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The End of the Road for Friends
        The emotional finale of Friends was broadcast on Thursday night 6th May 2004 and was watched by 51.1 million TV viewers in the US. At last, viewers got to know the outcome of the show's on-off love affair between Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston).
          In New York, the final episode was shown on a big screen in Times Square, watched by 3,000 people from a park overlooking the Hudson River. Fans also watched bloopers from the series during an official Friends Finale Viewing Party at Universal Citywalk in Los Angeles.
          The final show was screened in Britain on Channel 4 on 28th May.
          Preliminary ratings showed Friends to have had the highest viewing audience since the last episode of Seinfeld in 1998. When Friends was first aired in September 1994 sitcoms Roseanne and Home Improvement were the most popular US television shows. 
          NBC had predicted an audience of around 50 million for this last Friends episode, which was preceeded by a one-hour retrospective of the series' six characters over the past 10 years.
       Friends made its debut in 1994 as a sitcom about six 20-somethings living in New York's West Village district and it immediately struck a chord with many of its audience and soon became an international brand, spawning calendars, notebooks, mugs, T-shirts, video and DVD box sets and even copycat haircuts.
          Friends and its cast caught on with viewers looking for an escape from the fast-paced 1990s. It made household names of  David Schwimmer (Ross), Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Matthew Perry (Chandler), Courteney Cox Arquette (Monica), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) and Matt LeBlanc (Joey) who saw their pay climb to $1m (£558,000) each per episode during the course of the show.
          The show also was known for the Hollywood stars who made guest appearances, including Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis and Tom Selleck. It also featured cameos from Brad Pitt and David Arquette, the real-life husbands of Aniston and Arquette respectively.
Matt LeBlanc will reprise his Friends role when he stars in an NBC spin-off series, Joey, in the US this autumn and Warner Bros plans to release a DVD of the Friends finale in a few days' time, containing the original pilot episode and behind-the-scenes material.

CLASSIC LINES!
Chandler: "Sometimes I wish I was a lesbian. Did I say that out loud?" 
Rachel: "Hey, just so you know - it's not that common, it doesn't 'happen to every guy' and it is a big deal." 
Joey: "I thought it'd be great, you know? have some time alone with my thoughts... turns out, I don't have as many thoughts as you'd think." 
Monica: "I can't believe my Dad saw us having sex. He didn't make it to one of my piano recitals, but this he sees." 
Ross: "I grew up in a house with Monica, okay. If you didn't eat fast, you didn't eat."
Phoebe: "I may play the fool at times but I'm a little more than just a pretty blonde girl with an ass that won't quit."

The nearly-cloning of Friends
          When it was clear that Friends was drawing to a close, NBC gave the go-ahead to a remake of the English comedy Couplings revolving around the lives of six thirty-something friends. (And they say Hollywood has no original ideas!) NBC snagged the rights to the BBC2 comedy, described as "a frank and funny account of love and lust among a group of thirty-somethings" - a description most certainly applying to Friends.
          Just like Friends, Couplings revolved around six pals sharing each other's lives and loves. But right from the start the American version was a big letdown and was removed from its primetime TV spot. The American version, while often almost word for word and worked off of the same British script, just wasn't the same. Typical review: "American version - bad acting, boring. English version - excellent!"
          Imported English shows have had chequered success in the U.S. All in the Family and Sanford and Son - based on Till Death Do Us Part and Steptoe and Son - were extremely successful but other shows, such as a short-lived Payne - a version of John Cleese's Fawlty Towers, starring John Larroqutte, and Men Behaving Badly flopped over there.

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer star in this hit NBC-TV's sitcom which explores the hearts and minds of six young friends living in New York City.
Beginning its eighth season as the leadoff series on NBC’s enormously popular “Must-See-TV” Thursday night lineup, “Friends” continues to garner critical acclaim and ratings success. The series reigns as the No. 1 comedy and top-rated 8 p.m. series on television.
Since it started on September 22, 1994, “Friends” has received 33 Emmy Award nominations, including four for Outstanding Comedy Series. The cast won a Screen Actors Guild Award in 1996 for Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Series and has been nominated three times (1996, 1997, 1998) for a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy. “Friends” won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite New Comedy Series in its first season, and has since won twice more as Favorite Comedy Series.
The series focuses on the friendship of three men and three women who frequently gather at each other’s apartments and share sofa space at Greenwich Village’s “Central Perk” coffeehouse. Monica (Cox Arquette) is a chef with an obsession for neatness and order in her life. She is also married to Chandler (Perry), a dry wit who is never at a loss for words. Across the hall is Chandler’s longtime roommate Joey (LeBlanc), an actor currently on “Days of Our Lives” playing a man with a woman’s brain.
Sharing his apartment, is Rachel (Aniston), Monica’s best friend from high school and former roomie. Rachel works for a fashion designer and is still trying to get by without help from her well-to-do father. Across the alley from Monica and Chandler is Monica’s hapless brother Ross (Schwimmer), a teacher who has been divorced three times, including once from Rachel following a reckless weekend in Las Vegas.
Rounding out the circle of friends is Monica’s ex-roommate, Phoebe Buffay (Kudrow), an offbeat, eternally optimistic folk singer and massage therapist, who gave birth to triplets as a surrogate mother for her half-brother and his wife.
Friends was created by the writing team of Marta Kauffman & David Crane. Emmy and CableACE Award-winning producer Kevin Bright is executive producer with Kauffman and Crane. Scott Silveri and Shana Goldberg-Meehan from NBC-TV also serve as executive producers. The series is taped at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.
The Pictures  Some great shots of the whacky team!  The Episodes  The full guide to every great episode!  The Song  The words of the smash-hit theme song  The Scripts  Some extracts from the series' scripts!  The Screensaver  The Friends Audio-Visual Screensaver  To hear some of the sound events you need to have RealPlayer or jetAudio installed


They're the best on TV. Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt Le Blanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer have brought a new meaning to the word FRIENDShip. While these six talented actors spend five twelve hour days a week rehearsing and shooting the show, they still manage to spend time together AFTER hours. Why? One reason. They really, truly are FRIENDS.
Friends-Facts
1. Courteney Cox originally auditioned for the part of Rachel Green (played by Jennifer Aniston.)
2. The golden frame around the peephole was originally a mirror which one of the crew accidentally smashed. But because it still looked good they decided to leave it there.
3. In the first couple of episodes Chandler and Joey's apartment number was #4 and Monica and Rachel's apartment number was #5. However, in the later episodes, they are 19 and 20 respectively.
4. In an episode made shortly after Courteney Cox married actor David Arquette and considered taking the name "Courteney Cox Arquette", the producers of Friends jokingly added "Arquette" likewise to the end of the names of every actor in the opening credits.
5. Other titles considered for the show were "Friends Like Us," "Six of Us," "Insomnia Café," and "Across the Hall."
6. The first line of dialogue in the very first pilot episode of Friends was "There's nothing to tell."
7. A 30-second commercial during the break in the show in America cost advertisers £500,000.
8. According to Aniston, her famous "Rachel" hairdo was created by accident when her "friend" Chris cut her hair with a razor.
9. Perry's wit is so legendary that the scriptwriters have often incorporated his gags into the show.
10. Central Perk, the café in which they all hang out, is based on the Manhattan Café in New Yorks West Village.
11. Famous guest stars on the show have included ER's George Clooney and Noah Wyle, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chris Isaak and Julia Roberts.
12. The whole cast huddle together before each episode to wish each other luck. This made frequent guest star Tom Selleck feel a bit left out.
13. When the pilot show was approved by the network, and a series comissioned, the entire cast was sent on a free trip to Las Vegas.
14. The cast apparently get on as well in real life as they do on screen. They play poker and Scrabble together, and the girls often shop with each other. The rumor that they had made a pact never to sleep together is untrue.
15. Friends is Channel 4's top-rating comedy, regularly attracting three million viewers.
16. Marcel's trainer, Nerissa Pulizer, said of her charge: "If Marcel were human, she'd be Meryl Streep".
17. The monkey was the first cast member to get a Hollywood movie role, appearing in the movie Outbreak.
18. The opening footage of the cast dancing around a fountain was filmed on the Warner Brothers lot in LA at five o'clock one morning.
19. The first thing Cox bought with her Friends money was a brand new Porsche.
20. The occupations of the characters are as follows: Ross, palaeontologist; Monica, chef; Joey, actor/model; Phoebe, masseuse; Rachel, waitress; Chandler, data processor.
21. Cox has said of her character: "She's obsessive, the one who has to be perfect and please everybody. I'm so similar to her it's frightening".
22. There's a book out called Cooking with Friends, full of comfort-food recipes for when "it hasn't been your day, your month or even your year" - a reference to the theme song.
23. The show's producers admit that the characters could never afford the rents on the apartments they live in on the show. 
24. Both cast members Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer have directed at least one episode of the show. 
25. Friends was released in the USA on September 22nd, 1994 and in the UK on April 28th, 1995. 
26. Jennifer Aniston's (who plays Rachel) actual last name is Anastassakis but her family changed it to Aniston when they moved to the United States. (Thanks to Dannah and IMDB) If you watch TOW Chandler and Monica's Wedding, Rachel's actual last name is used for the Greek couple having their wedding in the episode. (Thanks John P DiNardo) 
27. Stage 24 (home to Friends from season two until now) is said to be haunted. It is one of the oldest stages on the Warner Bros. lot and rumors of late night "occurrences" have been circulating for years! 
28. Each episode enlists from 35 to 50 extras. James Michael Tyler (Gunther) was an extra in season one. He was the only extra who could work the cappuccino machine, which led to his recurring role. Not until his first spoken line ("Yes." in The One with Phoebe's Dad) did the writers give him a name. 
29. The Wardrobe Department has an entire room just for handbags! 
30. The artwork in Central Perk is changed every 3 episodes. The art department showcases local, national and international artists. Some artists create original pieces just for the show! (pictured artist: Elise Margolis) 
31. The shops across from Central Perk have meaning. Dottie & Herman's Deli is named after co-creator Marta Kauffman's relatives. Free Being Records is an homage to a Greenwich Village record store that executive producer Kevin Bright frequented as a kid. 
32. Paul Swain, the Electrical Best Boy, draws the art on the Magna-Doodle board hanging on the back of Joey and Chandler's front door. Sometimes he does a drawing that the writers request or that relates to the storyline; otherwise, the doodle is usually an inside joke with the crew. 
33. Monica and Joey's refrigerators actually work (a TV rarity). Monica's is filled with water and soda for the cast and crew. Joey's is, um, pretty darn bachelor-like. 
34. The sandwich board outside Central Perk references a crew member who went above and beyond the call of duty. "Neighbor Tim" has been appearing at Central Perk ever since his good deed on the set. 
35. In the cold open of "The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy" (Season Premiere, 1996), the gang came in and found other people sitting in their Central Perk spots. Those were the show's writers for that season. 
36. The show goes through 32 pots of regular coffee on show day and over 100 cases of water a week. 
37. Phoebe has performed over 25 original songs on the show since the first season. 
38. The Central Perk set is one of the few soundstage sets with a real asphalt "street." This allows for more realistic sound during exterior scenes, and allows for underground plumbing to pipe-in real steam from the manholes. 
39. The newspapers near the pay phone in Central Perk are six months old. 
40. 30,000 feet of film is used to tape one episode of Friends 
41. The art department updates the food in Monica's kitchen cupboards weekly. But types of food (ie: pasta, canned goods) are always kept in the same areas, because Monica is so organized! 
42. Monica and Chandler's kitchen has 7 spatulas in plain view. 
43. The show orders pizza twice a night for the studio audience. That's a total of 85 pizzas to feed the 300 audience members. (The cast and crew sometimes get sushi too!) 
44. When the original Magna-Doodle wore out, the prop department had to find one on eBay to match the original. 
45. Robin Williams and Billy Crystal did four takes of their brief cameo in Central Perk. 
46. Most of the copy on the Central Perk coffee board is the original copy from the show's first season (typos included!) 
47. The show spends $1,700 a week on lightbulbs or "globes." 
48. Executive producer/co-creator Kevin Bright often directs episodes. He also re-edits the opening title sequence twice each year with new footage. Once for the first 12 episodes, then again for the second 12. 
49. Each script goes through three to five drafts - and often times jokes are rewritten during filming, based on audience response. 
50. It takes 366,000 watts of electricity to light all the sets on Stage 24 for one Friends filming. That is the equivalent electrical power of 12 large homes. 
51. 25 to 30 people attend the weekly table reads. This is when the cast reads the script for that week's episode aloud for the first time.
RACHEL Green (Jennifer Aniston)
Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green)I'm Monica, I wash the toilet 70 times a day!   Born on February 11, 1969 in Sherman Oaks, California. Jennifer is of Greek descent. Her father, John, acts in Days of our Lives. Jennifer was inspired to act after seeing the play Children of a Lesser God on Broadway. Originally tested for the role of Monica, but she convinced producers that she was better as Rachel. Jennifer has acted in such films as She's the One, 'Til there was You, and Picture Perfect. More about Jennifer Aniston ...
MONICA Geller (Courtney Cox)
Courtney Cox (Monica Geller)What exactly did you ask her?   Born on June 15 in Birmingham, Alabama. She's the youngest of four children. In 1985, Courteney was in the NBC series Misfits of Science. That same year, Courteney was cast as Lauren, Michael J. Fox's girlfriend on Family Ties. In 1994, She acted opposite Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: The Pet Detective. Her new movie Scream 2 is now playing in theatres.
PHOEBE Buffay (Lisa Kudrow)
Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay)If you want receive E-Mails about my upcoming shows,then please give me money so I can buy a Computer   Born on July 30, 1963 in Encino, California and raised in Tarzana. Graduated from Vassar College in New York State with a B.Sc. in biology. In Friends, she plays both Phoebe and Ursula, who's a waitress in Mad About You. Her latest movie was Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion.
JOEY Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc)
Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani)How you doing?   Born on July 25. He loves motorbikes. By 1987 Matt had obtained parts in TV commercials for Levi's 501 jeans, Coca-Cola and Doritos. In 1989, he landed a starring role in the television series TV 101.  Matt starred in the film Ed, which came to theatres in March 1996.
CHANDLER Bing (Matthew Perry)
Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing)So, where where are you from?   Born on August 19, 1969 in Williamstown, Mass. He was raised in Ottawa, Ontario. Only child of Suzanne and John Perry. He loves tennis. Before starring in Friends, Matthew won a small role in the 1988 River Phoenix film A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon. In February 1997, Matthew co-starred with Salma Hayek in the film Fools Rush In.
ROSS Geller (David Schwimmer)
So what what you do you do?   Born on November 12 in Queens, New York and raised in Los Angeles. After graduation from high school, David returned to Northwestern, where he recieved a degree in speech/theatre. David's stage directing credits include The Jungle and Alice in Wonderland. He hosted Montreal's 13th Annual Just For Laughs Festival. David's film Pallbearer was released in the spring of 1996.

Note that this site is neither affliated with nor endorsed by Warner Bros., NBC-TV, Bright Kauffman Crane Productions, nor any of the actors/actresses from the show. Pictures and music belong to their rightful owners. Addresses of official sites are Warner Bros. and NBC-TV.