my thoughts on 3/15

The One With Joey's New Brain - Bloopers? Where's Ed McMahon? "Well I think it's ridiculous that you haven't had sex in three and a half months!"

Synopsis:

Drake Ramoray comes out of his coma thanks to a radical brain transplant from Susan Sarandon a soap actress who meets an ugly fate with a horse and an electric fence. Joey of course consoles Susan when she finds out she has lost her job, and if you think that means they got busy you know Mr Tribiani.

Ross decides to play Kool and the Gang's Celebration on bagpipes at the Geller-Bing wedding. Sis Monica is not pleased.

Phoebe and Rachel find a cell phone they think has been left by a hot guy. They argue over who gets to return it. Rachel is dismayed when it turns out to be the property of a guy who went to school with Mickey Rooney. Phoebe isn't as picky!

My Thoughts:

First a word from my pal Eddie Murphy: "Wow there was a black person on Friends tonight! Alert the media. It must have been the those gigantic titties!"

If any of you have read this column before you know I'm a huge Joey fan, and it was a banner night for TV's new Sam Malone. Drake Ramoray (does anyone really know how that is actually spelled?) gets a new brain and he gets to hit the sheets with Susan Sarandon. Not a bad night for Mr. Tribiani. I defy you to name a more jovial and good natured character in the history of television. As for Susan, I suppose we've all seen the soap opera diva thing played before, but it was nice to see Mrs. Robbins on TV doing her best to fend off what she feels to be the evil dogfight that is Survivor. I know some people out there are despondent over Friends coming in second to a bunch of freaks eating worms, but really everyone needs to relax. They could have footage of the birth of Christ but if they played it opposite the super bowl it would probably finish second too. Friends isn't going anywhere until one of the special six actually stars in a movie that someone wants to see. Speaking of which. Ed? What were you thinking Matt? Speaking of thinking. Did David Schwimmer give one of the writers a wedgie or what? Ross gets dumber and dumber each week. If this keeps up, he'll need someone to help him dress himself by the end of the season, and Phoebe's screeching didn't help matters much. It's not like Kool and the Gang can afford lawyers these days, or that the song Celebration is one of the touchstones of modern rock music, but if Kool hires Johnny Cochran he might just have a good defamation case in his lap. The cell phone competition was fun, but in reality it pales next to the Seinfeld episode where Jerry's car got stolen and Kramer called the thief up on his car phone to ask him to mail his gloves back. Phoebe falling for father time was amusing too and again a gag that only could be pulled off successfully with a character as goofy and well developed as Lisa Kudrow's. Two final questions?

1) Does anybody else fail to believe that these "super size" episodes seem any longer than the regular ones? If anything some of them have felt shorter. Someone get their stopwatch out and drop me a note. 2) What's the deal with Phoebe's family tree. I am very very confused. Didn't we find out that Teri Garr was her real mother? Was that ever really explained. How did the suicidal mom wind up with the daffiness twins, and indeed why did she commit suicide? Was it Ursula? Speaking of suicides. What the hell happened to the Jason Alexander character. They had ten extra minutes and they couldn't resolve that plot. Is he dead? Is Phoebe still a telemarketer? Just how does she afford that big apartment and all that coffee?

Wow they even mentioned Tag once tonight and it barely managed to upset me. Ding dong the witch is dead. Mean old witch ....

  *    *    *

"A special Friends out take episode that will never be seen again!" Yeah I'll believe that when David Schwimmer wins a best actor Oscar for his stirring portrayal of Henry V!

The blooper show! I have to admit that under normal circumstances I would be completely opposed to such a thing. It conjures up ugly images of Dick Clark and his robot laughing buddy Ed McMahon, and really who needs to see Sherman Helmsley cracking up over and over again as he desperately tries to remember whatever the hell the writers of that show where he was a Deacon managed to dream up between rounds of slapping themselves silly at the fact that they actually got paid to write that nonsense, but I have to admit that Friends is different. Everyone in the cast feels like a member of the family, they have always stayed together as a true ensemble both in negotiations and the sharing of credit for the show's success. Who knows it might all be a facade but I would truly be heartsick if twenty years from now they all write books about how much they hated one another. When it comes down to it, you can't help but have affection for them and seeing more of them under any circumstances is a pleasure and a treat. As I would have expected, the best moments were the ad libs and not the laughing. Watching someone mess up their line and bust out in a hysterical giggling fit isn't entertaining, but seeing the two Matts come out of a bathroom with their pants around their legs - hey that's good entertainment. Wasn't it fun to see the haircuts change while you tried to place which episode each of the out takes came from? The funniest moment. For me it had to be Courtney Cox Arquette break dancing with a donut in her Nutty Monica fat suit. Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't trade that for the entire run of Suddenly Susan, but then again I suppose the same could be said for that special episode of Alf where he begs that guy to take his hand out of his ass. I know I'm biased but in the end doesn't it seem like Matt Leblanc is just one of the greatest most natural guys in the world. It was fun to see him stumble to the old Dick Van Dyke theme. Two final notes.

1) I have a feeling that if they released more footage of Jennifer Aniston being fondled by our monkey pal Marcel that porno sales might drop for a week or two! 2) I know that these guys make bank, but god knows that I'd pay money to pat down Courtney Cox Arquette's breasts from week to week.

My favorite lines:

Joey: "And not only that I'm getting a new brain!"

Phoebe: "That wasn't a date. That was just friends getting together and ... having sex."

Phoebe: "Oh I lost my mom in to suicide." Rachel: "Ok, no way, you cannot use that to get the cute guy and the last blueberry muffin."

Monica: "Why is your family Scottish?" Chandler: "Why is your family Ross?"

Actress: "I'm 16" Joey: "See you in 2003!"

Cecilia: "Jessica doesn't have an English accent." Joey: "I can do an English accent? That baby's going on my resume!"

Chandler: "We heard you play all the way from your apartment." Ross: "Were you the one's that called the cops?"

Matt Leblanc: "Wow Phoebes you speak gutter?"

David Schwimmer after getting hit with a door: "Shit that hurt!"

Courtney Cox Arquette: "I'm doing my brother." Matthew Perry: "That's gross!"

i don't think Phoebe recognized the song. that's what made it funny. she was "singing along" to the bagpipes.

dug

brad laidman wrote:

If they put her in that quasi-Catholic-schoolgirl outfit again, she could be standing next to a *comatose goat* and porno sales would drop for a week or two.

Let's take a moment to pay tribute to JA's legs, and to the show's costume designers who truly recognize their worth.

Amen, I agree. They did this a lot in the first few seasons - but it is a rarity in the last few.

Kevin

In article , "brad laidman" wrote:

Brad, what in Earth does "my thoughts on 3/15" mean?

Since about 80 million fans of "Friends" around the world have not seen this episode yet, can you please explain how anyone is supposed to tell from "3/15" that you are about to blow the whole story for them?

Tennant Stuart

actually i was thinking that was the date so i made a typo if i ruined it for anybody sorry but doesnt everyone know that there will be reviews coming out the same day the show airs in the us there are tons of others here

"Tennant Stuart" wrote in message news:[email]...

In article , "brad laidman" wrote:

Oh I see, so "3/15" was the 15th of March! Of course! That was helpful.

Have you never noticed people using spoiler space on ATF?

Tennant Stuart

Tennant Stuart wrote:

Brad - Just wanted to let you know that not everybody here is a complete idiot. From your subject line I immediately realized that you meant thoughts on the 2/15 episode and had just made a typo. I'm sure just about everybody else realized that as well and so didn't read the thread if they didn't want to be spoiled.

Of course, somebody always has to appoint themself captain of the spoiler patrol and belittle others who commit the ultimate crime of making a little typo. This is the reason this newsgroup has dwindled from hundreds of messages a day just a year or so ago to only twenty or thirty per day now.

Sherry

Tennant Stuart wrote:

There's another thing that people writing headers should know. 3/15 means March 15 in the United States, but England, and possibly other parts of Europe, put the number of the day, not the month, first. 15/3. Of course, as this is not March, there were two problems. But 3/15 will be absolutely nonsensical in Europe.

In the previous post, the mostly harmless Claire Abraham claimed:

I'm afraid most people in Europe are used to seeing both representations, especially those using computers & the internet. From the title I immediately figured this would be about the new episode. But the fact that I entered the group because I wanted to read about it (and knew it was aired the previous day) did help.

Bram.

On Pheobe's mother. She refers to the mom that raised her as "mom" and Teri Garr as her "real mom". That's pretty much the way most people with step parents that raised them do. (count me in as one of them)

Well, every once in awhile I'll wonder stuff like that. But it's just a sitcom, man. I let it go.

I don't know. I see him as more emotionally challenged than dumb. And I've definitely seen him worse. The scene where Joey was explaining the brain surgery on DOOL, Joey came off as the dumb one, not Ross. But he's dumb in a Chrissy Snow adorably kinda' way. <smooch!>

I guess I'm just wondering... what scene was that black guy in? Missed him.

~Denise~

~neecy~ wrote:

For what it's worth, USA Today ran an editorial praising Friends and saying that even though it's old and showing signs of wear, those of us who have stopped watching can blame ourselves when we see what will replace it. (My reaction; you know, there are other things in life than television. One can lead a full, rich life without ever watching anything at all on Thursday at 7.) But in the same article, he did mention that Ross had become regrettably stupid - the only major flaw in the show.

Yep. I rest my case.