FAMILIAR FACES
The iconic sitcom Friends offers nostalgia for a time when we were less stressed and more carefree, writes Holly Byrnes
IT’S not high on the list of issues caused by the global pandemic, of course, but the delay to the much-anticipated Friends reunion special The One Where They Got Back Together has certainly been an added blow for the millions of fans who still love the show.
The good news?
The entire back catalogue
– all 10 seasons of the groundbreaking sitcom –is available to stream on BINGE from this Thursday. So get ready to meet your Friends all over again:
JENNIFER ANISTON
AS runaway bride Rachel Green, swamped in tulle and looking for a safe place to land, Aniston instantly won the hearts of millions of fans.
Whether it was her famous ‘ Rachel’ haircut, California perma-tan or her marriage to fellow Hollywood headliner
Brad Pitt, whatever drew you to her on the show and off it turned the daughter of actor John Aniston into a star in her own right.
As we know, her film and TV career continues to go gangbusters. Her recent collaboration with Friends guest star Reese Witherspoon on Apple TV+ drama Morning Wars finally garnered Aniston critical acclaim, as well as a Screen Actor’s Guild award. A second season was filming before the pandemic shut down production.
MATT LEBLANC
OF the three Friends fellas, LeBlanc’s future promised to be the brightest when the curtain came down on the show. Beloved as the charismatic Joey Tribbiani, he was already signed up to a lucrative contract for spin- off show Joey. But that luck didn’t last for Joey, which was axed after a savaging by the critics.
In 2011, he made a successful return to the small screen, playing a version of himself in the BBC comedy Episodes, a role that won him a Golden Globe; also adding a stint hosting the BBC’s car show Top Gear.
While he will line up for the reunion special, LeBlanc has been blunt about rebooting Friends all these years on: “I don’t think anybody wants to see an old Joey having a colonoscopy!”
LISA KUDROW
EVEN before Friends had finished, Kudrow had already left ditzy Phoebe Buffay behind, booking several film projects. She’d already proved she could shake off her dumb blonde tag with ease and was eager to tap into her talent as an actress.
Then came an offer she couldn’t refuse – her own series, The Comeback, playing a failed sitcom actress trying to resurrect her career. It initially lasted just one season before a brief revival.
Still Kudrow kept busy on the small screen including a guest star role on Courteney Cox’s
Cougar Town and behind the camera as an award-winning producer on the US version of Who Do You Think You Are?
One of her most underrated performances was as a neurotic psychiatrist in Web Therapy [streaming, Amazon Prime].
MATTHEW PERRY
A ROLE opposite Bruce Willis in movie The Whole Ten Yards hinted at a happy end to his Friends days playing resident jester Chandler Bing.
Promoting the film, Perry said: “Nothing will ever be like Friends and the success we’ve had. We look back, and kind of smile, and move on.”
But it wouldn’t be that easy for Perry, now 50, who still rages a constant battle with his drink and drug demons.
Like Kudrow, he appeared on Cougar Town with Courteney Cox, but he had his best shot at a renaissance on a new TV version of The Odd Couple, before it was axed three years ago.
COURTENEY COX
THE end of Friends came at a good time for Cox, whose real baby bump was proving hard for her alter ego Monica Geller to hide by the time last drinks were called at Central Perk.
Cox settled into the happy family life she planned with actor husband David Arquette and their daughter Coco.
But in 2010, Cox and Arquette announced their separation after 10 years of marriage. The pair divorced in 2013, but still maintain a close relationship for the sake of their now 16-year- old daughter and their production company. Cox, 56, is now with 44-year- old Snow Patrol rocker Johnny McDaid.
In terms of TV credits, she played a hard-nosed tabloid magazine editor in Dirt; while Cougar Town – in which she played a social- drinking divorcee back in the dating game – ran for six seasons.
DAVID SCHWIMMER
AS super geek Dr Ross Geller, it was hard to imagine David Schwimmer would emerge as one of the most successful and in- demand actors from Friends.
But the 53-year- old New Yorker made good on his post-Perk plans – in everything from voicing a hypochondriac giraffe in the Madagascar animated movie franchise to his widely-acclaimed role as Robert Kardashian in The People v.
O. J. Simpson. Most recently, he guest- starred as Debra Messing’s love interest in the second comeback season of hit show Will and Grace; before both starring in and directing cyber crime comedy Intelligence.
– Additional reporting Katie Ellis
FRIENDS
SEASONS 1-10, STREAMING FROM THURSDAY ON BINGE