So, how you doin' on planning your party for the Friends finally - oops, we mean finale?
After 10 years of coffee shop banter, bad Halloween costumes, and endless break-ups and make-ups, TV's six best buddies say goodbye in a two-hour extravaganza Thursday. A one-hour retrospective begins at 8 p.m., followed by the one-hour finale at 9.
If you want to start your partying early, cable's TV Land will air programs from 6 to 9 p.m. featuring cast members before they were famous.
You can see Jennifer Aniston on Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Lisa Kudrow on Cheers, Courteney Cox Arquette on Family Ties, Matthew Perry on Who's the Boss? plus David Schwimmer on The Wonder Years and Matt LeBlanc on Just the 10 of Us.
But back to the party. Monica is a chef but most of her food was a disaster. Remember the burned Thanksgiving dinner? Or all the potato dishes she slaved over to suit everyone's childhood memories? Her mother finally came around to her talent even if a high Jon Lovitz couldn't wait for her lovely array ofamuse bouche.
In a November 2000 episode, Monica asked the guys if they knew their oven didn't work. Joey's response: "But the drawer full of takeout menus is okay, right?" That's the spirit for your party.
There is precedent for pizza, so don't feel guilty about ordering it. On "The One With George Stephanopoulous" episode, which first aired in October 1994, the girls mistakenly end up with a pizza intended for the boyish then-bachelor living across the street.
If pizza's not your preference, you can always serve coffee and dessert, in honor of Central Perk. Or bake Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies, using the recipe on the bag that Phoebe once thought was a closely guarded secret. In honor of "The One with the Dozen Lasagnas," make or order the Italian treat, and where there's a celebration of Joey, there should be a tasty, substantial sandwich - or two or three.
If you identify most with Monica, fire up the grill as you recall "The One With Five Steaks and an Eggplant," in which Monica loses her restaurant job for accepting free steaks. Serve cheesecake and hope it's as irresistible as the one accidentally delivered to Chandler and which he and Rachel devoured. But if you order a celebratory cake, as Ross and Rachel did for daughter Emma's first birthday, check to make sure it's not pornographic.
