FRIENDS: THE ONE WITH THE VIDEOTAPE (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about six Generation-X friends who live together in New York City and share a favorite haunt, a coffee bar called Central Perk. In this episode, Chandler and Monica return from their honeymoon and excitedly talk about a couple they met on the flight, Greg and Jenny, with whom they are now friends, which makes Phoebe and Joey jealous. Rachel and Ross come by and show Monica and Chandler their sonogram, and Monica asks for details of the night they briefly reunited. Rachel explains that one night six weeks ago she met up with Ross after work and shared some wine, and he ended up making a move on her. Ross denies it, saying that Rachel came on to him, and blurts out that he has a videotape to prove it.
Later, Monica and Chandler call Jenny and Greg, but the number doesn’t work, and Phoebe and Joey laugh that they’ve been “fake-numbered.” Monica and Chandler protest, saying that they are very engaging conversationalists. Ross arrives and explains that he made the tape by accident, and it flashes back to the evening in question. Ross comes to Joey’s and appeals to him for help, saying he is going through a “dry spell” and needs a date that night to “go well.” Joey tells him about a romantic story he invented about a fake experience he had whilst traveling through Barcelona, and though Ross is taken with the tale, it does not work on his date. He returns to Joey and Joey advises him to tape himself telling the story to see what he is doing wrong, like Joey does for auditions. Ross begins to practice, but Rachel bursts in and interrupts him. In the present, Chandler says that he and the others need to see the tape, but Ross refuses.
Monica and Chandler are still upset about their new friends, and Phoebe and Joey speculate that they may even have given fake names, as Phoebe (“Regina Philange”) and Joey (“Ken Adams”) occasionally do. Monica and Chandler begin to doubt their appeal as friends because of Chandler’s constant jokes and Monica’s incessant questions. Ross comes by to give Rachel the tape so she can destroy it, but the others beg to see just the beginning so they can confirm who came on to whom. Rachel decides she wants to see it too to prove to Ross that he was the instigator, and they all sit down to view it. On the tape, Rachel confesses to Ross that she is late in sending out Monica and Chandler’s wedding invitations, to real-time Monica’s great annoyance. Rachel and Ross discuss the “bonus night” they almost had on the night of Monica and Chandler’s engagement, and agree that they would have gone through with it had they not been interrupted, and then Rachel begins to tell the Barcelona story. The friends jubilantly point out that she was the instigator, and she is shocked that they know about “the magic story,” as she heard it from a friend who heard it from “some guy”—Ken Adams. Later, Ross and Rachel view the rest of the tape in private, and while they are at first impressed with their own skills, they quickly grow disturbed and turn the tape off. Monica finally tracks down Greg and Jenny’s real number and eventually wears them down enough to agree on a time to meet up, and they celebrate. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: October 18, 2001 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:22:49
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:79119
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Friendship
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1994-2004
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Shana Goldberg-Meehan … Executive Producer
- Kevin S. Bright … Executive Producer, Director
- David Crane … Executive Producer, Created by
- Marta Kauffman … Executive Producer, Created by
- Scott Silveri … Executive Producer, Writer
- Todd Stevens … Co-Executive Producer
- Andrew Reich … Co-Executive Producer
- Ted Cohen … Co-Executive Producer
- Sherry Bilsing-Graham … Supervising Producer
- Ellen Plummer … Supervising Producer
- Brian Buckner … Supervising Producer
- Sebastian Jones … Supervising Producer
- Wendy Knoller … Producer
- Richard Allen … Co-Producer
- Mark Kunerth … Co-Producer
- Dana Klein Borkow … Co-Producer
- Mary Rodriguez … Associate Producer
- Noel Bright … Associate Producer
- Michael Skloff … Music by
- The Rembrants … Theme Music by
- Jennifer Aniston … Cast, Rachel Green
- Courteney Cox Arquette … Cast, Monica Geller-Bing
- Lisa Kudrow … Cast, Phoebe Buffay
- Matt LeBlanc … Cast, Joey Tribbiani
- Matthew Perry … Cast, Chandler Bing
- David Schwimmer … Cast, Ross Geller
- Lisa Thornhill … Cast, Kristen