Friends (season 8)

Friends (season 8)
Friends season 8 DVD cover
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	24
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 27, 2001 (2001-09-27) – May 16, 2002 (2002-05-16)

The eighth season of Friends, an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, premiered on NBC on September 27, 2001. Friends was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. The season contains 24 episodes and concluded airing on May 16, 2002. This season had an average of 24.5 million viewers, and was the most watched TV show of the 2001–02 television season.

Season synopsis

The overriding theme of this season is Rachel's pregnancy and the birth of her daughter in the season finale. The first three episodes of the season revolve around the identity of Rachel's baby's father, who is eventually revealed to be Ross. Rachel and Ross decide to have the baby, but do not resume their romantic relationship. In the middle of the season, Joey starts developing romantic feelings for Rachel, but she does not feel the same. In the season finale, Rachel gives birth to her daughter, Emma, and Ross's mother gives him a ring to propose to Rachel. Chandler and Monica decide to start trying to have a baby after they talked about being ready. During the last scene of the episode, Joey finds Ross's ring and bends down to pick it up but Rachel mistakenly thinks it was a proposal. Because of her being so emotional after just giving birth she says "yes", leaving Joey shocked.

Cast and characters

See also: List of Friends characters

(In particular, Introduced in season 8 or Only in season 8)

Main cast

• Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green
• Courteney Cox as Monica Geller-Bing
• Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay
• Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani
• Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing
• David Schwimmer as Ross Geller

Recurring cast

• Elliott Gould as Jack Geller
• Christina Pickles as Judy Geller
• Bonnie Somerville as Mona
• Sean Penn as Eric
• Alec Baldwin as Parker
• James Michael Tyler as Gunther

Guest stars

• Maggie Wheeler as Janice Hosenstein
• Eddie Cahill as Tag Jones
• Marlo Thomas as Sandra Green
• Ron Leibman as Leonard Green
• June Gable as Estelle Leonard
• Brad Pitt as Will Colbert
• Trudie Styler as Herself
• Johnny Messner as Kash
• Eddie McClintock as Clifford 'Cliff' Burnett
• Sam McMurray as Doug

Episodes

See also: List of Friends episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
171	1	"The One After 'I Do'"	Kevin S. Bright	David Crane & Marta Kauffman	September 27, 2001 (2001-09-27)	227401	31.70
Everybody thinks Monica's pregnant, but her denial quickly shifts the focus to Phoebe, who takes the heat off of Rachel, who is actually pregnant. Chandler's shoes are slippery, rendering his dance lessons useless. Joey tries to impress a Broadway director. Ross dances with children to impress a woman. Note: This episode is dedicated to "The people of New York City" to remember the September 11 attacks.
172	2	"The One with the Red Sweater"	David Schwimmer	Dana Klein Borkow	October 4, 2001 (2001-10-04)	227402	30.04
Rachel won't tell anybody who the father of her baby is until she tells him. Joey tells Monica and Phoebe that a guy slept with Rachel a few weeks earlier, and left a red sweater behind. Phoebe thinks it's Tag Jones and arranges a meeting for Rachel with him. Ross and Chandler attempt to recreate the wedding pictures, after Chandler loses the disposable cameras. Monica opens all of her and Chandler's wedding presents. Monica, Joey and Phoebe find out that Tag is not the father of Rachel's baby, but that it is in fact Ross.
173	3	"The One Where Rachel Tells..."	Sheldon Epps	Sherry Bilsing & Ellen Plummer	October 11, 2001 (2001-10-11)	227403	29.20
Chandler and Monica prepare to leave for their honeymoon as Rachel prepares to tell the father of her baby. Phoebe and Joey try to get into Monica and Chandler's apartment by telling the owner of the apartment there was a gas leak. However, not all goes to plan when the owner, who could not find Monica and Chandler's apartment keys, orders firemen to break down the door. Note: There was a subplot of Chandler and Monica's honeymoon that was completely shot and filmed but ultimately never aired. It involved Chandler playfully joking about bombs when preparing to board first-class. The airport security mistake Chandler's joke as a real threat then take him and Monica to interrogation. Towards the end of the episode they're determined not to be a threat to the aircraft, but shortly after their release Joey calls Monica and pretends that there is a gas leak in their apartment in an attempt to cover for the broken door. When Joey asked her whether they'll charge them for the damage of breaking down the door, she sarcastically replied, "No, I want you to stand there and wait for the entire place to blow up!", causing the authorities to re-interrogate the couple. Following 9/11, the writers felt the humor of this subplot was off color and quickly replaced it with a story about Chandler and Monica getting jealous over another newly married couple who got free perks by arriving just before they did. The cut scenes from this episode were later shown as a special feature on the 2004 UK version of the DVDs.
174	4	"The One with the Videotape"	Kevin S. Bright	Scott Silveri	October 18, 2001 (2001-10-18)	227406	25.58
Ross and Rachel disagree over who came onto whom when they hooked up. He wants to prove it and accidentally reveals that he has the encounter on videotape. Monica and Chandler meet another couple while on their honeymoon.
175	5	"The One with Rachel's Date"	Gary Halvorson	Brian Buckner & Sebastian Jones	October 25, 2001 (2001-10-25)	227404	25.64
Phoebe begins dating a guy who works for Monica, causing a problem when Phoebe wants to dump him on the same day Monica plans to fire him. A guy at Chandler's work thinks that Chandler's name is Toby. Rachel goes on a date with Joey's costar, despite being pregnant, much to Ross' annoyance. Note: This episode is dedicated to the memory of Richard Cox, Sr., father of Courteney Cox.
176	6	"The One with the Halloween Party"	Gary Halvorson	Mark Kunerth	November 1, 2001 (2001-11-01)	227405	26.96
Monica and Chandler are throwing a Halloween Party. At the party Phoebe runs into her sister's fiance, Eric (Sean Penn), and finds herself attracted to him. Ross and Chandler arm wrestle. Rachel asks if she can be the person who hands out candy to the trick-or-treaters, as she says 'ever since I got pregnant, I have had the strongest maternal instincts', only to find out she isn't as maternal as she thought.
177	7	"The One with the Stain"	Kevin S. Bright	R. Lee Fleming Jr.	November 8, 2001 (2001-11-08)	227407	24.24
Chandler hires a maid to help Monica but she thinks the maid is stealing her clothes. Eric broke up with Ursula and wants to date Phoebe but she reminds him too much of her sister. Ross attempts to secure the apartment of a dying Dutch woman for Rachel, while Joey tries to convince Rachel to continue living with him.
178	8	"The One with the Stripper"	David Schwimmer	Andrew Reich & Ted Cohen	November 15, 2001 (2001-11-15)	227408	26.54
Rachel's having dinner with her dad to tell him that she's pregnant. Meanwhile Monica hires a stripper, who turns out to be a hooker, for Chandler.
179	9	"The One with the Rumor"	Gary Halvorson	Shana Goldberg-Meehan	November 22, 2001 (2001-11-22)	227410	24.24
Monica invites a high school friend, Will (Brad Pitt) to her Thanksgiving dinner. Rachel finds out that he and Ross started a rumor about Rachel having both male and female "reproductive parts" during their senior year of High School. Joey tries to eat an entire turkey because 'he's a Tribbiani'. Chandler and Phoebe avoid helping Monica by sitting on the couch, and watching a game.
180	10	"The One with Monica's Boots"	Kevin S. Bright	Story: Robert Carlock Teleplay: Brian Buckner & Sebastian Jones	December 6, 2001 (2001-12-06)	227409	22.44
Monica buys very expensive boots and promises Chandler to wear them all the time. After a while they are killing Monica's feet but she doesn't dare to tell Chandler. Joey's youngest sister Dina (Marla Sokoloff) is pregnant and comes to Rachel for advice. Phoebe finds out that Sting's son is in Ben's class so she goes to see Sting's wife (real wife (Trudie Styler)) pretending to want to talk about Ben and Jack in order to get tickets to Sting's concert. Note: In this episode, Ross tells Phoebe Ben is 7. However this episode is set in December 2001, and as Ben was born in May 1995, Ben would only be 6 at the time.
181	11	"The One with Ross's Step Forward" "The One with The Creepy Holiday Card"	Gary Halvorson	Robert Carlock	December 13, 2001 (2001-12-13)	227411	23.85
Ross freaks out when Mona wants to send out joint Christmas cards and wants to have "the talk". Chandler tries to get out of spending time with his boss. Rachel has hormonal problems as a result of pregnancy and becomes "erotically charged".
182	12	"The One Where Joey Dates Rachel"	David Schwimmer	Sherry Bilsing-Graham & Ellen Plummer	January 10, 2002 (2002-01-10)	227412	25.53
Now that Rachel can't go on dates anymore due to her pregnancy, Joey decides to take her on a date. But instantly, he begins to have a crush on Rachel, something that even he is scared about. Monica and Chandler get a Ms. Pac-Man arcade game from Phoebe as a late wedding present. After Phoebe hogs the game, Chandler becomes a pro by repeatedly playing and putting swear words as his initials, however Monica wants them to be removed as Ben would be coming over to play on it. After Ross gets to teach an advanced class, he struggles to get to the class on time.
183	13	"The One Where Chandler Takes a Bath"	Ben Weiss	Vanessa McCarthy	January 17, 2002 (2002-01-17)	227413	29.24
Monica sways Chandler's dislike of baths but he soon becomes addicted to them. Phoebe, who thinks Joey has a crush on her, is shocked to discover that Joey actually likes Rachel; Ross and Rachel debate over potential names for their baby and find out the baby's sex.
184	14	"The One with the Secret Closet"	Kevin S. Bright	Brian Buckner & Sebastian Jones	January 31, 2002 (2002-01-31)	227414	28.64
Chandler becomes obsessed with finding out what is behind the door of Monica's secret closet. Phoebe feels betrayed when she discovers Monica has been using a different massage therapist. Ross feels left out after missing the baby's first kick especially when Joey is mistaken for the father. Joey, feeling bad about the situation, suggests that Rachel should move in with Ross even though he wanted Rachel to live with him.
185	15	"The One with the Birthing Video"	Kevin S. Bright	Dana Klein Borkow	February 7, 2002 (2002-02-07)	227415	28.64
Phoebe gives a birthing video to Rachel. Chandler, mistaking the tape for porn, watches it and is horrified after watching it with Monica, which kills the mood for Valentine's Day. Ross struggles to tell Mona that Rachel is now living with him. Joey is depressed and in an effort to lighten his mood, Phoebe lends him a dog to cheer him up. However Joey ends up subduing the dog with his depression, and in the end tells Ross about his feelings for Rachel.
186	16	"The One Where Joey Tells Rachel"	Ben Weiss	Andrew Reich & Ted Cohen	February 28, 2002 (2002-02-28)	227416	27.52
Ross, shocked at Joey's declaration, avoids him, but eventually convinces him to tell Rachel. Joey confesses his love for Rachel, but Rachel politely and lovingly turns him down. Phoebe is convinced that a British man called Don is Monica's soulmate. Guest starring Sam Pancake as the waiter.
187	17	"The One with the Tea Leaves"	Gary Halvorson	Story: R. Lee Fleming Jr. Teleplay: Steven Rosenhaus	March 7, 2002 (2002-03-07)	227417	26.30
Phoebe determines through tea leaves that she'll soon meet the man of her dreams. Rachel invents a crazy work problem to reduce the awkwardness of hanging out with Joey, since he confessed his feelings for her. Ross tries to retrieve his 'faded salmon' shirt from Mona's apartment.
188	18	"The One in Massapequa" "The One with the Zesty Guy"	Gary Halvorson	Story: Peter Tibbals Teleplay: Mark Kunerth	March 28, 2002 (2002-03-28)	227418	22.05
Monica writes a speech for her parents' 35th wedding anniversary. Phoebe dates Parker (Alec Baldwin), who's very enthusiastic about everything. Ross and Rachel have to pretend to be married.
189	19	"The One with Joey's Interview"	Gary Halvorson	Doty Abrams	April 4, 2002 (2002-04-04)	227424	22.59
Joey prepares for an interview with Soap Opera Digest, although he's afraid of saying something stupid that may jeopardize his career. (In a previous episode, in an interview, he said he writes a lot of his own lines, which led to his firing from Days of Our Lives.) Joey enlists his friends to make sure things go well. This is the fourth of Friends' six clip shows.
190	20	"The One with the Baby Shower"	Kevin S. Bright	Sherry Bilsing-Graham & Ellen Plummer	April 25, 2002 (2002-04-25)	227421	22.24
Phoebe and Monica prepare for Rachel's baby shower and forget to invite Rachel's mother. During the shower Monica tries desperately to seek forgiveness from Sandra, but to no avail. Rachel realizes she has no idea how to look after the baby after the birth, so her mother insists on staying with her for eight weeks, much to her and Ross's annoyance. Joey auditions for a job as a host for a new game show called "Bamboozled" and Chandler and Ross help him practice.
191	21	"The One with the Cooking Class"	Gary Halvorson	Story: Dana Klein Borkow Teleplay: Brian Buckner & Sebastian Jones	May 2, 2002 (2002-05-02)	227419	23.97
Monica's cooking skills get a bad review in The Post. After confronting the critic who wrote it, she decides to join a cooking class, with Joey in tow. Rachel gets jealous when Ross meets a girl at the baby department store. Phoebe helps Chandler prepare for an interview by stopping his natural instinct to make immature jokes.
192	22	"The One Where Rachel is Late"	Gary Halvorson	Shana Goldberg-Meehan	May 9, 2002 (2002-05-09)	227420	24.32
Joey invites Chandler to his movie's premiere but Chandler falls asleep during it. Rachel is very frustrated with the fact that she's eight days late, and will try anything to induce labor, which leads to a bet between Monica and Phoebe.
193/194	23/24	"The One Where Rachel Has a Baby"	Kevin S. Bright	Part 1: Scott Silveri Part 2: Marta Kauffman & David Crane	May 16, 2002 (2002-05-16)	227422/ 227423	34.91
Ross and Rachel arrive at the hospital. Judy Geller gives Ross her mother's engagement ring to propose to Rachel with. Monica and Chandler decide to have a baby. After forty-seven hours of labor, Rachel has her and Ross's baby, Emma. Joey finds Ross's engagement ring. Rachel thinks he's proposing and says "Okay". Monica and Chandler try for a baby in the hospital.

United States ratings

Episode	Episode title	Air date	Rating	Share	Viewers (millions)	Weekly rank
171 (8-01)	"The One After 'I Do'"	September 27, 2001	19.5	31	31.70	#1
172 (8-02)	"The One with the Red Sweater"	October 4, 2001	18.9	31	30.04	#1
173 (8-03)	"The One Where Rachel Tells Ross"	October 11, 2001	17.9	26	29.20	#1
174 (8-04)	"The One with the Videotape"	October 18, 2001	16.0	25	25.58	#2
175 (8-05)	"The One with Rachel's Date"	October 25, 2001	16.1	25	25.64	#2
176 (8-06)	"The One with the Halloween Party"	November 1, 2001	16.8	25	26.96	#2
177 (8-07)	"The One with the Stain"	November 8, 2001	15.2	23	24.24	#2
178 (8-08)	"The One with the Stripper"	November 15, 2001	16.1	25	26.54	#2
179 (8-09)	"The One with the Rumor"	November 22, 2001	12.7	25	24.24	#3
180 (8-10)	"The One with Monica's Boots"	December 6, 2001	14.0	23	22.44	#2
181 (8-11)	"The One with Ross's Step Forward" "The One with The Creepy Holiday Card"	December 13, 2001	14.9	25	23.85	#2
182 (8-12)	"The One Where Joey Dates Rachel"	January 10, 2002	16.1	24	25.53	#2
183 (8-13)	"The One Where Chandler Takes a Bath"	January 17, 2002	17.5	27	29.24	#1
184 (8-14)	"The One with the Secret Closet"	January 31, 2002	17.8	28	28.64	#3
185 (8–15)	"The One with the Birthing Video"	February 7, 2002	17.8	28	28.64	#2
186 (8–16)	"The One Where Joey Tells Rachel"	February 28, 2002	17.4	27	27.52	#1
187 (8–17)	"The One with the Tea Leaves"	March 7, 2002	16.3	25	26.30	#2
188 (8–18)	"The One in Massapequa"	March 28, 2002	13.7	23	22.05	#4
189 (8–19)	"The One with Joey's Interview"	April 4, 2002	14.7	24	22.59	#4
190 (8–20)	"The One with the Baby Shower"	April 25, 2002	14.4	23	22.24	#3
191 (8–21)	"The One with the Cooking Class"	May 2, 2002	15.4	25	23.97	#3
192 (8–22)	"The One Where Rachel is Late"	May 9, 2002	15.4	26	24.32	#3
193 (8–23) / (8–24)	"The One Where Rachel Has a Baby"	May 16, 2002	21.1	34	34.91	#1

• Season 8 averaged 24.5 million viewers and finished, for the first time, as the most watched show of the 2001–02 television season.
• All episodes aired at 8:00 pm Thursdays on NBC.
• All episodes ranked within the weekly top 5 most watched TV shows.

Awards and Nominations

54th Primetime Emmy Awards

• Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
• Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Jennifer Aniston) (Episode: "The One Where Rachel Has a Baby")
• Nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Matthew Perry) (Episode: "The One Where Chandler Takes a Bath")
• Nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Matt LeBlanc) (Episode: "The One Where Joey Tells Rachel")
• Nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (Brad Pitt) (Episode: "The One with the Rumor")

59th Golden Globe Awards

• Nomination for Best Musical or Comedy Series
• Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or TV Movie (Jennifer Aniston)

8th Screen Actors Guild Awards

• Nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (Jennifer Aniston)
• Nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (Regular Cast)

18th TCA Awards

• Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy
• Nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Comedy (Matt LeBlanc)

7th Golden Satellite Awards

• Nomination for Best Musical or Comedy Series
• Nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Series (Matt LeBlanc)
• Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Series (Jennifer Aniston)

External links

• Friends at IMDb
• Friends: Season 8 at Rotten Tomatoes
• The One With The Tea Leaves script at livesinabox.com