Helen Geller
Season 1, Episode 2
Friends S1:E2 - Greetings, loyal TLA readers. You might be surprised to see me back, as promised, for the second installment of my Friends blog series. I'm sure some of you assumed that my commitment to write 236 blog posts about the hit television series, a post for every episode on the 20th anniversary of its air date, was just some empty cockeyed declaration that I made in order to generate page views by taking advantage of the publicity surrounding the show last week. Well, in all honesty, that is exactly what it was. I had absolutely no intention of actually doing this. Then, Ted James (my editor) called me out for being a deceptive little weasel and threatened to fire me if I didn't follow through with this commitment. He reminded me that I owe it to the five people who read last week's post to finish what I started so here I am, back for Round Two. Only 234 more rounds to go after this. Me and my big pen. If I was going to make a commitment to write a blog post about every episode of a Mathew Perry sitcom, why couldn't I have chosen the 13 episode run of Mr. Sunshine? At any rate, since I have no other job prospects and (if we're still being honest) since I have nothing better to do with my time, it is my distinct privilege to be your tour guide on this magical adventure that is the second episode of the first season of Friends. Buckle up, its going to be an exhilarating ride.
One of my favorite characteristics of my good friend, the internet, is that she can serve as an exceptional procrastination tool. As I begrudgingly listened to my editor's advice and started researching for this post, curiosity got the best of me and I started clicking on links that led to interesting information but that had nothing to do with my research. For some reason, surfing the net seemed funner to me than writing this morning. Do you ever do that? Do you ever use the internet's talent for teaching you a series of valuable factoids as a respite from doing the work on the computer that you know you should be doing? I hope so, because then you might understand how my research for this blog post took me down a rabbit hole that landed me on Helen Keller's Wikipedia page where I picked up some fun facts about the author. For instance, did you know that Helen Keller helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and was friends with Mark Twain? I sure didn't. But now, because of Friends (and my good friend, the internet), I have deepened my knowledge of this iconic American figure. Thanks, Friends. Thanks, internet. See kids, you don't need school to learn things. The dynamic duo of a television sitcom and cyberspace can be the best teachers you'll ever have so long as you pick up on a comedic reference to a public figure in the former and drop it like its hot into a search engine if the latter. But, I digress...
Recap in the Key of Phoebe - This is the one where Ross finds out that Carol is pregnant and plans to raise the baby with her lover Susan, Monica stresses over having her parents over for dinner, Rachel gives Barry (her ex-fiancé) back his ring and finds out he is dating Mindy (her Maid of Honor), Chandler discovers Ugly Naked Guy's Thigh Master, Joey eats a ruined lasagna, Phoebe reveals that she has a twin sister, and Ross fights with Carol and Susan over deciding on a last name for the baby after criticizing the potential name of Helen Geller.
Gandalf Gaffes - In case you missed last week's post or if you need a refresher on the meaning of a Gandalf Gaffe, the idea for this section of the blog series is to document every development in the writing of Friends (from pilot to finale) that contradicts a previously established truth. Since the pilot was our introduction to the Friends characters and universe it served as our starting point (or gospel, if you will) and was, therefore, free of sin. It didn't take the writers long, however, to start contradicting themselves because in only the second episode of the series, we already have our first Gandalf Gaffe to document. During the pilot episode, while leaving multiple messages on her ex-fiancé Barry's machine, Rachel says, "Hi, machine cut me off again. Anyway, look, I know that some girl is going to be incredibly lucky to become Mrs. Barry Finkel, but it isn't me. It's not me." As you can see, the pilot clearly establishes that the name of Rachel's ex-fiancé is Barry Finkel. Yet, inexplicably, this truth is contradicted in S1:E2. In this episode, while Rachel is at Barry's office giving him back his engagement ring, a voice comes over the intercom announcing, "Dr. Farber, Jason Greenspan's gagging." Barry responds by saying, "be right there" and he promptly leaves the room which indicates that the character's name has indeed been changed from pilot to episode two. Henceforth, Barry is forever known as Dr. Farber throughout the duration of the series' run. But since we have already established that the pilot is the show's gospel, this changing of Barry's last name qualifies as a Gandalf Gaffe...our first of the series. While this may seem like a minor detail, and admittedly this is a level one infraction on the Gandalf Gaffe scale (measuring the severity of an infraction on a scale of one to three with three being the most severe), it is still a contradiction so we can show it no mercy. It has now officially been documented. Congratulations, Barry's last name. You're number one!
Gandalf Gaffe #1: Barry's last name is changed from Finkel to Farber from Pilot to S1:E2.
Ugly Naked Guy Watch – The gang watches Ugly Naked Guy use a Thighmaster.
Chan Man Quip of the Week - [The Setup] Near the end of the episode, the gang is at Monica's apartment watching a tape that Ross has of the sonogram. Ross asks, "Isn't that amazing?" A confused Joey responds by asking, "What are we supposed to be seeing here?" [The Knockout] Chandler fires back, "I dunno, but.. I think it's about to attack the Enterprise."
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Grab a Spoon
Season 1, Episode 1
Friends S1:E1 - Hi, my name is Ken Adams. I am a thirty-something writer with a plethora of trivial knowledge that I've been accumulating my entire life through an obsessive-compulsive dedication to pop culture. While this trivial knowledge has been of great benefit to me in the pursuit of beating my friends at board games over the years, it had not had much practical application in the real world as I had, until recently, been struggling to find employment as a writer. Luckily, theLeftAhead was looking for a pop culture writer and I was fortunate enough to Bob Benson my way into convincing them to give me a job. (Do you see what I did there with the Mad Men reference?) Anyway, among other things, I am a huge fan of the hit television show Friends. I have seen every episode of the series at least twenty times and I consider myself somewhat of an expert on any and all things related to the show's story and characters. Tonight, as my first assignment on my new job, I am embarking on a ten-year-long experiment. I will be blogging about Friends in real time...only exactly twenty years too late. Yes, today just so happens to be the 20th anniversary of the pilot episode's original broadcast. So tonight, I will blog about the pilot and then I will subsequently present a blog post for each episode of the series on the 20th anniversary of each episode's original broadcast. If you're doing the math in your heads out there, kids, that's right...I have just committed myself to a project that will require me to write 236 blog posts, each on a specific day, and that will not conclude until May 6th, 2024. It's true...I really am that crazy and I really do love Friends that much. On the bright side, perhaps this stunt will land me some job security.
The original idea for creating this blog series came to my wife and me a few years ago as we were binge watching episodes of the series on DVD for the umpteenth time. We noticed that the writers of Friends indulged in a great many inconsistencies in their storytelling of the series. In fact, the show was chock-full of contradictions during its ten years on the air. To give you an example of what I mean, it is established in the pilot episode that Rachel meets Chandler for the first time when she bursts into Central Perk in her wedding dress looking to find Monica. However, later in the series, the writers create layers upon layers of a backstory in which Rachel had a preexisting relationship with Chandler dating back to when she was in high school. Yep, the Friends writers were wizards at magically revising the history of their own characters. In fact, while writing inconsistent character backstories is pretty common in the sitcom genre, Friends may very well be the Mike "Gandalf" Ganderson of this particular magic revisionism. So from now on, anytime I report an inconsistency in the storytelling of the series I will refer to the transgression as a Gandalf Gaffe and my intention is to curate every single last one of them, episode by episode; pilot to finale. Let me be clear, my pursuit of this undertaking is not to criticize the show or its writers. I love this show and I believe that it is one of the best-written sitcoms of all-time. The show has aged remarkably well and even though I continue to watch episodes over and over again, now 20 years later, they do not feel dated. That is an incredible testament to the quality of the writing on Friends. On the contrary, my motivation for curating these inconsistencies is to challenge the depths of my Friends acumen and perhaps provide a fun, new perspective through which readers can stay engaged in the show over the next ten years. My wife and I have found ourselves both returning to old episodes of Friends more regularly and also receiving greater enjoyment from these viewings by challenging ourselves to try and spot a Gandalf Gaffe in each episode that we have never spotted before. We have found it surprisingly fun to play the game while watching the show so it is my hope that you might as well. Without further ado, I give you my pilot post of theLeftAhead Friends blog series. Happy anniversary, friends. See you for the next ten years.
Recap in the Key of Phoebe - So this is the one where Rachel leaves her fiancé at the alter, Carol moves out of her and Ross' apartment after ending their marriage because she is a lesbian, Monica dates Paul the Wine Guy (who concocts a wounded animal story to trick Monica into sleeping with him on the first date), Chandler psycho-analyzes his bizarre dreams, Joey can't figure out which woman he's taking on a date among the many he is seeing, Phoebe sings in the subway, and finally Ross and Rachel establish a spark when Ross decides to grab a spoon.
Gandalf Gaffes - In order to play this Gandalf Gaffe game, we must first begin in a world with established truths. Since the pilot episode is our starting place, each representation of the Friends characters in the pilot establishes their truth. In other words, for our purposes, the pilot episode is our gospel. While the pilot obviously does not establish the entire history of each character up until the point in time that it takes place, it is our starting point, therefore it cannot possess contradictions (Gandalf Gaffes). According to this philosophy for the game, the pilot is pure and free of sin, therefore I do not have any Gandalf Gaffes to report tonight. Our game, however, will play out chronologically from episode to episode with each new development adding to the established truths of our world unless it violates a previously established truth. When a new development contradicts something that was previously established as true in an earlier episode chronologically, then the new development is the Gandalf Gaffe and will be documented in this section of my post for the episode in which it occurs. When it's all said and done on May 6th, 2024...I hope to have caught and documented every single possible Gandalf Gaffe, no matter how large or how small. Game on.
Chan Man Quip of the Week - [The Setup] Part way through the episode, the guys are over at Ross' apartment putting together Ross' new furniture to replace all the furniture that Carol took when she left Ross. Joey is trying to cheer Ross up by refuting his theory that there is just one woman for everyone. Joey compares women to flavors of ice cream to convince Ross that there are plenty of fish in the sea, so to speak, and encourages him to "grab a spoon." Ross responds, "I honestly don't know if I'm hungry or horny." [The Knockout] Chandler quickly pounces, "Stay out of my freezer."#TheChickAndTheDuck
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