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Culture: Friends (TV show)
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A history of Modern China (and the World)
Culture: Friends
A history of Modern China (and the World)
Culture: Friends
The television series Friends was a well-known and critically acclaimed American sitcom that aired on the NBC network from September 1994 until its abrupt and totally undesired cancellation in May 2002. The show centers around a group of friends living in Manhattan. Rachel Greene, a spoiled rich girl-turned-working class American, Monica Geller, a formerly obese woman now working to be an aspiring top chef, Ross Geller, the aforementioned woman's brother, who is a professor and doctor in the field of dinosaurs, Chandler Bing, a middle-tier pencil pusher who covers up glaring insecurities through sarcasm, Phoebe Buffay, the oddball of the group whom is generally a hippie, and Joey Tribbiani, a typical New Yorker "jerk with a heart of gold" with a insatiable appetite for food.
These six friends live near each other, and often spend their times in Monica's apartment, or at "Central Perk", a coffee shop in the obviously named, Central Park.
After its launch in 1994, the show was lauded with critical success, catapulting it to the top of modern American sitcoms. The six cast members enjoyed their careers booming without end, and it seemed as if the show would forever brand itself into America's brain.
And it did, to some degree. However, in April 2002, during the wave of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism that shook the world deeply, two of the cast members were killed. Jennifer Aniston was killed in the Los Angeles International Airport bombing, while on her way to Burbank to film the show. Matthew Perry was killed in the D.C. nuclear attacks, as he had been in D.C. for an event at the White House.
The death of these two lead to the NBC to announce that production of Season 9 would be halted immediately, and that Season 8 would be concluded, and that after that, Friends would be cancelled. The show came to a conclusion with the two-parter episode The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, in which Rachel gives birth to her daughter, Emma. However, the show ends in a cliff-hanger, as Joey intentionally proposes to Rachel, leaving her shocked, and Ross, whom had just entered the room, stunned.
Many fans have expressed their sadness at the show's sudden cancellation, but in 2013, a sequel to the show, called As These Days Go By, lasted two years with David Schwimmer reprising the role of Ross Geller, who is raising Emma alone. He is the only Friends cast member to return to the set in this character capacity after the cancellation in 2002.
However, the show received less than anticipated reviews, and was cancelled by NBC in 2015.
Courtney Cox moved on from Friends, appearing in a number of films and television shows after that, but nothing on the same level of permanence as Friends.
Lisa Kudrow did similarly, moving on to not only appear in films and TV shows, but also to write and direct numerous screenplays and pilot episodes; netting herself several Emmys and an Oscar in 2007.
Matt LeBlanc, the fourth surviving member of Friends, almost immediately after the show was cancelled, joined the cast of Top Gear as a presenter, with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. He has remained at this position for the last decade, but has done other work in-between shooting Top Gear.
These six friends live near each other, and often spend their times in Monica's apartment, or at "Central Perk", a coffee shop in the obviously named, Central Park.
After its launch in 1994, the show was lauded with critical success, catapulting it to the top of modern American sitcoms. The six cast members enjoyed their careers booming without end, and it seemed as if the show would forever brand itself into America's brain.
And it did, to some degree. However, in April 2002, during the wave of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism that shook the world deeply, two of the cast members were killed. Jennifer Aniston was killed in the Los Angeles International Airport bombing, while on her way to Burbank to film the show. Matthew Perry was killed in the D.C. nuclear attacks, as he had been in D.C. for an event at the White House.
The death of these two lead to the NBC to announce that production of Season 9 would be halted immediately, and that Season 8 would be concluded, and that after that, Friends would be cancelled. The show came to a conclusion with the two-parter episode The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, in which Rachel gives birth to her daughter, Emma. However, the show ends in a cliff-hanger, as Joey intentionally proposes to Rachel, leaving her shocked, and Ross, whom had just entered the room, stunned.
Many fans have expressed their sadness at the show's sudden cancellation, but in 2013, a sequel to the show, called As These Days Go By, lasted two years with David Schwimmer reprising the role of Ross Geller, who is raising Emma alone. He is the only Friends cast member to return to the set in this character capacity after the cancellation in 2002.
However, the show received less than anticipated reviews, and was cancelled by NBC in 2015.
Courtney Cox moved on from Friends, appearing in a number of films and television shows after that, but nothing on the same level of permanence as Friends.
Lisa Kudrow did similarly, moving on to not only appear in films and TV shows, but also to write and direct numerous screenplays and pilot episodes; netting herself several Emmys and an Oscar in 2007.
Matt LeBlanc, the fourth surviving member of Friends, almost immediately after the show was cancelled, joined the cast of Top Gear as a presenter, with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. He has remained at this position for the last decade, but has done other work in-between shooting Top Gear.
- Asami
- Word Count: 600