Episode no. Season 2
Episode 18 Story by Alexa Junge Production code 457318 | Directed by Michael Lembeck Teleplay by Michael Borkow Original air date March 21, 1996 | |
"The One Where Dr. Ramoray Dies" is the eighteenth episode of season two of the television situation comedy Friends and 42nd overall.
Contents
Plot
Joey does an interview with Soap Opera Digest, wherein he claims that he makes up most of his lines on Days of Our Lives. The writers get wind of this, of course, and decide to exact revenge: they kill off Joey's character, Dr. Drake Ramoray, by having him fall to his death down an elevator shaft. Meanwhile, Monica and Rachel both intend to have sex with their respective boyfriends, Richard and Ross, but argue with each other when they find out they have only one condom.
Reception
This episode forms the basis of a study published in Pediatrics on "the impact of condom-efficacy messages in an episode of Friends on teens". During a discussion about v-chips, Connecticut senator Joseph Lieberman told series co-creator Marta Kauffman that he was appalled by the scene where Monica and Rachel fight over the last condom and turned off his television. Kauffman dismissed Lieberman's comments because he misunderstood the scene; the characters were advocating safe sex by agreeing that whoever did not have the condom could not have sex.