Friends

Genre	Sitcom
Created by	David Crane; Marta Kauffman
Starring	Jennifer Aniston; Courteney Cox; Lisa Kudrow; Matt LeBlanc; Matthew Perry ; David Schwimmer
Opening theme	"I'll Be There for You"; by The Rembrandts
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	236 + Reunion special (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	David Crane; Marta Kauffman; Kevin S. Bright; Michael Borkow (season 4); Michael Curtis (season 5); Adam Chase (season 5–6); Greg Malins (season 5–7); Wil Calhoun (season 7); Scott Silveri (season 8–10); Shana Goldberg-Meehan (season 8–10); Andrew Reich (season 8–10); Ted Cohen (season 8–10)
Production location(s)	Warner Bros. Studios; Burbank, California
Camera setup	Film; multi-camera
Running time	20–22 minutes (per episode); 22–65 minutes (extended DVD episodes)
Distributor	NBC; Warner Bros. Television Distribution (worldwide)
Release
Picture format	480i (PsF 4:3 SDTV); 1080i (PsF 16:9 HDTV)
Original release	September 22, 1994 –; May 13, 2004
Chronology
Followed by	Joey (2004–2006) friends reuinon
Other websites
	Website

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Friends was a American comedy television show that ran from September 22, 1994 to May 6 ,2004. It is about 6 friends who lived in Manhattan, New York City. They were in their 20s and 30s. The names of the "friends" were: Monica, Chandler, Rachel, Ross, Phoebe and Joey.

Friends got positive reviews through most of its run. It is one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. The series won many awards and was nominated for 63 Primetime Emmy Awards. TV Guide ranked it #21 on their list of the 50 greatest TV shows of all time.

The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. At first, the executive producers were Crane, Kauffman and Kevin Bright. Other producers were brought in during later seasons. In all, there were 236 episodes. There is a spin-off to this show named Joey.

The series finale aired on May 6, 2004, and was watched by around 52.5 million American viewers, making it the fifth most-watched series finale in television history,^[1]^[2]^[3] and the most-watched television episode of the 2000s decade.^[4]^[5]

A reunion special was released in May 2021 on HBO Max.^[6]

The Friends

Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) - She used to be fat, is a control freak, and is compulsively organized. She is Ross' sister and in season 7, marries long-term boyfriend Chandler and adopts 2 babies (Jack and Erica) in the last episode of the series.
Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) - He's the 'stupid' one, and is a struggling actor, but scored a break in season 2 in the soap opera Days Of Our Lives, and then again in season 7. He remained on Days of Our Lives until the end of the series. He had a lot of sexual partners and flings throughout the series, but had strong feelings for a fellow actress in season 3 and fell in love with his roommate, Rachel, in season 8. Post-finale he was the main character in the spin-off, Joey.
Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) - She's quirky, flakey, and fun-loving. She got married to Mike in season 10, but before this relationship she had never had a serious commitment. She also plays guitar and is a masseuse. Phoebe is known to have lived on the streets as a young adult after her mother committed suicide.
Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) - She first moved to New York in the first episode after running off from the altar. She is perhaps the character who has made the most development (going from spoiled, rich Daddy's girl to an independent and confident woman). She had a famous on-off relationship with Ross, which spanned the entire series. She has a daughter with Ross Geller named Emma.
Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) - A paleontologist. He had a famous on-off relationship with Rachel, who he had a crush since he was 15. He has been married three times, once to Carol, once to Emily and once to Rachel, in a drunken Vegas wedding. He is not married at the end of the show, but has two children- Ben, to his first wife and Emma, to Rachel. He and Rachel seem to be back together at the end of the show.

Other key characters

Janice - Portrayed by Maggie Wheeler, An on-off girlfriend of Chandler's who has a shrieking nasal voice and is most famous for her 'oh - my - god' catchphrase, and her loud, annoying laugh.
Gunther - Portrayed by James Michael Tyler, The bleached blonde haired guy who works in 'Central Perk'. He appears in the majority of episodes. Gunther is madly in love with Rachel, who does not find out until the very last episode.
Treeger - Portrayed by Mike Hagerty, The superintendent for the apartment building most of the friends live in. His most active role is in the episode where Joey practices dancing with him because he is too afraid to dance with girls.
Mike- Portrayed by Paul Rudd, he was one of Phoebe's significant boyfriends. He and Phoebe meet when Joey and Phoebe decide to set each other up with blind dates, but Joey forgets on the day of, and ends up bringing a random person who happens to have the name Mike (Joey told Phoebe that was his name before he found Mike). They decide to move in together, but on moving day, broke up due to Mike not wanting to marry again after his painful divorce. They end up getting back together, and marrying. In the finale, it is revealed that they will have a baby together.
Jack Geller - Portrayed by Elliott Gould, The father of Ross Geller and Monica Bing; the grandfather of Ben and Emma Geller.
Judy Geller- Portrayed by Christina Pickles, The mother of Ross Geller and Monica Bing, also the grandmother of Ben and Emma Geller.

Guest stars

Friends Media

The producers wanted Courteney Cox (pictured) to portray Rachel; however, Cox wanted to play Monica and co-creator Marta Kauffman agreed after watching the audition.
The Greenwich Village building, 90 Bedford Street, used as the friends' apartment block in establishing shots
The cast became very emotional while filming the final episode. Jennifer Aniston explained, "We're like very delicate china right now, and we're speeding toward a brick wall."
The set of Central Perk at Warner Bros. Studios
Central Perk couch as displayed on the Warner Bros. Studios Tour
After filming on the finale concluded, Stage 24 at Warner Bros Studios, where Friends had been filmed since Season 2, was renamed "The Friends Stage".
The Friends Experience exhibit at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto in 2022
LeBlanc hoped that by having his own show, Joey, "probably the least evolved character" on Friends, would become more developed.
Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green