Main article: Joey (sitcom)
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This article is about the television show; Friends can also refer to Quakers or, more esoterically, a brand name of a spring loaded camming device.  Friends was a long-running American television situation comedy centered on lives of six twenty-somethings (eventually thirty-somethings) (3 male, 3 female) living in Manhattan. The program was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television for NBC in the US, first broadcast on that network and followed by other broadcast networks in numerous countries throughout the world. In the US, its first episode was aired on September 22, 1994, the last on May 6, 2004.
OverviewThe cornerstone of NBC's Thursday evening Must-see TV strand, Friends became the most successful sitcom of all time in monetary terms. 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 her childhood best friend, Monica, who lives across the hall from Chandler and Joey. They all hang out with Monica's brother, Ross – who recently divorced his lesbian wife – and Phoebe, the "free spirit" of the bunch and Monica's old room mate. The settings for the show include Monica's apartment, Chandler and Joey's apartment and the coffee shop downstairs, "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, and later opens her own upscale restaurant. 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 becomes a college professor. Phoebe ekes out a living as a singer-songwriter and a masseuse. A constant story line throughout the series is the on-again/off-again romance between Ross and Rachel, and later in the series, the developing relationship between Chandler and Monica. Cast members Main characters
Recurring charactersSee also: List of significant others of Friends Relations
Other
Guest starsThe show has had many well-known celebrities as guest stars, including Bruce Willis, Tom Selleck, Brad Pitt, Elle MacPherson, and Charlie Sheen. See: List of guest stars on Friends Pre-broadcast audience researchAfter 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:
Running gagsFriends had many running gags throughout the span of the show. Some of the most famous include:
Trivia
Further trivia can be found in the series' IMDb entry (http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0108778/trivia). FinaleIn the Friends series finale, Ross and Rachel decide to get back together, shortly after Rachel almost leaves for Paris to accept a better job. Monica and Chandler's adopted children are born—they didn't realize that they were going to have twins. Phoebe and Mike decide that they want to have kids. RatingsThe 60-minute finale was named by ET as the biggest TV moment of the year 2004, and was the second highest rated show in 2004 beaten only by the Super Bowl, however it did not surpass the ratings received by season finales for M*A*S*H (106m), Cheers (80.4m) or Seinfeld (76.3m), nor was it the most watched episode of Friends—that accolade remains with the season two episode TOW After the Superbowl, which aired on January 28, 1996 and drew 52.9m viewers. Ratings by country:
Cultural legacyFriends has, in some areas, made a notable contribution to language, fashion, and (to a lesser extent) women's attitudes. The use of "so" to mean "very" was not invented by any Friends writer, but it is quite arguable that the extensive use of the phrase in the series encouraged its use extensively. Also commonly said by the characters, particularly Monica, was the loud and drawn-out "I know". The series has also been noted for its impact on everyday-fashion and hair-styles–Jennifer Aniston, in particular, had her hair-style copied by many women. SpinoffJoey premiered September 9, 2004 on NBC. 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.
"Friends" in other countries
BroadcastersFirst-run
Reruns/syndication
CaveatsIn the UK, seasons 7 to 10 were first aired on E4, except for the season 10 finale which was broadcast on Channel 4 first, then aired an hour later on E4. This was the first time Channel 4 had broadcast an episode of Friends before the pay-tv channels since 1996. (That said, E4 is owned by Channel 4) See alsoExternal links
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