Friends (season 1)

The first season of Friends, an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994. Friends was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. The season contains 24 episodes and concluded airing on May 18, 1995.

Season synopsis

This season introduces the six main characters: Rachel Green, Monica Geller, Phoebe Buffay, Joey Tribbiani, Chandler Bing and Ross Geller. Rachel, who left her fiancé at the altar on her wedding day, has come to New York and ends up living with Monica. It is established early on in the season that Ross has been in love with Rachel since the two characters attended high school. Several episodes revolve around his attempts to tell her how he feels. Meanwhile, Ross's estranged lesbian ex-wife, Carol, is pregnant with his baby. This puts Ross and Carol's lesbian life partner, Susan, in an awkward position. Due to the loneliness, Ross gets a capucin monkey who he names Marcel. When the baby is born at the end of the season, Ross, Carol, and Susan agree to name him Ben after a name tag on a janitor's uniform worn by Phoebe. The episodic nature of the season sees the characters learning moral lessons about life and having multiple dates, many of which go wrong, yet each episode still ended happily. The recurring character of Janice is introduced as a girlfriend Chandler breaks up with in an early episode but frequently returns to. Ross leaves for a fossil dig in China at the end of the season, but when Chandler lets it slip about Ross's continuing feelings for Rachel on her birthday, she is shocked to find out. She rushes off to the airport to tell him about her feelings, but he has already boarded the plane. The season ends with a cliffhanger in which Rachel goes to greet Ross at the airport after his return, unbeknownst to her that he has a new girlfriend.