The eighth season of the American television sitcom Friends aired on NBC from September 27, 2001 to May 16, 2002.
Contents
Cast and characters
Main cast
Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green
Courteney Cox as Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer as Ross Geller
Recurring cast
Elliott Gould as Jack Geller
Christina Pickles as Judy Geller
Bonnie Somerville as Mona
Sean Penn as Eric
James Michael Tyler as Gunther
Guest stars
Maggie Wheeler as Janice Litman-Goralnik
Morgan Fairchild as Nora Bing
Eddie Cahill as Tag Jones
Marlo Thomas as Sandra Green
Ron Leibman as Dr. Leonard Green
June Gable as Estelle Leonard
Brad Pitt as Will Colbert
Trudie Styler as herself
Johnny Messner as Kash
Rena Sofer as Katie
Maurice Godin as Sid
Eddie McClintock as Clifford 'Cliff' Burnett
Sam McMurray as Doug
Geoff Pierson as Mr. Franklin
Arden Myrin as Brenda
Fred Stoller as Stu
Harry Van Gorkum as Don
James LeGros as Jim
Cole Sprouse as Ben
Emily Osment as Lelani Mayolanofavich
Steve Ireland as Mr. Zelner
Tim DeKay as Marc
Rachael Harris as Julie
Debi Mazar as Evil Bitch
United States ratings
Season 8 averaged 24.5 million viewers and finished, for the first time, as the most watched show of the 2001–02 television season.
Home media
The eight season was officially released on DVD in region 1 on November 9, 2004, as a 4-disc DVD Box Set. The release includes the extended versions of every episode, 3 audio commentaries, a video guide to season eight's guest stars, a gag reel, a trivia challenge, and easter eggs about the next season.
The 2004 region 2 DVD version of the season, include the deleted scenes from the episode "The One Where Rachel Tells Ross" as part of the special features, those scenes were cut from the episode following the September 11 attacks and where not shown to the public until the release of this DVD. The Blu-ray releases of the Complete Series include the "Original Producer's Cut" version of the episode presented on Standard Definition as part of the Exclusive Bonus Features of the set; the original script for the episode was also included.
Reception
Collider ranked the season Number 1 on their ranking of all ten Friends seasons, and named "The One with the Rumor" as its standout episode.