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27th May 2021

Five huge highlights from watching Friends: The Reunion

Rory Cashin

Brought to you by NOW

It really is just like meeting up with a group of your lifelong pals.

The final episode of Friends aired in May 2004, and ever since fans have been asking if we might get to see the gang back together.

While this might not be the return to the sitcom that many have been hoping for, Friends: The Reunion is a huge celebration of all things Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel and Ross, the impact the show had at the time and continues to have today, and the legacy it has left behind.

Fans of Friends will find a lot to love in here, but these are definitely the five key things we came away with…

1. Emotional Reunion

As each of the actors return to the Friends set one by one, we get to see a tsunami of emotion wash over each and every one of them, both reunited with a place that was such a hugely important part of their lives for so long, and also reunited with some of the best friends they’ve ever made.

Unlike some other shows where the friendships don’t seem to exist too strongly off-screen, there is a very real sense that Jennifer, Courtney, Lisa, Matt, Matthew and David all truly love each other, and that long-time-coming reunion proves to be massively emotional. Both for them, and yes, for us. And it definitely won’t be the last time this special will bring a tear to your eye.

2. The One With The Quiz

The reunion is split up into a number of different sections. There is a straight-ahead kind of interview bit MC’d by James Corden. There are scenes with the actors just hanging around on the sets and having the chats, sometimes looking at old scenes from the show. There are re-enacted table reads of some of the classic scenes. There are talking head interviews with the show’s creators, as well as some of the biggest fans, both around the world and within the world of celebrities.

But one of the most ingenious sections is re-doing the infamous quiz that saw the boys and girls swap apartments, but here reconfigured for the actors to answer questions about the show and about each other. It proves to be insightful, funny, and filled with surprises.

3. Behind The Scenes

The creator trio of Kevin Bright, Marta Kaufmann and David Crane shed a lot of light on the process of getting the show together in the first place, and the long struggle they had to find the perfect actors for these roles, which includes some of the leads attempting to escape contracts from shows they were already signed up for.

We also get some great and hilarious tidbits, like the places Courtney Cox would hide her script in case she needed her lines ASAP, or Matt Le Blanc’s physically painful story of the night before his first audition with the producers.

4. PIVOT!

Among the many, MANY famous faces who appear through the special to confess their love of the show is Kit Harrington, who singles out the couch manoeuvring scene between Ross, Chandler, and Rachel, which to this day is likely still echoed by literally anyone attempting to move house.

This leads to some special outtake material from the scene itself, which is just as funny as the finished scene, and then goes on to the actors watching back on some of the bloopers from across the seasons. While the happy accidents themselves are hilarious, watching them all laughing back at the mistakes is incredibly, infectiously funny.

5. Ross & Rachel

That’s all we’re going to say about this particular bit. You’ll know it when you see it! And it will have a lot of people talking!

You can watch Friends: The Reunion on Sky and streaming service NOW from today, Thursday, 27 May.

All clips via NOW

Brought to you by NOW

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