The One After the Superbowl
The main storyline of the episode follows Ross, who learns that his former pet monkey Marcel had been employed for a film being shot in New York City.
[1] The episode featured many guest stars, including Brooke Shields, Chris Isaak, Julia Roberts, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Fred Willard, and Dan Castellaneta.
With 52.925 million viewers and a 47 percent audience share, "The One After the Superbowl" was the most-watched episode of the series, and is the highest-rated Super Bowl lead-out program of all time.
However, a janitor (Dan Castellaneta) later informs Ross that Marcel was kidnapped and forced into show business and is currently filming a movie in New York.
Ross finally reunites with Marcel and Joey lands a small role in the movie, but loses his solitary line after overacting.
"[3] At the beginning of January 1996, it was confirmed that Julia Roberts,[4] Brooke Shields, Chris Isaak and Jean-Claude Van Damme would all guest star in "The One After the Superbowl".
[5][6] Actors and comedians Fred Willard and Dan Castellaneta also made minor guest appearances in the episode, as the zookeeper and the zoo janitor respectively.
[7] Shields was dating future husband Andre Agassi at the time and during filming of the restaurant sequence, he stormed on to the set and according to witnesses had a blazing row with her as he felt she was flirting with Matt LeBlanc.
In order to create "Van Damme-proof" jokes, one writer "would say them in a really horrible French accent, putting the emphasis on the wrong word".
'"[14] The decision to air the episode directly after Super Bowl XXX was made by NBC in hopes of making that Sunday the "highest-grossing ad-revenue day in television history".
[16] Curt King, press manager for Friends, commented: "Try to think of the new shows that were premiered after recent Super Bowls and name one that's still around.
[22] The Charlotte Observer's Tim Goodman said the episode's "pathetic infusion of 'star appeal'" made him "nauseous" and commented that the producers "should just make Bernie Kopell a regular and turn it into the Love Boat all over again".
Cramming the already crowded ensemble with celebs may have been a ratings grabber ... but the results are forced sitcomedy and stilted acting," specifically citing Van Damme.
[26] Peter Marks of The New York Times commented that Shields' performance was "so edgy and unbridled" that she "stole the episode" from Roberts and Isaak.
[27] Jae-Ha Kim of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that the chemistry between Perry and Roberts was "authentic" and that Shields "may have found her niche as a sitcom queen".
[27] In discussion of Shields performance, Joanne Ostrow of The Denver Post noted that she "did a nice turn to help her stalled career".
"Lisa Kudrow, as Phoebe, singer of truthful folk songs, continues to be a Friends highlight and David Schwimmer can carry off amusing, emotionally tinged moments even opposite a monkey.
[26] The Houston Chronicle's Ann Hodges gave the episode a more negative review, commenting that the Friends writers "dropped the ball" with it: "Women's underwear, three-way-sex jokes, and a monkey — that was it.
