The One with the Prom Video

[1] The episode focuses on the main characters watching Monica (Courteney Cox) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) getting ready for their high-school prom in the titular video.

A subplot sees Joey (Matt LeBlanc) having increased income, buying roommate Chandler (Matthew Perry) an unusual gift.

The episode was directed by James Burrows and written by Alexa Junge and features guest stars Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles as Jack and Judy Geller, Michael Ray Bower as Monica's date, and Patrick Kerr as the restaurant manager.

[1] Joey, earning substantial money after landing a role on Days of Our Lives, gives Chandler a gaudy gold bracelet as thanks for paying for head shots and food in the past.

After a disastrous restaurant interview where the manager has a food play fetish, she relents to Ross' prodding to ask for money from their parents Jack and Judy, who have visited the apartment to bring boxes of her possessions.

[2] At first, Schwimmer did not want to wear the afro wig and mustache because he thought he would look like Gabe Kaplan in Welcome Back, Kotter (a similarity referenced in the episode).

Entertainment Weekly rates the episode "A", welcoming the return of Burrows as director and calling the prom video "witty character development disguised as a standard flashback.

Robert Bianco wrote in USA Today in 2004, "If any one outing can take credit for moving Friends from good to great, it's Prom Video" and describes the resolution as an "ingenious, unexpected twist.

[14] The episode is the favorite of Schwimmer, who liked the comedic and emotional origins of the Ross/Rachel relationship, as well as the exchange between Monica and Chandler as she defends her weight on the video.