In a stunning PR move, NBC on Monday announced Friends would continue.
Even after the final episode of season ten (watched by a staggering 51 million people in the US), some think of TV's Friends as the show with no ending. And they might be proven right, as indeed it has now been announced to continue.
Jennifer Aniston was the first to make a move. She described her motives in a New York press conference today. "It was all about the money. Not when we started out, but later on. Yet we made this crazy deal amongst the six of us [Friends actors] to get paid the same, or nothing at all and leave."
Apparently, that's what ended the show too. "It was obvious the six of us did not deserve the same credit, so we were under a lot of pressure to finally get paid what we deserve as individual actors, with individual careers going – or keep up the publicity-friendly charade at 1-million dollar minimum wages. After a while though," Jennifer told the press, "this just ain't paying the bills."
Among the cast of Friends, feelings are mixed, but the general tone of friendship continues – at least on the surface.
Matthew Perry, starring as Friend's Chandler, laid out the details.
"I'm a natural comedian and responsible for three-quarter of the best jokes. Also, I'm buddy of Bruce Willis. Of course I deserve more than, say, Matt [LeBlanc], who's pretty much just smiling into the camera pretending to be dumb. I now make 3 million dollar per show right after Jennifer at 4, and just ahead of Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc, who all make 1 million."
It turns out Lisa Kudrow in the meantime has been kicked from the show. She had her own (albeit small) fan group for her wacky performance as Friend's twins Phoebe and Ursula. Consequently Friend's next season starts off in a surefire tearjerker titled The One Where Phoebe Leaves to Buy Cigarettes and Mysteriously Disappears Forever.
"Every chain has its weakest link," claims David Schwimmer, who also directs most of the new season eleven episodes, "ours was clearly that pretentious blonde. It's not that we didn't like her, it's just that she's a whole different actor's league – certainly not fit for prime time TV."
By FakeToday correspondent Philipp Lenssen (9/6/2004).