Janice Hosenstein's Friends Timeline Explained
Recurring characters on sitcoms can be just as important as the stars of the show, and that was definitely the case with Janice Hosenstein (Maggie Wheeler) on "Friends." As the on-again-off-again girlfriend of Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), Janice popped in and out of every single season of the hit series, bringing the laughs with her every step of the way. Outside of Gunther (James Michael Tyler) and Jack Geller (Elliott Gould), no guest star had more appearances than Janice, who showed up for a whopping 19 episodes over 10 seasons.
Known for her nasally voice and signature catchphrase — "Oh. My. God." — Janice was the lovable ex that Chandler could never escape, much to the viewer's pleasure. While he played her off to be an annoying and obnoxious nuisance, Janice was actually a sweet, genuine, and loving person, and the fans absolutely fell for her. She's often been regarded as one of the best "Friends" exes, and it's hard to imagine the show without her in it. No other "Friends" ex has appeared in all 10 seasons, and many often forget that Janice was in Chandler's life long before fans became privy to their relationship in Season 1.
Janice's begins her on-again-off-again romance with Chandler early on Friends
We first met Janice in Season 1, Episode 5 ("The One With the East German Laundry Detergent") as Chandler's girlfriend. The two were together before the show started, but Chandler already had enough of Janice and was ready to break up with her that same episode. We watched him try to end things with her multiple times, but he always succumbed and recanted his feelings when Janice would break down and cry. Powerless against her tears, Chandler fought the breakup over and over again, until he enlisted Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) to help him.
Phoebe was a champ at breaking up with people, and she agreed to help Chandler end things with Janice once and for all. The quirky masseuse sat down with Janice in the coffee house, and while the viewers weren't able to hear their conversation, everything went smoothly and Janice left without any issues. Chandler just wasn't quite ready to quit his ex though, as he ended up inviting her to the group's New Year's Eve party in Episode 10 ("The One With the Monkey") but ultimately broke up with her for the second time before the end of the evening.
This still wasn't the end of Janice and Chandler's Season 1 romance, however. In Episode 14 ("The One With the Candy Hearts"), Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) brought Chandler along for a blind double date, where he was surprised by Janice's appearance at dinner. The duo ended up having a good time and spent a drunken night together, which resulted in them waking up next to one another the next morning. Chandler let Janice know he didn't want to get involved again, and the latter agreed. She admitted she knew Chandler would always come back to her, and boy was she right.
Janice moves on from Chandler
In Season 2, Chandler regretted dumping Janice for superficial reasons after he realized he was just like his downstairs neighbor, Mr. Heckles (Larry Hankin). He ended up calling Janice to get back together, and she agreed to meet him at Central Perk. Much to his and everyone else's surprise, Janice was pregnant. She admitted to Chandler that she was also a "married lady." While it's never specifically stated when Janice got hitched, we know it happened somewhere between the end of Season 1 and Season 2, Episode 3 ("The One Where Heckles Dies"). The lucky guy ended up being Gary Litman, a.k.a. the Mattress King, who also owned a store by the same name. The pair had a daughter, but Gary ended up cheating on Janice, catapulting her back into Chandler's life.
In the Season 2 finale ("The One With Barry and Mindy's Wedding"), Chandler met a mystery woman online who told him that her husband was cheating on her. He ended up falling for his digital fling, and the two agreed to meet at the coffee house. Naturally, the woman was none other than Janice. The two got back together while Janice was separated from Gary, and it was easily the most involved Chandler ever got in their relationship over the course of 10 seasons. The pair were actually together for quite some time, running well into Season 3.
Janice makes a life-changing decision
Chandler and Janice had their best run as a couple in Season 3, with the former even asking his girlfriend — who was married by the way — to move in with him. Janice was a little freaked out by the proposal and turned Chandler down, but the two stayed together and exchanged their first "I Love You's" to one another. Later in Season 3, things took a drastic turn for the couple when Janice made a life-changing decision that brought her and Chandler to an end.
In Episode 7 ("The One With the Race Car Bed"), we saw a commercial for the Mattress King where Gary used his divorce as a tactic to sell his product. Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) was intrigued by the great prices in the commercial, went shopping with Phoebe, and purchased a queen bed at the store. Unfortunately, there was a mixup, and a red race car bed was delivered to her apartment, which caused Monica and Joey to head back to the Mattress King to complain. While they were there, Joey caught Janice making out with her estranged husband. After Joey filled in Chandler on the cheating, Janice admitted to kissing Gary on two separate occasions.
She told Chandler that she loved both him and Gary and didn't know what to do. After telling a story about how much he hated the man that broke up his own parent's marriage, Chandler told Janice she should give her marriage another shot. She agreed, and the couple broke up for good in Episode 8 ("The One With the Giant Poking Device"). However, the duo wasn't quite done with their relationship just yet.
Janice finds another Friend
After 24 straight episodes with no appearance from Janice, she finally popped up in Season 4, Episode 15 ("The One with All the Rugby") after running into Chandler and Rachel Greene (Jennifer Aniston) at a nail salon. Janice got attached to Chandler after believing it was destiny that they found each other again, but the latter was far from interested in getting caught up with her for the umpteenth time. To thwart their re-coupling, Chandler told Janice that he had to move to Yemen for work. After helping him pack, she sent him off at the airport, where he actually boarded a plane and headed to the Middle East. This marked the end of Chandler and Janice's romantic relationship for good, and the two never became involved again for the rest of the series. However, that didn't stop Janice from continuing to pop up.
In Season 5, Episode 12 ("The One With Chandler's Work Laugh"), we saw the return of Janice yet again, but this time she had her eyes set on another friend. After Ross fell into a depression after finding out his ex-wife Emily (Helen Baxendale) was getting remarried, he wandered the streets of New York and ran into Janice, and the two end up in bed together. Ross really enjoyed his time with Janice, but in a shocking turn of events, she ended things between them because she found him too annoying and whiny. When she left Ross alone in Central Perk, she ran into Joey and told him, "I guess that's two out of three," and broke into her legendary laugh. Janice never completed the trifecta, thankfully, and we're not sure Joey ever would have let her.
Janice's looming presence
Janice's romantic journey with Chandler and Ross officially ended in Season 5, but the writers knew they couldn't keep the lovable character out of the show. For five more seasons, she popped up here and there, often running into someone from the group at the most inopportune time. In the Season 7 finale ("The One Where Rachel Has A Baby, Parts 1 and 2"), we found out that Janice had remarried and was pregnant when she was brought into the same hospital room Ross and Rachel were in. Now hitched to Sid Goralnik (Maurice Godin), Janice gave birth to her first son, Aaron Goralnik. She had a heart-to-heart with Rachel after she gave birth to Emma, telling her that she needed to be careful as a single mom because the fathers are never as great as they always promise to be.
Janice later ran into Chandler in Season 9 at the fertility clinic he and Monica were attending to try to get pregnant. After offering Chandler a hand before he made his "deposit," the two had a nice conversation where Janice told her ex that he and Monica were meant to have children and everything will be great.
The last we saw of Janice came in Season 10 when she ran into Monica and Chandler on Long Island while they were house hunting. It turned out she and Sid were interested in buying the house next door to the one Chandler and Monica wanted, so the couple concocted a plan to get rid of her. Chandler pretended to still be interested in Janice, saying he still wanted her and was excited that they'd be living next door to one another. Janice got scared and decided to not put an offer in on the other house, but she gave Chandler one last kiss before she left, giving her character the perfect ending to her 10 season storyline.