Home :: DVD :: Television  

A&E Home Video
BBC
Classic TV
Discovery Channel
Fox TV
General
HBO
History Channel
Miniseries
MTV
National Geographic
Nickelodeon
PBS
Star Trek
TV Series
WGBH Boston
Friends - The Complete First Season

Friends - The Complete First Season

List Price: $39.92
Your Price: $29.94
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Why subject yourself?
Review: Friends is immensely popular. No doubt. And I guess I understand that. The characters are very much like the "populars" you find in high school. Maybe a little bit smarter. Definitely a little bit funnier. But they're are the same shallow, repulsive folks that--if you had a little on the ball--you tried to avoid. Like the plague. You know the type. The girls who were more attractive than average, usually really skinny, and way too chipper. And then the guys. Kinda clunky. No depth at all. Smug.

As you might have guessed, I find it very difficult to watch this show. Far from making me laugh, these characters make me want to leave. And the writing is so flat, so corporate, so uninspired, that it amounts to junk-food humor, with a carefully orchestrated laugh track so numbed viewers know exactly where to laugh.

It's because of stuff like this that I've stopped watching TV altogether. Try it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The begining of a great series
Review: Friends is my all time favorite sitcom. I love it so much! The first episode was actually the only one where they didn't say The one with in it. Rachel the funniest girl and Joey's the funniest guy. It's funny to see their acting then compared to now. I'm so sad that it's the last season. I won't have anything to watch on Thursdays besides Will & Grace. I think we all can learn something from Friends as it was a great show.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Truly the Best TV series of all time!
Review: Friends is the best comedy of all time! The cast featuring Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Courtney Cox (Monica Gellar), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), Matt Le Blanc (Joey Tribbiani), Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing), and David Scwhimmer (Ross Gellar) are all lovable in their on way. Their lovable personalities, the pranks, the tricks, the adventures, the job searches, the weddings, the wishes, and many other events make it the greatest television show in history. If you aren't a 'Friends' fan at the moment, you will be. This now Emmy-award winning series (also winner of many other awards) is the highest rated show this year. See how Rachel escapes from her wedding, see how Monica gets attached to a person who's stealing from her, see how Phoebe simultaneously receives $7,000, see how Joey's acting career goes, watch the time Chandler's mother first entered the picture, and see why Ross receives the first in a long line of divorces.

Every episode is great. If the story isn't gripping enough of you, the humour certainly will be. It deserves more than 5 stars! It's finally been recognized reaching its 9th season. This first complete season is definitely a classic collectible. It's the show that changed the lives of 6 nobody's. Friends is a show that just gets better and better. If you enjoy this, you'll absolutely love the second season!

1: The One Where Rachel escapes from her wedding
2: The One With the baby news
3: The One With the floating thumb in a can
4: The One where the girls spy on a politician
5: The One With the East German Laundry Detergent
6: The One With The Butt
7: The One With The Blackout
8: The One Where the cast mourns a death
9: The One Where giant Underdog Gets Away
10: The One With The Monkey
11: The One With Ol' flirty Mrs.Bing
12: The One With The Lasagnes
13: Where a look at Rachel leads to the whole cast peeking!
14: The One With The Candy Hearts
15: The One With The Stoned Guy
16: The one with Phoebe's twin sister Ursula Part 1
17: The One With Phoebe's twin sister Ursula Part 2
18: The One where the girls learn poker
19: The One Where Rachel baby-sits Marcel but he escapes
20: Where Rachel, Mindy, and Barry form a love triangle
21: The One With the Fake Monica at tap class
22: The One With The Ick Factor
23: The One where Ross gets a baby boy Ben
24: The One Where Rachel Finds Out about Ross' crush

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Friends forever!
Review: I am a big fan of "Friends." I don't just watch it on Thursdays; I watch it every night at 7 pm, when my local WB-affiliate airs re-runs. And to my delight, just a couple of months ago, they got to the end of the last season and went back to the first. I can't tell you how happy I was!

The reason for my happiness is simple: The first season is the best. Everything in it seems fresh and new, and it's incredibly fun to watch. Seeing the characters so early in their development provides a great subtext for all the current episodes -- and the jokes are hilarious. Therefore, I am *delighted* that they're being released on DVD!

Of course, as a true fan, I have to note how unfair it was of Fox to release seasons 1-8 in the UK, but not here in the US. As a result, I've long been tempted to go to the Amazon UK site and order them all... but, I won't do so. Why? I can't afford a Multi-Region DVD player*. So, unless you own one of those babies, I just thought I should warn you to stick with the releases as they come out in the US, and enjoy them.

After all, despite Fox's unfairness, the official US release of each "Friends" collection is well worth waiting for. :-) These discs are a MUST-HAVE, no matter what. Order yours now!

----------
*Explanation: Manufacturers deliberately make DVDs incompatable with players from other regions of the world. This is because sometimes, a DVD in the US hasn't quite made it to overseas theaters. So, this incompatibility protects their overseas box office sales -- and it means that we here in the States can't play European, Asian, South American, or Japanese discs in our DVD players. Too bad for us!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "How you doin'?"
Review: I am doing great after watching this season repeatedly, I love it so much. Friends was just starting out, and you feel like you've known every character for years. This season, the beginning of it all, is hilarious. If you don't think you have seen every episode from Season One, buy this, because each episode is outstandingly funny and makes you want to watch every Friends episode ever! This DVD set rocks!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I had forgotten how much I love this show!
Review: I am not a big TV fan, but once in a while I will watch a series and become addicted. Friends was one of those few series. During the first few seasons, I was glued to the TV on Thursday nights at 8:00 pm. Unfortunately, after about the fourth or fifth season, I was unable to watch it regularly because I had to work every Thursday night. However, I decided that since I loved Friends in the beginning, I would start the complete season collection. When I started watching the first season, I soon remembered how much I loved this show! Every episode makes me laugh out loud. My favorite episodes of this season are:
The One with George Stephanopolous
The One with the East German Laundry Detergent
The One with the Blackout
The One with the Dozen Lasagnas
The One with the Stoned Guy
The One with All the Poker
(and of course) The One where Rachel Finds Out
Now I cannot wait to complete my Friends collection!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of The Best Modern Day Sitcoms!
Review: I didn't watch Friends in it's early years but instead got into watching it in it's Fourth or Fifth season and have been a fan ever since and I wished that I had started watching this show when the first season made it's debut on NBC in 1994 and so not wanting to have to sit and wait for the reruns which have a lot of commercials and are on at inconvenient times for me and not wanting to tape them and wind up with an overload of extra video tapes I decided to buy this first season DVD box set and and I have enjoyed every episode. My older sister is a major Seinfeld fan and though that is a good show I prefer Friends because being closer in age to the characters I feel I can relate more to them. I like every character and it's hard to pinpoint one favorte because all of the actors do a fantastic job playing them, so I like them all. The only thing I don't like about the DVD's is that there is no scene selection and living in an often noisy household I often miss some of the dialogue and it's a pain in the neck to have to fast forward to the end and start over from the beginning to fast forward to the part I want to see again so I find the only time I can watch Friends on DVD is at night when everyone is in bed and a lot of nights I'm just too tired to watch more then 1 or 2 episodes but despite that I still have enjoyed watching the episodes without those annoying frequent commercials they have on the channels that show the syndicated reruns and a lot of times I think they edit things out to add room for more commercial time so the lack of commercials on the DVDs are really nice so even with a minor flaw of no scene sellection I highly recommend this set because the episodes are funny and there are some nice extras and there are no boring commercials, no news or weather updates flashing by on the bottom of the picture etc, and I very greatly recommend this set.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Friends First Season!
Review: I love Friends and I've seen every episode! This DVD is where it all begins! Each episode is hilarious and will keep you laughing through the entire thing. If you are ever bored and have nothing to do you can just pop this into the DVD player and it will brighten your day! Each episode is full of funny moments that you'll love! I recommend it for anyone!
**I'll be tHeRe fOr yOu liKe iVe beEn tHeRe befOrE!**

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Friends Season 1 Disc 4
Review: I never watched Friends the entire time it was on television. I didn't watch the last episode either. But while browsing the video store for something to watch during vacation I picked up The Best of Friends on VHS only 1 and 2. Since then I have rented Seasons 4,5, and 7. I have Seasons 1 and 2 now. The last Disc of Season 1 is by far the funniest. I found myself saying a few days ago..."How you doing?...My favorite characters would have to be Ross (I love that goofy-look) and then Monica. With television shows now on DVD, I am cutting off cable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the very best in comedy
Review: I want to start off by saying that I am a huge Friends fan...that is, I am a huge EARLY Friends fan. My adoration for the show cuts off around mid-season 5 or whenever Monica and Chandler became somewhat of a pathetic item. I guess you could call me half a fan since the show lasted for a decade. In my opinion, it should have ended a few years sooner, but NBC had to squeeze the last living drops out of its last "Must-See-TV" sitcom.

The past four seasons have been excruciating for me and you wanna know why? Okay, so you don't, but I'll tell you anyway. The actors on Friends are (or maybe were) incredible comedians in their own right, but as the seasons dragged on, they turned into caricatures of their former selves. For instance, Monica became more and more neurotic and crazy, Joey became more of a doofus whose only concerns were food and hot chicks, Phoebe lost all her quirky charm and just became a joke, Ross got anger issues and basically lost his mind, Rachel was acting like a 16 year-old, awkward, hyper (and gangly, with her Pilates physique) girl, and Chandler... poor Chandler turned into a wimp who couldn't even pull off the few "Chandlerisms" he was given.

Also, if that's not enough, the show just became a ridiculous fashion show. With Rachel and Monica (sometimes Phoebe, but let's face it, she always got the short end of the stick) sporting the hottest new clothes from the latest designers, the show became less about comedy and more about Da-Nang, Juicy, and Neiman Marcus. I realize that with popularity comes bigger salaries, endorsements, sponsorships, etc., but if you look back to these early seasons, it really makes you yearn for a less couture Rachel. I find myself just longing for the famous "The Rachel" haircut to come back as the show's biggest fashion statement.

And I have one more point to make before I actually say something good about the show I supposedly love so much. It seemed to me that the Friends actors weren't putting as much into the show in the later seasons. They often seemed to give off the impression that they were doing the network and the fans a favor by continuing the show, like it was enough that they even showed up. You know, that "So what more do you want?" attitude. I would've been just as pleased if they had called it quits back before they became the "million dollar" men, so to speak. They felt entitled to it, being "Friends", but they didn't deserve it as actors. The Friends in the first four seasons did, though.

But hey, draw your own conclusions. Maybe I'm just bitter over Chandler losing the essence of what IS Chandler Bing. That could very well be it. But with classic episodes like "The One With the Prom Video" (season 2), "The One Where No One's Ready" (season 3), "The One With All the Embryos" (season 4), and "The One With the Blackout" from season one, how can you not agree with me? The ones I mentioned may not be everyone's favorites, but they are some of the most unforgettable ones. How many episodes are that memorable from the latter seasons? Not many.

Enjoy the first season, then move on to savor the second, make a trip to love the third, and treasure the fourth. Because after that, folks, it could not BE any worse.



<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates