The Top Ten Best F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Episodes

Well, if you read my Top Ten Best TV Show post then you already know by now that I am a Friends fanatic. Fa-na-tic. It’s a problem really.

So it makes sense that I should make a list of the best episodes of this fabulous fabulous show.

This was no easy task.

My list of potential top tens topped off at 21. And that was with major cuts. But I managed to get this list down to ten, for the convenience of all my adoring fans (you should be imagining crickets right about now).

10.) The One with The Cheap Wedding Dresses

Season 7, Episode 17

I don’t know if the appeal of this episode is based on my love of both wedding dresses and discounts, or if it is the actual humor displayed in all of Monica’s crazy antics, but I really love this episode. All of the girls really shine in this episode. The other plot line in this episode is pretty good as well. It’s not one of the best, but it is funny. It’s super weird to me that this one only has two major plot lines happening. Almost every episode has three. But it does work well for the episode. I highly recommend it.

9.) The One Where No One’s Ready

Season 3, Episode 2

Not everyone knows this about me, but I sleep to tv every night. This is actually one of the reasons Friends is so near and dear to my heart; I used to fall asleep to it every night as a kid. Anyway, in college I had roommates so I couldn’t just leave the tv on, and I would watch tv on my iPod with headphones, but I only had like eight friends episodes on my iPod and that was it. This was one of those episodes. So while I already know every episode freakishly well, this one I know frontwards and backwards, every line, down to the t. And I still think it’s funny. Also: if you have only seen this episode on tv, you are really missing something, because the dvd version (iTunes works too) has a lot more fantastic jokes.

8.) The One with Unagi

Season 6, Episode 17

Ahhhhh, salmon skin roll. There is a possibility that I tried sushi because of this episode, not gonna lie. I’m not a huge fan of the other two plot lines happening in this episode, but the unagi parts are so strong it still remains as one of the best episodes. Also: I almost never think of Ross as a favorite character, actually if asked before this I probably would have said he was my least favorite of the six, but like half or more of my favorite parts have involved Ross, so maybe I should give him more credit than I do. Something to consider…

7.) The One with the Football

Season 3, Episode 9

This one is so classic. I love a good episode where all six of them are together for the whole episode. This episode is really great if you’re into more slapstick, physical comedy. My little sisters love this one. I used a clip from this episode on my top ten tv show post, because this episode is so accessible, and doesn’t require a lot of prior knowledge about the show, so it’s funny to everyone.

6.) The One with the Routine

Season 6, Episode 10

You a fool if you don’t love The Routine. It is so so hilarious. I love when Monica and Ross are total dorks together. Also: this episode has my love, Lex Medlin, of Drop Dead Diva, in it, and although he’s not quite as adorable when he’s young (and acting like kind of a jerk), I still love any time that I get to see him. This episode also has my favorite Christmas blurb (because they never do whole Christmas episodes, darn them!), which is the opening where they are decorating the tree. I am the Monica of that scene, at least, I like to think that I am.

5.) The One Where Phoebe Runs

Season 6, Episode 7

Let’s all give three cheers for Season Six, the season with the most Top Ten episodes. I always knew it was my favorite. It also has more than one of my runners-up, which is a fantastic segway into the topic of this episode: running. Dear goodness, I don’t even remember what else happens in this episode, and I do not care. Phoebe runs. And it is the best thing ever. Except maybe Phoebe’s explanation of why she runs the way she does. That is also fabulous. I would run with Phoebe just for the laughs, and I hate running.

4.) The One with Chandler in a Box

Season 4, Episode 8

I don’t even want to talk about anything else: Monica’s rant is one of the best moments of this show, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about get on Netflix, and watch this episode now.

3.) The One with Ross’s Inappropriate Song

Season 9, Episode 7

This is one of only two episodes on here that is not titled after my favorite plot line. Don’t get me wrong: Ross’s inappropriate song is great. It’s a very funny plot line, and I think it’s very indicative of the compromises we make in parenting. However: the highlight of this episode is truly Phoebe meeting Mike’s parents. It is so so funny. She is so adorable, and everyone in those scenes just does a great job completely selling it. It’s a must see.

2.) The One Where Everybody Finds Out

Season 5, Episode 14

Okay, so I know everybody else loves the whole “well they don’t know we know you know we know” part of this episode, and again, I love that too, but my favorite favorite part of this episode is right after the above picture, when Phoebe and Rachel distract Ross from the window and he does that little jump-scream thing. This is another example of how I am discovering that I am very entertained by Ross. Who knew?

1.) The One Where Rachel Quits

Season 3, Episode 10

The picture is very deceptive, it looks like Phoebe is yawning. She’s not. She’s screaming. It’s my favorite part of the whole series. I’m not going to explain what it is just in case you haven’t seen it. If this is the case, get on Netflix and watch it now please. Also: it’s super frustrating that this episode is titled after Rachel’s quitting, because that is without a doubt the most boring of the three plot lines. The other two are superb. Fantastic. I love them. Watch it.

There were many, many runners up for this list, and really, if you haven’t watched this show you really should just watch the whole series. Now, if you are already a fan and looking for some good episodes to rewatch, then this is more of a suggestion for you. Anyway, the runners-up are as follows: The One with All the Cheesecakes (S7, E11), The One with the Thumb (S1, E3), The One with the Birth (S1, E23), The One Where Eddie Won’t Go (S2, E19), The One with the Ball (S5, E21), The One with All the Resolutions (S5, E11), The One with Ross’s Sandwich (S5, E9), The One Where Ross Moves In (S5, E7), The One Where Paul’s the Man (S6, E22), and The One with The Ring (S6, E23).

Top Ten Musical Artists

Did anyone see the Billboard Music Awards? I mean, I know someone saw them. I’m not an idiot. But did anyone reading this see them? You know what? Nevermind, that really wasn’t the point.

So, I watched the Billboard Music Awards a couple days ago, and I was mildly amused by them. I like watching the dancing and singing and such. And then at the end they had an award for the Top Artist, and as it turns out I like most of those artists. That got me thinking about who my favorite singers are, and we all know I love a good top ten, so I had the idea for a Top Ten Artist list. Here it is:

10.) Taylor Swift

Best Song: Shake it Off

Best Album: 1989

So, if this were a year ago and 1989 hadn’t come out yet Taylor definitely would not have made this list. Now, I’ve never been a Taylor-hater, although I am good friends with a couple, but I’ve also never been like her number one fan. But 1989 was good. It was exceptionally good. It is not often that an artist makes an entire album of good music. Usually you give it all a listen (if you like them enough) you find three songs, four if you’re lucky, that you like and the rest get lost in the shuffle. That’s what happened with all of Taylor’s previous album. But not this one. This one was so good that she has been bumped up into one of the ten best artists in my opinion. Side note: although it is not a factor in making this list, I also really appreciate the way she presents herself. She is always modest and classy, and I love how much she can laugh at herself.

9.) Norah Jones

Best Song: Cold Cold Heart

Best Album: Come Away with Me

I know that Cold Cold Heart is a weird choice for best song. I almost went for The Nearness of You, which is much more universally acceptable, but there is something about Cold Cold Heart that I just really love. Now, to be completely honest, I’m really only familiar with Norah Jones’ albums Come Away with Me and Feels Like Home. I’m pretty sure her other albums stunk, but I don’t know this for certain. But those two albums are just so lovely and comforting to me. Now, this could be because my mom used to play Norah all the time when I was a kid, but it could just be a Norah thing. Either way, I love her.

8.) Justin Timberlake

Best Song: Pusher Love Girl

Best Album: The Experience

Apparently my favorite song is always on my favorite album… Sorry about that… So two things about Pusher Love Girl, 1- I will always, always, always refer to it as “Pusher Lover Girl,” I don’t know why, 2- Personally I have the song set to start at 0:31 and end at 4:53, because it is ridiculously long. I deeply considered Drink You Away and Signs for the number one slot, but Pusher Lover Girl is more precious in my heart. This is another album where just every single song is good. All of them. And the real anomally with JT is that I never ever get sick of any of the songs on The Experience… except Take Back the Night, which is a really good song, but for whatever reason it’s the only one I got sick of. Anyway, I highly suggest it. It is probably the longest album of all time because he released it in three parts and most of the songs are eight minutes long, but it is so worth it.

7.) Michael Jackson

Best Song: Black Or White, AND The Way You Make Me Feel

Best Album: Bad

Michael Jackson is the king of pop and he changed music forever, blah blah blah, you all know the story. Can we talk about this music video? Like, I have loved this song forever and I know every word, but I had never seen the video until just now. It is crazy. I mean, first of all, who knew Macaulay Culkin was in a Michael Jackson music video?!?! Second of all, this kids parents don’t notice Macaulay Culkin (credited as “blonde kid” by the way) setting up this huge speaker system? And then of course the dad lands in Africa, because that would totally happen. But none of the things that are happening anything to do with the words of the song, except I guess showing the different countries…. And oh, my, goodness, the graphics…. So bad… But to put the cherry on the top of the sundae, they have the faces that meld into one another at the end.That is just about the creepiest thing I have ever seen. I love it. It’s so fabulous.And Tyra Banks was a melding face and I love that too. Oh! and how relieved were you when they panned out at the end and she wasn’t naked?! Thank goodness.

6.) Beyoncé

Best Song: Love on Top

Best Album: Beyoncé

Okay, I had a deep internal struggle here about what song to make number one. Here’s the thing: if I’m in a mood where I just really want to listen to some Queen Bey, I do not mean that I want to listen to Love on Top. I mean that I want to listen to Partition, and Get Me Bodied, and Flawless. But, Love on Top is a better song than all of those songs. Love on Top is an absolutely wonderful little diddy, and it is the only Yoncé video where I can even come close to learning the dance moves; I know this because my college roommate and I actually tried many of them. Anyway, of course Queen Bey is fantastic and totally deserving of a spot in the top 10. I can’t pin down exactly what it is about her that is so wonderful, except just that she is fabulous and she makes you feel fabulous. If you don’t think that’s true try taking a drive by yourself while blasting Partition, you’ll feel awesome, and then you’ll totally get it. Although be advised, Partition is ridiculously graphic; do not play it in front of children or the faint of heart.

5.) Miranda Lambert

Best Song: Kerosene

Best Album: Kerosene

If you ask me, I will always say that my spirit animal is Miranda Lambert. I love her. She’s spunky, and strong, and kind of angry. Apparently I have this thing where I really like angry songs. I think it’s because it is the emotion I feel the least often, and it is therefore exotic and interesting/hilarious to me. Miranda has a lot of angry songs, and I love them all. Now, I would assume that most people’s favorite Miranda Lambert song is Mama’s Broken Heart, and it is probably the best introduction to Miranda Lambert song. It’s the song that brought me to her. And it is a very good song, but it’s good the way like a one-hit-wonder is good. It’s catchy, and funny, and really fun to listen to, but then it gets old after a while. Kerosene doesn’t get old ever. It’s like it drank from the fountain of youth or sniffed that glowing flower from Tangled. Although I think the video kind of sucks. My other favorite Miranda songs are Me and Charlie Talking and Fastest Girl in Town. Oh, unless I’m driving, then my favorite is New Strings. Try listening to it on a road trip; it just feels right.

4.) Ed Sheeran

Best Song: Thinking Out Loud

Best Album: Both of them. Seriously.

I’m not usually the person who is mad when everyone starts liking a song that they liked way before everyone else, but it super pisses me off how popular Thinking Out Loud got. I mean, Ed totally deserves all the popularity, but it was like my special song, I mean, it is probably in my top three favorite songs of all time, and now everyone likes it and when I say that it is my favorite Ed Sheeran song it sounds like I’m not a true Ed Sheeran fan. I am. Oh trust me I am. I would marry that man in a second. I could do without a tan on my left hand where my fourth finger meets my knuckle. Anyway, my other favorites are Drunk, U.N.I, and Wake Me Up. And Tenerife Sea. Oh my gosh and all of the rest of them. Ed Sheeran is the best.

3.) The Beatles

Best Song: I’m Looking Through You, AND Blackbird

Best Album: Abbey Road

It was more stressful for me than it should have been to pick a favorite Beatles song. HOW DO YOU PICK A FAVORITE?! They are all so good and so different. I ended up going with my gut. Now, best album is a whole different story. Without a doubt, Abbey Road is my favorite Beatles’ album. I grew up on Abbey Road, and I love every single song. Yes, this includes both Maxwell’s Silver Hammer and Mean Mr. Mustard. Octopus’ Garden was deeply considered for my favorite song. Also: I would like to say that until I was writing the Ed Sheeran part of this post I had planned on making The Beatles number one on this list. Objectively, going solely off what I think is the highest quality music, they are number one. However, I don’t turn on and listen to The Beatles nearly as much as basically every other artist on this list. So, I decided I just had to bump The Beatles a little. Sad day.

2.) Ke$ha

Best Song: Blow

Best Album: Warrior

I know that most people will scoff at Ke$ha being on this list at all, much less in the number two spot, and above The Beatles, but what can I say, Ke$ha is my girl. Now, I objectively think that Blow is Ke$ha’s best song, but there are two reasons I decided to put up the Stephan video instead: 1- I already posted the Blow video in my Top Ten Kesha Songs post, 2- I personally like Stephen more than Blow, and it get’s less attention so I wanted to give it some attention. Ke$ha’s songs are really the kind of songs you don’t get sick of, like all of them are. Most songs that I listen to I get sick of and I can’t listen to them for several months at least, but Ke$ha, I usually end up replacing her songs with newer ones on my playlist, but I still go back all the time and listen to her music. It doesn’t get old. Also her songs are hilarious. I think she’s a secret-genius, and I think that she is totally purposeful in her crazy and she’s just having fun. I love her.

1.) Otis Redding

Best Song: Try a Little Tenderness

Best Album: The Dictionary of Soul

Try a Little Tenderness is my all time favorite song. I’ve heard it about five billion times, and I still get chills listening to it, granted I do usually listen to it when I’m in more of a sentimental-type mood, but nonetheless. I’m trying to come up with words to explain what makes Otis Redding so great but if you don’t get it, then I don’t know if you will. I feel like Ke$ha is someone that you might not like at first but then it clicks at some point, but Otis, Otis is either part of your soul or he’s not. He is most definitely part of mine.

*I’m sorry that none of these songs go together at all and my taste is so weirdly varied. Particularly in the top five. Shockingly, I actually kept it pretty tame in this regard for me.

There were many, many runners up for this list, but the ones that came the closest to making it were as follows: John Legend, Billy Joel, Band Perry, Jack Johnson, Megan Trainor, Lionel Richie, Bruno Mars, and Lady Gaga.

Top Ten TV Shows

I really wish there was a word for “shows” that started with a T….. All aboard the alliteration station!

Anyway, here’s the deal: I can’t stop watching Cutthroat Kitchen. Therefore, I cannot write about anything that doesn’t have TV involved. Because then my focus might leave Cutthroat Kitchen more than I’m ready for it to. So here is my Top Ten Best Television Shows list.

10. Cutthroat Kitchen*

            

Well, as you read, I love Cutthroat Kitchen. I made it number ten because I just started watching it yesterday, and it doesn’t seem fair to make it higher just because it’s the show with which I am currently obsessed. But it really is great. I love the strategy, the snobbery, the sabotage. But mostly I love the food. I love to watch them try to figure out how to make the food with all their sabotages. Some of them make it work so well and some of them really don’t. It is so exciting.

9. Fixer Upper

            

So as much as I love food shows, I think I love house shows a little more. A lot of house shows are good; I’m a big fan of House Hunters and Love it or List it. But none of them even approach the goodness of Fixer Upper. Now, before you start singing the Frozen song, which I definitely do get stuck in my head every time I watch this show, this show has nothing to do with Frozen. This show is all in Texas, and there is this freakin adorable married couple, I mean, they are so adorable they could be the show in and of themselves, but then on top of that they go house hunting with their customers and they go to three different houses, like House Hunters, but they go to one house that is basically turn-key (ready to move in), one that needs a little work, and one that is a “fixer-upper.” At each house they talk about what kind of changes they would make and about how much it would cost. Then the people decide which house they want (and I always hope they pick the fixer upper because that is what will make their talent really shine), and then the married couple goes in and makes all the changes they said they would make. That part of the show is a lot like Extreme Home Makeover, but without going absolutely insane. They are just simple and classy. I love it. It is so great.

8. Girl Code

           

Ahhhh! I love Girl Code!!! It’s a tad bit (or a lot, not HBO a lot, but it is MTV) inappropriate, but it’s just so funny and fabulous. I love the Girl Code girls, they are hilarious. I follow a bunch of them on Twitter and they are hilarious there as well. It is hard to explain what is so great about it, but luckily, this clip is significantly better than the previous two clips.

7. Parks and Recreation*

           

Parks and Recreation is just so flipping cute. I tend to lump together The Office, Parks and Recreation, and 30 Rock as all similar types of shows. They are like Spanish, French, and Italian. 30 Rock is probably number 11 on my list of tv shows, it came sooooo close to making the list, but it just didn’t quite pass mustard. This is mostly because I feel like it’s not very accessible to the general public, it’s a weird sort of humor that in order to enjoy one must have a refined humor palette. Parks and Recreation is not the same however. Parks and Recreation is quite accessible. This is because the shining factor of Parks and Recreation is the characters. There is such strong character development in Parks and Recreation. You grow to love the characters more than probably any other show ever. They are all delightful and I love all the characters; they are great.

6. Heroes*

         

I credit not quite passing 8th Grade math to Heroes. I was quite quite obsessed with the show, and I would spend math class making charts and things about the characters and their powers and trying to figure out the mysteries of the show. This may not have been my most shining moment, but since I was kind of a school-obsessed nerd all throughout my schooling this should show you how good this show is. Now, I don’t really recommend the show past season one. Season two was okay, after season two it’s bad. But season one is fantastic and it wraps up nicely at the end so you really don’t have to watch past season one to feel satisfied.

5. So You Think You Can Dance

        

You can go ahead and skip to 0:30. This is the only show with the American-Idol-type format that I watch. Those shows are usually not my kind of thing. But So You Think You Can Dance is so high quality. The dancing is fantastic. The clip above is not necessarily my absolute favorite dance from the show. I don’t think I could pick a favorite dance even if I wanted to. However, this dance is the first dance that truly opened my eyes to dance. It opened my eyes to beauty, and how to perceive beauty, and how dance can convey beauty. I still cry a little bit when I watch this clip. Of course, So You Think You Can Dance isn’t all beautiful dances like this, there are some great hip hop ones, and fun ballroom, and sexy ballroom, and poppy Broadway, and they are all good in their own way and I love all of them, but I am partial to the beautiful ones.

4. Arrested Development*

        

It took me years to actually watch Arrested Development. My friends kept telling me I would love it. Then finally about a year ago, it was when Netflix came out with the fourth season, I watched them all from the beginning. Oh my dear goodness. They are so good. I think I’ve seen all of the first three seasons five or six times now, and they literally just keep getting more funny. There are so many jokes and most of them are running jokes, so like guaranteed your second time watching it will be better than the first, because you’ll pick up a lot more, but there are so many layers of jokes that each time you pick up something new. That being said, I don’t think I liked the first 7-9 episodes. Even rewatching it, the first two are pretty meh. So, if you haven’t seen it, watch it, and stick it out. Because it is so so good. But I also must say that I am not a big fan of the new season. I like the original three before it was canceled and brought back. But you should really watch those. It is so intelligently written and it has both wit-type humor and screwball comedy, so it’s pretty accessible to different types of people. The clip above is probably the biggest travesty on the internet, because that is seriously the best clip I could find on YouTube after looking for like 40 minutes, and that clip is so-so. Therefore, you just need to watch it.

3. The Office*

        

The Office is also a show where you need to stick out the first season. I think it’s a weird mix of the first season not being quite as good and needing to acclimate yourself to the type of humor that is The Office. But, it is so so great. It is hilarious, and there is fantastic character development, and it is the only show that has made me cry from happiness. Not only is it the only show to do that, but it has done that to me several times. That is good TV. Plus they are all on Netflix, so you could have yourself a fabulous binge-fest because there are like nine seasons. Forewarning though: the final season is very different from the rest. I do not think it is bad, in fact, I think The Office has the best finale episode of like any tv show I’ve watched, but it is quite different from the rest of the series and it needs to be watched in full (just the final season) before it can really be appreciated.

2. Gilmore Girls*

        

Where they lead, I will follow. Gilmore Girls is soooooooo great. I think it’s the only drama I have on the list here. It’s not very dramatic for a drama, but it definitely isn’t a sitcom. Anyway, there is a lot of charm in Gilmore Girls. I mean, the whole show is basically wit wrapped up in charm, and both wit and charm are like my favorite things ever. I’ve seen every episode several times over (although this is true of all of my top three shows, top four if you don’t count the new season of Arrested Development). I don’t particularly care for the last two seasons of Gilmore Girls, but I don’t hate them. I’m watching the final season right now, it’s not bad, it’s better than a lot of other shows, but it is not up to par with the first five seasons of Gilmore Girls. I credit this to Amy Sherman Palladino leaving the show. She’s the best. The absolute best.

1. Friends* 

        

One facet of my personality that I like to keep on the down low is that I am a Friends fanatic. I would like to say that I just really love the show and I’ve seen them all and it’s great. But no, it is about five thousand steps further than that. I’ve read books about the show. I have trivia cards (that I got in the fourth grade) about the show. I have Friends Scene It, at which I dominate. It’s almost a sickness. It has gotten better in the past few years. My college friends, besides one, didn’t really watch Friends, so I toned down the references quite a bit, like my self control was kind of amazing, and I haven’t watched the whole series through in like a year, so that’s pretty good for me. I probably couldn’t like recite episodes the way I used to be able to, but I did have that ability at one point in my life. There are so many shows out there that are in the style of Friends, that have clearly tried to copy Friends, and I’ll be honest, I like most of them. I like How I Met Your Mother. I like Will & Grace. But they aren’t Friends. Friends is the reigning king of sitcoms, and it always will be. It’s just better.

*It’s on Netflix, so either watch it now, or get Netflix! It’s a necessity at this point.