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Friends
Friends is an American situation comedy about a group of friends living in the New York City borough of
Manhattan. It was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994.
The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. The
original executive producers were Crane, Kauffman and Kevin Bright, with Adam Chase, Michael Curtis, Greg
Malins, Scott Silveri, Shana Goldberg-Meehan, Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen being promoted in later seasons.
About
Crane and Kauffman began developing Friends under the title "Insomnia Cafe" in November 1993. They
presented the idea to Bright, with whom they had previously worked, and together they pitched a seven-page
treatment of the series to NBC. After several script rewrites and changes, the series was nally named "Friends"
and premiered on NBC's coveted Thursday 8:30 pm timeslot. Filming for the series took place at Warner Bros.
Studios in Burbank, California in front of a live audience. After ten seasons on the network, the series nale was
heavily promoted by NBC, and viewing parties were organized around the U.S.. The nale, which was rst aired
on May 6, 2004, was watched by an average of 52.5 million American viewers, making it the fourth most-watched
series nale in television history.
Friends received positive reviews throughout its run, and became one of the most popular sitcoms of its time. The
series won many awards and was nominated for 63 Primetime Emmy Awards. The series was also very
successful in the ratings, consistently ranking in the top ten in the nal primetime ratings. Friends has made a
large cultural impact, and the Central Perk coffee house featured prominently in the series has inspired various
imitations worldwide. Repeats of the series continue to air worldwide, while each season has been released on
DVD. Following the series nale, the spin-off series Joey was created, and rumors of a lm continue to circulate.
Characters
Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, a fashion enthusiast who starts working at the coffee shop, but later
moves into management at Bloomingdale's and later at Ralph Lauren. Jennifer Aniston had already appeared
in several unsuccessful sitcom pilots before being cast in Friends.
Courteney Cox Arquette as Monica Geller (later Monica Geller-Bing), a chef who changes jobs often
throughout the show, ending up as head chef at Javu. She is known for her obsessive-compulsive and
competitive nature and is often ridiculed for having been an extremely overweight child by the others. She
eventually marries longtime friend Chandler Bing in season seven. Courteney Cox was already an
accomplished TV and lm actress when she was cast, having appeared in the likes of Ace Ventura: Pet
Detective and with several minor roles on sitcoms such as Seinfeld and Family Ties.
Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay (later Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan), an eccentric masseuse and musician.
Phoebe became homeless at the age of 14, and is known for being street-smart yet naive. She later marries
Mike Hannigan and changes her name to his. Lisa Kudrow had previously played Ursula Buffay on Mad About
You, and reprised the dual role of twin sister Ursula as a recurring character during several episodes of Friends.
Prior to her role on Friends, Kudrow was an ofce manager and researcher for her father, a headache
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specialist.
Matt Le Blanc as Joey Tribbiani, a struggling actor who becomes famous for his role on Days of our Lives as
Dr. Drake Ramoray. Joey is a womanizer with many girlfriends throughout the series. He also has a strong
appreciation for food, especially meatball subs. LeBlanc had appeared as Vinnie Verducci in Married... with
Children in the early 1990s and starred in that sitcom's short-lived spin-off, Top of the Heap, as well as in the
unrelated Vinnie & Bobby, but before that had mainly been focusing on advertising and modeling work when he
was cast as Joey Tribbiani.
Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, a sarcastic executive in statistical analysis and data reconguration for a
large multi-national corporation. Chandler quits his job and becomes a junior copywriter at an advertising
agency and marries longtime friend Monica Geller. Like Aniston, Perry had already appeared in several
unsuccessful sitcom pilots before being cast.
David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Monica's older brother, a paleontologist working at a museum of
Prehistoric History and later a professor of paleontology at New York University. Ross has three unsuccessful
marriages through the series, and is involved in an "on-again, off-again" relationship with Rachel. The character
of Ross was written with David Schwimmer in mind; having auditioned for Crane and Kauffman in the past,
Schwimmer was said to have a memorable voice and was most known for his Broadway work.
Before their roles on Friends, the main six cast members were somewhat familiar to television viewers, but were
not considered to be stars. During the series' ten season run, the actors all achieved household name celebrity
status, and all pursued careers in the movies, with varied success. Aniston's movie career is predominantly
populated with light romantic comedies including The Good Girl, Bruce Almighty, Along Came Polly, Rumor Has It,
The Break Up and Derailed. Cox made several lightweight lms and achieved her greatest success with the
Scream series, in which she co-starred with her husband, David Arquette, who had made a guest appearance as
Ursula's stalker in Friends. This was followed by the critically acclaimed TV series, Dirt, that portrayed her as a
ruthless editor of a two-bit tabloid magazine. Kudrow fared best in low budget indie lms, most notably The
Opposite of Sex and Happy Endings, and also lms like the comedy hit Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion
and Analyze This. Most recently Kudrow played a main character alongside Hilary Swank in 2007's P.S. I Love
You. Perry co-starred in the Canadian maa comedy The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards
along with Bruce Willis, who had also made guest appearances on the show. He also starred in the romantic
comedy Fools Rush In. He also starred as the title character in the critically acclaimed The Ron Clark Story, and
has since co-starred in TV drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and an episode of Scrubs titled "My Unicorn" as
Murray. He has also played the leading role of the lm Numb which, whilst released straight to DVD, has gained an
appreciation and collection of high praise from critics. Matt LeBlanc took a leading role in Lost in Space and
starred as the boyfriend of Alex (Lucy Liu) in Charlie's Angels. He also reprised his role as Joey Tribbiani in the
show's spin off series, Joey. In 2001, Schwimmer co-starred as Capt. Herbert Sobel in the 2001 TV mini-series
Band of Brothers. In 2005, Schwimmer starred as the voice for the giraffe Melman in the movie Madagascar a role
which he reprised in the 2008 Madagascar 2. David Schwimmer directed ten episodes of Friends and two of Joey.
His big directorial debut "Run Fatboy Run" was released on March 28, 2008.

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Aniston at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.

Series co-creator David Crane wanted all six characters to be equally prominent, and the series was lauded as
being "the rst true 'ensemble' show". The cast members made efforts to keep the ensemble format and not allow
one member to dominate; they entered themselves in the same acting categories for awards, opted for collective
instead of individual salary negotiations, and asked to appear together on magazine cover photos in the rst
season.
In their original contracts for the rst two seasons, each main cast member was paid $1,600 per episode. Before
the third season, the cast threatened to go on strike unless they received pay increases, which resulted in each
actor receiving $100,000 per episode. For the series' sixth season, the cast members were offered $250,000 to
return. The cast members again entered negotiations before the sixth season, asking for $750,000 per episode,
and during the ninth and tenth seasons, received $1 million per episode.
Behind the scenes, the show was known for its unusually cohesive and unied cast. The six main actors made
deliberate efforts, from early on, to keep the show's ensemble format and not allow one member to dominate;
notably for a show of its length, the six principals each appeared in every episode of the run. The actors became
such close friends that one guest star, Tom Selleck, reported sometimes feeling left out. The cast remained good
friends after the show's run, most notably Cox and Aniston, with Aniston being godmother to Cox and David
Arquette's daughter, Coco. In their ofcial farewell commemorative Friends Til' The End, they each separately
acknowledged in their interviews that the cast had become their family.
Storylines and format
The rst season introduces the six main characters: Rachel Green, Monica Geller, Phoebe Buffay, Joey Tribbiani,
Chandler Bing, and Ross Geller. Rachel, who left her ance 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 (played by Jessica Hecht), 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 (played by Maggie Wheeler) is
introduced as a girlfriend Chandler breaks up with in an early episode but frequently returns to through the ensuing
ten seasons.
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The second season features more serialized storylines; it begins when Rachel discovers that Ross is dating Julie
(played by Lauren Tom), 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 rst season, though the
characters eventually begin a relationship that lasts into the following season. Joey, a struggling actor in the rst
season, gets a part in a ctionalized 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. 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 nale, they end the relationship when they realize that he does not want any more children and she
does. 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 (Adam Goldberg)
moves in.
The third season took on a signicantly greater serialized format. Rachel begins working at Bloomingdales and
Ross becomes jealous of her coworker, Mark. Ross and Rachel break up after Ross sleeps with the hot girl from
the copy shop, Chloe. His insistence that he and Rachel were "on a break" becomes a running gag through the
remaining seasons. The two show signicant animosity towards each other through the second half of the season,
though the cliffhanger ending suggests the two reconcile. Interestingly, the rst episode after they break up does
not focus on the two of them, but on Chandler, who's having a very hard time dealing with the situation, as it
reminds him of his parents' divorce. Phoebe, established as having no family except for an identical twin sister,
becomes acquainted with her half-brother (played by Giovanni Ribisi) and in the nale discovers her birth mother
she never knew she had (played by Teri Garr). Joey develops a crush on Kate, his acting partner in a new play.
(played by Dina Meyer) At rst, she doesn't harbor feelings 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. (played by Jon Favreau) At rst, she only sees
him as a friend, but eventually, the two begin to date. Preparing for what she thinks is a marriage proposal, Pete
condes 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 won't, she breaks up with him.
During the fourth season, actress Lisa Kudrow became pregnant. This was written into the show by having
Phoebe become a surrogate mother to the children of her brother and his wife (played by Debra Jo Rupp). Ross
and Rachel briey reconcile in the premiere but soon break up again. During the middle of the season, Monica and
Rachel are forced to switch apartments with Joey and Chandler after losing a bet on how well the four know each
other. They bribe Joey and Chandler to switch back with Knicks season tickets and a one-minute kiss. Mid-season,
having moved on, Ross begins dating an English woman called Emily (played by Helen Baxendale) and the nale,
featuring the wedding of the characters, was lmed on location in London. Chandler and Monica sleep together
when, after a wedding guest mistakes Monica for Ross' mother, Monica seeks comfort in the arms of a friend.
Rachel, depressed by the impending wedding enough to chase away a potential boyfriend in Joshua, attends the
wedding at the last minute, intending to tell Ross that she still loves him, but decides not to. Things are thrown into
chaos when Ross replaces Emily's name with Rachel's while saying his vows.
The fth season follows Monica and Chandler keeping their new relationship a secret from their friends, while
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Ross' marriage to Emily ends before it even started, following their wedding (Baxendale's pregnancy prevented
her from appearing on-screen in all but two episodes). Phoebe starts a relationship with Gary (Michael Rapaport),
a police ofcer she meets after nding his badge. Although leery of moving in with Gary, she eventually relents.
The relationship ends with a bang, literally, when Gary shoots a bird outside of their apartment. Monica and
Chandler's relationship becomes public and on a trip to Las Vegas, they decide to get married. On a cliffhanger,
Ross and Rachel drunkenly stumble out of the wedding chapel. It received Emmy nominations in 1999 for
Outstanding Comedy Series.
In the sixth season premiere Ross and Rachel's marriage is established to be a drunken mistake and, although
Ross is reluctant to do so, the two get a divorce (Ross's third) after failing to get an annulment. Monica and
Chandler decide just to move into her apartment together and Rachel moves in with Phoebe. Joey, still a
struggling actor, gets a female roommate and a part on a cable television series called "Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E",
where he stars alongside a robot. Ross gets a job lecturing at New York University and starts dating his college
student, Elizabeth (played by Alexandra Holden). Bruce Willis makes a three-episode cameo as her father.
Phoebe and Rachel's apartment catches on re, causing Rachel to move in with Joey and Phoebe with Chandler
and Monica. In the nal episodes, Chandler decides to propose to Monica. Trying to make it a surprise, he starts
acting like his old commitment-phobic self, telling her he opposes marriage. For a brief moment Monica considers
going to back to Richard, who confesses to her that he still loves her and is willing to have children with her.
Monica gets wind of Chandler's idea, and attempts to propose to him but breaks down in tears and cannot nish.
Chandler then asks her to marry him and the show is ended with celebration with many of the friends who were
standing outside the door. It nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series at Emmy Award 2000.
The seventh season largely concerns various wedding-related antics by Monica and Chandler. Joey's television
series is canceled but he is offered his old job back on Days of Our Lives. Phoebe's apartment is xed but due to
the way the apartment has been rebuilt, Rachel stays with Joey. The two-part season nale follows Monica and
Chandler's wedding, with guest stars that include Kathleen Turner as Chandler's transvestite father. The closing
moments of the season reveal that Rachel is pregnant.
The eighth season's rst episodes follow a "Who's the father?" format, with the father revealed to be Ross in
episode two and Rachel telling him in episode three. Joey begins to develop romantic feelings for roommate
Rachel and when Joey's feelings are revealed things become awkward for the two. Eventually their friendship
returns to its status quo but in the nale, following Rachel's giving birth to a daughter, she accepts an accidental
[roposal of marriage from him. The season was regarded as a return to form for the series; its ratings increased as
viewers tuned in for comfort following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It won the Emmy for Outstanding
Comedy Series in 2002. The rst in that category for the series.
The ninth season follows Ross and Rachel living together with baby Emma after she and Joey clear up the
misdirected proposal. She soon moves back in with Joey after a ght with Ross. Monica and Chandler, inspired by
Ross and Rachel, decide to conceive a child of their own. They seek medical advice after several episodes of
trying for a baby, and discover that both of them are physically unable to conceive. Paul Rudd appears in the
recurring role of Mike Hannigan, a new boyfriend for Phoebe. Hank Azaria returns as David "the scientist guy", a
character originated in the rst season, and Phoebe must choose between the two in a touching nale, deciding to
choose Mike. The nale is set in Barbados, where the group goes to hear Ross give a keynote speech at a
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Paleontologist conference. Aisha Tyler appears as the series' rst recurring black character. Tyler plays Charlie,
Joey's intelligent girlfriend. Even though Joey's attracted to her, she nds herself eventually becoming attracted to
Ross, who is more her intellectual equal. After Charlie dumps Joey, Joey and Rachel's feelings for each other
return. They agree to clear it with Ross rst, until Joey catches Ross kissing Charlie. The nale ends with Joey and
Rachel kissing.
The tenth season closes up several storylines; Joey and Rachel try to contend with Ross' feelings about them
being together. However, consummating the relationship becomes disastrous, and they decide to remain friends.
Charlie decides to return to Benjamin Hobart (Greg Kinnear), her old ame, and from whom Ross was trying to
obtain a research grant. Monica and Chandler decide to adopt a child, and meet Erica, a birth mother from Ohio
(played by Anna Faris). Erica gives birth to twins in the series nale. Phoebe and Mike get married towards the
end of the season and Rachel takes a job based in Paris. Ross declares his love for her and they resume their
relationship (not making any mistakes this time) in the season nale, while Monica and Chandler move out of their
apartment into the suburbs. Joey is upset that everything is changing. Rachel still gets on the plane even with
Ross' confessions, but later appears at his apartment door admitting she loves him too. In the series nale, at the
end, a tearful Rachel says 'Shall we go get some coffee?' to which Chandler sarcastically responds, 'Sure.
Where?' (the last words spoken on the show).
ProductionConception"It's about sex, love, relationships, careers, a time in your life when everything's possible.
And it's about friendship because when you're single and in the city, your friends are your family." The original
treatment used by Crane, Kauffman and Bright to pitch the series to NBC.
David Crane and Marta Kauffman began developing three new television pilots which would premiere in the Fall
1994 season following the cancellation of their sitcom, Family Album, by CBS in November 1993. Kauffman and
Crane decided to pitch the series about "six people in their 20's making their way in Manhattan" to NBC, which
they felt best suited the network's style. Crane and Kauffman presented the idea to their production partner Kevin
Bright, who had served as executive producer on their HBO series Dream On. The idea for the series was
conceived when Crane and Kauffman began thinking about the time when they had nished college and started
living by themselves in New York; Kauffman believed they were looking at a time when the future was "more of a
question mark". They found the concept to be interesting, as they believed "everybody knows that feeling", and
because it was also how they felt about their own lives at the time. The team titled the series Insomnia Cafe (other
working titles included Across the Hall, Six of One and Friends Like Us), and pitched the idea as a seven-page
treatment to NBC in December 1993.
At the same time, Warren Littleeld, the then-president of NBC Entertainment, was seeking a comedy involving
young people living together and sharing expenses. Littleeld wanted the group to share memorable periods of
their lives with friends, who had become "new, surrogate family members". However, Littleeld found difculty in
bringing the concept to life, and found the scripts developed by NBC to be terrible. When Kauffman, Crane and
Bright pitched Insomnia Cafe, Littleeld was impressed that they knew who their characters were. NBC bought the
idea as a put pilot, meaning they risked nancial penalties if the pilot was not lmed. Kauffman and Crane began
writing a pilot script for a show now titled Friends Like Us, which took three days to write. Littleeld wanted the
series to represent Generation X and explore a new kind of tribal bonding, but the trio did not share his vision.
Crane argued that it was not a series for one generation, and wanted to produce a series that everyone would
enjoy watching. NBC liked the pilot script and ordered the series under another title, Six of One, mainly due to the
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similar title it shared with the ABC sitcom These Friends of Mine.
DevelopmentCasting
Once it became apparent that the series was a favored project at NBC, Littleeld reported that he was getting calls
from every agent in town, wanting their client to be a part of the series. Auditions for the lead roles took place in
New York and Los Angeles. The casting director shortlisted 1,000 actors who had replied for each role down to 75.
Those who received a callback read again in front of Crane, Kauffman and Bright. At the end of March, the number
of potential actors had been reduced to three or four for each part, and were asked to read for Les Moonves,
president of Warner Bros. Television.
During the casting process, more changes occurred to the series' storylines. The writers found that they had to
adjust the characters they had written to suit the actors, and the discovery process of the characters occurred
throughout the rst season. Kauffman acknowledged that Joey's character became "this whole new being", and
that "it wasn't until we did the rst Thanksgiving episode that we realized how much fun Monica's neuroses are."
Having worked with Schwimmer before, the series creators wrote the character of Ross with him in mind, and he
was the rst actor cast. Aniston, Perry and Kudrow were cast based on their auditions.
The producers wanted Courteney Cox to portray Rachel; however, Cox asked to play Monica. Kauffman said that
Cox had "this cheery, upbeat energy", which was not how they envisioned Monica. When Cox auditioned for the
role, the producers were surprised by her direction of the character and she was cast. When Matt LeBlanc
auditioned for Joey, he put a "different spin" on Joey. The writers did not originally intend for Joey to be dim, but
found it to be a major source of comedy. LeBlanc also gave the character heart, which the writers did not realize
Joey had.
Writing
In the weeks after NBC's pick up of Friends, Crane, Kauffman and Bright reviewed sent-in scripts that writers had
originally prepared for other series, mainly unproduced Seinfeld episodes. Kauffman and Crane hired a team of
seven young writers because "When you're 40, you can't do it anymore. The networks and studios are looking for
young people coming in out of college." According to Crane, the creators felt that utilizing six equal characters,
rather than emphasizing one or two, would allow for "myriad story lines and give the show legs". The majority of
the storyline ideas came from the writers, although the actors added ideas. The writers originally planned a big
love story between Joey and Monica, as they intended them to be the most sexual of the characters in the series
pitch. The idea of a romantic interest between Ross and Rachel emerged during the time when Kauffman and
Crane were writing the pilot script.
During the production of the pilot, NBC requested that the script be changed to feature one dominant storyline and
several minor ones, but the writers wanted to keep three story lines of equal weight and refused. NBC thought the
cast was too young, and pushed for an older character who could give the young adults advice. Crane and
Kauffman were forced to comply, and wrote a draft of an early episode which featured "Pat the cop". Crane found
the storyline to be terrible, and Kauffman joked, "You know the kids book, Pat the Bunny? We had Pat the Cop."
NBC eventually consented and dropped the idea.
The producers would outline the storylines for each season early in the previous summer. Before an episode went
into production, Kauffman and Crane would revise the script written by another writer, mainly if something felt
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foreign to either the series or a character. Unlike other storylines, the idea for a relationship between Joey and
Rachel was decided on halfway through the eighth season. The creators did not want Ross and Rachel to get
back together so soon, and while looking for a romantic impediment, a writer suggested Joey's romantic interest in
Rachel. The storyline was incorporated into the season; however, when the actors feared that the storyline would
make their characters unlikeable, the storyline was wrapped up, until it again resurfaced in the season's nale. For
the ninth season, the writers were unsure about the amount of storyline to give to Rachel's baby, as they neither
wanted the show to revolve around a baby nor pretend there to be none.
Filming

The Greenwich Village building used as the friends' apartment in establishing shots as of Aug. 2008.

The rst season was shot on Stage 5 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. The NBC executives had
worried that the coffee house setting was too hip and asked for the series to be set in a diner, but eventually
consented to the coffee house concept. The opening title sequence was lmed in a fountain at the Warner Bros.
Ranch at 4:00 am, while it was particularly cold for a Burbank morning. At the beginning of the second season,
production moved to the larger Stage 24, which was renamed "The Friends Stage" after the series nale. Filming
began in the summer of 1994 in front of a live audience, who were given a summary of the series to familiarize
themselves with the six main characters; a hired comedian entertained the studio audience between takes. Each
22-minute episode took six hours to lm twice the length of most sitcom tapings mainly due to the several
retakes and rewrites of the script.
Although the producers always wanted to nd the right stories to take advantage of being on location, Friends was
never shot in New York. Bright felt that lming outside the studio made episodes less funny, even when shooting
on the lot outside, and that the live audience was an integral part of the series. When the series was criticized for
incorrectly depicting New York, with the nancially struggling group of friends being able to afford huge
apartments, Bright noted that the set had to be big enough for the cameras, lighting, and "for the audience to be
able to see what's going on"; the apartments also needed to provide a place for the actors to execute the funny
scripts. The fourth season nale was shot on location in London because the producers knew of the country's
large fanbase. The scenes were shot in a studio with three audiences of 500 each, the show's largest audiences
throughout its run. Although some people thought the season 5 nale was lmed on location in Las Vegas, the
episode was lmed at Warner Bros. Studios, where they took down the Central Perk set to be replaced with
Cesar's Palace (the only time in the show's run that the coffee shop set was taken down).

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Broadcast
After the produced pilot lived up to NBC's hopes, the series premiered with the name Friends on September 22,
1994 on the coveted Thursday 8:30 pm timeslot. The pilot aired between Mad About You and Seinfeld, and was
watched by almost 22 million American viewers. The series was a huge success throughout its run, and was a
staple of NBC's Thursday night line-up, dubbed by the network as Must See TV. When Crane told reporters in
2001 that the ninth season was a possibility, critics believed that he was posturing, and that at least two of the cast
members would not sign on for another season. When it was conrmed that Friends would return for a ninth
season, the news was mainly about the amount of money $1 million per episode that it took to bring the
series back for another season.
After year-long expectations that the ninth season would be the series' last, NBC signed a deal in late December
2002 to bring the series back for a nal tenth season. The series' creative team did not want to extend negotiations
into the next year, and wanted to start writing the rest of the ninth season episodes and a potential series nale.
NBC agreed to pay $10 million to Warner Bros. for the production of each tenth season episode, the highest price
in television history for a 30-minute series. Although NBC was unable to bring in enough advertising revenue from
commercials to cover the costs, the series was integral to the Thursday night schedule, which brought high ratings
and prots to the other television series. The cast demanded that the tenth season be reduced from the usual 24
episodes to 18 episodes to allow them to work on outside projects.
The cast became very emotional while lming the nal episode. Jennifer Aniston explained, "We're like very
delicate china right now, and we're speeding toward a brick wall."
The series' creators completed the rst draft of the hour-long nale in January 2004, four months before its original
airing. Crane, Kauffman and Bright decided to watch nales from other sitcoms to prepare the episode's outline,
paying attention to what worked and what did not. Kauffman found that they liked the ones which stayed true to the
series, citing the nale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show as the gold standard. The writers had difculty writing the
nale, and spent several days thinking about the nale scene without being able to write a word. Crane said that
they did not want to do "something high concept, or take the show out of the show". The most critical parts of the
nale were shot without an audience, and with a minimum amount of crew. The main cast enjoyed the nale and
were condent that the fans would react similarly. David Schwimmer said the nale was "exactly what I had hoped.
We all end up with a sense of a new beginning and the audience has a sense that it's a new chapter in the lives of
all these characters."
NBC heavily promoted the series nale, which was preceded by weeks of media hype. Local NBC afliates
organized viewing parties around the U.S., including an event at Universal CityWalk featuring a special broadcast
of the nale on an outdoor Astrovision screen. The nale was the subject of two episodes of Dateline NBC, a
weekly television newsmagazine, one of which ran for two hours. A one-hour retrospective of clips from previous
episodes was shown before to the airing of the episode. Following the nale, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was
lmed on the set of the Friends' Central Perk cafe, which featured the series' cast as guests. The advertising rates
for the nale averaged $2 million for 30 seconds of commercial time, breaking the record held by the Seinfeld
nale at $1.7 million.
52.5 million American viewers watched the nale on May 6, 2004, making it the most-watched entertainment
telecast in six years. Although it was not the series' most-watched episode, the nale was the fourth most-watched
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series nale in television history, only behind the nales of M*A*S*H, Cheers and Seinfeld, which were watched by
105, 80.4 and 76.2 million viewers respectively. The retrospective episode was watched by fewer than 36 million
viewers, and the nale was the second most-watched television show of the year, only behind the Super Bowl.
Following the nales of Friends and Frasier, media critics speculated about the fate of the sitcom genre.
Expressed opinions varied between a signaling of the end of the sitcom genre, a small decline in the large history
of the genre, and a general reduction of scripted television in favor of reality shows. Kauffman and Crane stated
that they would not have signed on for an eleventh season, even if all the cast members wanted to continue.
Crane said that it took them a while to accept the idea of a tenth season, which they decided to do because they
had enough stories left to tell to justify the season.
ImpactCritical reception
Early reviews of the series were mixed. Tom Feran of The Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote that the series traded
"vaguely and less successfully on the hanging-out style of Seinfeld", while Ann Hodges of the Houston Chronicle
called it "the new Seinfeld wannabe, but it will never be as funny as Seinfeld." In the Los Angeles Daily News, Ray
Richmond named the series as "one of the brighter comedies of the new season", and The Los Angeles Times
called it "at-out the best comedy series of the new season".
Chicago Sun-Times' Ginny Holbert found Joey and Rachel's characteristics to be underdeveloped, while
Richmond commended the cast as a "likeable, youth ensemble" with "good chemistry". Robert Bianco of USA
Today was complementary of Schwimmer, calling him "terric". He also praised the female leads, but was
concerned that Perry's role as Chandler was "undened" and that LeBlanc was "relying too much on the same
brain-dead stud routine that was already tired the last two times he tried it". The authors of Friends Like Us: The
Unofcial Guide to Friends thought that the cast was "trying just a little too hard", in particular Perry and
Schwimmer.
As the series progressed, reviews became more positive, and Friends became one of the most popular sitcoms of
its time. Critics commended the series for its consistently sharp writing and the chemistry between the main actors.
Noel Holston of Newsday, who had dismissed the pilot as a "so-so Seinfeld wannabe" in 1994, reneged his review
after rewatching the episode, and felt like writing an apology to the writers. Heather Havrilesky of Salon.com
thought that the series "hit its stride" in the second season. Havrilesky found the character-specic jokes and
situations "could reliably make you laugh out loud a few times each episode", and the quality of writing allowed the
stories to be "original and innovative". Bill Carter of The New York Times called the eighth season a "truly stunning
comeback". Carter found that by "generating new hot story lines and high-decibel laughs", the series made its way
"back into the hearts of its fans". However, Liane Bonin of Entertainment Weekly felt that the direction of the ninth
season was a "disappointing buzzkill", criticizing it for the non-stop celebrity guest spots and going into jump the
shark territory. Although disappointed with the season, Bonin noted that "the writing [was] still sharp". Havrilesky
thought that the tenth season was "alarmingly awful, far worse than you would ever imagine a show that was once
so good could be."
Reviews of the series nale were mixed to positive. USA Today's Robert Bianco described the nale as
entertaining and satisfying, and praised it for deftly mixing emotion and humor while showcasing each of the stars.
Sarah Rodman of the Boston Herald praised Aniston and Schwimmer for their acting, but felt that their characters'
reunion was "a bit too neat, even if it was what most of the show's legions of fans wanted." Roger Catlin of The
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Hartford Courant felt that newcomers to the series would be "surprised at how laughless the affair could be, and
how nearly every strained gag depends on the sheer stupidity of its characters." Ken Parish Perkins, writing for
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, pointed out that the nale was "more touching than comical, more satisfying in terms of
closure than knee-slappingly funny."
Cultural impact
Central Perk couch as displayed on the Warner Bros. Studios Tour.
Although the producers thought of Friends as "only a TV show", numerous psychologists investigated the cultural
impact of Friends during the series' run. Aniston's hairstyle was nicknamed "The Rachel" and copied around the
world. Joey Tribbiani's catchphrase "How you doin'?" has become a popular part of Western English slang, often
used as a pick-up line or when greeting friends. The show also popularized the idea of the "laminated list", a list of
celebrities that a person's partner will permit them to sleep with if they were to ever meet them. In "The One With
Frank Jr." the characters exchange "lists" verbally, while Ross creates a physical list and laminates it, making his
choices permanent. The concept of the laminated list has been adopted by the Hollywood Stock Exchange
website. The series also impacted on the English language, according to a study by a linguistics professor at the
University of Toronto. The professor found that the characters used the word "so" as an adjective more often than
other intensiers, such as "very" and "really". Although the preference had already made its way into the American
vernacular, usage on the series may have accelerated the change. The show is also responsible for popularizing
the phrase "going commando".
The phrase "Ross and Rachel" has appeared as a joke in Scrubs: the janitor describes J.D.'s relationship with
Elliot as "not exactly Ross and Rachel." Friends has been referenced again in the Scrubs episode, "My Cold
Shower"; Carla describes J.D and Elliot's relationship as being, "On and off more than Ross and Rachel, from
Friends." Also in Scrubs, when Elliot and J.D. are deciding to get back together, J.D. says "We don't always have
to be arguing over if we were on a break", to which Elliot responds "Did you watch the Friends re-run on NBC last
night?". On the 100th episode of the television show One Tree Hill (Lucas' and Lindsay's wedding), a character
references Ross saying the wrong name at the altar when he was marrying Emily. In one episode of the British
show Skins, a Russian girl learns English from Friends, and uses many of the catchphrases (such as "How you
doin'" and "We were on a break") as a recurring joke.
One of the principal settings of the series, the Central Perk coffee house has inspired various imitations worldwide
(the coffee house is based on Cholmondeley's, a coffee shop and lounge in Usen Castle at Brandeis University,
the alma mater of the show's creators), including the now-defunct "Phoenix Perk" in Dublin (named for the Phoenix
Park in the city) and the 'Riverdale Perk' in Toronto. In 2006 Iranian businessman Mojtaba Asadian started a
"Central Perk" franchise, registering the name in 32 countries. The dcor of his coffee houses are inspired by that
in Friends. James Michael Tyler, who plays Gunther, the Central Perk waiter in love with Rachel, attended the
grand opening of the agship Dubai caf and is the spokesman for the company. Central Perk was rebuilt as part
of a museum exhibit at Warner Bros. Studios, and was shown on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October 2008.
Lisa Kudrow revisited the set for the rst time since the series nale in 2004.
Additionally, many fans have attempted to recreate the look of the "Friends" apartments. Many companies now sell
replicas of props appearing on the sets of Friends. One such example is www.friendsposter.com, which features
Monica's famous peephole frame, and many posters that are featured in both Monica and Joey and Chandler's
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apartments.
The name of every Friends episode, with the exceptions of the very rst and last episodes (titled "The Pilot" and
"The Last One" respectively), starts with "The One...", e.g. "The One With Ross' Inappropriate Song", though the
Pilot is sometimes called "The One Where Monica Gets A Roommate", or "The One Where It All Began". In
continuing with this tradition, a boxed set containing all ten seasons on DVD was called "The One With All Ten
Seasons". This tradition is based on the way people, when unable to remember the actual title of an episode of a
TV show, will describe it as "it's the one with..." and then state the main storyline of the episode.
A parody of Friends was created in Britain called Chums and was aired on SM-TV. It features 3 characters named
Ant, Dec and Cat Deely. Cat Deely can be seen as a parody of Rachel's actions. The episodes include short
episodes, also beginning with "The One...". Most of the episodes feature pretend shows like Pokeght, based on
Pokemon. Also Nickelodeon's 'Snick' used to make short episodes called 'Buds' with the Snick cast. They would
act like the friends cast but with different, pointless plots.
To maintain the series' ensemble format, the main cast members decided to enter themselves in the same acting
categories for awards. Beginning with the series' eighth season, the actors decided to submit themselves in the
lead actor balloting, rather than in the supporting actor elds. The series was nominated for 63 Primetime Emmy
Awards, winning six. Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow are the only main cast members to win an Emmy, while
Courteney Cox is the only actor not to be nominated. The series won the 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding
Comedy Series, with nominations in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2003. The series also won an American Comedy
Award, one GLAAD Media Award, one Golden Globe Award, three Logie Awards, six People's Choice Awards,
one Satellite Award, and then two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
RatingsU.S. ratings
The 66-minute series nale was named by Entertainment Tonight as the biggest TV moment of the year 2004, and
was the second highest rated show in 2004, bringing in 52.5 million viewers (43% of all viewers that night), beaten
only by Super Bowl XXXVIII. However, it did not surpass the ratings received by series nales for M*A*S*H (106
m), Cheers (80.4 m) or Seinfeld (76.3 m), nor was it the most watched episode of Friends-that accolade remains
with the Season Two episode "The One After The Superbowl", which aired on January 28, 1996 and drew 52.9
million viewers.
The table below indicates the ratings of Friends in the U.S., where it consistently ranked within the top ten of the
nal television ratings. "Rank" refers to how well Friends rated compared to other television series which aired
during primetime hours of the corresponding television season. The television season tends to begin in
September, and ends during the May of the following year, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
"Viewers" refers to the average number of viewers for all original episodes, broadcast during the television season
in the series' regular timeslot. "Rank" is shown in relation to the total number of series airing on the then-six major
English-language networks in a given season. The "season premiere" is the date that the rst episode of the
season aired, and the "season nale" is the date that the nal episode of the season aired.

Season

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Timeslot (EDT)

Season

Season

TV

Premiere

Finale

Season

Viewers
Rank

(in
millions)
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Thursday 8:30 P.M. (September 22, 1994 1

February 23, 1995)

Thursday 9:30 P.M.(February 23, 1995 - May

September

May 18,

1994-

22, 1994

1995

1995

September

May 16,

1995-

21, 1995

1996

1996

September

May 15,

1996-

19, 1996

1997

1997

September

May 7,

1997-

25, 1997

1998

1998

September

May 20,

1998-

24, 1998

1999

1999

September

May 18,

1999-

23, 1999

2000

2000

October 12,

May 17,

2000-

2000

2001

2001

September

May 16,

2001-

27, 2001

2002

2002

September

May 15,

2002-

26, 2002

2003

2003

September

May 6,

2003-

25, 2003

2004

2004

#8

24.3

#3

29.4

#4

25.0

#4

24.0

#2

23.5

#3

20.9

#4

19.7

#1

24.5

18, 1995)

Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 21, 1995 January 18, 1996)

Sunday 10:13 P.M. (January 28, 1996)

Thursday 8:00 P.M. (February 1, 1996 - May
16, 1996)

Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 19, 1996 May 17, 2001)

Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 27, 2001 October 4, 2001)

Thursday 8:50 P.M. (October 11, 2001)

Thursday 8:00 P.M. (October 18, 2001 - May
16, 2002)

Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 26, 2002 May 15, 2003)

Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 25, 2003 10

April 29, 2004)

Thursday 9:00 P.M. (May 6, 2004)

#4

#5

21.4

Australian and New Zealand ratings

Friends debuted on Australian television in 1996, on the Seven Network. For the rst season, it averaged
1,788,000 viewers per episode, and was the 8th most watched regular program that year. The second season
aired on the Nine Network by the end of 1996, and took the number 2 position and averaged 2,291,000 viewers
per episode. The third season aired in mid-1997 and saw an increase in its position and viewers, being the most
watched regular program, averaging 2,543,000 viewers per episode. Repeats were also averaging 1,918,000
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viewers, and they were the 6th most watched regular program of the year. The fourth season aired in 1998, and
continued to increase in ratings, averaging 2,586,000 viewers. The fth season aired in 1999, but saw a slight drop
in viewers. It averaged 2,340,000 viewers per episode, but still managed to retain its number one position.
The sixth season, aired in 2000, fell into a contentious year for TV ratings in Australia. Previously, ratings had been
calculated by Nielsen Media Research, but OzTAM took over. OzTAM showed slight differences in ratings for most
shows broadcast on Nine Network, and saw a signicant drop in total viewers across all networks. OzTAM had
Friends averaging 1,816,000 viewers nationally, and ranked it as the 3rd most watched program of the year.
Nielsen Media Research Australia, however, had Friends averaging 2,340,000 viewers per episode, and ranked it
as the most watched program.
The eighth season, aired in 2002, saw erratic scheduling of Friends on the Nine Network, and as a result saw a
major drop in viewers. It ranked as the 10th most watched regular program that year, averaging 1,629,000
viewers. As a result of the Athens Olympics, Friends saw a decrease in its ratings. It was put on hiatus twice, for
periods of four and seven months long respectively. The tenth season averaged 1,716,000 viewers per episode,
and was ranked as the 6th most watched program of the year. It was also ranked as the third most watched
scripted program. The nale averaged 2,273,000 viewers, though it was not the highest rated episode of Friends
ever.
While Cable TV channel Arena (a Foxtel and Optus channel) aired Friends repeats daily, channel Nine did not air
Friends repeats like it did with another popular US sitcom, Frasier. In November 2007, it was announced that
Network Ten had bought the rights to the show (although Nine retains some last season episodes which are
replayed late-night, thus making it aired simultaneously by two separate networks), and that it would air it seven
nights a week from December 2 screening at 7:00p.m., replacing Futurama repeats. It was also a part of the
2007/2008 summer schedule, meaning that the show has aired on all of Australia's "Big Three" television
networks. In February 2008, Friends was moved to the 6pm Monday-Friday timeslot, and replaced long-running 6
p.m. repeats of The Simpsons in Network Ten's regular schedule. Due to sexual content and low level coarse
language, many episodes were edited to t the G ratings, and the rst two episodes of the fth season were cut
altogether due to Monica and Chandler's relationship acts. On July 28, 2008, Network Ten moved episodes of
Friends to 7pm weeknights, allowing for the episodes to remain unedited.
In New Zealand, Friends rst debuted on TV2 during the middle of 1995. The show typically screened around 7:30
p.m. on Wednesday nights but some seasons were screened on Sunday nights. Repeats were screened at 7:00
p.m. during December and January between 1996 and 1998 when Shortland Street went off the air for the
Summer break. TV2 began screening repeats at 6:30 p.m. from 2000 onwards, running constant repeats of all
previous seasons. Currently, the show plays every weeknight at 6:00 p.m. Comedy Central has announced they
will screen Friends when TV2 loses the rights around 2015-16.
British and Irish ratings
Friends was originally aired on the terrestrial Channel 4 from 1995 onwards. New episodes were then shown on
Sky One in the late 1990s, although the series achieved a more mainstream audience through repeat showings on
Channel 4. The program was repeated daily on Channel 4 and S4C in Wales until recently, it is still repeated twice
a day on E4 with 2 back-to-back episodes. However during the summer when the 4 network is overridden by Big
Brother it is repeated three times a day usually in between shows such as Hollyoaks and Big Brother's Little
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Brother. Friends is currently shown exclusively on Comedy Central in the UK, the episodes are available in HD for
the rst time in the UK market.
The Irish channel RT Two was the rst channel in Europe to air both the premiere and nale episodes of Friends.
The show achieved exceptionally high ratings throughout the initial run, and continues to run twice weekly on RT
Two, and weekdays on Channel 6.
Merchandise
The 40-disc Friends - The Complete Series Collection DVD box set was released in .
A wide range of Friends merchandise has been produced by various companies. All ten seasons have been
released on DVD individually and as a box set. Warner Bros. has also talked about plans of a future Blu-ray
release. Each season release contains special features and footage originally cut from the series. For the rst
season, each episode is updated with color correction and sound enhancement. In late September 1995, WEA
Records released the Friends Original TV Soundtrack, containing music featured in previous and future episodes.
In between some of the songs, there is spoken dialog from scenes from the show's rst season. The soundtrack
debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 46, and sold 500,000 copies in November 1995. In 1999, a second
soundtrack album entitled Friends Again was released. Other merchandise include a Friends version of the DVD
game "Scene It?", and a quiz computer game, entitled "Friends: The One with All the Trivia", "hosted" by James
Michael Tyler, Christina Pickles, Elliott Gould and Maggie Wheeler as their respective characters from the series.
All ten seasons were re-released in region 2 on October 25, 2004. For region 1, when Season Ten was released
on November 15, 2005, the WB made a limited edition box called "The One With All Ten Seasons" to t all
individual ten seasons in. The collection was cased in wood with black covering and a plastic door with all of the
Friends pictured on it. One year later, the WB released The Complete Series, cased in a red box with an exclusive
booklet about the show, cast, and original pilot pitch. Instead of individually boxing and organizing the shows by
season, this collection organized the 40 discs into volumes sorted by how many episodes to a disc, and they were
split up by a disc holder for each cast member. This version was released in the UK on 12 November 2007.
DVD name

Region 1 release date

Region 2 Release Date

Region 4 release date

The Complete First Season

April 30, 2002

October 25, 2004

October 4, 2006

The Complete Second Season

September 3, 2002

October 25, 2004

October 4, 2006

The Complete Third Season

April 1, 2003

October 25, 2004

October 4, 2006

The Complete Fourth Season

July 15, 2003

October 25, 2004

October 4, 2006

The Complete Fifth Season

November 4, 2003

October 25, 2004

October 4, 2006

The Complete Sixth Season

January 27, 2004

October 25, 2004

October 4, 2006

The Complete Seventh Season

April 6, 2004

October 25, 2004

October 4, 2006

The Complete Eighth Season

November 9, 2004

October 25, 2004

October 4, 2006

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The Complete Ninth Season

March 8, 2005

October 25, 2004

October 4, 2006

The Complete Tenth Season

November 15, 2005

October 25, 2004

October 4, 2006

FutureJoey
Joey Title Card
After the series nale in 2004, LeBlanc signed on for the spin-off series, Joey, following Joey's move to Los
Angeles to pursue his acting career. Kauffman and Crane were not interested in the spin-off, although Bright
accepted to executive produce the series with Scott Silveri and Shana Goldberg-Meehan. NBC heavily promoted
Joey and gave it Friends' Thursday 8:00 pm timeslot. The pilot was watched by 18.60 million American viewers,
but ratings continually decreased throughout the series' two seasons, averaging 10.20 million viewers in the rst
season and 7.10 million in the second. The nal broadcast episode on March 7, 2006 was watched by 7.09 million
viewers; NBC canceled the series on May 15, 2006 after two seasons. Bright blamed the collaboration between
NBC executives, the studio and other producers for quickly ruining the series: "On Friends Joey was a womanizer
but we enjoyed his exploits. He was a solid friend, a guy you knew you could count on. Joey was deconstructed to
be a guy who couldn't get a job, couldn't ask a girl out. He became a pathetic, mopey character. I felt he was
moving in the wrong direction, but I was not heard."
Film
Following the series nale, rumors began to emerge of a Friends lm, although all were proven to be untrue.
Rumors of a lm reemerged after the release of the Sex and the City lm in 2008, which proved to be a success at
the box ofce. The Daily Telegraph reported in July 2008 that the main cast members had agreed to star in the
project, and that lming was going to start within the next 18 months. A source commented that "Jennifer,
Courteney and the rest of the cast are [eager] to reprise their roles, under the right circumstances [...] Jennifer
says she and Courteney have already talked this summer about what they want out of a Friends movie." When
asked about the lm, Kudrow said that she was unaware of the talks, but expressed interest in the idea. However,
the director of publicity for Warner Bros. said there was "no truth in the story", and Perry's spokeswoman added
that "nothing is happening in this regard, so the rumor is false."

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