newbie

Hi everybody! I,m new. Even though Friends is my favorite show, I don't know the whole story line. I know it is really bad, and it would be really monotonous, but can someone fill me in?

In article , Reeva wrote:

SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER WARNING!

What follows is the story line leading up to the beginning of the show in Episode One. However, most of these details were revealed bit-by-bit throughout the first five seasons of the show, so don't look if you don't want to know. OTOH some new pieces of background mentioned in Seasons Five and Six have not been included. Scroll down if you're okay with this...

S P O I L E R

S P A C E

F O R

S E A S O N S

O N E

T O

F I V E

The story begins in the late 1960s, when 18 year-old Phoebe Abbott is the lover in a menage a trois with her best friends Lily & Frank Buffay. After giving birth to identical twins, she runs out on the hippy household, so Lily & Frank name one of the girls Phoebe after their insecure friend, and the other Ursula. Several years later, Frank also walks out on the family, leaving Lily with both girls, neither of which is her daughter. Lily marries again, taking Phoebe & Ursula to live in a river barge on the Hudson, and does her best to protect them from what she sees as a cruel world.

But when her second husband is sent to prison, it all becomes too much for her, and at Christmas 1981 she commits suicide by putting her head in a gas oven. Ursula finds a note from Lily explaining who their real mother is, and how to find her, but she destroys the note before Phoebe sees it. The twins then go their separate ways, with Phoebe leading a miserable existence on the streets of New York at the age of 14.

Meanwhile, Monica & her older brother Ross are growing up in prosperous Long Island. To their parents Jack & Judy Geller, Ross is the apple of their eye, constantly favoured over his kid sister, who as a result becomes agressive, obese, and develops a neurotic obsession with cleanliness. At school, her best friend is Rachel Green, a Jewish-American princess with the archetypal big nose - but Ross falls madly in love with her, though he is too shy to tell her so. Rachel enjoys a happy childhood, little realising her mother Sandra was forced by an overbearing father into a loveless marriage.

Ross goes to university where he meets Chandler Bing, a handsome quick witted but lonely youth about whom most people incorrectly assume to be homosexual. Chandler's mother is Nora Bing, a glamorous globe trotting author of romantic fiction, whose husband suddenly decided he was gay, and ran off with their houseboy at Thanksgiving 1978. Ross makes Chandler his room-mate, since he will not be any competition for girls. Meeting Chandler motivates Monica to lose her fat, and pursue a successful career as a chef for a top restaurant. Chandler goes on to work at the headquarters of a large corporation, while Ross becomes a palaeontologist at a New York natural history museum, where Ursula is a tour guide during the day.

Ross loves his sister Monica, so when their grandmother goes to Florida she allows them to have her spacious apartment for a modest rent - while Ross's wealthier best friend Chandler can only afford to share a smaller apartment with Kip, who lives next door. Monica & Kip fall in love, while Ross moves out when he marries his college sweetheart, Carol Willick.

Phoebe finds some security squatting with an albino man at the docks - but after he kills himself, and Phoebe falls foul of the law for knifing a rogue policeman, she meets kind-hearted Monica who takes her in, and so the four young neighbours, (Monica & Phoebe, Kip & Chandler), become good friends, supporting each other as their dysfunctional families had never done.

At this point everything goes wrong. Phoebe marries a Canadian ice dancer to give him a Green Card, not daring to tell any of her friends. Monica & Kip break up, badly disrupting the group, which ruthlessly ejects Kip. Even as Chandler enrols a new flatmate named Joey Tribbiani, Phoebe finds Monica's neuroses so hard to bear that she gradually moves out, to live with Lily's mother Frances. Finally, Ross is stunned to discover that Carol is bisexual, engaged in a lesbian love affair with her best friend Susan Bunch.

Joey is the son of Italian immigrants, with seven attractive sisters. He may not be as bright as the others, but he is by no means stupid, and he appears well-adjusted, although in fact his childhood was not easy either, for he was neglected by his mother, and his father is a serial adulterer. Monica is drawn to Joey, but the group has resolved against internal entanglements to preserve their friendship.

On the day that Carol abandons Ross for Susan, Rachel (who by now has had plastic surgery) bursts in on the group, having just left her husband-to-be standing at the altar, for she realises she cannot carry on being suffocated for the sake of wealth without freedom. Ross is shaken to encounter his long-lost childhood love, who is now more beautiful than ever before...

Sorry it's a bit sketchy.

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote:

(SNIP SYNOPSIS)

Very nice tennant.

In article , William Pora wrote:

Thanks, William!

Tennant

Wow, that was pretty damn good, tennant ;o)

trev

In article , Trevor S wrote:

Thanks, Trevor!

Tennant

tennant, how do you get the time to write all that?

Easy all you have to do is use all those useless sleeping hours and do contructive things with them

spose William Pora wrote in message news:[email]...

In article , William Pora wrote:

That's right William, IMHO if you're young & healthy then over 6 hours sleep is social conditioning. I'm usually in bed by 4am & up at 10am.

But there isn't a rooster across the hall!

Tennant

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

sleep and adults 7 and 1/2 hours awin

In article , "Owen Shiers" wrote:

Only if you go to bed in the evening. :-)

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote:

You guys are joking around, but did you know, each hour you sleep in the afternoon equals 2 hours you'd sleep in the night ? Now, thanks to me and my good information, you can grab 3 more hours off a normal *day* (considering that you're up from 10am till 4am). If you can sleep 3 hours in the afternoon, say 2pm-5pm, you'll be able to stay up all night since you'll have had your share of sleep for these 24hours.

JSOMWK (S is for Some; O is for Of; W is for Wide; K is for Knowledge)

Adeline (who can be called everything but pretentious ;D)

leborgne.jl wrote in message news:881oh2$okm$[email]...

hours

my

(considering

Are you sure about that? I have a regular 8 - 5 job, and on Wednesday nights, I play music from 10 - 2am. I take a nap from 5:30pm - 9:30pm before my gig. I also go to bed at 3am after the gig and have to wake up at 7am to go to work the next morning. According to what you say, that would give me 12 hours of sleep, but I'm still tired as hell every Thursday. Go figure!

Clint

In article , "leborgne.jl" wrote:

And if you break a mirror every 6.9 years, you'll live forever, as your bad luck won't have a chance to run out. ;-)

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote ...

Ha ha ! But mine *is* true ! "It's a scientific fact like the air we breathe, like gravity !" (quote from 203--TOW Heckles dies)

Adeline.

ps--Please don't tell me you don't *buy* evolution = )

In article , "leborgne.jl" wrote:

:)

Most people miss the fact that Phoebe began by saying evolution was true.

Ross didn't pay proper attention, so she relentlessly harried him until he began to waver, then she told him off for caving.

But then Ross doesn't have one tenth the debating skills that Joey has.

Tennant

On Sun, 13 Feb 2000, Tennant Stuart wrote:

Nope, she didn't. She began by saying she didn't believe in it. Later she allowed that it was one possibility, but she *never* said it was true.

"Ross didn't pay proper attention" - ?????? What ARE you referring to?

In which alternate universe?

In article , James Squire wrote:

You missed it, take another look.

You're not paying proper attention either. :)

In the alternate universe in which Friends exists.

Tennant :)

On Mon, 14 Feb 2000, Tennant Stuart wrote:

Sorry, I already looked at the script before I posted it, and quite carefully, I might add. Why don't you point me at the line you are talking about?

You've got to be kidding. Give me an example.

In article , James Squire wrote:

Adeline has already done this very well. Phoebe carefully distinguishes between the world as she sees it, and the world as it is. This is all to do with such stuff as IIRC, existentialism & determinism - concepts I am *not* competent to discuss, perhaps Adeline or Jacqui can help me out here.

BTW there was an existentialist elevator in "The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy" by Douglas Adams - designed to arrive at a floor before people even pressed the button, thus saving all that tedious waiting, it became unhappy over its lack of participation in the destination decision making process, experimented briefly with travelling sideways instead of up & down, but in the end the poor thing took to cowering in the basement. :)

The show is absolutely *packed* with them, it would be easier to point you to one of the rare occasions where Joey loses, (223 TOW the Chicken Pox).

But here's a cute example of his devastating style...

In 216 "TOW Joey Moves Out", by Betsy Bornes, Chandler & Joey are sitting at their breakfast bar, still wearing dressing gowns, eating cereal...

JOEY: (Looking at the packet) man, this is weird. You ever realise Captain Crunch's eyebrows are actually on his hat?

CHANDLER: That's what's weird? Joey, the man's been captain of a *cereal* for the last 40 years.

(Joey finishes his cereal, licks his spoon 'clean', and casually drops it back into their cutlery drawer)

CHANDLER: (In surprised disgust) waaa-laaa.

JOEY: (He's been caught) what?

CHANDLER: The spoon. You licked and-and you put!

(Joey tries his dumb act, but the defence fails, for Chandler's too riled)

CHANDLER: You licked and you put!!

JOEY: (Stalling) yeah, so.

(Chandler is up to speed now, no way is he gonna lose *this* one, as he thumps his fist on the bar)

CHANDLER: Well, don't you see how gross that is? I mean that's like you using my toothbrush.

(Joey looks sheepish - man, he is *really* caught now)

CHANDLER: You used my toothbrush?

(Chandler is livid. Off balance, Joey has to scramble FAST)

JOEY: Well-well-well, that was only 'cause I used the *red* one to unclog the drain!

(Joey's brilliant tactic works only too well, for Chandler recoils in shock rather than surprise)

CHANDLER: MINE is the red one!

(Joey grimly regains his composure, as Chandler loses his)

CHANDLER: Oh God. Can open, worms (gestures theatrically) everywhere.

(Joey goes for the kill...)

JOEY: Hey, why can't we use the same toothbrush, but we can use the same... soap?

CHANDLER: (Innocently) because soap is soap. It's self-cleaning.

(Joey relaxes & smiles now Chandler's fallen neatly into his trap)

JOEY: Alright, well next time you take a shower, think about the last thing I wash, and the first thing *you* wash!

(Checkmate. Joey grins in triumph while Chandler grimaces in horror, before resenting the fact that he just lost again)

Tennant :)

In article , Randy Hinds wrote:

However you try to put it, Joey won the debate. He also succeeded in completely deflecting Chandler from the licked spoon issue.

Furthermore, that is not the point - in this little scene, any pretence of Joseph's "Slow Joey" persona was cast aside.

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote...

Don't know 'bout that. It's just that my parents taught me to never say "This sucks" or "This is rubbish" and everything in that effect but "I think this sucks" or "I believe this is rubbish". Hence, I am (very) careful when it comes to giving my opinion or hearing anyone else's.

Adeline.

My reply to this would be a quote from 203:

--------- PHOEBE -There are lots of things out there I don't believe in, but that doesn't mean they're not true.

JOEY -Such as ?

PHOEBE -Such as the Bermuda triangle, crop circles, evolution...

ROSS -Evolution ??! Wh-wh-what, you don't believe in evolution ??? ---------

So, James and I (somehow) were wrong, Tennant you were right. I must add, I only wrote the few lines above, so please forgive and correct the mistakes I may have done.

Adeline.

In article , "leborgne.jl" wrote:

On the contrary Adeline, you are *most* perceptive.

Phoebe has quite a complex mind, doesn't she?

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote...

Thank you.

Oooh yeah !!! But I think that's what makes her so funny, she's brilliant ! I can't wait to see her triplets again. BTW, my friend couldn't tape 603 for me, but she did tape 604. Only she forgot to give me the tape today, I'll email her so she doesn't forget tomorrow. Maybe my brother knows someone who may have 603 on tape or I'll download it from the net.

Adeline.

In article , "leborgne.jl" wrote:

Oh dear - ITWCTTW you can always read the transcript on thecfsi.com :)

Tennant

On Mon, 14 Feb 2000, leborgne.jl wrote:

No, you and I are right, and Tennant is wrong. Read it again. Pheobe *did not* say evolution is true. She said *it might* be true. She also said she believed it was FALSE.

James Squire wrote...

I

mistakes I

Yes, she said she BELIEVED it was false, she didn't say it WAS false. There's a difference.

Adeline.

In article , "leborgne.jl" wrote:

Yay Adeline! You are *so* astute!

Tennant

leborgne.jl wrote:

I didn't say she said it WAS false! I said she did NOT say it was true. There's a big difference, especially in relation to Tennant's original post.

James Squire wrote

post.

Ok, how long is this gonna go on ? We all seem to agree. Phoebe said she did not believe in evolution (thought it was to easy) but never denied it was true. Period.

Adeline.

In article , "leborgne.jl" wrote:

Yeah - let's move on, shall we?

Tennant

Fine with me. Apparently your original choice of words was a bit sloppy, but I think I see what you meant to say. Usually when someone comes off sounding as authoritative as you often sound (and maybe I am reading you wrong), I assume that such a person means exactly what they say.

I will confess that (and this may be a cultural or other type of misunderstanding between us) you *occasionally* rub me the wrong way, Tennant, and I probably got a little uppity in response.

Sorry.

In article , James Squire wrote:

I did indeed mean exactly what I said, but that does not preclude the possibility that my choice of words was sloppy. Good communication hangs upon the meaning of words in the listener's mind.

I apologise if ever rub you or anyone else the wrong way, James, that would never be my intention I assure you. I welcome intelligent debate from people capable of proving me wrong, rather than assertions from others who merely make casual observations of the show without looking beneath the surface.

Hey - it is thanks to the really clever people like Jacqui (who seems to have won every debate so far) that I now know we are both Brechtians who occasionally disagree in what way the Bochcists are wrong!

Tennant :)

James Squire wrote...

I myself never read Tennant as authoritative, you probably are wrong. Now, don't get *me* wrong, I'm not being judgemental over what you said, or at least I didn't mean to. Let's move on and talk about something else now, ok ?

Adeline.

"leborgne.jl" wrote:

I guess if you have young kids, it doesn't work. :) No matter how well you can take a short nap in the afternoon, you usually don't get a good sleep at night: kids can keep you up! :) JRP

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

sleep and adults 7 and 1/2 hours awin

In article , "Owen Shiers" wrote:

It was already in my head, (that's just how my mind works), so all I had to do was type it - I belted it out fast (I'm up to four fingers & both thumbs now), and then my spell/grammar/style checker puts it all straight for me.

Being my own boss means I can choose my hours to suit myself - I enjoy the peace after midnight, and I'm as much a morning person as Rachel is.

Tennant

Hellooooo!!! After getting drunk in Vegas, Tennant Stuart doodled cat whiskers on his/her face and miaowed this little lot at a statue...

<chomp v. long story>

This is sarcasm, right?! :)

Tina

In article , Tina Nellis wrote:

Partly sarcasm Tina, but in truth it is sketchy. We need a couple of flashback episodes for Joey, and at *least* five for Phoebe!

Tennant

Wow. There was stuff in there that I didn't even know, and I've seen every episode since day one. Good job Tennant! Clint

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

marries

gas

and

twins

Long

eye,

agressive,

archetypal

Chandler

she

Ross's

apartment

rogue

to

bisexual,

may

appears

is

to

husband-to-be

suffocated

In article , "Tiger" wrote:

Thanks, Clint!

Tennant

i don't know everything! tell me everything!

In article , Reeva wrote:

Now that *would* be a long post - watch the reruns, read the transcripts on the very wonderful http://thecfsi.com/ site, or buy the DVDs.

Tennant

I've asked this before, but no one seemed to know... Where can I purchase the DVD's, and how do they come? (For instance 3 seasons per DVD?) Thanks for the info.

Clint

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

on

Welcome to our happy coffee shop! Where are you from because the US is farther ahead in season 6 than the UK or other places?

TTFN Miranda "You wicked witch flying devil monkey" "It is still a very sad thing when a member of the family has to be terminated." "Kidnapping... its not just for kids... anymore"

i am from the US. reeve