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List Price: $124.92 | | Label: National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Salesrank: 132609
Released: April 1, 2003 |
| Our Price: $99.58 |
| Used Price: $40.00 |
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MPAA Rating:
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Friends has matured into television's most beloved comfort show. The peerless ensemble--Jennifer Aniston, a pre-Arquette Courtney Cox, Emmy winner Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer--makes a lasting first impression in the first season. The perky "Pilot" introduces unlucky-in-love Monica, runaway bride Rachel, sad sack Ross, New Age ditz Phoebe, wise guy Chandler, and womanizer Joey. The focus of the first season is Ross's unrequited love for Rachel, but we have these moments to remember: the arrival of Marcel the monkey ("The One with the Monkey"); Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe's "cleansing ritual" ("The One with the Candy Hearts"); the escalating game of shower peek-a-boo ("The One with the Boobies"); Joey as Al Pacino's butt double ("The One with the Butt"); Ross taking lessons from Joey in how to "talk dirty" ("The One with the Stoned Guy"); former "Must-See TV" stars Helen Hunt and George Clooney ("The One with Two Parts"); and Cha! ndler spilling the beans to Rachel about Ross's feelings for her ("The One Where Rachel Finds Out"). Though its devoted fans can recite these episodes chapter and verse, Friends maintains its sparkle through repeat viewings, a testament to the sharp writing as well as the cast's lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry and lived-in performances.
Stunt casting stumbles (Jean-Claude Van Damme, Charlie Sheen) aside, the second season was a very good year. Ross and Rachel were the engine that drove the season and produced some of the series' most monumental episodes, including "The One with Ross' New Girlfriend," "The One Where Ross Finds Out" (with R & R's first kiss), "The One with the List," "The One with the Prom Video," and "The One Where Ross and Rachel... You Know." But this was not the only significant story arc. Enter--and, in the bittersweet season finale, exit--Tom Selleck as Dr. Richard Burke, the family friend ("He's like a brother to... Dad," notes a disapproving Ross) who becomes Monica's (Courtney Cox) lover. Joey (Matt LeBlanc) finds success (albeit short-lived) as Dr. Drake Ramoray on "Days of Our Lives" and moves out ("We're not Bert and Ernie," he tells roommate Chandler). Future Emmy winner Lisa Kudrow's best season is to come, but, as Phoebe, she makes the most of some memorable subplots, including! her shocked discovery of sad movie endings she had been shielded from ("The One Where Old Yeller Dies"), her dispute with Ross over evolution ("The One Where Heckles Dies"), and her channeling of an elderly woman who died on her massage table ("The One with the Lesbian Wedding").
Friends' peerless writing staff really spread the wealth in the pivotal third season. Each of this seamless ensemble's cast members was given a story arc that deepened and enriched their characters. Most devastatingly, Ross and Rachel's romance is torn asunder by Ross's jealousy (not to mention his one-night stand while the couple are, now famously, "on a break"). Phoebe is reunited with her half brother (Giovanni Ribisi) and meets a family friend (Terri Garr; inspired casting) who drops a Darth Vader-esque bombshell about Phoebe's parentage. Monica begins the season reeling from her breakup with Richard, but rebounds with millionaire Pete (Jon Favreau from Swingers). Chandler is driven to increasingly hysterical attempts to "go through the tunnel" and commit to his relationship with Janice (Maggie Wheeler). And womanizer Joey reveals his soulful side when he falls for an initially contemptuous theatrical costar. Also lending memorable support are Alison LaPlac! a, as Rachel's self-absorbed new boss, and an Emmy-worthy Ben Stiller ("The One with the Screamer") as Rachel's new boyfriend whose volcanic temper only erupts in front of Ross. Among the A-list cameos, Robin Williams and Billy Crystal ("The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion") are woeful, but more memorable is Isabella Rossellini ("The One with Frank Jr."), whom the hapless Ross meets just after crossing her off his "freebie list" of celebrities Rachel would allow him to sleep with. Other classic episodes include the season-opener, "The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy" and "The One with the Flashback," which offers some provocative near-couplings between Monica and Joey, Ross and Phoebe, and Chandler and Rachel. Add a chick and a duck ("The One with a Chick, and a Duck"), and you have a benchmark season in this irreplaceable series. --Donald Liebenson
Friends - The Complete Seasons 1, 2 and 3 Reviews:
The one with the first three seasons... 
2004-08-21 - "Friends" is the TV series that needs no introduction. It's the show that has been a part of people around the world for a decade and even more. If for some stroke of bad luck you haven't seen nor heard about this show, you must have been a hermit or something close to that. But there is hope yet for you...
"Friends" revolves around 3 guys and 3 ladies who became friends and grew together as friends through the years. It is a comedy show that, even with situations you'd think is near impossible from happening, is believably funny. What I believe made the show catch and keep its fan following is the dynamics of these six characters. Despite the similarity and difference in their backgrounds and views in life, they still stuck together. I think, and most people will agree with me, that the cast namely Jennifer Aniston-Pitt, Courteney Cox-Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer, made these characters real and they made it their own. The friendships onscreen went offscreen as well, as the actors are real-life friends who dealt with their issues as a group. And that made people get more and more fascinated by the show.
It ended after 10 seasons with lots of ups and few downs in the course of its run, to most of the fans' dismay.
If you want to have a go at where the show began and where most of the excitement in the show is, pick up Seasons 1, 2 and 3 together. Just to give you some memorable things to see in these seasons, I'm going to name a few: When Ross "grabbed a spoon" in the pilot episode, Chandler's ATM vestibule, Monica and Rachel's identity switch while on a date with doctors portrayed by ER actors George Clooney and Noah Wyle, Joey's acting, and Phoebe's SMELLY CAT ("smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you?...).
There are loads of great episodes in these three seasons enough to turn that stress to fits of laughter.
A must to all "Friends" fans and a great entertainment package to everyone looking for a good laugh and a look at how great life is when shared with friends...
You have got to be kidding me.... 
2003-09-23 - Every time I see the show Friends, I can literally feel myself becoming a bigger wimp. I had the misfortune of seeing an episode of Friends last week; it wasn't pretty. At first I didn't know what I was watching because I had tuned in in the middle of the show, but I immediately realized that it was Friends when realized I had been watching for over 10 minutes and hadn't even so much as cracked a grin. The show just wasn't funny...at ALL. The guys that play on the show completely insult my masculinity, and I think the only reason why the show has survived for so many years is because there are a couple of good looking actresses on it. The solution: make shows with more ugly people in them. This way, the shows that are stupid, un-funny, and lacking content will be cancelled immediately instead of dragging on for years at a time, filling time spots that could be filled with potentially great TV shows such as Seinfeld or The Simpsons (the two undesputed greatest TV shows ever made). It's shows like Friends that are ruining this nation (the USA); turning men into women, and giving women the idea that they live on a set of a romantic comedy. Friends is ruining lives, tearing apart households, and giving Americans bad names. In short: DON'T PURCHASE THIS DVD SET.
LOVE IT
2003-08-21 - I am so glad they decided to put friends on DVD.. just a little disappointed it takes so long to get the seasons out.. the releases are 4-8 months apart..
Awesome!
2003-08-18 - If you're a friends fan you should get this. But if you haven't gotten any Friends dvd before you should get the Seasons 1-4 bundle instead. Buying the bundle saves you like 60 bucks and you'll have them all immediately. It'll take you weeks to watch these because they're long and they're so good you'll watch them over and over again until season 5 comes out.
Could this show be any funnier?
2003-06-14 - This collection is a dream come true for any Friends fan. Seventy-one fantastic episodes of this hit show in a complete set. These seasons also contain some of Friends' best and most memorable moments (Rachel & Ross becoming a couple, Joey moving out, Richard & Monica date, the prom video, Joey putting on all of Chandler's clothes, Phoebe finding her half brother and the list goes on). Another nice thing is that the episodes on here are shown uncut, so you get to see some new scenes.
Among the set's special features on these twelve discs are trivia quizzes (on one of them, if you answer the questions correctly, Ross and Rachel get back together, but if you get them wrong, they have to stay on a break), commentary on various episodes, virtual tours (Central Perk, Joey & Chandler's and Monica & Rachel's apartments), a guestbook (take a look at all of the guest stars who have been on Friends) and more.
This is a definite must have for any fan of the show. Now you can watch your favorite Friends over and over again!
