drew 52.9m viewers. During the 2001–2002 season, Friends was the highest rated show in America according to the Nielsen Ratings.

Related Topics:
Series finale - Entertainment Tonight - US - The Super Bowl - M*A*S*H - Cheers - Seinfeld - January 28 - 1996 - Nielsen Ratings

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Ratings by country for the finale:

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• United States: 52.25m (56m peak)
• Canada: 5.159m
• United Kingdom: 8.6m (8.9m peak)
• Australia: 2.54m (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/25/1080544476965.html)