This is what we will remember from Friends: the reunion

Beautiful moments, a nice dose of nostalgia, some not really new revelations, and not much more.

A few hours after the announcement of the tragic death of Matthew Perrythe W9 channel has decided to shake up its programs and will broadcast this evening the major program dedicated to Friends and recorded at the beginning of 2021 with the whole gang. Broadcast on the Max platform at the time, it was then put online in France on Salto then offered on TFX. A Proust madeleine for all fans of Friendswho revealed some amusing anecdotes…

Our opinion: A nice reunion of alumni. A sweet, touching evening of reunion with friends. But not much more. The special show Friends: The Reunion (VO) or Friends: reunion (in French), awaited for very long months by fans, after being postponed for an entire year by COVID, gave birth to a mouse. A nice little nostalgic mouse, far from the must-have for serial eaters that we could have hoped for.

For 1h38, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer wandered through the sets of the cult series, recreated for the occasion. They sat on sofas, in armchairs, around a table. They did their best to replay the time of friends (in exchange for a check for 2.5 million dollars per person, this deserves to be specified) On autopilot, they hugged each other, full of times, cried, often, and tried to rekindle a flame that burns especially among fans now. Moreover, most of Friends have not seen all the episodes of the series. Some don’t remember much, like David Schwimmer who doesn’t even remember throwing a ball at Matt LeBlanc for hours, for the episode “The One With The Ball” (in 1999). None can remember the name of the old neighbor downstairs, Mr. Heckles. Matthew Perry, strangely extinct, seemed completely apart from the group, almost absent.

In this artificially overplayed atmosphere, James Corden turned into master of ceremonies, unfortunately remaining on the surface of things, questioning the Friends on subjects repeatedly raised by actors in the Media over the last two decades. It was sorely lacking in novelty, exploration or analysis. And on arrival, there’s not much left Friends: The Reunion and this exceptional gathering, which should have been so much more than that. That being said, here is all we will keep:

Matt LeBlanc’s arm injury

In 1996, when the episode “The One With The Jam” was broadcast on American TV, Joey appeared on screen with a cast on his right arm. In the first seconds, we discover that he had a bad fall after jumping on his bed. In reality, the authors had to find a solution to an injury which really caused the actor to suffer. A few days earlier, on the set of “The One Where No One’s Ready”, Joey fought with Chandler to keep his place in Monica’s big chair. But during yet another take, the actor made a mistake and completely dislocated his shoulder! “I fell over the coffee table and tripped. My legs came up and my shoulder dislocated.”says Matt LeBlanc in Friends The Reunion. “We had to stop filming and take Matt to the hospital”, continues David Crane, the co-creator of the series. An anecdote which had already been divulged by the actor, but the special show revealed the images of the filming of the time, where we see the interpreter of Joey really hurting himself.

David Schwimmer was disgusted by Marcel

This is not a revelation: the actor hated filming with the little monkey in season 1 and he pushed, in season 2, to get rid of him. Firstly because it was very complicated to film a scene with him correctly. Then because Ross’s interpreter had to put up with his not very clean paws on his face: “When the monkey was resting on my shoulder waiting to shoot a scene, his trainer would come and open a box to give the monkey live maggots to eat.”he recalls in Friends: The Reunion. “THE monkey took maggots, cut them in half, ate them and then put his paws on me.” And Schwimmer concludes with a big “Fuck off !”

The unhappiness of Matthew Perry

It’s the Friends who had the hardest time receiving fame and money. We knew he had succumbed to alcohol and drugs during his years on the series, but Matthew Perry delivered a heartbreaking confession to his castmates on the show. He says that as a comedian in the group, he put terrible pressure on himself during filming in public: “Personally, I felt like I was going to die if the audience didn’t laugh. It’s unhealthy, I know. But if the audience didn’t laugh, I would start sweating, I would have convulsions… I felt like that every night“, admits the actor, visibly still marked by this period.

The Real Life of Martha Kauffman and David Crane

Kevin S. Bright, David Crane and Martha Kauffman are the co-creators of Friends. But we understand through this special broadcast that the series was largely inspired by the lives of the last two: “Martha Kauffman and I lived in New York when we were 20 years old. We had a close group of friends. We were trying to make money, to fall in love. And we said to ourselves that it would make a good series.” The duo specifies that they were inspired by their family and friends to think of the characters. Besides, “we chose Chandler as our first name after one of my friends”, explains Marta Kauffman.

Officially, none of the Friends never dated anyone else. But that almost happened in 1994. As David Schwimmer bluntly confesses, “during the first season, I had a crush on Jen. A really, really big crush.“And his playmate added:”It was mutual“.

Gunther is actually Tom Hanks

He did not say more than ten words during his short video intervention. But we could see that James Michael Tyler, at 59 years old, bears a rather strange resemblance to the Oscar-winning superstar… Generally speaking, the former supporting roles of the series were only entitled to this reunion. dispatched apparitions. Whether it’s the Geller parents (Elliot Gould and Christina Pickles), lost in the audience. Whether it was Maggie Wheeler who barely had time to (re)say that she had created Janice’s iconic laugh in a nervous and spontaneous way, to cope with the charisma of Matthew Perry. Or whether it’s Tom Selleck, who returned to play Richard to… say nothing at all.

Lady Gaga grew up with Phoebe

Lisa Kudrow picked up her guitar to sing “Smelly Cat,” improvising an improbable duet with Lady Gaga. Seeming almost embarrassed, the actress then received praise from the successful singer, who thanked her for embodying a form of difference in the series, through which people on the margins were able to recognize themselves: “Thank you for being that person for all of us in Friends. This person a little different, even if it’s not necessarily the right word. The one who could be deeply herself!”

Lady Gaga and Lisa Kudrow performing the song #SmellyCat in the episode of #FriendsTheReunion! 🎶 pic.twitter.com/2c1ELkxN79

— Digiceleb (@Digiceleb) May 27, 2021

Carl really could have been Joey instead of Matt LeBlanc

In the episode “The One With Unagi”, Joey hires an actor who vaguely resembles him to play his “twin”, so he can participate in a lucrative clinical trial. The guy in question is called Carl and is played by Louis Mandylor. However, the creators of the series say in Friends: The Reunion, that Mandylor was the last competitor in the running, for the casting, in 1994, against Matt LeBlanc. He could have been Joey, but ultimately lost and got this guest star appearance as a consolation prize!

The first actor cast was David Schwimmer

Martha Kauffman says the role of Ross was written with him in mind. The two screenwriters had crossed paths with the actor and “his beaten dog face” during a previous hearing. They absolutely wanted to see him join Friends. But disgusted by a previous failed experience on TV, Schwimmer chose to return to Chicago to do theater. Martha Kauffman finally convinced him.

The last evening after filming

Through very touching images, we discover how the very last sequence of Friends, in 2004. The gang of six headed down this corridor to go have a coffee. “Where?” said Chandler. And then the director shouted “Cut”. And it was over. We saw the actors burst into tears, almost literally collapse. And then a few minutes later, the set was already being filmed. ‘be demolished! “Because a pilot for a new series was being filmed there the next day“, remembers Kevin S. Bright. So the group hung out on this shattered set, an impromptu party was thrown in the ruins of the set and each member of the crew wrote a little note in a piece of wall decor.”I shit here”had signed Matt LeBlanc, dying of laughter when he found his message, 17 years later.

The real (and good) reason which prevents the return of Friends

Everything would have to be broken to restart the series. This is essentially what the actors responded to James Corden in Friends: The Reunion. Without any hesitation, leaving no room for a possible rumor, Lisa Kudrow was blunt: “No. Sorry but no, that won’t happen. Already it is a decision that belongs to Marta and David (Kauffman and Crane, the co-creators). And they ended the series in the most beautiful way. They deliberately offered a happy ending to everyone. Each character ends with the prospect of a good life. So they would have to undo these beautiful things to create new stories. We wouldn’t want to undo these happy endings!”

What are Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe doing in 2021?

The question that kills and which each of the actors has already answered again and again. For Jennifer Aniston, Ross and Rachel are married, obviously. With several children. For Courteney Cox, “Monica is certainly still obsessed with competition. Her children have probably already graduated but she continues to take care of the elementary school cake sale. And Chandler continues to make her laugh every day”. For her part, Lisa Kudrow imagines Phoebe living in Connecticut with Mike and their children. “She speaks up to defend her children who are a little on the margins and all the other children who are also different. She created an art program, she teaches music…“And Joey? The only one who really got a sequel, in the spin-off, obviously stayed in California: “Joey opened a sandwich shop in Venice Beach ” assures Matt LeBlanc, laughing. New York is really in the past.