“Friends” is probably the last real cultural phenomenon in scripted television. After it went off the air in 2004, television became a world of cult hits. At the height of its popularity, “Friends” commanded 30-some million viewers a week. This was back in the days of water coolers, when people still watched a show on Thursday at 8pm while it was actually airing. Theoretically. I mean, I was already using a VCR to watch stuff later, but 30 million viewers, let’s go with that.
With 10 years of “Friends” and all the cultural milestones of Ross and Rachel and the London wedding and Chandler and Monica and Smelly Cat and Ugly Naked Guy, you might think that choosing a Best Episode Ever would be a daunting task. It actually wasn’t. While there were many episodes that provided emotionally memorable moments, favorite moments for the stories of the characters, I was looking for the episode that most represented “Friends” as the last great sitcom. And I mean sitcom. There have been plenty of great 1/2 hour comedies in the last 10 years, but very few great shows in the traditional sitcom format.
“The One Where No One’s Ready” is the simplest of concepts, the ultimate bottle episode really as it takes place entirely in Monica (Courtney Cox) and Rachel’s (Jennifer Aniston) apartment except for the end tag, not even utilizing Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey’s (Matt LeBlanc) apartment set. Ross (David Schwimmer) is giving a paleontology speech and he nervously waits for everyone else to get dressed for his formal event. Various things prevent each Friend from getting ready on time. Hilarity ensues.
This is a true situation comedy. That’s what sitcom stands for. They created a situation that could be explored comedically for 23 minutes through the organic personalities of each character. Taking their good old time, Chandler and Joey end up fighting over a chair, and eventually each other’s wardrobe. Their bickering results in a stain on Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow)’s dress, requiring her to find a replacement outfit. We expect Rachel to be an indecisive fashionista, and Monica is distracted by a phone message (old school answering machine, this is 1996 we’re talking about) from her ex Richard (Tom Selleck) and gets herself into trouble calling him back.
Each of these subplots escalates dramatically and comically. Monica returns Richard’s call, then has second thoughts about the “breezy” message she left and tries to erase it using the password for Richard’s phone that she still knows. She hears another woman’s voice on another message and this hits her hard. However, she makes things worse by calling Richard’s daughter to confirm the message was hers and not some new girlfriend, and the daughter calls her back (*69 was all the rage in ’96). Finally, Monica tries to wipe the whole slate clean and ends up recording a new outgoing message on Richard’s machine. This story probably couldn’t even happen today. It would all be texting.
By far the funniest thread of “The One Where No One’s Ready” is Chandler and Joey’s battle for a seat. It is the typical immature possessive game of calling dibs. But because Chandler cares way too much about claiming his seat, Joey messes with him and makes things worse. They really thought of all the chair gags you could do, down to removing the very seat cushions to spite Chandler. This leads to Chandler hiding Joey’s underwear in retaliation.
Though the show didn’t invent the term, this episode popularized the phrase “Going Commando.” Joey’s response is actually really clever. He wears all of Chandler’s clothes at once. This is the sort of thing that would only happen on a sitcom, but it damn well should. It’s a funny sight and conceptual revenge that one-ups all that came before. Since Joey is going commando, he makes sure to do some lunges in Chandler’s wardrobe too.
Everyone is behaving true to their character. Of course Ross is acting nervous the entire episode. Monica is neurotic, a subtle distinction perhaps, but as poignant as the six messages Jon Favreau leaves in Swingers. Phoebe is playful about modifying her outfit to cover the stain, because she’s a free spirit. Joey is oblivious to the subtleties of everyone’s conflicts, but he’s honest to a fault. When Rachel suggests an ensemble, Joey’s the one who tells her it doesn’t match. And I’m sure he doesn’t even care about hot girls wearing matching clothes, but he can’t lie.
When Monica hears the second woman’s message to Richard, Joey comments that she sounded breezy. He’s right. She was, and that might help Monica if all she needed was an example of how to sound breezy.
The one-liners and friendly ribbing are on fire in “The One Where No One’s Ready.” When Rachel asks if an outfit looks like something a paleontologist’s girlfriend would wear, Phoebe comments that she might be the first example of one. Oh yeah, Ross and Rachel are together at this point. When Joey shows up wearing all of Chandler’s clothes, he executes a perfect Matthew Perry, “Could I be wearing any more clothes?” A glass of fat in chef Monica’s fridge becomes a solid running gag as well.
The payoff to the episode is an actual relief. Since it has unfolded essentially in real time, we can be glad that everyone is finally ready to leave. It’s not pat. Not everybody has solved their problems, but they are all out the door. Poor Monica has only made hers worse, but Ross has found a sincere way to show Rachel how important it is that she attend his speech. He offered to drink the glass of fat to apologize for snapping at her earlier.
“The One Where No One’s Ready” comes in a strong season of “Friends.” I thought they found some wonderful storylines with Ross and Rachel together, paying off the will they/won’t they and finding better comedy in the relationship than the unrequited courtship. I think they broke them up too soon and the eventual Ross dating game grew tiresome.
Although I loved the “Joey loves Rachel” subplot. That was tragic and poignant because no matter what happened, someone was getting hurt (and Joey was getting his own show so he wasn’t going to get Rachel). Sorry, it’s easy to get on a “Friends” tangent. Even if there were some slight ups and downs, “Friends” had a strong 10 year run. My point is in season three, the relationships were firmly established and not stretched thin, so everyone was in top form.
I have a personal soft spot for “The One with The Embryos,” which I thought was called “The One With All The Trivia,” but it turns out that was the name of the video game inspired by the episode. The boys and the girls compete in a trivia game about each other and the winner gets the big apartment. I loved all the references and the rewards for intimate knowledge of the characters, but I wanted to pick a Best Episode Ever that was really about “Friends” being “Friends.”
“The One Where No One’s Ready” is the Best Episode Ever. We all have our favorite memories of “Friends,” even some powerful heartstring moments like Chandler spending Thanksgiving in a box for Joey. There’s heart in “No One’s Ready” too, with Monica feeling Richard has moved on. Simply as the prime example of why “Friends” was “Friends,” “The One Where No One’s Ready” is the best.
