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Friends

Friends was a long-running American television situation comedy centered on the personal lives of three young men and three young women living in Manhattan. The program was broadcast on NBC in the US and on Channel 4 in the UK; its first episode was aired on September 22, 1994, the last on May 6, 2004.

Table of contents

1 Overview 2 Main cast members 3 Recurring characters 4 Guest stars 5 Pre-broadcast audience research 6 Spinoff 7 See also 8 External links

Overview

In monetary terms, Friends is the most successful sitcom of all time. By the end of the series the six main cast members were each paid $1,000,000 per episode. Advertisements for the series finale, which attracted an audience of over 52 million viewers, cost $2,000,000 for a 30-second spot in the United States and CAD$190,000 in Canada. The last episode was released on DVD less than a week after its broadcast.

The show focused on the lives of a group of six friends: Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey, Ross, and Phoebe. As the show begins, Rachel leaves her fiancé at the altar and moves in with Monica, who lives across the hall from Chandler and Joey. They all hang out with Monica's divorced brother Ross, and Phoebe, the "free spirit" of the bunch. The settings for the show include the two apartments and a nearby coffee shop, "Central Perk."

Rachel was a spoiled Daddy's girl who gets her first job as a waitress in the coffee shop and later becomes a personal shopper at Bloomingdale's, then a buyer for Ralph Lauren. Monica is a chef, who for the first several seasons struggles for success. Chandler is a data processor who eventually switches to a career in advertising. Joey is a struggling New York actor. Ross is a paleontologist who works at a museum; in later years, he became a college professor. Phoebe eked out a living as a singer-songwriter and a masseuse.

A constant story line throughout the series is the off-again, on-again romance between Ross and Rachel.

Main cast members

• Jennifer Aniston — Rachel Karen Green
• Courteney Cox Arquette — Monica Geller/Monica Geller Bing
• Lisa Kudrow — Phoebe Buffay/Phoebe Buffay Hannigan; Kudrow also played Phoebe's twin sister Ursula, a character which originated on Mad About You
• Matt LeBlanc — Joey Francis Tribbiani; the character is continuing in a spin-off called Joey
• Matthew Perry — Chandler Muriel Bing
• David Schwimmer — Ross Geller

• June Gable (Estelle Leonard)
• Elliott Gould (Jack Geller)
• Jessica Hecht (Susan Bunch)
• Christina Pickles (Judy Geller)
• Jane Sibbett (Carol Willick)
• James Michael Tyler (Gunther)
• Maggie Wheeler (Janice)
• Marlo Thomas (Sandra Green)
• Ron Leibman (Dr. Leonard Green)
• Ugly Naked Guy (Unknown)

The show has had many well-known celebrities as guest stars, including Bruce Willis, Tom Selleck, Elle MacPherson, and Charlie Sheen.

See list of guest stars on Friends

Pre-broadcast audience research

After the finale was broadcast, The Smoking Gun made available the May 27, 1994 "Program Test Report" summarizing the audience reaction to a version of what became the pilot episode. Overall reactions to the pilot were "not very favorable"; most viewers felt the show was "not very entertaining, clever, or original." The report recommended:

• Broadening the show to include some older characters
• Adding more humor
• Changing the pilot so that the audience could become more involved emotionally with the show's characters
• Toning down the sexual situations, at least at the beginning of the series
• Having Chandler talk about his dreams on a recurring basis
• Incorporating Phoebe more into the stories
• Make the coffee shop less "funky"

Tribbiani is slated to premiere in NBC's Fall 2004 season. It centers around the Friends character, actor Joey Tribbiani, still played by LeBlanc. Past Friends cast members are expected to have cameo appearances on the show from time to time.

"Tribbiani in this comedy spin-off that continues the beloved Friends tradition. Joey, an aspiring actor, is off to Los Angeles to pursue his dream and begin a new chapter in his life. In this new town he’s sure to face new challenges, both professional and personal. After reuniting with his sister, Gina, Joey moves in with his 20-year-old genius nephew, Michael, who is literally a rocket scientist. What Joey lacks in book smarts, however, he makes up for with people smarts, making him the best new friend his nephew could ask for. Cast: Matt LeBlanc, Drea deMatteo, Paulo Costanzo, Ashley Scott, Jennifer Coolidge.."

-Quoted From the NBC homepage

• List of Friends episodes
• List of guest stars on Friends

• Official Friends site
• The IMDb entry on the series
• Negative 1994 NBC research report about the pilot