"The One Where It All Began" is the first episode of the American television situation comedy Friends, which premiered on September 22, 1994 on the NBC network. It introduces the six friends for the first time. The Pilot (aka The One where Monica Gets a Roommate, The One where it all Began, The First One) is the very first episode of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One with the Sonogram at the End is the second episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One With the Thumb is an episode of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One with George Stephanopoulos is the fourth episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One with the East German Laundry Detergent is the fifth episode in season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One With the Butt is an episode of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One With the Blackout is an episode of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One Where Nana Dies Twice is an episode of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One Where Underdog Gets Away is an episode of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One With the Monkey is the tenth episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One With Mrs. ... The One With the Dozen Lasagnas is the twelfth episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One With the Boobies is an episode of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One With the Candy Hearts is an episode of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One With the Stoned Guy is an episode of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One With Two Parts, Part One is the sixteenth episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One with Two Parts, Part Two is the sixteenth episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One with all the Poker is the eighteenth episode of season one the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One Where the Monkey Gets Away is the nineteenth episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One with the Evil Orthodontist is the twentieth episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One With the Fake Monica is the twenty-first episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One With the Ick Factor is the twenty-second episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One with the Birth is the twenty-third episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... The One Where Rachel Finds Out is the twenty-fourth episode of season one of the television situation comedy Friends. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Friends. ... NBC (an abbreviation for National Broadcasting Company, its former corporate name) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...

The episode was directed by James Burrows.^[1] James Burrows is a prolific Jewish-American television director who has been working in television since the 1970s. ...

Synopsis

This is the first episode of Friends. The first scene takes place in Central Perk. Monica Geller, a chef, has a date with a coworker and is putting up with teasing from her friends - actor Joey Tribbiani, office drone Chandler Bing, and quirky masseuse Phoebe Buffay. Joey says that since Monica's date agreed to go out with her, there must be something wrong with him; Phoebe's concerned over whether or not the guy eats chalk. Chandler tells everyone about a dream he had that involved him naked in front of a crowd, and a ringing telephone in place of his genitalia. Friends is a situation comedy about a group of six friends living in New York City. ... Central Perk logo. ... Monica E. Geller (born April 22, 1969) is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends (1994-2004), played by Courteney Cox Arquette. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke while waiting between takes during location filming An actor or actress is a person who acts, or plays a role, in a dramatic production. ... Joseph Joey Francis Tribbiani, Jr. ... Chandler Muriel Bing (born April 8, 1968) is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends (1994–2004), played by Matthew Perry. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Phoebe Buffay (Buffay-Hannigan by the end of the series) (born February 16, 1967) is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends (1994-2004), played by Lisa Kudrow. ... The Needles,situated on the Isle Of Wight, are part of the extensive Southern England Chalk Formation. ... The telephone or phone is a telecommunications device which is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly voice and speech) across distance. ...

Monica's older brother, paleontologist Ross Geller, enters, depressed. His ex-wife, Carol, moved her stuff out to live with her lesbian lover. The gang's attempts to help - Phoebe's attempt to cleanse his aura; Joey's suggestion about going to a strip club - don't work. Ross says all he wants is to be married again. On cue, a woman wearing a wet wedding dress enters Central Perk (in his typical fashion, Chandler immediately makes a joke out of the coincidence--"Okay, and I want a million dollars!") The woman turns out to be Rachel Green, a spoiled rich girl and friend of Monica's from high school. A paleontologist carefully chips rock from a column of dinosaur vertebrae. ... Dr. Ross Eustace Geller, Ph. ... For the book or movie Striptease see Striptease (book) and Striptease (movie) A striptease is a performance, usually a dance, in which the performer gradually removes their clothing for the purposes of sexually arousing the audience, usually performed in nightclubs. ... Rachel Karen Green (or sometimes Greene) (born May 5, 1970) is a fictional character on the popular U.S. television sitcom Friends (1994-2004), played by Jennifer Aniston. ...

Rachel explains that just before the wedding, she was in the room where the gifts were kept and came across a beautiful Limoges gravy boat. She realised the gravy boat excited her more than fiancé Barry Finkle^[2] did. She then realized that Barry looked a lot like Mr. Potato Head, and that she didn't really love him - so she ran out of the church and sought out the one person she knew still lived in the city (hoping the fact Monica wasn't invited to the wedding wouldn't be an issue). Location within France Limoges (Limòtges in Occitan) is a city and commune in France, the préfecture of the Haute-Vienne département, and the administrative capital of the Limousin région. ... Mr. ...

While the gang watches a Spanish soap opera, Rachel calls her father to explain why she ran out on her wedding - and manages to force Monica to take her in as a roommate. Monica eventually agrees, saying this will be a good thing for her. Joey ends up hitting on her - Monica explains that Joey shouldn't hit on Rachel, because it's her wedding day. Joey replies: "What, like there's a rule or something?" For Philippine soap opera, see Teleserye. ...

Monica's date - Paul the Wine Guy - arrives. Since Ross is upset about Carol, and Rachel just left a man at the altar, Monica almost doesn't go. Ross and Rachel convince her to go, and she does. Paul tells her that since his divorce two years prior, he hasn't been able to perform in the bedroom. A touched Monica helps him regain his sexual drive - but later finds out he used the same line on another co-worker, Franny.

Chandler and Joey go to Ross's apartment to help Ross put together some new furniture (since Carol took all the furniture when she moved out). Ross finds a can of Carol's favorite beer ("She drank it from the can, I should have known") and becomes upset. Joey and Chandler convince him that since he's single again, he should move on and start dating again.

Rachel decides that since she's out on her own, she should look for a job. After twelve disastrous interviews, she does find something - a pair of boots, half-price, paid for with Daddy's credit card. The gang convinces her that she doesn't need her father's money, and she cuts up her credit cards. Phoebe gives us her first glimpse of her screwed-up childhood: Her mother killed herself when Phoebe was 14 and her stepfather was in prison, so she moved to the city to live with an albino windshield-cleaner until he killed himself. All was not lost - she discovered aromatherapy. Later, Ross reveals that when he was in high school, he had a huge crush on Rachel (although she admits that she knew but just thought of him as Monica's geeky older brother) and asks her if he could ask her out sometime. Thinking Ross is just being nice, she agrees. Albinism is a genetic condition resulting in a lack of pigmentation in the eyes, skin and hair. ...

At the end of the episode, Rachel finally finds a job - waitressing at Central Perk.

Reception

Notes and references

For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... The One With the Flashback is the sixth episode of season three of the television situation comedy Friends. ...

Additional cast

• Clea Lewis as Franny
• John Allen Nelson as Paul the Wine Guy

Clea Lewis (born July 19, 1965) is a television actress, perhaps best known as Ellens annoying friend Audrey Penny in Ellen Degeneress first sitcom. ... John Allen Nelson (born August 28, 1959 in San Antonio, Texas is an American actor. ...