My FRIENDS Will Always Be There For Me

In February this year, after many clues on social media (Matthew Perry finally joined Instagram along Jennifer Aniston!) we got the news that we will have a Friends reunion! In May 2020, HBO Max will be launched and the 10 seasons of the beloved series will be part of their catalogue. Ok, we knew that already. After all, Netflix said months ago that the show would leave its platform (at least in the US, in Finland I can still watch it) after December 2019. The financial burden of keeping Friends was getting too heavy and the rights to certain episodes too uncertain…so in the benefit of budgeting new shows… off our Central Perk gang goes. What came as a surprise was that, to celebrate its new home, the whole ensemble cast would be joining in for a reunion special! I was so excited to see them together again! After the whole buzz of the 25th anniversary of the series in 2019, everyone was dying to take a peak on how our favorite six New Yorkers were navigating in their lives nowadays (especially after Emma woke up after her nap in 2020).

Deep down, I thought that the chances of a proper revival of the show actually happening were slim to none. In numerous occasions, Marta Kauffman, one of the show’s creators, said it made no sense to bring them back together because “that time in your life when your friends become your family was over when they got married and started their own families”. It pains me to say it, but she is right. We would all love to see if Rachel and Ross got another break, how the kids grew up to be like and if no one will love Jack Bing more than Monica…is she faded to be like her mom in the end? In the short lived spin series “Joey” (as much as I love Joey Tribbiani, his solo show was proof that the whole cast of characters belonged together and would not work well apart from each other), the title character mentions that Ross and Rachel got married and had another kid. Jennifer Aniston said in many interviews that she thinks Ross and Rachel were on another break but would always find each other again. The girls kept close friendships in real life and would always be seen together. Despite all that and more info going around the web, it was nowhere enough to fill the gap they left after the last episode aired. So, when all the cast posted on their Instagram pages, at the same time, that the reunion was happening, I kept myself grounded that it would be a reunion of the actors, not the characters. It seemed more plausible and real. Especially after I read the creators and producers Bright, Kauffman and Crane would be involved. I was right. We will have the cast reunited with no script, talking about the 10 years of the series. Is this what I wanted? No, no! But, is this what I can actually get? Yes, yes to that then!

I have been a hardcore Friends fan since the beginning, I cannot even say how many times I have watched and rewatched the seasons in the past 25 years. I know that I have watched them in VHS tapes, I recorded them on my own tapes from cable tv, bought DVDs & Blu-Ray, had them copied to a portable hard drive, on my old iPod, then Netflix and of course, I will keep going with HBO Max. No doubt about it. I have never been the HBO person (never watched more than 1 season of Game of Thrones, kill me! But I loved True Blood and Big Little Lies (quote on quote, I think this has to do more to Alexander Skarsgård than with HBO to be honest)) and yet I will add it to my never ending list of streaming services because I cannot function without Friends. I like having it in all my devices, I even download my favorite episodes when traveling, just in case, you know? My mom mock me and my sister saying how come we still watch and laugh out loud from the catch phrases we know by heart (we speak in fluent Friends quotes, I wish I could add that skill to my resume!). But it is true. Friends is always there for me (cheesy pun really intended). When I am bored. When I don’t know what to watch, when I can’t sleep, for background noise when I am by myself or when eating. It goes on. I have half a dozen streaming subscriptions with a “watch next” list that keeps growing and yet, I turn to a show that soon will have its finale turning a Sweet Sixteen. Why?

As I read last year in a book about the series, “I’ll Be There For You: The One About Friends” by Kelsey Miller, “Friends was comfortable and warm. I leaned on the familiar jokes and unabashed sincerity. And I was not the only one. […] I spoke to others who said the same. […] Many of my peers responded with stories of their own Friends phases. […] These people use the term comfort food when talking about Friends.” and I couldn\’t agree more! I think the legion of fans like me will flock to HBO Max and give them a whole lot of subscribers based on the fact they can watch their beloved favorite sitcom there. If something else cool is on, I might as well check it out since I am there, right? So, in my opinion, this is a smart move after the end of Game of Thrones and their lack of another hit series ever since. This is the power of Friends, a 25 year old show that keeps bringing new viewers, curious about all the noise we, the old ones, keep making. Some love to love, some criticize a few puns and situations that haven’t aged well along with some attitudes that were never right to begin with ( we see your unreasonable jealousy, Ross!). 

Once the show is on HBO Max and the reunion special kicks in, I will update here with more on my thoughts about it!