Analytical Episode Guide-Friends (Season 2, Part 1)

Analytical Episode Guide:

Season 2, Part 1

Season 2, Episode 1
The One with Ross’s New Girlfriend
 

Plot Summary-The gang meet Ross’s travel companion. Phoebe cuts Monica’s hair. Chandler visits Joey’s tailor and has an odd experience

Funniest Line-“Yes, yes it is... in prison!”….Ross, this is the punch line to one of the greatest exchanges of the series! Chandler has some great lines in this one to,but I have to pick different characters occasionally! 

Nitpickof the episode-Let’s be honest, the Dudley Moore gag was really stretching things. They did a good job with it, but really how can even Phoebe make that mistake?

Standout Character-Rachel, we really feel her pain

Syndication Edit-A great gag was cut out where Rachel wonders who gave Julie the number to their apartment. It’s a fantastic Phoebe/Joey line and worth checking out the unedited version of the episode for. Also the opening was originally Phoebe recapping the previous season.

FinalThoughts-Very often when a show is a huge hit in its first season, people worry whether or not the show can come back and recapture that magic. Well, when we watched this episode for the first time we realized we had nothing to worry about. This is a great episode! The jokes are great and not only do we feel Rachel’s misery, but it’s so nice to see Ross happy after he was miserable the whole last season. As I stated Friends was great for changing things about the show every season, the characters evolve so we aren’tjust looking at them copying things they did before like so many other sitcoms do. In this case they flip the Ross/Rachel dynamic which changes the tone ofthe show and opens the door for new ideas. Finally, this is the final episode where a character comments on something they are watching on TV. Thank god that finally disappeared!

Grade=A, fantastic way to the start the new season

Top 5 Dumbest Sitcom Husbands

There was a time in television when father knew best. Kids on sitcoms used to panic in worry waiting for their father to come and find out what trouble their kid had gotten into. But as times went on the days of Danny Thomas and Andy Taylor changed. The Cosby Show was one of the first shows to make the mother the parent to be scared of, but at least in that show Cliff was not stupid. Oh sure he had his faults but he was still the father, in charge and respected.


But in the 90's that changed, and husbands became plane idiots.I tried to find a show from the 70's or 80's to put on here but nothing popped out at me. Maybe Roseanne could be credited for being the first to make the father just a dumb guy who sits there while the wife rules. But Dan was notreally dumb he just knew who was in charge. Cross the line and he stepped up,big time! Some sitcoms don't stop at making the mother the authority; they make the husband a flat out idiot! I guess it's because more humor comes from a clueless husband but it gets annoying after a while.

But first I need to explain; dumb and lazy are different things. Most sitcom husbands in the 90's and so forth were lazy and stared at the television. It's what they did when the TV was off that makes me call them dumb. For instance, Hayden Fox from Coach was clueless in how modern men think and act. This caused him to look dumb in many situations even though he was a brilliant football coach.
So today I wanted to talk about five of my favorite dumb sitcom husbands.

Analytical Episode Guide:Friend (Season 1, Part 4)

Analytical Episode Guide:

Season 1, Part 4

Season 1, Episode 19
The One Where the Monkey Gets Away
 

Plot Summary-When Rachel loses Marcel the gang splits up to look for him. Rachel is upset that Barry is getting married so fast.

Funniest Line--”Oh, this is so intense. One side of my butt is totally asleep, and the other side has no idea”….Phoebe

Nitpickof the episode-Am I the only one who thinks that the very idea of letting Rachel watch Marcel alone was really stupid?

Standout Character-Marcel?

Syndication Edit-The opening teaser with Rachel which is an old joke but a good one, thetag was longer

Final Thoughts-Well, you knew there was going to be a Marcel episode coming, and here it is. And the truth is this episode is pretty good. Yeah I could complain that there is only one story here but by this point the characters were clicking so well that the gags and jokes still work. The characters are all on: Monica isin charge; Phoebe is spacy, and so on. I never liked Marcel because all he did was distract from the main characters (and according to David Schwimmer, made filming these episodes an agony). But this episode we even get a little character development as learn Rachel was not very nice in high school.

Grade=B,much better than it needed to be

Analytical Episode Guide:Friends (Season 1, Part 3)

Season 1, Episode 13
The One with the Boobies
 

PlotSummary-Chandler accidentally sees Rachel naked, Joey learns his father ishaving an affair, Phoebe dates a mean Psychiatrist

FunniestLine-“It was an accident. It's not like I was across the street with atelescope and a box of doughnuts.”…Chandler

Nitpickof the episode-As someone who once aspired to be a Psychologist, I cannot standthe Psychiatrist in this episode. You never just randomly analyze people likethat without their consent and even worst share those observations with others! True analysis takes months, even years, of getting to know someone before youcan accurately determine a diagnosis. If he were real I would make sure heloses his license. I know, it’s just a sitcom but this guy is an example of whypeople fear psychologists or psychiatrists and I have some experience with that.

Standout Character-Joey; despite my gripes it is nice to see Joey as more than justan idiot

Syndication Edit-We meet Roger earlier, at the top of the episode and other scene extensions

Final Thoughts-Ok I hinted at this before but let me get into it here. Whenever theparents got involved, usually, the show just wasn’t the same. This episode isthe worst offender because not only are Joey’s parents in the episode, but thestory is about them! If you’ve ever wondered why we didn’t see this more, justwatch this episode and see. To make matters worse we get the B story about Chandler seeing Rachel naked that goes from funny to uncomfortable after thefirst commercial break. The C story has that jerk psychiatrist who does what heshouldn’t, which is analyzing people without getting to know them first and giving them unsolicited opinions. He gives Psychiatrists a bad name and, well,I just hate that guy!  My vote for worstepisode of the season.

Grade=D+,watch the opening scene then turn it off!

My Top 5 Worst Disney World Experiences

I love Disney World! It's one of my favorite places to go in the whole world! I haven't been in a very long time, but managed to get there five or six times back in the 80's and 90's. Today I decided to share a little of my personal life, and talk about my more memorable experiences at The Magic Kingdom-the bad one's.


Now don't get me wrong, as I said I love Disney but it's not fun to talk about the good things. Although the time we kept running into Minnie Mouse was sure cool (in the old days when the characters roamed freely). So here is a little glimpse of my past, here are my five worst experiences at Walt Disney World


The waffles...dear god, the waffles!


This one is my own fault, I admit that. The hotel/resort we stayed at one year had a breakfast buffet. If you didn't like the buffet, the only alternative was a Mickey shaped waffle. Well, I am a fussy eater and was even worst as a kid. I didn't want to eat the buffet. I had a waffle every day I think, and it's no wonder I have no interest them today.

Analytical Episode Guide:Friends (Season 1, Part 2)

Analytical Episode Guide:

Season 1, Part 2

Season 1, Episode 7
The One with the Blackout


Plot Summary-There is a blackout in the city. Chandler is caught in an ATM vestibule, while the rest of the gang tries to cope with the darkness. Rossdecides to finally ask Rachel out but that is disrupted by an Italian guy.

Funnies tLine-“I'm trapped in an ATM vestibule with Jill Goodacre. Is it a vestibule? Maybe it's an atrium. Oh, yeah, that's the part you should be focusing on, youidiot.”….Chandler

Nitpickof the episode-While Chandler is hilarious in this one, I have to wonder what made him wait so long to talk to Jill considering how long they were stuckthere.

Standout Character- Chandler, duh! He just shines in this one, if you didn’t like him before you will after this episode.

Syndication Edit-Jill talking to her mother while Chandler thinks about mothers, the blackout hits just as Phoebe is about to sing. Sometimes these edits help, in this episode Ross’s encounter with the cat goes longer, a little too muchlonger

Final Thoughts-This was intended to be part of an NBC cross over event called “BlackoutThursday”. Mad About You began the story which picked up here. The funny thingis, this is a great episode despite it being and event show! Chandler ishilarious, and we get more development in the whole Ross & Rachel thing. Iwasn’t thrilled with Paolo but he didn’t last long anyway. This series worked best when it was just the six of them, and this is a good example (ok Chandler is absence but his scenes were hilarious). Strong episode when they could have just phoned it in.
Grade=A+,first classic of the series

Six TV Shows I was Surprised That I Actually Liked!

I talked a few weeks ago about shows that we love from the first moment we see them and are hardcore fans from then on. But sometimes thereare shows we learn to love, often just because we discover it late. Then there are the shows that surprise you, the shows you never thought you would like in amillion years and yet here you are a loyal viewer. Here are some examples ofwhat I am talking about.


Roseanne

It’s hard to believe, but when Roseanne came on the show wascontroversial. Roseanne wasn’t the typical sanitized sitcom; she showed whatfamily life was really like. And that rubbed people the wrong way in the 80’s. Plusthe simple fact I had no love for Roseanne Barr anyway. So I didn’t make muchof an effort to watch this show, but when I did I found it pretty funny. Istill remember laughing at the Halloween episode when Roseanne tricks Dan intothinking her mother is visiting, brilliant! However I never really watched it,but as time went on that started to change and by the 5th season Iwas a real fan. The writing was sharp, the jokes were funny, and the storieswere surprisingly relatable.  Of coursethat love ended with the last two seasons, but let’s not go down that roadagain.

Talk Soup

When I think of my years in college this is one of thoseshows that brings back so many memories. Considering I hate trash talk andreality shows there is no real reason for me to like this show, and yet  I did! I missed out on the Greg Kinear years,but I did see the John Henson era. This show was stupid on so many levels, andyet I loved it. The jokes were funny and getting to see these great clips ofshows I would never watch in a million years was great. I gave up on this showpretty much the same time everyone else did, but for a while I loved it. Yes, Iwatch The Soup with Joel McHale and am a fan of it also.