The benefits of having Friends
Netflix deal to keep popular sitcom a testament to show’s value, Aniston says
LOS ANGELES Jennifer Aniston calls it “amazing ” that Friends still has an audience big enough to prompt multi-million-dollar business deals to keep it from disappearing on Netflix.
“I find it amazing that it’s continued to have such love and such an audience and such an appetite for it,” Aniston said recently at the première of her Netflix film Dumplin’.
After an outcry from fans — and despite some detractors who have criticized the show for, among other things, a lack of diversity and for body shaming — Netflix announced it is keeping the adventures of Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey available to subscribers through 2019 at a reported US$100 million price tag to the streaming service.
“I think it says a lot about the show. Especially since it takes place at a time where it’s so different from now.
“You know, people actually spoke to each other and hung out with each other and talked,” Aniston said. Warner Media owns the show, which aired on NBC for 10 years ending in 2004. It won six Emmy Awards, including a best comedy actress Emmy for Aniston.
Netflix paid more than triple the US$30 million a year it had been paying for Friends, The New York Times has reported, citing two unidentified people with direct knowledge of the deal.
Friends could soon appear more places online. The Times said nothing in the Netflix deal prevents the show from appearing on a streaming service AT&T plans to launch in 2020.