10 Great TV Shows Starring The Cast Of Friends
The best small screen outings from the Central Perk crew.
Sometimes a show becomes so iconic that it’s nigh on impossible to follow up. Friends made megastars out of its six main cast members, but to a large portion of the TV audience, they’ll be Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, and Ross for the rest of their days. It’s a blessing (the money certainly helps), but a curse, too.
Nevertheless, the stars of Friends have on occasion managed to transcend those legendary characters and enjoyed second and even third lives on the small screen. Some have stuck to their sitcom roots and even enjoyed success on further long running sitcoms. Others have parlayed their status as actors linked to a mega popular TV show and taken a postmodern approach.
Others still have ascended beyond the TV comedy and into real weighty drama, showing off a completely different set of skills to those that paid the bills throughout the ‘90s and early ‘00s.
Whatever their approach, the Central Perk six haven’t always had an easy ride in the post-Friends world, but they’ve each taken the opportunity to prove that they’re more than one hit wonders.
10. Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
Calling Studio 60 great might be a bit of a stretch, but it certainly had the potential to be. Created by Aaron Sorkin and starring Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, it excelled as a workplace drama about an ad hoc family, less so as a showbiz satire, and could be downright annoying when Sorkin used his platform to settle scores, as is his wont.
As head writer Matt Albie, however, Perry was arguably career-best. Albie was an acerbic presence who could never be wrong and spoke down to most of his colleagues on the titular SNL-spoofing sketch show (especially the women). In most hands this would be insufferable, but Perry tapped into the sadness at the core of this heroically flawed character, often using his own backstory.
Studio 60 survived just one season and declined over time from a promising start, though it’s well worth watching for its acting and occasionally unintentional comedy. If nothing else, it certainly demonstrated the dramatic capability of Perry.