friends trip 1 episode 10

• Season 1 Episodes
• Holiday Episodes

The One With The Monkey

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"The One With The Monkey" is the tenth episode of the first season of Friends . It premiered on December 15, 1994. It was written by  Adam Chase & Ira Ungerleider  and directed by  Peter Bonerz .

• 2.1 Main Cast
• 2.2 Supporting Cast
• 3.1 General
• 4 Memorable Quotes
• 5 External links
• 6 Episode Navigation

The holidays are coming, and Ross introduces the guys to his new roommate, Marcel the monkey. Meanwhile, Chandler proposes a no-date New Year's Eve, about which no one is really enthusiastic. In the middle of her "suicidal" performance (apt enough, as twelve of thirteen songs are about her mother's suicide), Phoebe notices two guys, Max and David , whose conversation is disrupting her singing. It turns out they were discussing Phoebe's attractiveness and David thinks she is particularly cute and beautiful, which is enough for her to start dating him.

Phoebe wants to bring David to the New Year's party at Monica 's, but the guys find it annoying, as this will break the no-date promise. Ironically, Chandler is the first to break the pact by inviting Janice . After talking it out with him, Phoebe gets David to kiss her. Eventually, what with Rachel 's boyfriend Paolo catching an earlier flight, Monica inviting Fun Bobby , and Joey hooking up with Sandy, Ross is the only one without a date for the Dick Clark festivity. Max interrupts the group with news—he and David have gotten the grant, full expenses paid, for research in Minsk for three years—and the departure date is January 1. However, David is not sure whether to go because of Phoebe, and when he asks her to decide for him, she tells him to stay.

At the party, almost everyone is with their dates, but plans are not nearly as good as expected: Joey's date has brought her two children, so that he couldn't kiss her without them watching, and then she ends up with Max; Janice continually exhibits the features that made Chandler dump her in the first place; Paolo misses his flight and Rachel is beaten up by a woman; following his grandfather's very recent death, Fun Bobby is far from fun; and Ross brings Marcel but the monkey ditches him. Just as Phoebe's night promises to be a good one, Max reveals to David how despite David's decision to stay, he's still going to Minsk. Brokenheartedly, Phoebe tells David she believes he belongs in Minsk, and he'll have to go to fulfill his career. David doesn't know how to break up with her, so she has to teach him that, too. David does, however, promise her that he won't forget her, and that he loves her. Phoebe replies that she will miss him.

The friends find themselves keeping the promise they all strove hard to break—each is alone at the start of the new year. Nobody is in the mood to kiss anyone, but Chandler is moaning that he has no one to kiss and Joey kisses him to shut him up.

The ending scene shows Ross sadly rambling away to Rachel about how he loves his monkey and that he doesn't love him back, only for her to tell him that she thinks that the "bitch" cracked her tooth, implying that she didn't listen what he was saying.

Cast and Crew [ ]

Main cast [ ].

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

Supporting Cast [ ]

Hank Azaria - David Vincent Ventresca - Fun Bobby Wayne Pére - Max Sarah MacDonnell - Sandy Maggie Wheeler - Janice Hosenstein Dick Clark - Himself (uncredited) Katie - Marcel the Monkey (uncredited) James Michael Tyler - Gunther (uncredited)

Directed By: Peter Bonerz

Written By: Adam Chase & Ira Ungerleider

General [ ]

• Along with " The One With Two Parts, Part 1 ", Lisa Kudrow received her first Emmy nomination for this episode.
• Vincent Ventresca, who plays Fun Bobby, was also in "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion," which starred Lisa Kudrow.
• This is also the first appearance of Ross' monkey, Marcel .
• Chandler is the first of the gang to look after Marcel for Ross. The second is Rachel in " The One Where The Monkey Gets Away ".
• This is the first Christmas episode in the series.
• This is one of two New Year's Eve parties the gang host; the second takes place during " The One With All The Resolutions " (S5E11)
• The song that plays during the party is "Shiny Happy People" (1991) by R.E.M. This song was considered as the possible Friends theme before production began.
• This is the first time in the series that Chandler reunites with Janice . They later briefly reunite in " The One With The Candy Hearts " (S1E14), and start a relationship in " The One With Barry And Mindy's Wedding " (S2E24). Much to Chandler's horror, Janice wants to get back together in " The One With All The Rugby " (S4E15) following her divorce.
• The next episode to feature a shot of a kiss between two men ( Ross and Joey ) is " The One With Barry And Mindy's Wedding " (S2E24), where Ross gives Joey a full-lipped kiss to help him prepare for an audition where he needs to kiss another man (although, Ross doesn't know at the time that Joey already had the audition and didn't get the part).
• The first episode to feature a shot of a kiss between two women is " The One With Ross' Wedding, Part 1 " (S4E23), where Monica and Phoebe have a quick peck on the lips. The first full-lipped girl-girl kiss takes place in " The One With Rachel's Big Kiss " (S7E20), where Rachel kisses Melissa (guest star Winona Ryder ) and Phoebe kisses Rachel "to see how good it was".
• Rachel and Monica also kiss to get their apartment back but this is offscreen, Chandler and Joey commenting it was well worth it.
• Chandler also kissed Ross off-screen in " The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister ".
• Max says that Minsk is in Russia, with Phoebe replying "I know where Minsk is". Both are wrong - Minsk is actually in Belarus, having officially become the capital of the Republic of Belarus in 1991 (having previously been the capital of the Belorussian SSR, part of the USSR) - three years before the episode takes place.
• Chandler mentions getting bitten by a peacock, which was first mentioned by Phoebe in " The One With The Blackout " (S1E7).
• At the party Max refers to Phoebe as 'Yoko', this is a reference to John Lennon's wife Yoko Ono who many blame to have come between The Beatles, causing them to break up.
• In this episode, Phoebe and Chandler are seen decorating Monica's tree, but in " The One With The Routine " (S6E10), Ross suggests that Monica never lets people help decorate her tree when he says "Wow, Monica's letting other people help decorate her tree! Did someone get her drunk again?"
• Max tells Phoebe that the trip to Minsk is for three years; however David doesn't resurface until Season 7, rather than Season 4. The most likely explanation is that he got another grant to continue his research while his first one was still in progress.
• In the uncut DVD version of the episode, extra scenes during the party include Monica and Phoebe helping Rachel get ready for the party in her bedroom, Monica telling Fun Bobby she knows how he feels about losing a grandparent but asking him to stop dragging the party down, and Rachel trying to start a conversation with a guy at the party and spitting her wine due to her fat lip.
• Ross starts to say he's too old for a roommate but then realizes who he's talking to. Later in the series Rachel will become his on-off roommate as will Phoebe for a brief period but Rachel becomes his permanent roommate when she moves back in with Ross in the series finale, the two marrying shortly afterwards.
• In the coffeehouse, Max and David mention Daryl Hannah. Five years prior to this episode Daryl Hannah co-starred in the film Steel Magnolias with Julia Roberts who plays Susie Moss in " The One After The Superbowl, Part 2 ".
• Janice references the show "Candid Camera" when she says "smile, you're on Janice Camera".
• Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve plays a significant role in " The One With The Routine ".
• Phoebe has at least 3 zits near either edge of her lower lip.
• During the second scene in David's lab, when David and Phoebe are kissing, the camera focuses on the whiteboard. There you can see the line "David = Phoebe" written as a mathematical language ("divD' = 4πyhoè"). This could be seen also in the first scene in David's lab but the camera doesn't focus on it.
• When Phoebe and Rachel see Ugly Naked Guy hanging candy, they're standing by the window. Rachel says "oh that's festive" and turns back towards the room. A second later and Ross opens the door and says "hey guys, there's someone I'd like you to meet" and Rachel and Phoebe are standing by the kitchen table. They couldn't have moved that quick.
• When Ross takes a picture of Chandler after him dumping Janice, and he says "oh, will you give me the thing?!", the frame skips after the flash, placing Chandler in a slightly different position, showing a cut in editing.
• When Rachel takes a tissue from the box, she raises it to be level with her mouth but in the next shot it's level with her right ear, showing an edit.
• Just before Chandler tells the woman about the peacock, a shot of Sandy and Max standing outside Monica's bedroom is shown. The woman leaves and Joey asks Chandler if he's seen Sandy. Sandy and Max leave Monica's bedroom around 10 seconds after they were standing outside yet Chandler says they were "getting it on in Monica's room".
• When David is starts talking about Daryl Hannah, the extra in red has her arms crossed but in the next shot her chin is resting in her left hand.
• During certain shots towards the green door at the back of the apartment, it can be seen partly open but in darkness and at certain times a light can be seen shining through a gap in the door but with the door closed.

Memorable Quotes [ ]

• [Ross enters the room with a monkey on his shoulder] Chandler : Look, that monkey's got a Ross on his ass.
• [Joey enters the room while wearing an elf's costume] Chandler : Too many jokes! Must... mock... Joey!
• Ross : It's hard to accept that something that you love so much doesn't love you back.

External links [ ]

• "The One With The Monkey" at The Uncut Friends Scripts
• "The One with the Monkey" at the Internet Movie Database

Episode Navigation [ ]

Episode Guide | Season 1 | Season 2 >>

• " The Pilot "
• " The One With The Sonogram At The End "
• " The One With The Thumb "
• " The One With George Stephanopoulos "
• " The One With The East German Laundry Detergent "
• " The One With The Butt "
• " The One With The Blackout "
• " The One Where Nana Dies Twice "
• " The One Where Underdog Gets Away "
• " The One With The Monkey "
• " The One With Mrs. Bing "
• " The One With The Dozen Lasagnas "
• " The One With The Boobies "
• " The One With The Candy Hearts "
• " The One With The Stoned Guy "
• " The One With Two Parts, Part 1 "
• " The One With Two Parts, Part 2 "
• " The One With All The Poker "
• " The One Where The Monkey Gets Away "
• " The One With The Evil Orthodontist "
• " The One With The Fake Monica "
• " The One With The Ick Factor "
• " The One With The Birth "
• " The One Where Rachel Finds Out "
• 1 Rachel Greene
• 2 Judy Geller
• 3 Ross Geller

• Web Channels
• Friends Trip

Friends Trip - Episode List

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Friends Trip

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• Original release 10 October 2014
• Previous episode S01E09 - Episode 9
• Number S01E10
• Genres Adventure, Reality, Travel
• External links TheTVDB page
• Last update 21 July 2020 - 03:15 on 11 databases

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Screen Rant

Friends: the 10 best trips the main characters took, ranked.

The main six on Friends occasionally ventured out of NYC and some of their most memorable trips include Vegas, London, and Barbados.

Friends predominantly takes place in New York but the main six occasionally ventured out and visited new places. Across the 10 seasons, the gang traveled to London for Ross' wedding, Barbados for a paleontology convention, and many other destinations for various reasons.

RELATED: 10 Best Episodes Of Friends, According To Reddit

Numerous trips didn’t go to plan while others only caused more drama, but all were brilliant to watch. Fans were so used to seeing the main six in their natural habitat on Friends , whether that be the coffee house or their apartments, so when they entered unfamiliar territory, hilarity always ensued.

Chandler Goes To Yemen (S4, Ep15)

In "The One with All the Rugby,"  Chandler finds himself in a sticky situation on Friends  when he reignites his romance with Janice and has no way of getting out of it. To officially rid himself of her, he lies and says his company is transferring him to Yemen the next day.

The lie goes too far and Chandler ends up at the airport with Janice refusing to leave until she sees his plane take off. Forced to buy an expensive plane ticket, Chandler boards the plane to Yemen and then comes straight back, finally free of Janice.

Monica And Chandler Go To Jersey (S5, Ep5)

Monica and Chandler find it difficult to get time alone so decide to spend a romantic weekend together in Jersey. When they arrive, Monica isn't happy with their room and asks twice if they can switch.

While the room switching is going on, Chandler loses interest in spending time with Monica and turns his attention to a high-speed car chase on TV. The trip ends in disaster for both of them, however, it's a memorable one because the misplacement of Monica's eyelash curler allows Joey to work out what they’ve been up to.

Ross And Rachel Go To The Stevens' Family Cabin (S6, Ep22)

When Paul threatens to have Ross fired for dating Elizabeth, the two continue dating in secret. They sneak off to spend the weekend together at Elizabeth's family cabin, however, Paul inadvertently takes Rachel to the same place for a romantic weekend.

RELATED: The 10 Funniest Guest Characters From Friends

Although Rachel does her best to prevent Paul from discovering Ross, Paul's furious when he catches him trying to escape out the window. After telling Ross that he'll be fired, Ross subtly informs Paul that he saw him doing his love machine dance. Desperate to keep it a secret, he reluctantly lets Ross and Elizabeth continue their relationship. David Schwimmer's hilarity shone through on this trip and Bruce Willis' dance is something to remember.

Phoebe, Rachel, And Joey Go To See Phoebe's Dad (S2, Ep21)

Phoebe's backstory and childhood are some of the  saddest things about her on Friends , even though she has a positive outlook on life. In "The One with the Bullies," Phoebe decides to go and visit her dad with Joey and Rachel. When she arrives, she is attacked by the family dog who she later accidentally runs over.

When she returns the injured dog, the woman who lives there tells Phoebe that Frank abandoned them several years ago, similar to her. While Phoebe doesn’t find exactly what she was looking for on this trip, it was some consolation that she met Frank Jr, the half-brother she never knew she had.

Ross And Chandler Go To Vermont (S9, Ep19)

When Chandler can't get a refund from a hotel in Vermont, Ross tags along with him and gets a sugar high from eating too much maple candy. After arriving, they can't find Chandler's reservation and he is forced to pay $600 for a room.

Ross reassures Chandler that they can make their money back by stealing what the hotel owes them, thus loading up on several apples, batteries, and shampoo bottles. As they're about to leave, Ross' suitcase buckles and everything they stole falls onto the lobby floor. The comedy value of this trip was highly unexpected and Ross' behavior is utterly hilarious.

The Gang Goes To Barbados (S9, Ep23/S10, Ep1)

When Ross is selected to deliver a keynote speech in Barbados, he invites the gang to accompany him and the whole trip is one big romantic wreck. Charlie breaks up with Joey and ends up with Ross, Rachel admits her feelings for Joey, and Phoebe trades David in for Mike when he returns.

Before Phoebe, Chandler, and Monica listen to the new couples making out through the wall, Monica and Mike get involved in a rather long and intense game of ping pong. The best part about this trip is that it set up the funniest episode in Friends ' next season , "The One Where Ross Is Fine."

The Gang Goes To Montauk (S3, Ep25/S4, Ep1)

Wanting information about her parents, Phoebe invites the gang to stay at her client's beach house in Montauk. With no source of entertainment, they amuse themselves with "Strip Happy Days" where Ross and Rachel’s unresolved feelings hit a boiling point. However, Bonnie's entrance disrupts things.

RELATED: The 10 Worst Storylines On Friends, According To Reddit

Rachel later admits that she's still in love with Ross, but an 18-page letter sends things sideways once more. Phoebe unintentionally finds her birth mother, while Monica, Chandler, and Joey are left traumatized thanks to a jellyfish sting. No character has fond memories of Montauk, but it made for a brilliant transition from season 3 to season 4.

Monica And Chandler Go To Ohio (S10, Ep9)

In "The One with the Fertility Test," Monica and Chandler find out they can’t conceive naturally and it’s one of the saddest episodes in Friends .  They decide they want to adopt and travel to Ohio to meet Erica, a woman who is considering them to adopt her baby.

Things get off to an awkward start when they realize their file has been confused with another couple. They eventually come clean, but Erica refuses to continue their interview. To make her reconsider, Chandler gives Erica a heartfelt speech about their desire to have children and how Monica will make a great mother. He succeeds and because of this, fans get to watch them adopt the twins in the final episode.

The Gang (Minus Phoebe) Goes To London (S4, Ep23/24/S5, Ep1)

Emily and Ross' whirlwind romance brings Joey, Monica, and Chandler to London for Ross' wedding, which becomes the catalyst in Monica and Chandler's relationship. As Phoebe is too heavily pregnant to fly, Rachel uses that as an excuse to stay in New York.

When everything seems to be going to plan, Rachel heads to London to tell Ross that she still loves him, however, after arriving she changes her mind. While saying his vows, Ross says Rachel's name, and everyone is left in pure disbelief. This episode features one of the most shocking cliffhangers in comedy TV and is a Friends trip that fans will remember forever.

The Gang Goes To Vegas (S5, Ep23/24/S6, Ep1)

When Monica and Chandler decide to merge their anniversary with visiting Joey on the set of his new movie, everyone tags along, and the gang head to Vegas. At Caesars Palace, Phoebe deals with a lurker while Joey discovers a million-dollar idea in the form of an identical hand twin. Chandler and Monica argue about Richard, meanwhile, Ross' pen prank on Rachel causes them to get blackout drunk.

After Monica and Chandler make up, they hastily decide to get married. However, a severely intoxicated Ross and Rachel beat them to it. The season 4 finale seemed impossible to match, but this remains one of the most unexpected things to ever happen in Friends and the setting of Vegas makes the episode pure brilliance.

NEXT: The 10 Best Episodes Of Friends, According To Ranker

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Friends – Season 1, Episode 10

The one with the monkey, where to watch, friends — season 1, episode 10.

Watch Friends — Season 1, Episode 10 with a subscription on Max, or buy it on Vudu, Prime Video, Apple TV.

Popular TV on Streaming

Cast & crew.

Jennifer Aniston

Rachel Green

Courteney Cox

Monica Geller

Lisa Kudrow

Phoebe Buffay

Matt LeBlanc

Joey Tribbiani

Matthew Perry

Chandler Bing

David Schwimmer

Ross Geller

Episode Info

• Dec 15, 1994

Summary In 1994, the idea was created for "Friends": a show about six friends in New York as they navigate their way through life and learn to grow up as they approach the third decade of their life. All, with the help from each other to get them through the obstacles that life naturally has for us. Monica is the excessively neat and organized " ... Read More

Directed By : Peter Bonerz

Written By : David Crane, Marta Kauffman, Adam Chase, Ira Ungerleider, Alexa Junge, Jeff Astrof, Mike Sikowitz

Where to Watch

Created By : David Crane, Marta Kauffman

Season Episodes

Jennifer Aniston

Rachel green.

Courteney Cox

Monica geller, monica geller-bing.

Lisa Kudrow

Phoebe buffay, ursula buffay.

Matt LeBlanc

Joey tribbiani.

Matthew Perry

Chandler bing.

David Schwimmer

Dr. ross geller, russ.

James Michael Tyler

Elliott Gould

Jack geller.

Christina Pickles

Judy geller.

Maggie Wheeler

Mike Hannigan

Jane Sibbett

Carol, carol willick.

Helen Baxendale

Emily waltham.

Jessica Hecht

Susan bunch.

Estelle Leonard, Estelle, Nurse

Tom Selleck

Dr. richard burke, richard.

Giovanni Ribisi

Frank buffay jr., frank jr., condom boy.

Aisha Tyler

Charlie wheeler.

Eddie Cahill

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Episode list

S10.E1 ∙ The One After Joey and Rachel Kiss

S10.E2 ∙ The One Where Ross Is Fine

S10.E3 ∙ The One with Ross's Tan

S10.E4 ∙ The One with the Cake

S10.E5 ∙ The One Where Rachel's Sister Babysits

S10.E6 ∙ The One with Ross' Grant

S10.E7 ∙ The One with the Home Study

S10.E8 ∙ The One with the Late Thanksgiving

S10.E9 ∙ The One with the Birth Mother

S10.E10 ∙ The One Where Chandler Gets Caught

S10.E11 ∙ The One Where the Stripper Cries

S10.E12 ∙ The One with Phoebe's Wedding

S10.E13 ∙ The One Where Joey Speaks French

S10.E14 ∙ The One with Princess Consuela

S10.E15 ∙ The One Where Estelle Dies

S10.E16 ∙ The One with Rachel's Going Away Party

S10.E17 ∙ The Last One

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Friends (1994–2004): Season 1, Episode 10 - The One with the Monkey - full transcript

The gang make (and break) a pact not to bring dates to their New Years Eve party. Phoebe starts dating a scientist. Ross compensates for his loneliness by getting a monkey.

The Definitive List Of The Best 'Friends' Episodes Ever

O n September 22, 1994, the world was blessed with a TV show that forever changed popular culture: Friends . Then, just over 20 years later, on January 1, 2015, the world was #blessed when the iconic '90s TV show—full of ridiculously relatable pals living in ridiculously unrelatable New York apartments—made its way to everyone's favorite streaming service: Netflix.

And just when you thought the drama circa 2018 was officially in the past, Netflix goes ahead and announces on Tuesday, July 9, that this time around, Friends will **officially** be leaving the streaming service in 2020.

Hey Netflix, in the immortal (whiney) words of Ross Geller, “Why? Why would you do that?”

With Max now hosting the show's catalog, die-hard devotees everywhere (**raises hand**) can watch any of the 236 episodes whenever they need a break from reality, a healthy dose of nostalgia, or quite simply, a feeling of comfort that's best achieved through Joey's simple sandwich humor.

So, next time you're craving a little Chandler sarcasm, or feeling the need for some Pheebs zaniness, but don't know which episode to watch (so. many. options.), start with this list of the best Friends episodes of all time:

(Head’s up: episodes are listed in chronological order, not ranking—that, my friends, is up to you.)

1. "The One With The Blackout"—Season 1, Episode 7

Starting off this roundup with a bing, I mean, bang is that eternally hilarious episode where Chandler has a conversation with "that Victoria Secret model"... almost exclusively in his own head. Don't get me wrong, I'm very much a lifetime member of Team Monica and Chandler, but when you watch Chandler get stuck in that ATM vestibule—"or is it an atrium?"—with Jill Goodacre, you can't help but root for the dude.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang is making the most of the blackout at home, which is where Phoebe, the poetic genius that she is, composes her pre-"Smelly Cat" hit that goes a little something like this: "New York City has no power, and the milk is getting sour"—all together now!—"but for me that isn't scary 'cause I stay away from dairy." (Same, Pheebs, same.)

2. "The One Where Ross Finds Out"—Season 2, Episode 7

Before there were drunk texts, there were drunk phone calls—an artform which Rachel Green absolutely mastered. Case in point? When she gets thoroughly smashed while on a date only to call Ross and leave the following message on his answering machine (#tbt): "I am over you. I. am. over. you. And that my friend is what they call closure."

Ross' initial response: "You're over me? When were you...under me." Oh, man. But, as Friends fanatics all know, Geller steps up his game—big time—when he steams up the (closed) coffee shop with that iconic doorway kiss with Rachel.

3. "The One With The Prom Video"—Season 2, Episode 14

All of the taffeta. All of Rachel's (original) nose. All of Monica's curves. All of those wins plus another magical make-out sesh between Ross and Rachel, after it's revealed on good ole VHS that Ross suited up to save the day when it seemed like Rach's date, Chip, wasn't going to show.

Even better than college-aged Ross' thick mustache and high school Monica eating a sandwich in a red ball gown? The last line of the episode brought to you by Phoebe: "See! He's her lobster." (All of the awwwws .)

Test your 'Friends' expertise with these facts that only true fans will know:

4. "The One Where Eddie Won't Go"—Season 2, Episode 19

Quick refresher: Joey moves into his own apartment thanks to the success of Days of Our Lives , and Chandler finds a new roomie named Eddie. Of course, Eddie turns out to be a mannequin-stealing, goldfish-obsessed, watches-you-sleep, fruit-dehydrating freak who will. not. leave. Take it from Bing himself: "Hannibal Lecter? Better roommate than you."

5. "The One Where No One's Ready"—Season 3, Episode 2

Even if you're a Friends newbie (welcome, btw!), you know that Monica is very much the type-A character of the group. But of the Geller sibs? Well, sometimes Ross can really rev up that intensity, especially when he only has 30 minutes to get the entire gang dressed and out the door for a museum benefit. Spoiler alert: That doesn't happen.

What does happen, however, is that Joey drinks a cup of fat and then proceeds to fight with Chandler over ownership of a chair (weird flex, but okay). As you can imagine, that doesn't go well, but more on that later. Meanwhile, Phoebe gets hummus on her dress, Rachel can't pick out an outfit, and Monica freaks out over a voicemail from her ex, Richard (you know, the man with the masterful mustache who's better known as his real name, Tom Selleck?).

Oh, and as for that battle between Chandler and Joey over, yup, a chair? It comes to a crashing close when Joey marches back into the apartment wearing the contents of Chandler's closet. "Look at me! I'm Chandler. Could I beeee wearing any more clothes?" P.S. he's commando underneath all that.

6. "The One With All The Football"—Season 3, Episode 9

This isn’t any casual game of two-hand touch between buddies. No, this is, or at least it turns into, a highly competitive showdown involving two teams, six friends, and one Geller Cup—a trophy so esteemed that it once led Monica to break Ross’ nose as children in an attempt to win. And you thought your family was crazy...

7. "The One With Chandler In A Box"—Season 4, Episode 8

Once you’re able to get over the fact that Monica invited her ex boyfriend’s very good-looking son to Thanksgiving, you can really relish in the hilarity of this episode. Since Chandler's living in a box after mackin' on Joey's girlfriend (ya know, as one does).

Okay, but why, um, is living in a box his chosen form of punishment? I'll let Mr. Bing explain: "The meaning of the box is threefold. One: it gives me the time to think about what I did. Two: it proves how much I care about my friendship with Joey. Three: it hurts." Make sense now? If you answered "nope," don't worry, you're not alone. Most people don't really understand how Chandler's brain, erm, works. But hey, at least it's fun to watch?

8. "The One With All The Embryos"—Season 4, Episode 12

This ep was aptly named to commemorate Phoebe getting pregnant with her brother's babies (ICYMI, Pheebs acted a surrogate for her bro and his wife) . But it's also known for the greatest game of trivia ever. In a battle of who knows their bestie better, Monica and Rachel face off with Joey and Chandler and, let me tell ya, the stakes are high. How high? If the ladies win, the men have to get rid of their rooster (yes, a real live rooster), but if they lose, Chandler and Joey get the ladies' apartment.

9. "The One With All The Thanksgivings"—Season 5, Episode 8

Seriously, another Thanksgiving episode? D*mn. Straight. And in this one, the gang recounts each of their worst Thanksgiving experiences (because positivity around the holidays is overrated...?).

10. "The One With All The Resolutions"—Season 5, Episode 11

Four words: Ross Geller leather pants. That is all. Jk jk, there is more.

Like every other group of buds during the early hours of Jan. 1, the gang discusses their New Year Resolutions. After a year marked by yet another divorce (yup, he's up to two at this point) and getting nicknamed "Mental Geller" by his colleagues, Ross is determined to have a better year by trying something new every day, which seems pretty doable given how, well, bad his past 12 months has been.

But, since this is Ross I'm talking about, you can bet something's going to go awry—and soon. That's exactly what happens when he dons a suffocating pair of leather pants on a first date (**covers eyes**).

11. "The One Where Everybody Finds Out"—Season 5, Episode 14

...that Monica and Chandler have been together (read: doing the dirty, making out, all that fun stuff) since Ross' wedding in England. Fi-na-lly!

12. "The One With The Cop"—Season 5, Episode 16

"Pivooooooooot"—that's Ross's motto as his very detailed plan for moving his couch comes crashing down when—curve ball—it doesn't actually fit up the stairs.

13. "The One Where Ross Got High"—Season 6, Episode 9

Fact: No one (and I mean no one ) does Thanksgiving like Friends. In this episode, Mr. and Mrs. Geller join the gang for the annual feast at what they think is still Monica and Rachel's apartment.

Turns out Monica didn't fill her parents in on her new roomie (Chandler)—or the fact that they're dating—because they're not big fans of the Bing thanks to Ross, who used to blame Chandler for his weed smoking. But before Ross can come clean, Monica goes right for it, causing an unraveling of truths—not just from the Geller siblings, but everyone. Oops?

14. "The One With The Proposal"—Season 6,

Guess who's back? Back again? Shady Richard. Yup, you read that right. Monica's ex (remember him—the mustache-rockin' eye doctor?) who wants her back after alllll their relationship drama back in the early seasons. Meanwhile, Chandler, who has a ring and is ready to get down on one knee, is busy trying to throw Mon off his scent by claiming he's not the type of guy to mate for life.

While it's always an A+ experience watching Friends , this episode is even better, as you follow the group support both Chandler and Monica in their separate plans to surprise each other with—drum roll please—an engagement. Triple dog dare you to not get chills and cry from the moment Chandler enters the candle-lit apartment to find Monica ready to propose herself.

15. "The One With Unagi"—Season 6, Episode 17

Ross defines "unagi" as "a state of total awareness," something he thinks he's perfected after years of practicing ka-ra-tay. After Rachel and Phoebe come back from a self-defense class, he tells them they need to learn unagi, too. But Ross's, uh, mastery is put to the test as he spends the rest of the episode attempting to scare Rachel and Phoebe in an attempt to check their "total awareness." (Btw: Unagi is definitely just a type of sushi.)

17. "The One Where Ross Is Fine"—Season 10, Episode 2

Spoiler alert: He is not fine, no matter how many times he says he is during the world's most awkward double date between Ross and Charlie (who used to date Joey) and Rachel and Joey. But try as he might to prove he's "fine" (which he repeats in a pitch so loud only dogs can hear it), Ross gets so drunk off maaaany margaritas that he ultimately uses his hands—sans-oven mitts—to serve his fajitas.

18. "The One Where Joey Speaks French"—Season 10, Episode 13

Or so he thinks. Phoebe desperately tries to teach Joey French for an audition, but, as you probably guessed it, Joey's language skills are no bueno—which, of course, makes it all the more hilarious.

(P.S. you might've noticed this list is missing "The Last One," and that's because it's just too sad to include. That is all.)

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Ronna McDaniel, TV News and the Trump Problem

The former republican national committee chairwoman was hired by nbc and then let go after an outcry..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Michael Barbaro. This is “The Daily.”

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Today, the saga of Ronna McDaniel and NBC and what it reveals about the state of television news headed into the 2024 presidential race. Jim Rutenberg, a “Times” writer at large, is our guest.

It’s Monday, April 1.

Jim, NBC News just went through a very public, a very searing drama over the past week, that we wanted you to make sense of in your unique capacity as a longtime media and political reporter at “The Times.” This is your sweet spot. You were, I believe, born to dissect this story for us.

Oh, brother.

Well, on the one hand, this is a very small moment for a major network like NBC. They hire, as a contributor, not an anchor, not a correspondent, as a contributor, Ronna McDaniel, the former RNC chairwoman. It blows up in a mini scandal at the network.

But to me, it represents a much larger issue that’s been there since that moment Donald J. Trump took his shiny gold escalator down to announce his presidential run in 2015. This struggle by the news media to figure out, especially on television, how do we capture him, cover him for all of his lies, all the challenges he poses to Democratic norms, yet not alienate some 74, 75 million American voters who still follow him, still believe in him, and still want to hear his reality reflected in the news that they’re listening to?

Right. Which is about as gnarly a conundrum as anyone has ever dealt with in the news media.

Well, it’s proven so far unsolvable.

Well, let’s use the story of what actually happened with Ronna McDaniel and NBC to illustrate your point. And I think that means describing precisely what happened in this situation.

The story starts out so simply. It’s such a basic thing that television networks do. As elections get underway, they want people who will reflect the two parties.

They want talking heads. They want insiders. They want them on their payroll so they can rely on them whenever they need them. And they want them to be high level so they can speak with great knowledge about the two major candidates.

Right. And rather than needing to beg these people to come on their show at 6 o’clock, when they might be busy and it’s not their full-time job, they go off and they basically put them on retainer for a bunch of money.

Yeah. And in this case, here’s this perfect scenario because quite recently, Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee through the Trump era, most of it, is now out on the market. She’s actually recently been forced out of the party. And all the networks are interested because here’s the consummate insider from Trump world ready to get snatched up under contract for the next election and can really represent this movement that they’ve been trying to capture.

So NBC’S key news executives move pretty aggressively, pretty swiftly, and they sign her up for a $300,000 a year contributor’s contract.

Nice money if you can get it.

Not at millions of dollars that they pay their anchors, but a very nice contract. I’ll take it. You’ll take it. In the eyes of NBC execs she was perfect because she can be on “Meet the Press” as a panelist. She can help as they figure out some of their coverage. They have 24 hours a day to fill and here’s an official from the RNC. You can almost imagine the question that would be asked to her. It’s 10:00 PM on election night. Ronna, what are the Trump people thinking right now? They’re looking at the same numbers you are.

That was good, but that’s exactly it. And we all know it, right? This is television in our current era.

So last Friday, NBC makes what should be a routine announcement, but one they’re very proud of, that they’ve hired Ronna McDaniel. And in a statement, they say it couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team. So all’s good, right? Except for there’s a fly in the ointment.

Because it turns out that Ronna McDaniel has been slated to appear on “Meet the Press,” not as a paid NBC contributor, but as a former recently ousted RNC chair with the “Meet The Press” host, Kristen Welker, who’s preparing to have a real tough interview with Ronna McDaniel. Because of course, Ronna McDaniel was chair of the party and at Trump’s side as he tried to refuse his election loss. So this was supposed to be a showdown interview.

From NBC News in Washington, the longest-running show in television history. This is “Meet The Press” with Kristen Welker.

And here, all of a sudden, Kristin Welker is thrown for a loop.

In full disclosure to our viewers, this interview was scheduled weeks before it was announced that McDaniel would become a paid NBC News contributor.

Because now, she’s actually interviewing a member of the family who’s on the same payroll.

Right. Suddenly, she’s interviewing a colleague.

This will be a news interview, and I was not involved in her hiring.

So what happens during the interview?

So Welker is prepared for a tough interview, and that’s exactly what she does.

Can you say, as you sit here today, did Joe Biden win the election fair and square?

He won. He’s the legitimate president.

Did he win fair and square?

Fair and square, he won. It’s certified. It’s done.

She presses her on the key question that a lot of Republicans get asked these days — do you accept Joe Biden was the winner of the election?

But, I do think, Kristen —

Ronna, why has it taken you until now to say that? Why has it taken you until now to be able to say that?

I’m going to push back a little.

McDaniel gets defensive at times.

Because I do think it’s fair to say there were problems in 2020. And to say that does not mean he’s not the legitimate president.

But, Ronna, when you say that, it suggests that there was something wrong with the election. And you know that the election was the most heavily scrutinized. Chris Krebs —

It’s a really combative interview.

I want to turn now to your actions in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

And Welker actually really does go deeply into McDaniel’s record in those weeks before January 6.

On November 17, you and Donald Trump were recorded pushing two Republican Michigan election officials not to certify the results of the election. And on the call —

For instance, she presses McDaniel on McDaniel’s role in an attempt to convince a couple county commissioner level canvassers in Michigan to not certify Biden’s victory.

Our call that night was to say, are you OK? Vote your conscience. Not pushing them to do anything.

McDaniel says, look, I was just telling them to vote their conscience. They should do whatever they think is right.

But you said, do not sign it. If you can go home tonight, do not sign it. How can people read that as anything other than a pressure campaign?

And Welker’s not going to just let her off the hook. Welker presses her on Trump’s own comments about January 6 and Trump’s efforts recently to gloss over some of the violence, and to say that those who have been arrested, he’ll free them.

Do you support that?

I want to be very clear. The violence that happened on January 6 is unacceptable.

And this is a frankly fascinating moment because you can hear McDaniel starting to, if not quite reverse some of her positions, though in some cases she does that, at least really soften her language. It’s almost as if she’s switching uniforms from the RNC one to an NBC one or almost like breaking from a role she was playing.

Ronna, why not speak out earlier? Why just speak out about that now?

When you’re the RNC chair, you kind of take one for the whole team, right? Now, I get to be a little bit more myself.

She says, hey, you know what? Sometimes as RNC chair, you just have to take it for the team sometimes.

Right. What she’s really saying is I did things as chairwoman of the Republican National committee that now that I no longer have that job, I can candidly say, I wished I hadn’t done, which is very honest. But it’s also another way of saying I’m two faced, or I was playing a part.

Ronna McDaniel, thank you very much for being here this morning.

Then something extraordinary happens. And I have to say, I’ve never seen a moment like this in decades of watching television news and covering television news.

Welcome back. The panel is here. Chuck Todd, NBC News chief political analyst.

Welker brings her regular panel on, including Chuck Todd, now the senior NBC political analyst.

Chuck, let’s dive right in. What were your takeaways?

And he launches right into what he calls —

Look, let me deal with the elephant in the room.

The elephant being this hiring of McDaniel.

I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation.

And he proceeds, on NBC’S air, to lace into management for, as he describes it, putting Welker in this crazy awkward position.

Because I don’t know what to believe. She is now a paid contributor by NBC News. I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract.

And Todd is very hung up on this idea that when she was speaking for the party, she would say one thing. And now that she’s on the payroll at NBC, she’s saying another thing.

She has credibility issues that she still has to deal with. Is she speaking for herself, or is she speaking on behalf of who’s paying her?

Todd is basically saying, how are we supposed to know which one to believe.

What can we believe?

It is important for this network and for always to have a wide aperture. Having ideological diversity on this panel is something I prided myself on.

And what he’s effectively saying is that his bosses should have never hired her in this capacity.

I understand the motivation, but this execution, I think, was poor.

Someone said to me last night we live in complicated times. Thank you guys for being here. I really appreciate it.

Now, let’s just note here, this isn’t just any player at NBC. Chuck Todd is obviously a major news name at the network. And him doing this appears to just open the floodgates across the entire NBC News brand, especially on its sister cable network, MSNBC.

And where I said I’d never seen anything like what I saw on “Meet the Press” that morning, I’d never seen anything like this either. Because now, the entire MSNBC lineup is in open rebellion. I mean, from the minute that the sun comes up. There is Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

We weren’t asked our opinion of the hiring. But if we were, we would have strongly objected to it.

They’re on fire over this.

believe NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices, but it should be conservative Republicans, not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier.

But it rolls out across the entire schedule.

Because Ronna McDaniel has been a major peddler of the big lie.

The fact that Ms. McDaniel is on the payroll at NBC News, to me that is inexplicable. I mean, you wouldn’t hire a mobster to work at a DA’s office.

Rachel Maddow devotes an entire half hour.

It’s not about just being associated with Donald Trump and his time in the Republican Party. It’s not even about lying or not lying. It’s about our system of government.

Thumbing their noses at our bosses and basically accusing them of abetting a traitorous figure in American history. I mean, just extraordinary stuff. It’s television history.

And let’s face it, we journalists, our bosses, we can be seen as crybabies, and we’re paid complaining. Yeah, that’s what we’re paid to do. But in this case, the NBC executives cannot ignore this, because in the outcry, there’s a very clear point that they’re all making. Ronna McDaniel is not just a voice from the other side. She was a fundamental part of Trump’s efforts to deny his election loss.

This is not inviting the other side. This is someone who’s on the wrong side —

Of history.

Of history, of these moments that we’ve covered and are still covering.

And I think it’s fair to say that at this point, everyone understands that Ronna McDaniel’s time at NBC News is going to be very short lived. Yeah, basically, after all this, the executives at NBC have to face facts it’s over. And on Tuesday night, they release a statement to the staff saying as much.

They don’t cite the questions about red lines or what Ronna McDaniel represented or didn’t represent. They just say we need to have a unified newsroom. We want cohesion. This isn’t working.

I think in the end, she was a paid contributor for four days.

Yeah, one of the shortest tenures in television news history. And look, in one respect, by their standards, this is kind of a pretty small contract, a few hundred thousand dollars they may have to pay out. But it was way more costly because they hired her. They brought her on board because they wanted to appeal to these tens of millions of Americans who still love Donald J. Trump.

And what happens now is that this entire thing is blown up in their face, and those very same people now see a network that, in their view, in the view of Republicans across the country, this network will not accept any Republicans. So it becomes more about that. And Fox News, NBC’S longtime rival, goes wall to wall with this.

Now, NBC News just caved to the breathless demands from their far left, frankly, emotionally unhinged host.

I mean, I had it on my desk all day. And every minute I looked at that screen, it was pounding on these liberals at NBC News driving this Republican out.

It’s the shortest tenure in TV history, I think. But why? Well, because she supports Donald Trump, period.

So in a way, this leaves NBC worse off with that Trump Republican audience they had wanted to court than maybe even they were before. It’s like a boomerang with a grenade on it.

Yeah, it completely explodes in their face. And that’s why to me, the whole episode is so representative of this eight-year conundrum for the news media, especially on television. They still haven’t been able to crack the code for how to handle the Trump movement, the Trump candidacy, and what it has wrought on the American political system and American journalism.

We’ll be right back.

Jim, put into context this painful episode of NBC into that larger conundrum you just diagnosed that the media has faced when it comes to Trump.

Well, Michael, it’s been there from the very beginning, from the very beginning of his political rise. The media was on this kind of seesaw. They go back and forth over how to cover him. Sometimes they want to cover him quite aggressively because he’s such a challenging candidate. He was bursting so many norms.

But at other times, there was this instinct to understand his appeal, for the same reason. He’s such an unusual candidate. So there was a great desire to really understand his voters. And frankly, to speak to his voters, because they’re part of the audience. And we all lived it, right?

But just let me take you back anyway because everything’s fresh again with perspective. And so if you go back, let’s look at when he first ran. The networks, if you recall, saw him as almost like a novelty candidate.

He was going to spice up what was expected to be a boring campaign between the usual suspects. And he was a ratings magnet. And the networks, they just couldn’t get enough of it. And they allowed him, at times, to really shatter their own norms.

Welcome back to “Meet the Press,” sir.

Good morning, Chuck.

Good morning. Let me start —

He was able to just call into the studio and riff with the likes of George Stephanopoulos and Chuck Todd.

What does it have to do with Hillary?

She can’t talk about me because nobody respects women more than Donald Trump.

And CNN gave him a lot of unmitigated airtime, if you recall during the campaign. They would run the press conferences.

It’s the largest winery on the East Coast. I own it 100 percent.

And let him promote his Trump steaks and his Trump wine.

Trump steaks. Where are the steaks? Do we have steaks?

I mean, it got that crazy. But again, the ratings were huge. And then he wins. And because they had previously given him all that airtime, they’ve, in retrospect, sort of given him a political gift, and more than that now have a journalistic imperative to really address him in a different way, to cover him as they would have covered any other candidate, which, let’s face it, they weren’t doing initially. So there’s this extra motivation to make up for lost ground and maybe for some journalistic omissions.

Right. Kind of correct for the lack of a rigorous journalistic filter in the campaign.

Exactly. And the big thing that this will be remembered for is we’re going to call a lie a lie.

I don’t want to sugarcoat this because facts matter, and the fact is President Trump lies.

Trump lies. We’re going to say it’s a lie.

And I think we can’t just mince around it because they are lies. And so we need to call them what they are.

We’re no longer going to use euphemisms or looser language we’re. Going to call it for what it is.

Trump lies in tweets. He spreads false information at rallies. He lies when he doesn’t need to. He lies when the truth is more than enough for him.

CNN was running chyrons. They would fact check Trump and call lies lies on the screen while Trump is talking. They were challenging Trump to his face —

One of the statements that you made in the tail end of the campaign in the midterms that —

Here we go.

That — well, if you don’t mind, Mr. President, that this caravan was an invasion.

— in these crazy press conferences —

They’re are hundreds of miles away, though. They’re hundreds and hundreds of miles away. That’s not an invasion.

Honestly, I think you should let me run the country. You run CNN. And if you did it well, your ratings —

Well, let me ask — if I may ask one other question. Mr. President, if I may ask another question. Are you worried —

That’s enough. That’s enough.

And Trump is giving it right back.

I tell you what, CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN.

Very combative.

So this was this incredibly fraught moment for the American press. You’ve got tens of millions of Trump supporters seeing what’s really basic fact checking. These look like attacks to Trump supporters. Trump, in turn, is calling the press, the reporters are enemies of the people. So it’s a terrible dynamic.

And when January 6 happens, it’s so obviously out of control. And what the traditional press that follows, traditional journalistic rules has to do is make it clear that the claims that Trump is making about a stolen election are just so abjectly false that they don’t warrant a single minute of real consideration once the reporting has been done to show how false they are. And I think that American journalism really emerged from that feeling strongly about its own values and its own place in society.

But then there’s still tens of millions of Trump voters, and they don’t feel so good about the coverage. And they don’t agree that January 6 was an insurrection. And so we enter yet another period, where the press is going to have to now maybe rethink some things.

In what way?

Well, there’s a kind of quiet period after January 6. Trump is off of social media. The smoke is literally dissipating from the air in Washington. And news executives are kind of standing there on the proverbial battlefield, taking a new look at their situation.

And they’re seeing that in this clearer light, they’ve got some new problems, perhaps none more important for their entire business models than that their ratings are quickly crashing. And part of that diminishment is that a huge part of the country, that Trump-loving part of the audience, is really now severed from him from their coverage.

They see the press as actually, in some cases, being complicit in stealing an election. And so these news executives, again, especially on television, which is so ratings dependent, they’ve got a problem. So after presumably learning all these lessons about journalism and how to confront power, there’s a first subtle and then much less subtle rethinking.

Maybe we need to pull back from that approach. And maybe we need to take some new lessons and switch it up a little bit and reverse some of what we did. And one of the best examples of this is none other than CNN.

It had come under new management, was being led by a guy named Chris Licht, a veteran of cable news, but also Stephen Colbert’s late night show in his last job. And his new job under this new management is we’re going to recalibrate a little bit. So Chris Licht proceeds to try to bring the network back to the center.

And how does he do that?

Well, we see some key personalities who represented the Trump combat era start losing air time and some of them lose their jobs. There’s talk of, we want more Republicans on the air. There was a famous magazine article about Chris Licht’s balancing act here.

And Chris Licht says to a reporter, Tim Alberta of the “Atlantic” magazine, look, a lot in the media, including at his own network, quote unquote, “put on a jersey, took a side.” They took a side. And he says, I think we understand that jersey cannot go back on him. Because he says in the end of the day, by the way, it didn’t even work. We didn’t change anyone’s mind.

He’s saying that confrontational approach that defined the four years Trump was in office, that was a reaction to the feeling that TV news had failed to properly treat Trump with sufficient skepticism, that that actually was a failure both of journalism and of the TV news business. Is that what he’s saying?

Yeah. On the business side, it’s easier call, right? You want a bigger audience, and you’re not getting the bigger audience. But he’s making a journalistic argument as well that if the job is to convey the truth and take it to the people, and they take that into account as they make their own voting decisions and formulate their own opinions about American politics, if tens of millions of people who do believe that election was stolen are completely tuning you out because now they see you as a political combatant, you’re not achieving your ultimate goal as a journalist.

And what does Licht’s “don’t put a jersey back on” approach look like on CNN for its viewers?

Well, It didn’t look good. People might remember this, but the most glaring example —

Please welcome, the front runner for the Republican nomination for president, Donald Trump.

— was when he held a town hall meeting featuring Donald J. Trump, now candidate Trump, before an audience packed with Trump’s fans.

You look at what happened during that election. Unless you’re a very stupid person, you see what happens. A lot of the people —

Trump let loose a string of falsehoods.

Most people understand what happened. It was a rigged election.

The audience is pro-Trump audience, was cheering him on.

Are you ready? Are you ready? Can I talk?

Yeah, what’s your answer?

Can I? Do you mind?

I would like for you to answer the question.

OK. It’s very simple to answer.

That’s why I asked it.

It’s very simple. You’re a nasty person, I’ll tell you that.

And during, the CNN anchor hosting this, Kaitlan Collins, on CNN’s own air, it was a disaster.

It felt like a callback to the unlearned lessons of 2016.

Yeah. And in this case, CNN’s staff was up in arms.

Big shakeup in the cable news industry as CNN makes another change at the top.

Chris Licht is officially out at CNN after a chaotic run as chairman and CEO.

And Chris Licht didn’t survive it.

The chief executive’s departure comes as he faced criticism in recent weeks after the network hosted a town hall with Donald Trump and the network’s ratings started to drop.

But I want to say that the CNN leadership still, even after that, as they brought new leadership in, said, this is still the path we’re going to go on. Maybe that didn’t work out, but we’re still here. This is still what we have to do.

Right. And this idea is very much in the water of TV news, that this is the right overall direction.

Yeah. This is, by no means, isolated to CNN. This is throughout the traditional news business. These conversations are happening everywhere. But CNN was living it at that point.

And this, of course, is how we get to NBC deciding to hire Ronna McDaniel.

Right. Because they’re picking up — right where that conversation leaves off, they’re having the same conversation. But for NBC, you could argue this tension between journalistic values and audience. It’s even more pressing. Because even though MSNBC is a niche cable network, NBC News is part of an old-fashioned broadcast network. It’s on television stations throughout the country.

And in fact, those networks, they still have 6:30 newscasts. And believe it or not, millions of people still watch those every night. Maybe not as many as they used to, but there’s still some six or seven million people tuning in to nightly news. That’s important.

Right. We should say that kind of number is sometimes double or triple that of the cable news prime time shows that get all the attention.

On their best nights. So this is big business still. And that business is based on broad — it’s called broadcast for a reason. That’s based on broad audiences. So NBC had a business imperative, and they argue they had a journalistic imperative.

So given all of that, Jim, I think the big messy question here is, when it comes to NBC, did they make a tactical error around hiring the wrong Republican which blew up? Or did they make an even larger error in thinking that the way you handle Trump and his supporters is to work this hard to reach them, when they might not even be reachable?

The best way to answer that question is to tell you what they’re saying right now, NBC management. What the management saying is, yes, this was a tactical error. This was clearly the wrong Republican. We get it.

But they’re saying, we are going to — and they said this in their statement, announcing that they were severing ties with McDaniel. They said, we’re going to redouble our efforts to represent a broad spectrum of the American votership. And that’s what they meant was that we’re going to still try to reach these Trump voters with people who can relate to them and they can relate to.

But the question is, how do you even do that when so many of his supporters believe a lie? How is NBC, how is CNN, how are any of these TV networks, if they have decided that this is their mission, how are they supposed to speak to people who believe something fundamentally untrue as a core part of their political identity?

That’s the catch-22. How do you get that Trump movement person who’s also an insider, when the litmus test to be an insider in the Trump movement is to believe in the denialism or at least say you do? So that’s a real journalistic problem. And the thing that we haven’t really touched here is, what are these networks doing day in and day out?

They’re not producing reported pieces, which I think it’s a little easier. You just report the news. You go out into the world. You talk to people, and then you present it to the world as a nuanced portrait of the country. This thing is true. This thing is false. Again, in many cases, pretty straightforward. But their bread and butter is talking heads. It’s live. It’s not edited. It’s not that much reported.

So their whole business model especially, again, on cable, which has 24 hours to fill, is talking heads. And if you want the perspective from the Trump movement, journalistically, especially when it comes to denialism, but when it comes to some other major subjects in American life, you’re walking into a place where they’re going to say things that aren’t true, that don’t pass your journalistic standards, the most basic standards of journalism.

Right. So you’re saying if TV sticks with this model, the kind of low cost, lots of talk approach to news, then they are going to have to solve the riddle of who to bring on, who represents Trump’s America if they want that audience. And now they’ve got this red line that they’ve established, that that person can’t be someone who denies the 2020 election reality. But like you just said, that’s the litmus test for being in Trump’s orbit.

So this doesn’t really look like a conundrum. This looks like a bit of a crisis for TV news because it may end up meaning that they can’t hire that person that they need for this model, which means that perhaps a network like NBC does need to wave goodbye to a big segment of these viewers and these eyeballs who support Trump.

I mean, on the one hand, they are not ready to do that, and they would never concede that that’s something they’re ready to do. The problem is barring some kind of change in their news model, there’s no solution to this.

But why bar changes to their news model, I guess, is the question. Because over the years, it’s gotten more and more expensive to produce news, the news that I’m talking about, like recorded packages and what we refer to as reporting. Just go out and report the news.

Don’t gab about it. Just what’s going on, what’s true, what’s false. That’s actually very expensive in television. And they don’t have the kind of money they used to have. So the talking heads is their way to do programming at a level where they can afford it.

They do some packages. “60 Minutes” still does incredible work. NBC does packages, but the lion’s share of what they do is what we’re talking about. And that’s not going to change because the economics aren’t there.

So then a final option, of course, to borrow something Chris Licht said, is that a network like NBC perhaps doesn’t put a jersey on, but accepts the reality that a lot of the world sees them wearing a jersey.

Yeah. I mean, nobody wants to be seen as wearing a jersey in our business. No one wants to be wearing a jersey on our business. But maybe what they really have to accept is that we’re just sticking to the true facts, and that may look like we’re wearing a jersey, but we’re not. And that may, at times, look like it’s lining up more with the Democrats, but we’re not.

If Trump is lying about a stolen election, that’s not siding against him. That’s siding for the truth, and that’s what we’re doing. Easier said than done. And I don’t think any of these concepts are new.

I think there have been attempts to do that, but it’s the world they’re in. And it’s the only option they really have. We’re going to tell you the truth, even if it means that we’re going to lose a big part of the country.

Well, Jim, thank you very much.

Thank you, Michael.

Here’s what else you need to know today.

[PROTESTERS CHANTING]

Over the weekend, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in some of the largest domestic demonstrations against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since Israel invaded Gaza in the fall.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

Some of the protesters called on Netanyahu to reach a cease fire deal that would free the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7. Others called for early elections that would remove Netanyahu from office.

During a news conference on Sunday, Netanyahu rejected calls for early elections, saying they would paralyze his government at a crucial moment in the war.

Today’s episode was produced by Rob Szypko, Rikki Novetsky, and Alex Stern, with help from Stella Tan.

It was edited by Brendan Klinkenberg with help from Rachel Quester and Paige Cowett. Contains original music by Marion Lozano, Dan Powell, and Rowan Niemisto and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.

• April 2, 2024   •   29:32 Kids Are Missing School at an Alarming Rate
• April 1, 2024   •   36:14 Ronna McDaniel, TV News and the Trump Problem
• March 29, 2024   •   48:42 Hamas Took Her, and Still Has Her Husband
• March 28, 2024   •   33:40 The Newest Tech Start-Up Billionaire? Donald Trump.
• March 27, 2024   •   28:06 Democrats’ Plan to Save the Republican House Speaker
• March 26, 2024   •   29:13 The United States vs. the iPhone
• March 25, 2024   •   25:59 A Terrorist Attack in Russia
• March 24, 2024   •   21:39 The Sunday Read: ‘My Goldendoodle Spent a Week at Some Luxury Dog ‘Hotels.’ I Tagged Along.’
• March 22, 2024   •   35:30 Chuck Schumer on His Campaign to Oust Israel’s Leader
• March 21, 2024   •   27:18 The Caitlin Clark Phenomenon
• March 20, 2024   •   25:58 The Bombshell Case That Will Transform the Housing Market
• March 19, 2024   •   27:29 Trump’s Plan to Take Away Biden’s Biggest Advantage

Hosted by Michael Barbaro

Featuring Jim Rutenberg

Produced by Rob Szypko ,  Rikki Novetsky and Alex Stern

With Stella Tan

Edited by Brendan Klinkenberg ,  Rachel Quester and Paige Cowett

Original music by Marion Lozano ,  Dan Powell and Rowan Niemisto

Engineered by Chris Wood

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

Ronna McDaniel’s time at NBC was short. The former Republican National Committee chairwoman was hired as an on-air political commentator but released just days later after an on-air revolt by the network’s leading stars.

Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The Times, discusses the saga and what it might reveal about the state of television news heading into the 2024 presidential race.

On today’s episode

Jim Rutenberg , a writer at large for The New York Times.

Background reading

Ms. McDaniel’s appointment had been immediately criticized by reporters at the network and by viewers on social media.

The former Republican Party leader tried to downplay her role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. A review of the record shows she was involved in some key episodes .

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Jim Rutenberg is a writer at large for The Times and The New York Times Magazine and writes most often about media and politics. More about Jim Rutenberg

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