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Friends Season 1
Season 1
Friends Season 1 DVD cover
No. of episodes	24
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	October 22, 1994 (1994-10-22) – May 18, 1995 (1995-05-18)
Season chronology
Next → Season 2
List of episodes

The first season of Friends, an American situation comedy created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994. Friends was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. The season contains 24 episodes and concluded airing on May 18, 1995.

Season synopsis

This season introduces the six main characters: Rachel Green, Monica Geller, Phoebe Buffay, Joey Tribbiani, Chandler Bing and Ross Geller. Rachel, who left her fiance at the altar on her wedding day, has come to New York and ends up living with Monica. It establishes early on in the season that Ross has been infatuated with Rachel since the two characters attended high school. Several episodes revolve around his attempts to tell her how he feels. Meanwhile, Ross's estranged lesbian wife Carol is pregnant with his baby. This puts him and Carol's lesbian life partner, Susan, in an awkward position. When the baby is born at the end of the season, Ross, Carol, and Susan agree to name him Ben: after a name tag on a janitor's uniform worn by Phoebe. The episodic nature of the season sees the other characters having multiple dates, many of which go wrong (Monica dates a minor in one episode). The recurring character of Janice is introduced as a girlfriend Chandler breaks up with in an early episode but frequently returns to through the ensuing ten seasons. Ross leaves for a fossil dig in China at the end of the season, but when Chandler lets it slip about Ross's continuing feelings for Rachel on her birthday, she is shocked to find out. She rushes off to the airport to tell him about her feelings, only to find out that he has a new girlfriend.

Production

Writing

In the weeks after NBC's pick up of Friends, Crane, Kauffman and Bright reviewed sent-in scripts that writers had originally prepared for other series, mainly unproduced Seinfeld episodes. Kauffman and Crane hired a team of seven young writers because "When you're 40, you can't do it anymore. The networks and studios are looking for young people coming in out of college." The creators felt that utilizing six equal characters, rather than emphasizing one or two, would allow for "myriad story lines and give the show legs". The majority of the storyline ideas came from the writers, although the actors added ideas. The writers originally planned a big love story between Joey and Monica, as they intended them to be the most sexual of the characters in the series pitch. The idea of a romantic interest between Ross and Rachel emerged during the period when Kauffman and Crane wrote the pilot script.

Cast

David Schwimmer was the first actor to be cast. He was in Chicago doing a stage adaptation of The Master and Margarita when his agent offered him the audition. He was not interested in doing television after a bad experience appearing in Monty, but changed his mind when he learned that it was an ensemble script. Unknown to him, Crane and Kauffman had remembered him from when he auditioned for an earlier pilot of theirs; they had written the part of Ross with Schwimmer in mind to play him. Crane and Kauffman wanted Joey to be "a guy's guy" who loves "women, sports, women, New York, women". Matt LeBlanc was given the part after he auditioned using the "grab a spoon" scene. As the Joey character was not developed much in the script, LeBlanc used his experience playing "this Italian, kind of dim character" from Vinny and Bobby.

Courteney Cox was the most well-known of the six main actors. She was called in expecting to read for the part of Rachel. After reading for Monica instead, she won the role. Nancy McKeon also read for the part. Jennifer Aniston read for the part of Rachel after initially being considered for Monica. Her commitment as an actress on the television series Muddling Through left her part in Friends in doubt; Muddling Through was not scheduled to be broadcast by CBS until mid-1994, after NBC's announcement of whether Friends would be greenlit for a series. If Muddling Through became a ratings success, the role of Rachel would have needed recasting, as the producer of Muddling Through would not allow Aniston to be released from her contract. A deal was eventually struck and, within three days of first auditioning, Aniston got the role.

Chandler and Phoebe had originally been written as more secondary characters who were just there to provide humor around the other four. They had become part of the core group by the time casting concluded. Matthew Perry had previously worked with Kauffman and Crane on an episode of Dream On, and requested an audition when he identified with the character. He was turned down at first, but was granted an audition after his new television series LAX 2194 was not picked up by a network. Lisa Kudrow won the role of Phoebe because the producers liked her as Ursula, the waitress in Mad About You. She was second to be cast, though there was about a month between her and Schwimmer being signed on. Many of the actors seen at the auditions were "too theatrical" in performing comedy; Crane described the six successful actors as being the only ones who "nailed" their parts. The six actors met for the first time altogether at the read-through on April 28, 1994.

Filming

The first season was shot on Stage 5 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. The NBC executives had worried that the coffee house setting was too hip and asked for the series to be set in a diner, but eventually consented to the coffee house concept. The opening title sequence was filmed in a fountain at the Warner Bros. Ranch at 4:00 am, while it was particularly cold for a Burbank morning. At the beginning of the second season, production moved to the larger Stage 24, which was renamed "The Friends Stage" after the series finale. Filming for the series began in the summer of 1994 in front of a live audience, who were given a summary of the series to familiarize themselves with the six main characters, while a hired comedian entertained them between takes. Each 22-minute episode took six hours to film—twice the length of most sitcom tapings—mainly due to the several retakes and rewrites of the script.

Reception

Early reviews of the series were mixed. Tom Feran of The Plain Dealer wrote that the series traded "vaguely and less successfully on the hanging-out style of Seinfeld", while Ann Hodges of the Houston Chronicle called it "the new Seinfeld wannabe, but it will never be as funny as Seinfeld." In the Los Angeles Daily News, Ray Richmond named the series as "one of the brighter comedies of the new season", and The Los Angeles Times called it "flat-out the best comedy series of the new season". Chicago Sun-Times' Ginny Holbert found Joey and Rachel's characteristics to be underdeveloped, while Richmond commended the cast as a "likeable, youth ensemble" with "good chemistry" Robert Bianco of USA Today was complimentary of Schwimmer, calling him "terrific". He also praised the female leads, but was concerned that Perry's role as Chandler was "undefined" and that LeBlanc was "relying too much on the same brain-dead stud routine that was already tired the last two times he tried it". The authors of Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends thought that the cast was "trying just a little too hard", in particular Perry and Schwimmer.

Cast and characters

(In particular, Characters of Friends#Introduced in season one)

Episodes

Notes

1. Alternate titles given to the pilot episode are "The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate" and "The One Where It All Began".
2. These episodes originally aired as a single double-length episode but are sometimes split into two episodes for syndication, reruns and DVD presentation.

References

• Sangster, Jim; Bailey, David (2000). Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends (Second ed.). London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0753504391.

1. Kolbert, Elizabeth (May 23, 1994). "A Sitcom is Born: Only Time Will Tell the Road to Prime Time". New York Times. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
2. Shayne, Bob (June 10, 2001). "No Experience Wanted". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
3. Jicha, Tom (May 2, 2004). "They leave as they began: With a buzz". The Baltimore Sun. p. 2. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
4. "Friends: Kevin Bright". USA Today. January 1, 2005. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
5. ^ Lauer, Matt (2005-05-04). "Friends creators share show's beginnings". MSNBC.
6. ^ Wild, p. 209
7. Wild, p. 177
8. ^ Bright, Kevin S., Friends: Final Thoughts
9. ^ Kolbert, Elizabeth (April 6, 1994). "Finding the Absolutely Perfect Actor: The High-Stress Business of Casting". The New York Times.
10. Wild, p. 115
11. Cox Arquette, Courteney, Friends: Final Thoughts
12. Wild, p. 53
13. Brownfield, Paul; Dana Calvo (May 8, 2002). "Nervous Time for the TV Set". The Los Angeles Times.
14. Aniston, Jennifer, Larry King Live
15. ^ Wild, p. 146
16. Kauffman, Marta, Friends: Final Thoughts
17. Crane, David, Friends: Final Thoughts
18. Kudrow, Lisa, Friends: Final Thoughts
19. Staff (May 6, 2004). "'Friends' timeline" (subscription). The Hollywood Reporter.
20. Endrst, James (February 23, 1995). "Friends wins friends with caffeine-fueled energy" (Registration required). Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved 3 January 2009.
21. Pollak, Michael (November 27, 2005). "F. Y. I.". New York Times. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
22. "52 millon friends see off Friends". China Daily. 2004-05-08. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
23. ^ Kiesewetter, John (January 27, 2002). "Friends grows in stature, ratings". The National Enquirer. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
24. Feran, Tom (September 22, 1994). "New Series Softens Dabney Coleman—A Little", The Plain Dealer, Newhouse Newspapers. Retrieved on 4 January 2009.
25. Hodges, Ann (September 22, 1994). "NBC sitcoms make Thursday less funny", Houston Chronicle, Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved on 4 January 2009.
26. ^ Richmond, Ray (September 22, 1994). "Season Premiere of Friends Leaves Room to Grow", (Registration required). Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Newspaper Group. Retrieved on 4 January 2009.
27. Rosenberg, Howard (September 22, 1994). "NBC's Strongest Evening of the Week Has Its Weak Spot", (Registration required). The Los Angeles Times, Tribune Company. Retrieved on 4 January 2009.
28. Holbert, Ginny (September 22, 1994). "X Marks Spot For Friends On Thursday". (Registration required). Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 4 January 2009.
29. Bianco, Robert (September 22, 1994). "Six Friends Sittin' Around, Talking", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
30. Sangster, p. 14
31. Sangster & Bailey, p. 11.

• Friends seasons
• 1994 television seasons
• 1995 television seasons
• Friends (season 1) episodes