Friends: The Complete Ninth Season - Region 1 DVD

On the guest star front, Friends welcomes back Jon Lovitz, who reprises his character from the classic first-season episode, "The One with the Stoned Guy" in "The One with the Blind Dates," and Hank Azaria as David the "Science Guy" who returns to complicate Phoebe's love life. Christina Applegate is a riot as "Rachel's Other Sister," and it's surprising that NBC didn't go all Suddenly Susan on Freddie Prinz Jr. after his surprisingly funny stint in "The One with the Male Nanny." Selma Blair is a seductive co-worker who makes a play for Chandler in "The One with Christmas in Tulsa," and Jeff Goldblum portrays a master thespian who mistakes Joey's urge to urinate as method acting. For Friends fanatics, it's a coup to get the episodes complete and uncut as opposed to their commercial-laden syndicated counterparts. For more casual viewers, let's just say of this comparatively lackluster season (by Friends' own gold standards) that the show was on a break. --Donald Liebenson