"The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS"
Friends episode
Joey is disappointed when he learns that he is not the host of the PBS telethon.
Season	5x04
Episode no.	101
Written by	Michael Curtis
Directed by	Shelley Jenson
Guest stars	Helen Baxendale as Emily Waltham Gary Collins as Himself Sandra Thigpen as The Stage Manager John R. McLaughlin as The PBS Volunteer James Michael Tyler as Gunther
Original airdate	October 15, 1998
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"The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of Friends, which aired on October 15, 1998.

PlotEdit

Rachel goes into Monica's bedroom to bring her some mail and comes out screaming over the position she found Monica waiting in on her bed. Monica reveals that she has a secret boyfriend and claims it's a guy from work. Joey and Ross also show up and, a short while later, Chandler enters with a bottle of champagne. Upon seeing everyone there, he claims he wants to celebrate the fact that his office finally got wrinkle-free fax-paper. Rachel, unaware that the secret boyfriend is Chandler, asks Chandler if Monica has mentioned him and reveals that Monica told her that this guy is best sex she's ever had. Chandler is delighted with this news and goes overboard in his gloating. This annoys Monica, who threatens to cut Chandler off until he apologizes and tells her that, if he's the best, it's only because of her. He says that he was nothing before her, but when he's with her "Oh. My. God."

Joey wears a tuxedo believing he's hired as host for a PBS telethon, but is actually just hired as one of many phone operators on screen, even sitting outside the main camera view. Phoebe says she hates PBS because it reminds her of the miserable days when her mother watched Sesame Street on it before committing suicide and even complains that Joey's telethon is selfishness masquerading as a good deed; when he retorts that having the babies also wasn't a selfless good deed because that doesn't exists, she promises to prove there is. Because she fails at all her attempts, she decides to donate $200 to PBS, because "they bring happiness to lots of kids whose moms didn't kill themselves", and she won the bet. However, this donations leads to Joey being the volunteer which broke last year's record, so he finally gets on TV; which makes Phoebe happy.

Ross tries to make up with Emily by phone, but is asked to move to London, which he can't do because then he can't see his son Ben anymore, and he also can't convince Carol and Susan to move to London. When Emily finally agress to move to New York to work on their relationship there is one problem: she wants Ross to agree that he won't see Rachel anymore, which the others consider totally unreasonable. Because nobody, including Ross, has an idea how to solve this, he became desperate enough to leave the decision to a Magic 8 ball, which proves uncooperative. Not knowing about the condition, Rachel incites Ross to do whatever Emily wants, which he does.

Cast and CrewEdit

Main CastEdit

Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green
Courteney Cox - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller

Supporting CastEdit

Helen Baxendale - Emily Waltham
Gary Collins - Himself
Sandra Thigpen - The Stage Manager
John R. McLaughlin - The PBS Volunteer
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
Jane Sibbett - Carol Willick (uncut version)
Jessica Hecht - Susan Bunch (uncut version)

CrewEdit

Directed By:
Shelley Jenson

Written By:
Michael Curtis

Trivia Edit

• The DVD episode features another scene where Ross is trying to convince Susan and Carol to move to London.
• This is the episode after Phoebe gives birth, so PBS in the title can also stand for Post Birth Syndrome.
• Phoebe got sent a key chain from Sesame Street, even though she was not living anywhere.

Goofs Edit

• When Susan and Ben come in, they knock. Why would Susan knock at her own apartment?
• At the beginning of the episode when Rachel is going into Monica's room, she is wearing closed-toe heels. However, when Rachel bursts out after seeing Monica waiting for Chandler, she is wearing open-toe heels.
• Monica comes to get her pan back from Chandler, and when she opens the door, the magna doodle pen is hanging down. The shot changes and it is attached to the board; it changes again and it is hanging once more.

Continuity Edit

• Ross's year of birth is inconsistent. In The Pilot (1994), Ross says he is 26, implying he was born in 1967. Also, in The One Where Monica And Richard Are Just Friends (1997), he says he is 29. However in the next season in The One Where They're Going To Party Ross also says he is 29, implying he was born in 1968. Furthermore, in this episode Ross says he is about to get divorced again before he's thirty, implying he is still 29 and born in 1969. Also, in The One With The Video Tape, Ross claims that he backpacked across Europe in 1983 then whispers to himself "I was thirteen?", implying he was born in 1969 or 1970. This inconsistency happens with all main characters in the show.
• Joey says to Phoebe that Santa doesn't exist, which would mean that he himself does not believe in Santa. However, in The One With Rachel's Other Sister, he complains to Chandler about the fact that all of his co-workers got to meet Santa at the Thanksgiving Parade, where he was to supposed to be.

Episode NavigationEdit