NBC's best described as a zeitgeist, aired its finale on May 6, 2004. The mother-hen of the group emptied her apartment, the gang left their keys on the kitchen counter, went down to Central Perk for coffee, presumably one last time.
17 years later, the 6 friends were back by popular demand on HBO Max reminiscing the time they spent with each other on the set of . As they shared their thoughts and individual experiences, various flashback episodes left them (and the fans) with a warm and fuzzy feeling. was interspersed with flashback moments that made viewers nostalgic and emotional.
This particular episode began with picking up Joey's option and him buying two reclining chairs and a big screen TV with his earnings. For the rest of the episode, the boys were glued to their seats and went to extreme lengths to ensure they stayed put. This included sending food to , canceling the sodas, and so on.
17-years-later, when Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry visited the set that was their apartment, the first thing they did was sit on the reclining chairs. "Do you remember the episode where we never got out of the chair?" asked Matt LeBlanc as the boys took their seats.
What began as a fun game of throwing and catching turned into a competitive one when Monica Geller joined in. Everybody except for Phoebe ended up getting in on it. The game lasted until the next morning when Phoebe walked in and finally dropped the ball.
Jennifer Aniston who played Rachel Green on was the one to touch on the ball-throwing episode. Neither did David Schwimmer (Ross Geller) nor Courteney Cox (Monica Geller) remember the iconic game of catch. The boys across the hall and Jennifer teared up as they recalled said episode.
When the show host James Corden asked the cast about their favorite episodes, Courteney Cox answered (and everybody agreed) she loved the one where the gang traded their apartments. She described the quiz as "really fun and really devastating" because of course, Monica and Rachel were expelled from their sanctuary.
Courteney Cox was right though, season 4's "The One with the Embryos" is ranked as one of the top episodes First off, it expanded fans' vocabulary with words such as "Transponster" and second off, the girls bet their apartment in an intense, nail-biting quiz against the boys across the hall.
When actress Reese Witherspoon was cast to play Rachel's sister on , she equated it with winning the lottery, no less. Jill Green was part of the storyline in which her father had cut her off and sent her to live with Rachel to learn the value of money from her.
was the most interesting of all. One, because she talked about how the 6 distinct characters held the show by themselves, and second, she intensely mentioned she was starstruck when she saw to her.
Remember the time Monica got stung by a jellyfish and Chandler stepped up to help her? Upon their return from the beach trip, three of the gang members started to behave weirdly. When Joey finally let the secret out, Monica took it from there and narrated what had happened at the beach.
Before Monica could pass out from the jellyfish sting pain, Chandler had peed on her to relieve her misery. More than the story itself, Joey, Chandler, and Monica's dramatic acting made the scene memorable.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai appeared on with her best friend, Vee, to sing praises of the sitcom. One of her favorite moments from is Ross and Monica's dance routine.
In season 6, the Geller siblings performed at the taping of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve as a ploy to get on the platform. They thought they were doing great, but in reality, their routine was a combination of bizarre dance steps and sequences that didn't seem to go together. The Gellers made quite a spectacle and the show director reserved their dance clip for the bloopers segment.
Season 3's "The One Where No One's Ready" happens to be footballer David Beckham's favorite episode too. In his pre-taped segment, the footballer talked about watching the show during downtime, whenever away from his family. Fans couldn't agree with David Beckham more for does put people in a good mood.
“When I’m missing the kids, when I’m missing the family, I put on because it makes me smile.” Shot entirely at Monica's apartment, the episode was all about Ross pleading with his friends to go get dressed for his black-tie benefit at the museum.
For Mondler fans, the two-parter, "The One With Ross's Wedding" is a significant episode. One, it's the beginning of the great romance, and two, it's referenced over and over again on the show.
Monica and Chandler got together in London right after Ross's rehearsal dinner. She was looking for someone to comfort her, and he happened to be present in the room co-creator David Cranerevealed that the moment was the beginning of how the showrunners rethought Monica and Chandler. The live audience had gone wild and so, the creators realized they needed to pay attention.
, though not . Ross and Rachel's short-lived romance began in season 2 after he heard her message on his answering machine and realized she was into him the whole time he'd been with Julie.
had met as adults a year ago, and she was the love of his life. The problem was, he was with Julie then and therefore in dire straits. After their heated debate in Central Perk, Ross stormed out the door but came back only to find Rachel weeping on the couch.
David Crane, Marta Kauffman, and Kevin Bright spoke about the key moments in the finale and why they chose to end the show the way they did. "If the show was about that time in your life when your friends are your family, once you have a family of your own, it's no longer that time," said Marta. For her came to "a natural end."
David Crane revealed it was really important for the showmakers to end everyone in a good place. And by that, he meant Monica and Chandler were going to have their babies, Phoebe and Mike were in a good place, and Joey moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career.
