The Life List: Top 5 Friends episodes

SINGAPORE - The cast of the seminal sitcom Friends (1994 to 2004) are reuniting finally, after years of clamouring from fans, for a special episode on May 27.

Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Courteney Cox (Monica), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), Matthew Perry (Chandler) and David Schwimmer (Ross) will reflect on their experience of being on the globally popular television show about a group of friends living in Manhattan, New York City.

To gear up for the occasion, The Straits Times has picked the top five Friends episodes from its 10-season run, which is available on Netflix. They are listed in order of broadcast date.

One of the show's early episodes sets up the series' enduring on-and-off romantic coupling of Ross and Rachel with a citywide blackout.

Joey convinces Ross that he has to confess his feelings for Rachel, before he becomes stuck in the "friend zone" - a term popularised by the series.

Chandler, the only friend away from the group, has a subplot where he is stuck in an ATM vestibule with lingerie model Jill Goodacre, who appears as herself.

The most iconic scene here has Monica, Joey and Phoebe in the living room singing The Carpenters' song Top Of The World, while Ross is thwarted by a cat just as he is about to declare his feelings for Rachel on the balcony.

This bottle episode is a great showcase of the cast's easy chemistry. The term refers to episodes filmed almost entirely on one set - in this case, Monica's apartment.

Ross has to gather everyone to attend a benefit at the museum where he works. But no one, aside from Phoebe, is dressed and ready.

The actors play off one another beautifully, with separate but intersecting storylines: Monica has a meltdown over a voicemail message from her ex-boyfriend; Chandler and Joey have a childish fight over a chair; and Rachel is unable to decide on her outfit.

Sometimes referred to as "The One With The Quiz", this episode is mainly remembered for its subplot, where the men - Chandler and Joey - bet that they know more about the women - Monica and Rachel - than vice versa.

This triggers a trivia contest with Ross as game master. Each team answers personal questions about the other and the stakes get progressively higher. If Monica and Rachel win, Chandler and Joey have to give up their pet chicken and duck. If the men win, the women have to give up their apartment to them.

The episode is named after a surrogacy arc for Phoebe, which was conceived by the writers to work Kudrow's real-life pregnancy into the show.

Who can forget this hilarious episode in which the entire gang finds out about Monica and Chandler? The couple had kept their budding romance a secret, but when the cat is out of the bag, a game of one-upmanship begins.

Phoebe pretends she has feelings for Chandler while Chandler plays along.

One of the most famous scenes of the series is Phoebe seeing Monica and Chandler make out through a window and screaming: "Oh my eyes! My eyes!"

Schwimmer displays his talent for physical comedy here.

Ross tries to teach Rachel and Phoebe "unagi" (Japanese for freshwater eel), which he claims is about having total awareness of one's surroundings.

Schwimmer's exaggeratedly serious expression while talking about the bizarre concept and his furtive sneaking about make this one of the show's funniest episodes.

The 10 seasons of Friends are available on Netflix.

Friends: The Reunion special will debut in Singapore at the same time as the United States on May 27 at 3.01pm exclusively on HBO Go, with a same-day broadcast on HBO (StarHub TV Channel 601 and Singtel TV Channel 420) at 9pm.