Last week, I was at a friend's house and watching "Friends" reruns on her TiVo. I've seen every episode of "Friends" because my family as a whole loves the show enough to buy the 10 season DVD set, but even so, it remains one of my favorites to watch when I'm just lounging around.
(http://cuuids.bittorrent.com/e1921b30-1
We came across one of my personal favorites from season 1- "The One with George Stephanopoulos." The episode includes Ross freaking out about the anniversary of the first time he and his ex-wife every consummated their physical relationship, and Rachel learning life lessons about finances and holding a job.
At one point of the episode, three of Rachel's old friends wander into Central Perk (the coffeehouse where Rachel is a waitress). Joanne talks about her pregnancy, Kiki has lost weight, and Leslie has just been promoted at her job, leaving Rachel feeling insecure about her own life.
What interested me, though, is that there was a part of Rachel's reunion with her old friends that was cut from the episode on TV. Having seen the uncut version of the episode on DVD dozens of times (don't judge me!) I noticed the omission immediately. On television, Rachel gushes about Joanne's pregnancy and then skips right over Kiki to congratulate Leslie on her promotion. However, on the DVD, Rachel stops between Joanne and Leslie's news to tell Kiki, "You look phenomenal! You lost, like, a ton of weight!" Over Kiki's shoulder, Leslie is shaking her head and making gesturing her fingers into her mouth, and Rachel looks awkwardly back at Kiki, saying "And you should really, really stop! You look perfect!"
I thought it was really interesting that this was cut out of the televised episode, considering the topics that are frequently and explicitly discussed- much of the show makes jokes about how fat Monica used to be (they actually put a fat suit on Courtney Cox to film these anecdotes) and the script includes full-on conversations about sex, as well as many curse words and references to alcohol.
I'm not actually really sure how I feel about this omission. I feel partly that if it's not going to be an issue discussed and explained at length in the episode, it was good to cut it, so the producers aren't responsible for any sort of ideas that people watching "Friends" might get about purging as a sort of weight-loss tool. But it makes me think about the writers' decision to even include the fact that Rachel's friend has bulimia. Perhaps it's not the fact the bulimia was mentioned, but rather, the crudeness of the finger-down-throat gesture that Leslie makes. Is this sort of gesture referring to unhealthy eating behaviors comparable to nudity or the F word?
xoxo,
Allie
(http://cuuids.bittorrent.com/e1921b30-1
We came across one of my personal favorites from season 1- "The One with George Stephanopoulos." The episode includes Ross freaking out about the anniversary of the first time he and his ex-wife every consummated their physical relationship, and Rachel learning life lessons about finances and holding a job.
At one point of the episode, three of Rachel's old friends wander into Central Perk (the coffeehouse where Rachel is a waitress). Joanne talks about her pregnancy, Kiki has lost weight, and Leslie has just been promoted at her job, leaving Rachel feeling insecure about her own life.
What interested me, though, is that there was a part of Rachel's reunion with her old friends that was cut from the episode on TV. Having seen the uncut version of the episode on DVD dozens of times (don't judge me!) I noticed the omission immediately. On television, Rachel gushes about Joanne's pregnancy and then skips right over Kiki to congratulate Leslie on her promotion. However, on the DVD, Rachel stops between Joanne and Leslie's news to tell Kiki, "You look phenomenal! You lost, like, a ton of weight!" Over Kiki's shoulder, Leslie is shaking her head and making gesturing her fingers into her mouth, and Rachel looks awkwardly back at Kiki, saying "And you should really, really stop! You look perfect!"
I thought it was really interesting that this was cut out of the televised episode, considering the topics that are frequently and explicitly discussed- much of the show makes jokes about how fat Monica used to be (they actually put a fat suit on Courtney Cox to film these anecdotes) and the script includes full-on conversations about sex, as well as many curse words and references to alcohol.
I'm not actually really sure how I feel about this omission. I feel partly that if it's not going to be an issue discussed and explained at length in the episode, it was good to cut it, so the producers aren't responsible for any sort of ideas that people watching "Friends" might get about purging as a sort of weight-loss tool. But it makes me think about the writers' decision to even include the fact that Rachel's friend has bulimia. Perhaps it's not the fact the bulimia was mentioned, but rather, the crudeness of the finger-down-throat gesture that Leslie makes. Is this sort of gesture referring to unhealthy eating behaviors comparable to nudity or the F word?
xoxo,
Allie
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