| Season Number: | 1 |
| Bgcolour: |
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| Image Upright: | 1.15 |
| Num Episodes: | 24 |
| Network: | NBC |
| Next Season: | Season 2 |
| Episode List: | List of Friends episodes |
The first season of the American television sitcom Friends aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 18, 1995.
The website Collider ranked the season #9 on their ranking of the ten Friends seasons.[1] They wrote that the best episode of the season was "The One Where Rachel Finds Out".
See main article: article and List of Friends characters.
See also: List of Friends episodes.
The first season was officially released on DVD in region 1 on April 30, 2002, becoming available in both the United States and Canada as a 4-disc DVD Box Set. The release includes the extended versions of every episode with footage not seen on their original NBC broadcast. Additionally, each episode is updated with color correction and sound enhancement. Special Features include a commentary for the pilot episode with executive producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kaufmann and David Crane, a video guide to season one's guest stars, including George Clooney, Helen Hunt and Noah Wyle; an interactive map with inside stories from the crew, a trivia quiz and the trailer of Season Two DVD Release.For region 2, the release included the original NBC broadcast version of the episodes, and not the extended versions unlike the region 1 release.
The season also had an individual Blu-ray for region A on April 30, 2013, in this release the episodes are presented in their original NBC broadcast versions and does not include the extra deleted scenes and jokes that were included in the DVD version. Additional audio & subtitle tracks are also included with this release.
| Friends: The Complete First Season | ||||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||||
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| Release Dates | ||||||
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||||
| April 30, 2002 | May 29, 2000 | October 4, 2006 | ||||
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 70% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.1/10 and based on 43 critic reviews. The critics consensus reads: "Friends daffy situations elicit just as many eye-rolls as laughs, but this perky sitcom gets by with a little help from its immensely likable cast.".[2] In the Los Angeles Daily News, Ray Richmond named the series as "one of the brighter comedies of the new season",[3] and the Los Angeles Times called it "flat-out the best comedy series of the new season".[4] Tom Feran of The Plain Dealer wrote that the series traded "vaguely and less successfully on the hanging-out style of Seinfeld",[5] while Ann Hodges of the Houston Chronicle called it "the new Seinfeld wannabe, but it will never be as funny as Seinfeld."[6] Chicago Sun-Times Ginny Holbert found Joey and Rachel's characteristics to be underdeveloped,[7] while Richmond commended the cast as a "likeable, youth ensemble" with "good chemistry"; Robert Bianco of USA Today was complimentary of Schwimmer, calling him "terrific". He also praised the female leads, but was concerned that Perry's role as Chandler was "undefined" and that LeBlanc was "relying too much on the same brain-dead stud routine that was already tired the last two times he tried it".[8] The authors of Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends thought that the cast was "trying just a little too hard", in particular Perry and Schwimmer.[9] People Magazine said that the "saving grace" is that the characters become more likable as time goes on.