Few shows have managed to break under the skin of so many for so long as Friends: propelled by strong writing, brilliant characters and one of the most enduring love stories in the history of the screen, the show went beyond the traditional limits of the sitcom and became a fully fledged cultural phenomenon. Over ten delirious years, the show picked up an eye-watering 62 Emmy nominations, made a lot of people very rich and never dropped below 15 million viewers, despite some particularly iffy moments. That kind of immediate success will never happen again, and nor will the way the show has continued to blossom since, taking almost permanent space on the TV schedule around the world (and still pulling in millions of viewers a year). Even ignoring those later views, some of the show's episodes were phenomenally popular when they first aired, as US audiences were captivated by Ross and Rachel's love affair (the one unifying storyline that runs through almost the entire top 15 viewed episodes). As show's crash and burn after a couple of seasons, it's enlightening to look back at Friends' enduring success and the high-point of a show that defined an entire generation of TV viewers...
