File this story under “Oh right, that was supposed to be this year”. The Friends reunion has a new film date! Friends was supposed to have filmed a reunion in which all six of the original cast assemble on the original soundstage to discuss the show. Filming was supposed to begin last spring and the show would launch with HBO Max in May. But COVID swept through and changed the script. Filming was postponed until August but that was scrapped too. At the time, David Schwimmer, who played Ross Geller, said, “the truth is, we’ll do it when we all determine it’s safe to do so. There’s no question we want to do it and it’s going to happen. It’s just really a question of when will be the safest time to do it.” So we all pretended to wait patiently. And we waited… and waited… and some of us may have gotten sidetracked.
But then, last week, Matthew Perry posted this on his Twitter feed:
Friends reunion being rescheduled for the beginning of March. Looks like we have a busy year coming up. And that's the way I like it!
— matthew perry (@MatthewPerry) November 12, 2020
I have to imagine that no one is planning on the Friends cast sitting on six-feet apart couches shouting to be heard through masks. If anything, this is a lovely mark of optimism that things will be somewhat back to normal next spring. I won’t place bets, but it’s nice to see studios starting to think like that. I can use some positive vibes these days. Maybe 2021 really will be our Rainbow Year.
I am also laughing a little about all this. For decades fans have been begging for the Friends cast to assemble in some form. And finally there came a way for them to do so (meaning someone found pockets with enough cash in them). No sooner did that announcement go out and 2020 came along and said “NOPE! Y’all just sit your pretty little over-paid butts away from each other and wait until I say so.” And here I am, a self-professed Friends superfan who was really excited at the prospect of seeing the gang back together and honest-to-gawd, I completely forgot this was supposed to happen until I saw Matthew’s tweet. Ah 2020, you’ve made a fickle fan of all of us.
Also, who is the “we” in Matthew’s line about having a busy year? Is that the royal we? We as a nation? Or will the Friends cast be having a busy year and if so – together or individually? I don’t actually think there’s anything to read into that but why not start rumors over an innocuous “we”?
Photo credit: Avalon and Instagram
So I find Friends was great for its time – it was probably my most watched of the noughties . But it is not relevant for where we are now. There’s endless homophobia, transphobia, sexism, white elitism, and built in racism with the lack of diversity.
By doing this in 2020/2021 the arguments that permit the harmful attitudes and content of the show are enabled and justified. It’s really time to move in, if we are happy to agree on “oh it was the nineties things were different then”, let’s not reinstate it’s relevance for now through a reunion.
I have not thought about Friends for a long time, but my understanding was this will be more like a clip show? Or maybe having had a year, they can script something timely? I would actually be interested in a scripted one time performance about the friends reconnecting under quarantine, but maybe too soon for some?
That would be interesting
I imagine this is something people really need right now. It’s been such a bleak year. I’ve never been a fan of the show, like Ben on Parks and Rec with little sebastian, I just don’t get it. However, it’s so beloved by so many and I’m glad people have this to look forward to.
Thanks, but I’ll pass on this.
I don’t think it’s optimistic sign, more as Hollywood doesn’t care about corona. Sets are open NOW and most had to close for weeks before opening yet again because they’ve had cases. It’s not safe now, and it won’t be safe in March either. I think next year is a wash socially too, but I do have hope that we can maybe reduce deaths by then? I hope so.
I love Friends, it’s my comfort show and I will watch any reruns I come across on cable, but this reunion sounds lame.
I don’t know, I love friends and would like to see where their characters ended up, but it’s perfect as it is. Reunion shows tend to be a disaster. I saw they were doing a saved by the bell one and it looks beyond terrible. And don’t get me started on the 90210 reunion, f*cking awful. I have no idea on what the Friends concept is suppose to be either.
I never liked the original or understood why so many people were obsessed with it. I definitely won’t be watching the reunion. But if the thoughts of the show brings people some joy, I’ll gladly welcome that!
I like Friends for what it is, but constantly being praised best thing ever in our current pop culture landscape more than ever before is so annoying to me. I like it less just because of all the silly hype around it. It was a cute show for its time. The actors had wonderful chemistry. It wasn’t brilliant or anything, though?
I loved Friends. And when my kids started watching I didn’t mind. But this seems so lame. I’m kinda embarrassed for them and that is not what you want for a show.