In the last few minutes of the episode “The Last One”, aired in May 2004, all Friends fans wept. In Monica’s empty apartment, we saw the sextet that made audiences around the world laugh for 10 years reunited for the last time. Since then, there have been rumors of reunions, movies and special episodes, but those were nothing more than rumors… until now.
Clearly, we are the nostalgia generation. And nostalgia has been highly monetized in recent years, but the creators and cast of Friends didn’t want to get involved in new productions, because for them the important thing was the original story. So, it was quite clear (although not written in stone) that they would never make another special or extension of the series.
The sitcom creators, David Crane, Marta Kauffman and Kevin Bright, believe they had given a proper conclusion to all the characters. Bringing them to light again would entail unraveling stories for 17 years, and giving some twists to make it interesting for the audience. Merely, the happy ending for each would no longer exist.
The actors (Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc) didn’t seem too interested in returning to the characters that made them famous either. Why destabilize the solidity gained by the sitcom? But, during ‘Friends: The Reunion’ everyone played the ‘Where would your character be right now’ game: Monica would still be bossy and involved in every school and community activity, to the point of forgetting about Chandler.
Phoebe would be living with Mike in Connecticut, they would have a few kids, and she would be very involved with the art movement in her town. Rachel and Ross would be married and living their happy ending. Meanwhile, Joey would be selling sandwiches in Venice Beach, after all, he wanted to be an actor, but he has always been a food lover.
During the HBO reunion, some details of the production were discussed, such as the difficult casting process to find the perfect actor for each role. They also relived scenes interspersed with script readings in the present day, where we could see the fluidity with which they get into character after so many years. In addition, the friends held a trivia contest like the one they had done during the fourth season, and some unreleased bloopers were shown.
The set was rebuilt down to the smallest detail. The old one, where they worked for 10 years, had been dismantled immediately after the last shoot. From there, the actors remember taking a few souvenirs, but returning to the set brought back nostalgic memories of experiences and some emblematic phrases.
Complaints on social media did not take long to arrive. Everyone wanted to see Ross’ children and Phoebe’s husband for at least a couple of minutes.
In addition to the six friends, fans were able to see Jack and Judy Geller (Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles), James Michael Tyler (Gunther), Maggie Wheeler (Janice), Jill Green (Reese Witherspoon) and Dr. Richard Burke (Tom Selleck).
There is no doubt that the big absentees were Mike (Paul Rudd), Ben (Cole Sprouse) and Emma (Noelle and Cali Sheldon). The producers apologized for the absences, attributing these to the pandemic and the limited space they had to develop the production (104 minutes).
Complaints on social media did not take long to arrive. Everyone wanted to see Ross’ children and Phoebe’s husband for at least a couple of minutes. Fans argued that they didn’t need the appearance of the guest stars who actually were never in the show. However, for them, a reunion of the characters who had made a positive mark on the plot was important, even if only from a distance.
On ‘Friends: The Reunion’ there were also some surprises, when host James Corden asked about off-screen romances, Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer revealed they had a huge crush on each other during the early seasons, but were never on the same page to start a relationship. “I remember saying one time to David: It’s going to be such a bummer if the first time you and I actually kiss is going to be on national television.”
Meanwhile, one on-screen couple that wasn’t planned was Monica and Chandler. It was all for one night only, but the reaction of the studio audience confirmed its success so they had to rethink the plot to give the couple a chance.
It is clear that Friends not only has fans since the beginning, but that some others joined in with the premiere of the seasons. There are also new generations added during the 17 years off the air; some of the new fans were not even born when the show ended.
Even if some people, more critical, qualify the sitcom as overrated or lacking diversity, it is important to highlight the achievements and popularity because the audience can be fooled, but not for so long. We just have to enjoy the reunion and what was done almost 30 years ago, understanding that times have changed since then, but that we can’t judge the past by the standards of the present. And if that’s not clear, maybe we should turn off the Unagi philosophy and relax a bit.