Friends was one of the most-watched TV shows of all time, attracting an astonishing 20 to 25 million viewers every year that it was on the air. The finale boasted the fourth highest ratings 52 million in the US alone for the final episode of a TV show, behind Seinfeld, Cheers and the clear winner, M*A*S*H. Even today, Friends still remains one of the most popular television shows in history, even after all these years. The cast are constantly asked about it in interviews, to the extent that the business of refuting reunion rumours has become the first hurdle to leap when promoting any other project theyve been involved in, in the decade since the show finished. Marta Kauffman and David Crane are equally adamant. This year, interviewed by Entertainment Weekly, Crane proffered the observation that:
People say they want it, and the more that we say its a bad idea, people disagree. But I think if we actually gave it to people, there would be such backlash.
Meanwhile, a few months ago Courtney Cox was asked by chat show host David Letterman if she was tired of the same old questions:
Only because once you say, "Well, I'd like it," then they have to contact every other cast member and be like, Courtney's into it! And then I get in trouble. It's not going to happen We did the whole show on a soundstage in Monica's apartment. So what are you gonna do?
Matt LeBlancs been more forthright about why a reunion not only wont happen, but wouldnt work if it did:
Friends was covering that specific period of time in peoples lives, when youve just left college, and your friends are your family. Later on, you dont lean on your friends as much as you used to, so it really is about a finite period of time.
There you have it, folks. Theres never going to be a Friends reunion so quit asking. We still have about 87 hours of the show to watch, re-watch and watch again and while were on that subject, theres one final little piece of trivia you might not be aware of. The deleted scenes that didnt make it to be broadcast on television have been re-inserted into the US DVD box set release of the series. Thats 2-4 minutes of mostly unseen, fully edited footage indistinguishable from the more familiar material, lovingly restored into each and every one of the 236 episodes in the set Tell us all about your favourite Friends scenes in the comments! Dont be shy. We know you have them.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
