(and lots of other randomers)
A Friends reunion has been rumoured forever. Now the Second Coming is nearly upon us, a rough beast of a show that looks like being a self-congratulatory cash-in touted in the teaser trailer as ‘The One Where They Get Back Together’ but more obviously ‘The One Where We Have a Lot of Random Famous Guests’ including Kit Harington, Lady Gaga, David Beckham, Cindy Crawford, Justin Bieber and Noble Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai.
I met the cast of Friends once. It was on set at the Warner Bros lot in Burbank in the late ’90s. This was at the height of Friends-mania: or ‘The Friendsy’ as it is now known. On Sunset Strip, a giant image of David Schwimmer gazed down on us mere mortals like some airbrushed deity, as everywhere else, the show ruled the ratings. I was in LA to meet the cast of such shows as ER as well as the animators Chuck Jones (Looney Tunes) and Joseph Barbera (Tom and Jerry, etc). Legends. Yet all week, the only chatter was of Rachel & Ross & the rest as time ticked down to the ‘interview’. Now when I say I met the cast of Friends, it was in a studio with some 30 other journalists. And when I say journalists, I mean people who asked questions like: ‘In what way do you most resemble your character?’. There was a moderator to keep an eye on proceedings. And when I say moderator, I mean a nervous man who encouraged us to cheer the sextet on entry (30 minutes late and looking like someone had eaten their porridge). He also promptly shut down any query that even had a whiff of controversy. The person who attempted to ask Courteney Cox about her imminent nuptials was, I believe, never seen again.
Unlike Friends, which continued to live on long beyond its 2004 finale in endless re-runs, filmed before the arrival of HD so that the cast look soft and dreamlike, not unlike that giant David Schwimmer billboard. Calls for a reunion gathered pace. In 2019, with rumours rife, Jennifer Aniston, the most successful of the cast by a country mile, was definitely opposed to it. Marcel the Monkey was also staying quiet. Of course this reunion is not an actual scripted show. Rather it’s the six actors chewing the fat and the scenery while famous alumni (Reese Witherspoon, Tom Selleck), as well as those randomers, come and go.
The show will screen on HBO Max in the US on May 27, but watch the skies – or rather, Sky – which may very well screen it shortly afterwards.
Sure, it’s a big deal. Especially for the wallets of the cast. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the six stars will be paid between $2.5 million and $3 million for the reunion special (back in the show’s heyday they pocketed $1m per episode). It’s like the theme song has it – they’ll be here for you. But it’s more likely they’ll be there for themselves.
Friends: The Reunion is available on HBO Max from May 27 in the US.