The One Where Ross Can't Flirt

Last updated
"The One Where Ross Can't Flirt"
Friends episode
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 19
Directed by Gail Mancuso
Written byDoty Abrams
Production code467669
Original air dateApril 22, 1999 (1999-04-22)
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The One Where Rachel Smokes"		Next →
"The One with the Ride-Along"
Friends season 5
List of episodes

"The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" is the nineteenth episode of Friends ' fifth season. It first aired on NBC in the United States on April 22, 1999. In the episode, Monica and Chandler celebrate their ten-month anniversary as a couple by going out. Chandler wants Monica to wear the pair of earrings he bought her as a present, unaware she lent them to Phoebe whom in turn gave them to Rachel, who accidentally lost one. Meanwhile, Ross sees Chandler flirting with the pizza girl Caitlin, and decides to follow his example, with disastrous results. Joey lands a part in Law & Order ; his grandmother comes over to New York to watch his part. However, when he discovers his part has been cut out, Joey improvises by recording a scene on a video tape and putting it into the VCR.

Contents

Plot

Chandler, dressed up for his and Monica's ten-month anniversary, picks up some pizzas that delivery girl Caitlin has brought for the group, but Ross mistakes his friend's natural jokes for flirting, which Chandler denies. Phoebe points out that the real reason Ross is mad is because he finds Caitlin attractive, and Ross takes the opportunity to flirt with her when he finds a missing vegetarian pizza for Phoebe. Ross makes inappropriate comments to Caitlin and saddened by his effort, he orders another pizza and practices flirting with Phoebe. Caitlin arrives with the pizza, but Ross screws up the flirting again, ending up talking to her about gas and methane. He scares her so much that she pays for the pizza herself and flees the apartment. Out of pity for Ross, Rachel catches up with Caitlin and tries to talk her into going out with Ross. Rachel returns to the apartment and gives Ross Caitlin's phone number.

Meanwhile, Joey introduces everyone to his Italian grandmother, who is deeply intent on seeing her grandson debut on Law & Order . As she does not speak a word of English, they find it difficult to communicate with her, except for Phoebe, who manages to offer her a glass of water in Italian. The TV show starts, but Joey finds out that he has been cut out of it. Desperate not to shock his grandmother, he records a crude clip of himself on tape at his apartment in a crime scene where he holds his duck hostage. But the clip is good enough for Nonni – until the tape continues rolling, showing Chandler sing "Space Oddity" in front of the camera.

Monica, getting dressed for the big anniversary date, asks Phoebe to return the earrings that Chandler bought her, which Phoebe borrowed some time ago. It turns out, however, that Phoebe lent the same earrings to Rachel, who has lost one of them. Phoebe tells her how the earrings are Monica's, which makes Rachel flip out because she is not allowed to borrow Monica's stuff as she ends up losing it. Fearing that Monica will kill her if she finds out, Phoebe takes the blame instead of Rachel, but Monica is understanding with her. Rachel steps in and explains everything to Monica, who immediately loses it with Rachel. Monica ends up wearing another pair of earrings, which luckily for her, Chandler doesn't notice. Monica and Chandler leave for dinner, and Chandler thanks Ross for the earrings he picked up for Monica.

Production

"The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" was written by Doty Abrams, her first writing credit of the season.[ citation needed ] The episode was directed by Gail Mancuso. Kristin Dattilo and Lilyan Chauvin guest-starred as Caitlin, the pizza delivery girl and Joey's grandmother respectively.

Cultural references

The Law & Order episode being watched by the friends is clearly "Agony". During breaks in the friends' dialogue, the TV is audible, including Jack McCoy mentioning the name of the suspect (Bergstrom) and Abbie Carmichael discussing her links to the Houston D.A.'s office. The times during which the TV is visible also confirm that "Agony" is playing.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" finished first in ratings for the week of April 19–25, 1999, with a Nielsen rating of 14.4. It was the highest rated show on the NBC network that week. [1] In the United Kingdom the episode premiered on Sky1 on May 13, 1999 and was watched by 1.73 million viewers, making the program the most watched on the channel that week. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joey Tribbiani</span> Fictional character from the American sitcoms Friends and Joey

Joseph Francis Tribbiani Jr. is a fictional character, serving as one of the primary characters of the NBC sitcom Friends and the protagonist of its spin-off Joey. He is portrayed by Matt LeBlanc in both series.

"The One with George Stephanopoulos" is the fourth episode of the first season of the NBC television series Friends. The fourth episode of the show overall, it was first broadcast on October 13, 1994. The episode was directed by James Burrows and written by Alexa Junge. This episode is the first of many that splits the gang into two separate stories based on gender. The guys go to a hockey game, where Ross gets hit in the face with a hockey puck. The rest of the evening is spent in the ER, where a surly receptionist gets her nose broken when the puck goes flying. Meanwhile, the girls, sparked by celebrations over Rachel's first paycheck, spy on George Stephanopoulos, then President Clinton's top aide, which culminates in them seeing Stephanopoulos nude.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandler Bing</span> Fictional character from the American sitcom Friends

Chandler Muriel Bing is a fictional character from the NBC sitcom Friends, portrayed by the late Matthew Perry. Chandler was born to Nora Tyler Bing, an erotic romance novelist, and Charles Bing, a gay female impersonator and star of a Las Vegas drag show called "Viva Las Gay-gas" as Helena Handbasket. Chandler is of Scottish and Swedish descent. He is an only child and is apparently from an affluent family. His parents announced their divorce to him over Thanksgiving dinner when Chandler was nine years old, an event which traumatized him, and he refuses to celebrate the holiday as an adult. It is revealed in season 2 that he went to an all-boys high school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross Geller</span> Fictional character from the American sitcom Friends

Ross Geller, portrayed by David Schwimmer, is one of the six main characters of the NBC sitcom Friends. Ross is considered by many to be the most intelligent member of the group and is noted for his goofy but lovable demeanor. His relationship with Rachel Green was included in TV Guide's list of the best TV couples of all time, as well as Entertainment Weekly's "30 Best 'Will They/Won't They?' TV Couples". Kevin Bright, who was one of the executive producers of the show, had worked with Schwimmer before, so the writers were already developing Ross's character in Schwimmer's voice. Hence, Schwimmer was the first person to be cast on the show.

"The One with Unagi" is the seventeenth episode of Friends' sixth season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on February 24, 2000.

"The One with the Flashback" is the sixth episode of Friends' third season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on October 31, 1996.

"The One with the Jellyfish" is the first episode of Friends' fourth season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on September 25, 1997.

"The One with the Cop" is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of Friends and the 113th overall. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on February 25, 1999.

"The One with the Morning After" is the sixteenth episode of the third season of the American television situation comedy Friends and 64th overall, which aired on NBC on February 20, 1997. The plot, which is darker than most Friends episodes, centers on Ross dealing with the repercussions of sleeping with another woman hours after he and Rachel took a break.

"The One Where Ross Got High" is the ninth episode of Friends' sixth season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on November 25, 1999.

"The One Where Everybody Finds Out" is the fourteenth episode of Friends' fifth season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on February 11, 1999. In the episode, Phoebe Buffay discovers that Monica Geller and Chandler Bing are secretly dating, and decides to "mess" with them by pretending to flirt with Chandler. Meanwhile, Ross Geller learns that "Ugly Naked Guy" is subletting his apartment and applies for it. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Ross witnessing Monica and Chandler having sex through a window, which would be resolved in the next episode.

"The Last One", also known as "The One Where They Say Goodbye", is the series finale of the television sitcom Friends. The episode serves as the seventeenth and eighteenth episode of the tenth season and the 235th and the 236th episode overall; the episode's two parts were classified as two separate episodes. It was written by series creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman, and directed by executive producer Kevin S. Bright. The series finale first aired on NBC in the United States on May 6, 2004, when it was watched by 52.5 million viewers, making it the most watched entertainment telecast in six years and the fifth most watched overall television series finale in U.S. history as well as the most watched episode from any television series throughout the decade 2000s on U.S. television. In Canada, the finale aired simultaneously on May 6, 2004, on Global, and was viewed by 5.16 million viewers, becoming the second-highest viewed episode of the series.

"The One with the Girl Who Hits Joey" is the fifteenth episode of Friends' fifth season, and the 112th overall. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on February 18, 1999.

"The One in Vegas" is a double length episode of Friends' fifth season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on May 20, 1999, as the finale of season five.

"The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding" is a double length episode of the television sitcom Friends. It first aired on May 17, 2001 as the finale of season seven. It is usually broadcast in a one-hour slot and presented on DVD as one complete episode, but when the episodes are split the two parts are differentiated by the suffixes Part 1 and Part 2. For his guest appearance, Gary Oldman was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.

"The One with Ross's Inappropriate Song" is the seventh episode of Friends' ninth season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on November 14, 2002.

"The One Where Rachel Has a Baby" is the double-length finale of the eighth season of Friends. It first aired on NBC on May 16, 2002. In the episode, Rachel spends 21 hours in labor, and watches many of her roommates, including Janice giving birth before her. Monica and Chandler decided to have a baby, Judy wants Ross to propose to Rachel, Phoebe flirts with a patient at the hospital, and Rachel accidentally thinks Joey proposed to her.

"The One with All the Cheesecakes" is the eleventh episode of Friends' seventh season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on January 4, 2001.

"The One After 'I Do'" is the first episode of Friends' eight season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on September 27, 2001.

References

  1. ↑ "WEEK'S TV RATINGS". San Francisco Chronicle . 28 April 1999. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "Weekly Top 10 Programmes". barb.co.uk. Retrieved 14 April 2012. Note: Information is in the section titled "w/e 16 May 1999", listed under Sky 1
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.