Got it in the mail yesterday--quite a read. I definitely recommend everybody to get it. It recaps and evaluates each and every episode, interviews the actors who play the Gellers and Gunther, the producers, the Rembrandts, etc.
Some observations:
Eps this NG typically views as "classics" that the magazine did not find at all worthy: TOW No One's Ready got a C, TOW the Football (a personal favourite) got a D (!), TOW Rachel Finds Out gets only a B (the lowest grade for any of the Friends season finales), and TOW The List only gets a B.
Eps this NG typically detests or ignores but the magazine disagrees: TOW The Breast Milk got a B+, TOW Old Yeller Dies got an A- (note that the TOW Everybody Finds Out got the exact same grade), TOW Ross and Rachel Take a Break got an A (this ep has been received positively, but TO The Morning After is usually seen as the better episode but only got an A-), TOW The Screamer got an A (huh????), TOW The Ultimate Fighting Champion got a B+ (I actually really enjoyed this one, but I was always the minority), TOW Ross' Denial got an A-, and TOW With Monica's Thunder got an A (huh???).
Yep, we all agree it rocked: TOW All the Poker got an A (the only A of the first season), TOW Ross Finds Out got an A, TOW The Prom Video got an A, TOW the Flashback got an A-, TOW Chandler In a Box got an A, TOW The Embryos got an A+ (the only episodes that gets this grade), TOW Ross' Wedding got an A, TO On The Last Night got an A-, TOW Chandler Can't Cry got an A-, and The Stuff You've Never Seen gets an A.
Yep, we all agree it sucked: TOW Fake Monica got a C, TOW Russ got a C-, and TOW They're Up All Night got a C.
Best Episode: TOW The Embryos.
Worst Episode: Tie: TO That Could Have Been and TOW MAC and C.H.E.E.S.E. both got a D- (I really enjoyed TOTCHB).
What they said: 1) Jon Lovitz was an unfunny gimmick. 2) Elle McPherson was "naturally funny." 3) "An incensed Monica is always a joy to behold." 4) "Exploring Ross' dark side is always a hoot." 5) Ben Stiller is Friends' Best Guest Star EVER! 6) The Ross and Elizabeth relationship was creepy. 7) Bruce Willis sucked. 8) Helen Baxendale was slightly miscast. 9) So goes Perry and Aniston, so goes the show. 10) Cox and Selleck had superb chemistry. 11) Christina Pickles loved TOW Ross Was High, but hated TOW The Princes Laia Fantasy 12) The reason we don't see the chick and the duck so much is because the animals are too hard to deal with, but they don't have the heart to write a scene where Joey has to get rid of them. They did consider writing a scene where Joey thought chickens could fly... 13) LeBlanc is season 7's MVP. 14) The magazine HATES, LOATHES Marcel the Monkey. 15) The magazine HATES, LOATHES all those NBC crossovers (including the much vaunted Clooney/Wyle/Hunt episode). 16) Aniston should've won an Emmy for her work in TOW the Fake Party (I COMPLETELY agree). 17) They think the Thanksgiving episodes tend to be subpar (hmmmmm....) 18) The writers wished that they did a better job with the Friends' parents and with workplace stories. 19) On the premier: "After 22 minutes, these 6 people are believably set up as lifelong buddies." 20) The actor who plays Gunther (James Michael Tyler) actually continued to work in a coffeehouse despite being on the show for four seasons (his first line came in season two).
Lewis.