Canter Bridge

Our nation’s fourth graders were not yet born when we fell for this long-shot six-member cast’s story of twenty-somethings who gather regularly in two New York City apartments and seem to own the furniture at the ‘Central Perk’ coffee house. Do you remember where you were when you first found out about Rachel, Har-Monica, Phebes, Joey, Chandler, and Ross?

Of course you do.

By the time this first season drew its final breath, we knew that Joey’s acting career was hopeless, that Phoebe was a complete but endearing flake, that Monica’s neuroses were eminently promising, and that Ross and Rachel would inevitably become a serious item—romantically and theatrically—in seasons to come. We also knew we’d be there to witness it all. There were six other evenings of the week for the rest of life.

In retrospect, the story line seems inevitable. So it’s breathtaking to realize that the series’ writers were making it up as they went along, and that when an entire episode is filmed in Monica and Rachel’s apartment, it signals the time of the season when budget problems in the early years hacked this aspiring program down to its core. This is the inside look available to Friends-aholics on the DVDs of this first season and those that follow.