Interesting title Luigi. According to my video this is called "The One Where It All Began".

I always felt the black lady Monica cooks with in this episode was an idea they had but dropped out after the pilot. Good idea- to many sitcoms have this "outsider" commenting on the main events (Home Improvement anybody?).

Joey's hair looks ridiculous in this ep.

This is the title given at http://www.friends-tv.org.

For some reason, though, the Internet Movie Database gives it as The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate.

Just do what I do when I'm confused. Use all them but use the good ol' "/" symbol.

Anyway, just dropped in to say I think you're doing a bang up job. Not much of a Friends fan anymore (when Ross got divorced again I just gave up), but it's nice to know I have someplace to go to talk about when the show was still funny. You gotta start up a board for Scrubs? I'm gunning for the Politcal Musings gig right now and I want to focus on that which is why I haven't done it myself.

Sax: when Ross got divorced again I just gave up...
Luigi Novi: Um, the second or third time?

Thanks, Sax. I don't have any plans for a Scrubs board, but just ask Phil.

---Great Chandler Line:
Ross: “I honestly don't know if I'm hungry or horny.”
Chandler: “Stay away from my freezer.”

---Great Rachel Line:
(As Rachel tries to explain her decision not to marry Barry to her father over the phone, he threatens to cut her off financially…)
Rachel (to her father): “Well maybe I don't need your money… Wait, wait! I said, “maybe!”

Great Lines

Joey:And you never knew she was a lesbian?

Ross:I just wanna be married again!
Rachel comes in wearing a wedding dress
Chandler:And I just want a million dollars!
Monica:Are you going to tell what happened or are we waiting for four wet bridesmaids?

Rachel:You look like you slept with a coat hanger in your mouth.

Monica:Wait a minute! Do you know Paul like I know Paul?

Ross:I assume you're hoping for an answer that's more sofisticated than To get you into bed.

Great Chandler Line
I wish I was a Lesbian. Oh, did I say that out loud?

Cast Notes

John Allen Nelson was one of the original cast members of "Baywatch," in the role of John D. Cort.

Clea Lewis is probably best known for her role as Ellen's annoying friend Audrey on "Ellen."

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, of if this is the first episode to establish Rachel getting the job at Central Perk, but does anyone here know of coffee houses that have waiters? At every Starbucks or other cafe I've been to, you always order your stuff at the counter and then take it to your table when you get it.

Central Perk isn't a chain. Smaller coffeehouses do have waiters (I knew some in Santa Cruz that had some), and I assume Central Perk is in the Village, and as such would be more likely to have one as well.

This is why I included the phrase, "or other cafe I've been to.." Nowhere in NYC have I EVER seen a coffee house with waiters. Maybe in CA, but not here in NYC.

As for Central Perk's location, The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel(6.2) established that it's down the block from the Angelika, which would place it on either East Houston Street or Mercer (since the Angelika is on the corner of Houston and Mercer), which is indeed in the East Village.

On Frasier, the Cafe Nervosa often had waiters/waitresses taking and bringing orders, in addition to people lining up at the counter like in a Starbucks or whathaveyou.

TRIVIA: Central Perk is based on Chomondley's (pronounced Chumley's), a coffee shop/lounge in Usen Castle at Brandeis University, the alma mater of the show's creators.

Until Ross wonders outloud who he should asked and then the scene dramatically changes to Rachel looking out the window, there is barely any contact between Ross and Rachel in this episode. In fact, he is rude to her early on. Then suddenly, he has been in love with her since the 9th grade.

Perhaps they were on a break?

In reference to your 2003 post, Rod, not only did Joey's hair look ridiculous here, but Rachel's voice was *really* hard to take as well.
She kept whining and screeching and was all "woe is me what will I do now", and I found that extremely annoying. I remember when I wrote on TNG's Farpoint board and you said that you were glad that they had M.S. tone down Troi's over-emotional whining and crying from it for future episodes. I have to agree with you about that, and I fell that basically the same thing applies for Rachel's needy clingy personality that existed early in this show's existence.

However, I did think it was funny when Chandler ran out the door singing "Once I was a wooden boy, A little wooden boy"! And has anyone else noticed that he moved his hands and waved his arms around a lot when he talked early in the series? It was the same thing with Data when he kept smiling and smirking so much when TNG began, and thankfully they did away with that eventually.

That's pretty much all I have for this one. The thing is, I was 16 when the show started and I didnt really watch it all that much in the first few seasons, and it was not until it started in syndication that I really got into it. And did I mention how it didnt exactly get good reviews when it began? But then again, neither did "Cheers", and that was a mainstay for NBC throughout the 80's. And then there was the problem with the "overexposure" and "negative backlash" controversies Friends received when the second season began. it's all irrelevant now, though.

I wonder if the six of them had any idea of what fame and fortune would await them when they got the parts. If they had any comprehension of the level of stardom that they would achieve. I wonder that sometimes!