"The One with the Ride-Along" is the twentieth episode of '' Friends''' fifth season. It first aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on April 29, 1999. In the episode, Ross, Joey, and Chandler go on a ride-along with Gary, Phoebe's new boyfriend.

Plot

Ross' ex-wife Emily is getting married again, so the group does its best to distract him. Phoebe (

Lisa Kudrow Lisa Valerie Kudrow ( ; born July 30, 1963) is an American actress, producer, and screenwriter. She rose to fame for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the sitcom ''Friends'' (1994–2004), which has since been named one of the greatest television cha ...

) returns from a ride-along with her cop boyfriend, Gary (

Michael Rapaport Michael David Rapaport (born March 20, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. Beginning his career in the early 1990s, he has made over 100 appearances in film and television. His film roles include ''True Romance'' (1993), '' Higher Learning ...

), which prompts the guys to follow suit and share the experience. Joey buys a delicious sandwich but is not allowed to eat it in Gary's car, so he keeps talking about it, much to the annoyance of Ross and Chandler. Ross accidentally turns on the beacon, prompting Gary to move him from the front seat. During the ride, a car backfire scares them all, leading to Joey diving over Ross in an attempt to save him. This causes problems between Chandler and Joey because Joey apparently wanted to save Ross instead of Chandler, his best friend. However, it turns out that Joey was not trying to save Ross, but only his sandwich. To show Chandler how much he values their friendship, he allows him to have one bite of the sandwich. Monica decides to organize photos, but Rachel accidentally drops a box of other pictures on it, ruining all Monica's work. Due to being upset, the two decide to make margaritas, but they do not have the ingredients, so they decide to steal them from Ross' apartment, where Rachel intercepts a message from Emily, who has second thoughts about her upcoming wedding and the divorce with Ross. Monica thinks they should erase the message, but Rachel thinks Ross deserves to know the truth. During the discussion, she accidentally erases the message. After being "saved", Ross is filled with a new-found respect for life, which he reports to his own answering machine, resulting in the message being heard by the girls, who are still at his apartment. Rachel tells Ross about the message from Emily, but Ross wants to call her back, because he wants to seize every new opportunity. Rachel talks this idea out of Ross' mind by convincing him that it is not the day of seizing stuff, but escaping from stuff, such as "death" and from Emily.

Production

"The One with the Ride-Along" was co-written by Shana Goldberg-Meehan and Seth Kurland. The episode was directed by

Gary Halvorson Gary S. Halvorson is an American director of television shows, series and film, best known for directing and producing the show, ''Friends''. Directing He was trained as a classical pianist at but is primarily noted as the director of situation ...

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "The One with the Ride-Along" finished fourth in ratings for the week of April 19–25, 1999, with a Nielsen rating of 13.9. It was the fourth highest rated show on the NBC network that week, after the NBC Sunday Movie: ''

Noah's Ark Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in ...

'', '' ER'', and ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee (as Grub ...

''. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

the episode premiered on Sky1 on May 20, 1999, and was watched by 2.02 million viewers, making the program the most watched on the channel that week. Note: Information is in the section titled "w/e 23 May 1999", listed under Sky 1

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:One With The Ride-Along 1999 American television episodes Friends (season 5) episodes