52 replies to this topic

[Morning Angel]

I created this thread to talk about the DVDs and the episodes in syndication. We can also include any derived products like books and games.

New DVDs are being released this month: The One With All The Birthdays, The One With All The Weddings, and The One With All The Babies.

I know they are trying to make more money, but personally, I wish they had put more time and more extras on the original sets and sold them at a slightly higher price, if need be. I love Friends but I was pretty disappointed with the DVD sets. To be sure, I bought them because I love the episodes, and it was nice to have them in their original form (i.e., before all the syndication cuts). However, the commentaries were not particularly interesting, and besides the gag reels, most of the extras were pretty disappointing.

[Leonard Shelby]

ITA; outside of the gag reels, the box sets were a disappointment and felt like they were lazily put together, especially when compared to some of the others like Scrubs. Obviously, they weren't going to badmouth the cast, but the commentaries were bland and repetitive ("look how great it is when we have all six of them in the same room," etc.)...

[zekeburger]

Who here has the box that holds all 10 Seasons? I don't because I downloaded covers for regular DVD cases and put the DVDs in there.

[TDoc72]

*raises hand* I do, I do!

I got mine a few weeks ago (they were on back order) and it looks great. At first, I thought I wouldn't get it; my DVDs were doing just fine, perfectly capable of sitting on the shelf by themselves. But as a true Friends devotee, I had to. I now display the box on top of my audio/video cabinet.

My 5 yr old was so excited when it came. Right away, she ran and got all my DVD sets and arranged them inside.

It was $20 (10 for the box, 10 for S/H). If the box was really only $10, then it's a pretty nice box. Wood on all sides and the front is clear plastic w/the Friends (I think one of the 10th season promo pics--they are all in evening clothes walking down the street) printed on it. I'm glad they thought of this. To me, it was kind of a 'thanks for being a fan' prize. I mean, they just could've released season 10 and that would've been it.

My only nitpick would be with the season 4 DVDs. All the other seasons have the season # printed on the side on the DVDs, except 4. So, when they're all lined up, it's noticible. I have thought of trying to write one on there w/a marker, but I'd screw it up. My 5 yr old noticed it too and asked why.

If you do order it, make a copy of your order form & date it. It has a phone # on there so you can check your status. It said 6-8 weeks, but mine took about 10 or 11 and I mailed mine about 2 weeks after the release.

To my disappointment, Chandler did not come in the box. :-(

I got the playstation game 'The One With All The Trivia' too. I will post about it if anyone wants info on it.

Edited by TDoc72, Mar 17, 2006 @ 12:10 AM.

[Drew T.]

Ohhh is that season four not the most depressing thing in the world? I suppose we could argue that because it's the best season, it needs to stand out, but that might be poor justification (not because it isn't the best season...for me, it clearly is).

[JillsSophie]

If you do order it, make a copy of your order form & date it. It has a phone # on there so you can check your status. It said 6-8 weeks, but mine took about 10 or 11 and I mailed mine about 2 weeks after the release.

I attempted to order that box at the end of December and boo hoo, my check came back to me saying that they ran out. Now what to do?

[swestworld]

I've read about this on some other forums...apparently Warner Home Video didn't anticipate the demand and they were talking about making more but there isn't word yet on whether or not that's really going to happen. It may unfortunately be one of those "while supplies last" things.

If you do ever get the chance in the future to get one, I agree with TDoc72 that it really is worth the money. Nice wood box, acrylic front door with a little magnetic latch, and that beautiful promo pic screen printed on the door (I actually think it's a promo pic from the year they won the best comedy Emmy...season eight, or something?). It's really nice looking.

I guess if they ran out your only other options would be to attempt to sell your old DVD sets on Half.com or something and use the money to buy "The One With All Ten Seasons" which comes in the box.

[Morning Angel]

I didn't even realize you could buy just the box without the DVDs in them... not that it seems to be an option anymore. I already have all 10 seasons so I would love it. I might have to go hunt on ebay or something to see if it is out there.

[Miss Elisa]

I have some of the "Best of..." compilations but none of the full season sets. What episodes have commentary on the season sets? Any other extras? I'm thinking about renting or buying some. Are the commentaries interesting/funny? Thanks for any help.

[Dandesun]

Well, let's see... in Season 4 'TOW Chandler in a Box' 'TOW the Embroyos' and 'TOW Ross' Wedding' have commentary tracks. (I think there are others for that season but I'm not positive... I don't have it with me.)

Season 5 commentaries include 'The One Hundreth' 'TOW All the Thanksgivings' & 'TOW Everyone Finds Out.'

Season 7 commentaries include 'TOW the Holiday Armadillo' 'The One with Joey's New Brain & TOW Monica and Chandler's Wedding.'

Some of the seasons have gag reels, they usually have bits where they point out things in the different apartments or the Central Perk set, there are usually trivia games and stuff.

[lulu519]

Miss Elisa, I recommend buying or renting the DVDs just for the gag reels alone. Seasons 6-9 have gag reels of their respective seasons, while season 10 has one of Season 10, and then seasons 1-4 (it's weird how they don't have a Season 5 gag reel). I find the outtakes to be absolutely hilarious. It's so obvious by watching the gag reels how much the cast really enjoyed their jobs, enjoyed working with each other, and how much fun they had doing it. I wish I had such a fun job.

As Dandesun said, there are commentaries on each of the dvds, although I don't find them particularly interesting. It's usually Marta Kaufman, David Crane and Kevin Bright (it stinks that none of the actors are on the commentary tracks, I would love to hear what they have to say about some of the episodes), and you can totally tell that neither of them is in the same room, which is highly annoying.

There are also added scenes in almost every episode. They're just weaved into the episode, so there's no menu to pick "deleted scenes" or something like that, which I actually like better because sometimes when you watch "deleted scenes" they seem really random and out of place. But on the Friends dvds, they're just in the episode, so you can still spot them if you're an obsessed fan, but they don't seem out of place or jarring.

Edited by lulu519, Mar 20, 2006 @ 8:15 PM.

[tribema]

As Dandesun said, there are commentaries on each of the dvds, although I don't find them particularly interesting. It's usually Marta Kaufman, David Crane and Kevin Bright (it stinks that none of the actors are on the commentary tracks, I would love to hear what they have to say about some of the episodes), and you can totally tell that neither of them is in the same room, which is highly annoying.

Word, I find the commentaries to be consistently disappointing. They hardly ever criticize anything about the show other than minor things [not as though I expect them either to say how awful Le Blanc is in a scene but there's middle ground] and seem blissfully unaware about some of its flaws - a little self-deprecation goes a long way in my books. They're a waste of time.

My favorite feature was generally the Friends of Friends featurettes. But then I have a guest star fetish and and always enjoyed hearing the opinions of the actors themselves [even if they were also light on any criticism] especially after a lot of time has passed since their stint [OMG, Lauren Tom! Etc.].

[Miss Elisa]

A guest star feature called "Friends of Friends"?!? That just happens to be the name of an unofficial club my friends and I started up at college. Unfortunately, we were denied funding. Nonetheless, the club lives on with homemade t-shirts we made, using the logo available for the finale on the nbc.com website ("I partied with Friends. 5-[??]-04").

Edited by Miss Elisa, Mar 21, 2006 @ 1:23 PM.

[Morning Angel]

There are about 3 commentaries per season but honestly, you don't learn much. What was interesting to watch in the extras though was a 40-minute feature on how they put together an episode from the writing room to post-production. It's on the 4th DVD in the S5 set, and it follows the episode "TO After Vegas".

[zekeburger]

Since this thread is about syndication, I thought I would post this here.

My local NBC affiliate, WOOD-TV 8, is replacing Friends at 7:30 starting Monday night with Access Hollywood. Just what I want, another vapid celebrity-driven show that gives us the latest on Brangelina and who Lindsay Lohan is shacking up with.

Yes, I own the DVDs, but it's nice once in a while to sit down and watch it without putting in the DVD and using the commercial break to do other stuff.

Boo to Channel 8 for dropping Friends.

Edited by zekeburger, Jun 7, 2006 @ 8:42 PM.

[mirandasue133]

Hey, zekeburger, is that WOOD-TV 8 in West Michigan? If so, I'm so pissed. I loved watching reruns of Friends at 7:30 sometimes when I was too lazy to pull out the DVDs.

[zekeburger]

Hey, zekeburger, is that WOOD-TV 8 in West Michigan? If so, I'm so pissed. I loved watching reruns of Friends at 7:30 sometimes when I was too lazy to pull out the DVDs.

Yes it is. I would watch tonight to see the crawl that they run across the bottom of the screen to let people know.

This bites!

[LizDC]

Friends DVD news

[zekeburger]

Friends DVD news

I suspect the big news will be a box set with the complete series in it along with never before seen features. Hopefully, it comes out before Novmeber 4th so I can get it for my best friend and his fiancee for their wedding.

Edited by zekeburger, Jun 9, 2006 @ 1:48 PM.

[Morning Angel]

I'll be peeved if they add all these new features when I paid so much for each set, and there were not too many extras. Ugh.

[english toffee]

DVDs in general are the biggest scam ever, even though I always fall for it. I've only bought one season so far and I'm reluctant to buy a second.

[swestworld]

I know. I especially hate that kind of double dipping, since the people it punishes most are the ones who were big enough fans that they actually bought the DVDs as the individual sets came out.

[Morning Angel]

DVDs in general are the biggest scam ever, even though I always fall for it.

I love rewatching the episodes so much so I didn't really care if there weren't many extras on the DVDs. It was worth for me to own the episodes as they originally aired, and be able to watch them whenever I wanted. As swestworld mentions, it is the double-dipping and repackaging that I find to be really annoying and uncool. Fans who make DVD sales a success are then penalized because they are expected to buy another set to get trinkets? I enjoy Friends, but I'm not so gullible as to give Warner Bros another 200$ (or whatever they will charge) for almost the same product. There has always been an overmerchandizing of Friends that annoyed to no end. I never bought anything save for the DVDs and one poster.

[zekeburger]

Apparently, my local Fox affiliate is broadcasting Friends at 6:30 in the evening. That is Fox 17, WXMI here in West Michigan.

My cable guide hasn't caught the change yet, but I saw it on while I flipping through thinking that it was going to Seinfeld. It was the episode where Ross and Carol and Susan go to dinner at the Asian place and Susan has to leave.

[Drew T.]

Must be a Fox thing then because I live in South Carolina and Fox Carolina aired that same episode yesterday at 6:30.

[Bloody_Priceless]

Quick heads-up: Futureshop.ca has all 10 season dvds on for $19.99 each.

Edited by Bloody_Priceless, Jul 10, 2006 @ 3:24 PM.

[Shoosh]

Friends - The One With The Complete Series - Again

I am so upset about this. I already own all 10 seasons and the collector's box but I really want this. I'm thinking of selling all the seasons on eBay, keeping the box, and putting the new set in there. I still think I'll end up losing at least $100, though, so I don't know what to do. This sucks.

[Drew T.]

That makes me absolutely sick. Very cool stuff in there with the pilot pitch and all. But no way I'm forking over $300.

[Erik B]

What the hell? They could have at least included cast commentaries or other different features. The only thing that sounds good is the book.

[Erik B]

Sorry.

Edited by Erik B, Jul 20, 2006 @ 11:21 AM.