The One With The Routine

"The One With The Routine" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of Friends, which aired on December 16, 1999. In it, Ross and Monica plan to dance at Dick Clark's New Year's Eve special, but Monica's competitive nature gets in the way, Joey decides to kiss his roommate at midnight on New Year's Eve, and Rachel, Phoebe, and Chandler desperately try to find their Christmas gifts while the others are away.

Plot[]

Janine is going to be a party person on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, and asks Joey, Monica, and Ross to come along for the taping. Joey decides to kiss Janine at the end of the midnight countdown on set in order to find out whether she likes him or not. Rachel and Phoebe look for the gifts Monica got for them while the others are at the taping, and convince Chandler to help them look for them by using the presents to know what to get Monica. After searching the apartment for gifts and unable to find them, Rachel ends up knocking on a bench in the apartment, realizing it is hollow and thus discovering where Monica hid the presents. Chandler, however, stops Rachel and Phoebe from opening the gifts by telling them that it isn't what Christmas is about, and that he wants to see Monica's look on her face when she opens his present and believes she will appreciate the look on his face when he opens her present. He persuades the girls to put them back by promising to get them better gifts in return. However, Monica happens to walk in and sees them before they can put them back, revealing to a bemused Chandler that she bought him a water purifier for Christmas.

Monica and Ross really want to be on TV but they would have to dance on the platform, which only the selected people are allowed to do. They put on The Routine - a ridiculous looking dance they haven't done since 8th Grade - for the selection guy, who claims to be impressed and tells them to do the same dance on the platform where they will be filmed and lets them believe they will be on TV, but when they are out of earshot tells his cameraman that he really just wants them filmed "for the bloopers roll".

Joey and Janine are split up by the selection guy and paired with different dancing partners, as the guy claims not to see them come to the set together. In the bathroom, he tries to persuade Janine's partner to switch with him, but he doesn't budge. Joey retaliates by spilling water on the man's pants and embarrassing him on set. He prepares to kiss Janine on fake midnight but the crew ruins their moment by yelling "Cut!".

When they get back home, Janine kisses Joey, admitting she likes him and wanted to kiss him as well. Neither can wait until New Year's to kiss again and do so marking the start of a new relationship. In the final scene in Monica's apartment, Monica and Ross try to show Rachel and Chandler the end of the routine but Monica backs out of catching Ross.

Cast and Crew[]

Main Cast[]

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

Supporting Cast[]

Elle Macpherson - Janine Lecroix
Patrick Bristow - The Stage Manager
Lex Medlin- The Tall Guy
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
Sandra Plazinic - Dancer on Platform
Sybil Azur - The Dancing Girl
Alex Kalognomo - Dancer on Screen
Paul Sinacore - Party Goer (uncredited)

Crew[]

Directed By:
Kevin S. Bright

Written By:
Brian Boyle

Trivia[]

General[]

In the uncut DVD version of the episode, Rachel, Phoebe, and Chandler go to Central Perk in search of the presents Monica had hidden from them. Rachel flirts with Gunther to try and find out where they are and he faints. Also, after the countdown to New Year's on set, Ross and Monica continue to dance on the platform after everyone leaves.
Because of the coming of the year 2000, ABC pre-empted the airing of Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve in favor of a special broadcast entitled ABC 2000 Today, although Dick Clark did conduct the New Year's Eve countdown as usual.
The song 'Every Word Means No' by Smash Mouth playing at the beginning of the Rockin' New Year's Eve taping was also played during Danny's party in "The One Where Ross Moves In" (S5E7).
The song playing when Monica and Ross do the routine is "Trouble With Boys" by Loreta.
At the end of the episode, Joey and Janine kiss marking the start of their short-lived relationship but they break up in the next episode after she confesses to not wanting to spend any time with Monica and Chandler.
This episode was used as "R is for Routine" in the Nick at Nite Friends A-Z Event (January 2023).

Goofs[]

When Chandler says "if I help we could find them faster" he pretends to start looking for the presents with the girls but only picks up (and looks under) a fork or spoon off of the coffee table.
When Janine leaves Central Perk a crew member, camera and a set of lights can be glimpsed.
In the opening scene, when Ross is telling Monica and Chandler the story of the Dreidel, you can see Ross' lips moving without any sound coming out during a close up shot of Chandler and Monica.
At 9:22, when Janine says "We're together", her lips aren't moving.
The boxes Chandler, Phoebe, and Rachel find are obviously empty as they bounce when they throw the boxes on the floor.
During the filming of the dancers, when the director starts the count down at 10, the shot changes to Joey with his thoughts overdubbed. If you keep counting during this scene, the full countdown comes and goes, however it picks up at 3 when Joey's thoughts are finished.
- Full sentences can be 'thought up' in an instant and thus do not necessarily take as much as time as articulating it.
After the countdown finishes, Ross and Monica can be seen in the background dancing, even though there is no music.
- In the Uncut DVD version of the episode, Ross and Monica were shown to continue dancing on the platform after everyone was leaving.

External links[]

Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
"The One with the Routine" at the Internet Movie Database

Episode Navigation[]

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Preceded by "The One Where Ross Got High"	Series Six Episodes	Followed by "The One With The Apothecary Table"


<< Season 5		Season 6				Season 7 >>
#01	"The One After Vegas"		#10	"The One With The Routine"	#19	"The One With Joey's Fridge"
#02	"The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel"		#11	"The One With The Apothecary Table"	#20	"The One With Mac And C.H.E.E.S.E."
#03	"The One With Ross' Denial"		#12	"The One With The Joke"	#21	"The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad"
#04	"The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance"		#13	"The One With Rachel's Sister"	#22	"The One Where Paul's The Man"
#05	"The One With Joey's Porsche"		#14	"The One Where Chandler Can't Cry"	#23	"The One With The Ring"
#06	"The One On The Last Night"		#15	"The One That Could Have Been, Part 1"	#24	"The One With The Proposal, Part 1"
#07	"The One Where Phoebe Runs"		#16	"The One That Could Have Been, Part 2"	#25	"The One With The Proposal, Part 2"
#08	"The One With Ross' Teeth"		#17	"The One With Unagi"
#09	"The One Where Ross Got High"		#18	"The One Where Ross Dates A Student"