by India Gustin
The moment we have all been waiting for
It is finally time to welcome with open arms once again our favourite Sitcom, Friends (Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!). Whether your job’s a joke, you’re broke or your love life’s DOA, this long-awaited reunion is bound to lift some of these spirits up.
What is most exciting is that the special is actually bringing together all of the show’s original cast: Matthew Perry (Chandler), Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Courteney Cox (Monica), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe), Matt LeBlanc (Joey) and David Schwimmer (Ross), and not just a few of them as they have done previously.
Yes, they were on a break…since 2004, but fans of the show have been anticipating this particular reunion since it was first announced back in February of 2020, rewarding fans with a trailer as well. Of course, Covid did its thing, as it always does, and the filming was delayed.
The Friends Instagram page announced on April 11 that filming was done. However, HBO Max has yet to reveal a premier date.
So what do the fans think of this idea?
“I hope it will be good…sort of like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air reunion,” said Paul Adams, part-time bartender and part-time Friends fanatic. “In any case, like Chandler in that one episode, the floodgates will be open.”
“I wish that it was a normal episode,” said Eva Gustin, an avid Friends fan who has binged watched the show about a dozen times in a row. “It would have been nice to see Ben and Emma all grown up and seeing if Ross and Rachel were still together or on another break.
“I still think it’s going to be funny because Matthew Perry is naturally extremely funny and I know that in the past he wrote a lot of his own lines for the show because of how good is humour is. I do expect a lot of comedy from his part.”
Sean Keenan, manager at the Big Red pub, who prefers to be referred to as Mrs. Seanandler Bong, said: “It’ll be nice to hear some behind the scenes stories from the show.
“Maybe hear about some ideas they had for the characters that never got shot. The only downside for me will be to see how old they got and how old that will make me feel.”
What to expect
Although the reunion special is not a new Friends episode, it will nevertheless contain the casts’ traditional hilarious banter and jokes. In a statement released by HBO, they wanted to clear any doubts that some viewers may have about what the episode entails: “Lastly, in order to avoid any misunderstanding about what this special is, we want to make it very clear that this is not a new, original episode of the series. The cast will be appearing as themselves, not as their beloved characters.”
So will this episode just be another interview? Well, although it will be un-scripted, we know that the team have a couple surprises up their sleeve. What they are is a mystery on its own. “I will be disappointed if it’s just another interview with the six characters,” expressed Gustin.
In an interview on the BBC’s Graham Norton Show, Schwimmer tried to explain further what we could be expecting…but failed miserably: “I’ll be myself. I’ll be David. We’re not in character…we’re all ourselves, the real people. […] But there is one section, I don’t want to give away…where we all read something.”
Maybe Aniston was little less vague in her explanation? “I will not be Rachel, although I kind of am,” she said. “Well, we’re all sort of little fragments of them. Not really. But yeah.” Ok…so no.
However this episode is portrayed, we are all looking forward to laughing at old jokes and unmistakable sarcasm that the show is so famous for. Can we be more excited?
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