Note: This is unfinished, mostly because I need to chat with my creative director about how much content should be on this page. There are 10 seasons in total, and using the information from wikipedia, there are at least three timeline boxes per season. That's a lot. This page will get really long if I use everything.
Overview
Season 1
The first season of Friends, Premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994. The season contains 24 episodes and concluded airing on May 18, 1995. This season introduces the six main characters: Rachel Green, Monica Geller, Phoebe Buffay, Joey Tribbiani, Chandler Bing and Ross Geller.
Rachel, who left her fiance at the altar on her wedding day, has come to New York and ends up living with Monica. It establishes early on in the season that Ross has been infatuated with Rachel since the two characters attended high school. Several episodes revolve around his attempts to tell her how he feels. Meanwhile, Ross’s estranged lesbian wife Carol is pregnant with his baby. This puts him and Carol’s lesbian life partner, Susan, in an awkward position. When the baby is born at the end of the season, Ross, Carol, and Susan agree to name him Ben: after a name tag on a janitor’s uniform worn by Phoebe.
The episodic nature of the season sees the other characters having multiple dates, many of which go wrong (Monica dates a minor in one episode). The recurring character of Janice is introduced as a girlfriend Chandler breaks up with in an early episode but frequently returns to through the ensuing ten seasons.
At the end of the season Ross leaves for a fossil dig in China, but when Chandler lets it slip about Ross’s continuing feelings for Rachel on her birthday, she is shocked; She rushes off to the airport to tell him about her feelings, only to find out that he has a new girlfriend.
Season 2
The second season of Friends, Premiered on NBC on September 21, 1995. The season contained 24 episodes and concluded airing on May 16, 1996. TV Guide placed the season at #31 on their list of television’s 100 all-time greatest seasons, being one of the series’s three on the list.
This season features more serialized storylines; it begins when Rachel discovers that Ross is dating Julie, someone he knew from grad school. Julie returns for several episodes early in the season. Rachel’s attempts to tell Ross she likes him mirror his own failed attempts in the first season, but she accidentally lets it slip out on a phone call. When Ross finds out, he dumps Julie, but Rachel is angry because of a list of bad things about her. Eventually, a prom video reveals that Ross intended to take Rachel to the prom when her prom date was late. This makes Rachel forgive him and they begin a relationship that lasts into the following season..
Joey, a struggling actor in the first season, gets a part in a fictionalized version of the soap opera Days of Our Lives but loses the part soon after when he angers the writers by saying in an interview that he writes many of his own lines.
The second season also served to deepen Chandler and Joey’s friendship. This becomes especially apparent in the episodes in which Joey temporarily moves out and a creepy guy named Eddie Menuek moves in. Chandler is disgusted that Eddie doesn’t like what he likes, and has trouble bonding with him, so he allows Joey to move in and pretend that Eddie never lived there.
Tom Selleck begins a recurring guest role as Dr. Richard Burke. Richard, a friend of Monica and Ross’ parents who is recently divorced and with grown children, is 21 years older than Monica but despite this they date for the second half of the season. In the season finale, they end the relationship when they realize that he does not want any more children and she does. Another surprise comes when Chandler falls in love with a woman over the Internet and when he goes to meet her at Central Perk, Janice walks in. Despite this, they decide to get back together, for real.
Season 3
The third season of Friends, premiered on NBC on September 19, 1996. It is usually regarded as some of the series’s finest work. The season contained 25 episodes and concluded airing on May 15, 1997.
This season took on a significantly greater serialized format. Rachel begins working at Bloomingdales and Ross becomes jealous of her co-worker, Mark Robinson. Ross and Rachel break up after Ross sleeps with a hot girl from the copy shop, Chloe. His insistence the he and Rachel were ‘On a break’ becomes a running gag through the remaining seasons. The Two show significant animosity towards each other through the second half of the season. Though the cliff-hanger ending suggests the two reconcile. Interestingly, the first episode after they break up does not focus on the two of the, But on Chandler, who is having a very hard time dealing with the situation; as it reminds him of his parents’ divorce.
Phoebe Buffay, established as having except for an identical twin sister, becomes acquainted with her half-brother, Frank Jr. and in the finale discovers her birth mother she never knew she had. Joey develops a crush on Kate, his acting partner in a new play. At first she doesn’t harbour feeling for him, even after sleeping together. However, after her boyfriend/director dumps her following a scathing review of the play, she turns to Joey for support. The relationship doesn’t last long, as she is given an opportunity on a soap opera in Los Angeles.
Monica begins a relationship with Pete Becker, a millionaire who has a crush on her. At first, she only sees him as a friend, but eventually, the two begin to date. Preparing for what she thinks is a marriage proposal; Pete confides in her that he wants to become the Ultimate Fighting Champion. After seeing him get beat up badly in two matches, she tells him he has to give it up. Since he wont, she breaks up with him.