Honestly, who hasn't seen an episode of Friends? This is one of those rare shows where everyone at least knows the characters and a bit about the show. It's so popular that NBC cringes at the thought of a "Friend-less" schedule.
To borrow a Friends naming scheme, this season would be "the one where the most stuff happens." Lisa Kudrow's pregnancy forced producers to have her character get pregnant. Not wanting to burden the show with a little person just yet, they had to have Phoebe get pregnant...by her brother (okay, she was just carrying his children). Rachel also chases a recently divorced man, (then boyfriend of Aniston, Tate Donovan). The season also ends with a wedding in England, and a couple of characters hook up, something that continues to the present season. Yes, lots happen in this season.
Video
Friends is broadcast in 4:3, and appears the same way on these DVDs. The colors in the picture are nice and bright, and the blacks are good, but there's something a little off with it. There's grain in quite a few scenes, and the picture looks a bit soft, and contains some minor edge enhancement. While watching this set I was bouncing between Friends and La Femme Nikita (both from Warner Bros) and found an odd pattern of noise in this set. It's not terrible, just more noticeable when you have something else to compare with.
Audio
It's rather a surprise to find a Dolby Digital 5.0 track on the set. While the track is really good, a sitcom doesn't really push the audio envelope when it comes to sound design. Yes, the audio is clear, but there rear speakers aren't used much at all; it's a dialog driven show. The missing .1 isn't missed at all; I don't know what bass would do for the show. The show is subtitled in English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Korean.
Commentary on Selected Episodes
Executive Producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane provide commentary on "The One with Chandler in a Box," "The One with the Embryos" and "The One with Ross's Wedding." Each commentary track is great! These three were great participants on the track, providing a lot of information on each episode.
Cast & Crew (1 Screen)
A single screen that lists the case and the executive producers of the show.
Friends Around The World (7:35)
We all know that Friends is popular around the world, and this featurette joins fans from Sweden and Germany, and the Japanese and German voice actors, to take a look at their Friends experience. Very cool featurette...it'd be nice to see things like this for other shows.
Friends of Friends
Over the years Friends has attracted some big names, and this special feature lists those that appeared in the fourth season along with video clips. You'll find clips for Paget Brewster, Tom Conti, Sarah Ferguson, Penn Gillette, Charlton Heston, Hugh Laurie, John Bennett Perry, Rebecca Romjin-Stamos, Jennifer Saunders, June Whitfield and Olivia Williams. Sadly, there were a few people missing from this section.
What's Up With Your Friends? ()
A section with short video clips which sum up the season for each character. Joey (1:26), Chandler (1:23), Ross (1:27), Phoebe (1:36), Rachel (1:24) and Monica (1:32).
Who Knows Whom Best? Ross's Ultimate Challenge
Oh, this is fun! Play the game from "The One With The Embryos" and test your Friends knowledge. Pick your team (men, or women) and then answer the questions to win. Whatever you do, don't get impatient and click the enter button when you shouldn't; you'll be kicked back to the special features menu (oops!).
Summary
Never having seen one of the Friends sets, I didn't quite know what to expect. My friends at Warner Bros have done some very nice work with this set. The packaging contains a brief synopsis of each episode, including the air date, episode director, and mention of any guest stars. They've also provided disc art for players that support it (disc art can be viewed when the disc is stopped). The menus are attractive, and well thought out, and there's a "play all" feature. If you're not sure which episode you want to watch, they've even provided a short (0:25-0:45) snippet for you to watch. Yes, a lot of care went into making this set.
There's no doubt in my mind that Warner Bros is making a ton of money off these sets. Take one of the most popular sitcoms ever, and give it a solid DVD release and you have yourself a winner. Warner Bros, nice job.
