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They won’t be there for you—not much longer, anyway. Behind the scenes as ‘’ begins its final season, and great become an endangered species.

BY MARC PEYSER ou’d think it was a simple enough scene. Chandler, Joey and Rachel are in their apart- ment—that is, Joey and Chandler shared before Chandler moved in with Monica Yand Rachel had the baby and moved in Losing with Joey—and the guys are fighting. Joey wants Chandler to help him get a part in a commercial that Chandler’s advertising firm is shooting. Only Chandler doesn’t think that Joey is right for the role, so he lies about recommending Joey to his boss- es. When Joey finds out, he runs to his bed- room, returns with a tape of his last com- mercial and insists that Chandler and ‘Friends’ Rachel watch, even though: (a) it was for “male lipstick” that happened to be blue and (b) it was shot in Japanese. And—action! Except no one gets through much of the ac- tion. Matt LeBlanc, a.k.a. Joey, for those of you who’ve missed the first 223 episodes of “Friends,” can’t get the tape to stay in the VCR. “Piece of s––t,” LeBlanc yells. The audience giggles. Take two. LeBlanc comes out of his room, approaches the VCR—and the tape spits

LAUGH IN The set is typically closed to outside photographers, but two weeks ago David Hume Kennerly was allowed in to capture

GETTY IMAGES the gang in some of the last of the ‘must-see TV’ moments

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID HUME KENNERLY FOR NEWSWEEK OCTOBER 6, 2003 NEWSWEEK 47

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“CSI,” takes the night after “Friends” re- relationships, the parents, the weddings, the ,” says executive producer Kevin tires, the whole must-see-TV idea sounds baby—we’ve followed their lives as if the Bright. “The network would say, ‘Can’t you People won’t come up to Brad as easily as they’ll come up pretty silly. But the future doesn’t look great gang really did hang out at coffee create an older character—a cop on the beat for the anywhere. This is also . “They were brilliant at crafting stories or the guy who owns the coffee shop—who — to me. I’m in their living room every week. last year of HBO’s “.” that had you absolutely clutching your heart gives the friends advice?’ That’s not what this “” and “” and going, ‘Oh, my God, that’s the most show was about.” Other people just missed might call it quits next spring, too. Unless vulnerable moment I’ve ever seen,’ and then out. (“Sex and the City”) was something hilarious hits the air soon—and you were falling on the floor laughing,” says originally cast as Chandler, but he turned back at him again. Bigger giggles. Bigger hear that “I’ll Be There for You” theme been out of the top 10—and it’s only gotten given the new crop of shows, what’s the , who ran NBC’s enter- it down—talk about an expensive career expletives. “Nice language,” played about a billion times? Not many TV bigger. The Emmy. The spinoff. The chance of that?—think about where that tainment division when “Friends” debuted. choice. Aniston almost didn’t get to do the (Chandler) yells back, making the audi- characters have entered our living rooms movies (OK, maybe not the movies). No could leave us. The Emmy nominees for best “It’s a soap opera that’s also funny.” show at all. wanted to hire ence, and LeBlanc, howl. The next time, and our hearts like “Friends.” Ross and wonder NBC is charging Super Bowl-size comedy are “Will & Grace,” “Curb Your En- This being Hollywood, there were plenty her, but she was committed to another sitcom LeBlanc aces the VCR and his line, but by Rachel. Chandler and Monica. Phoebe and ad rates, about $2 million per 30-second thusiasm” and—“, Dear.” of geniuses who didn’t get it. “You have to re- called “Muddling Through.” “I even went to now Perry can’t resist the four-letter fun. “.” The sitcom was a hit the spot, for the May finale. Hard to believe At least we’ve still got another season of member, there was no show at this point the producer and said, ‘Please let me out “You f–––ing ass,” he ad-libs, and LeBlanc minute it debuted nine years ago—it’s never that, a decade after Rachel stumbled into “Friends” to help us forget our troubles. The that focused on 20-year-olds in of this. Let me do “Friends” ’,” Aniston says. loses it again. Take four. LeBlanc appears, the Central Perk coffeehouse after running sitcom probably won’t go down as one of the “The guy looked at me and said, ‘ “Muddling but before he can touch the VCR, the audi- LITTLE-KNOWN FACT No. 1 away from her own wedding, we’re still dy- greatest of all time—it’s not in quite the same LITTLE-KNOWN FACT No. 2 Through” is going to make you a star. That ence is roaring so loudly, you’d swear some- ing to know who she ends up with—Ross or league as “,” “The Mary “Friends” show, I saw it. It’s not very good’.” one accidentally hit the laugh-track but- The producers hadn’t planned on Joey? Will Chandler and Monica have a Tyler Moore Show” or “”—but it’s Phoebe hasn’t been romanti- Can you imagine anyone else playing ton. To screw up LeBlanc again, Perry and Chandler and Monica’s marrying baby? Read on and we’ll spill some secrets, one of the most consistently funny shows cally involved with any of the Rachel? Actually, Cox originally auditioned Jennifer Aniston (Rachel) have away or even having a relationship. though you already know the essence: ever. “Even while we were shooting the , other friends, but she might to play her, but she knew that wouldn’t and hidden in the kitchen. LeBlanc stops They were only going breaking up will be hard to do. “I can’t even I was like, ‘This is really good. I think I’ll buy have been. “Lisa and I had a work. (“I would have made her neurotic and looks around the empty room. to have a one-night think about it. I get anxiety,” says Aniston. myself a present,’ and I bought a Porsche,” pitch that Joey and and annoying,” she says.) When you meet “Good,” he says, trying to stifle a stand. “But people “It’s like a nobody wants.” says . “Friends” certainly de- Phoebe have been the actors, you can’t help but smile. “They’re f–––ing gone.” rooted for them,” As Chandler might say, could this be any serves more credit than it gets from the having casual sex see their characters peeking out They’re not, but they will says exec producer sadder? Well, yes. The folks at NBC are wags who dismiss it as “” lite. Unlike all along,” says from behind them. LeBlanc, like be all too soon. When “Friends” Kauffman. “They more than a little queasy about losing their with “Seinfeld” and most other comedies, we LeBlanc. “Nobody Joey, is so sweet and earnest, he goes off the air next spring, the ma- worked together.” No. 1 show and the linchpin of their Thurs- grew to care about the “Friends” characters wanted to go for that.” even liked working with Marcel the nia will be—oh, God, can’t you already day lineup. If CBS, of “Survivor” and beyond their ability to make us laugh. The monkey. “The monkey was killer!” he

48 NEWSWEEK OCTOBER 6, 2003 PERRY BY WARNER BROS., CUP BY DAMIEN DONCK FOR NEWSWEEK KUDROW BY WARNER BROS., CUP BY DAMIEN DONCK FOR NEWSWEEK OCTOBER 6, 2003 NEWSWEEK 49

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says. “Have you ever been around one, up LITTLE-KNOWN FACT No. 4 close? They are so much like people, it’s kind At the Center of the Sitcom Universe of trippy.” isn’t dense like Phoebe—she went to Vassar—but she can be When the show was first spacey. “When we started, people would ask ‘Friends’ was cloned but never dethroned. Now, with a tele vision audience bored by written, the central me, ‘Who’s in your show?’ ” she says. “And generic comedies, the networks will try once again to strike gold. Cue . relationship wasn’t going I’d say, ‘There’s a couple of guys named to be Ross and Rachel. David. Or a couple of guys named Matt. I It was Joey and don’t remember.’ Then I’d see them, and I Living Single Monica. She was THE ABC supposed to be still wasn’t sure.” is more Charlie Grace earnest than Ross but just as nerdy. “I read COPYCATS Monk something of a National Geographic. I’m genuinely excited ‘Friends’ launched a My So-Called Life den mother, and he by paleontology,” he says. And he does not, fleet of shows about Whose Line Is It Anyway? was going to be the as a rule, watch “Friends.” “I watch docu- twentysomethings, CBS hunk across the hall. mentaries, the Discovery Channel. Some- all of which died. Diagnosis Murder Diagnosis Murder times I’ll accidentally catch a ‘Friends’ rerun Due South Malcolm in and I’ll be like, ‘Wow, so this is the show?’ ” Promised Land slammed again two years ago when the cast You know what’s even crazier than that? THE COMPETITORS FOX won $1 million each per episode to stay on The “Friends” really do seem to be friends. Over the years, going up against Living Single THE FEW, THE PROUD the show. The fame wasn’t always fun, ei- We know, we know. You’ve heard it before ‘Friends’ on Thursday night at 8 World’s Wildest Police Videos Just enough truly inventive comedies are ther. “There were many times in the first and never believed it. It does sound impos- began to seem positively suicidal. now on the air to make audiences resent several years I would have quit,” says sible, given how they’re all multimillion- lame, derivative sitcoms. Schwimmer. “I remember feeling this is not aires and arguably the most powerful cast what I became an actor for, to suddenly BBC AMERICA on television. But their affection for each Season one, The Office have people grabbing you in an airport, or Two Guys, a Girl … 1994-95 other feels real. They’re constantly hugging writing lies about you, or people staked out- and kissing between scenes, though Perry— ABC side your house.” Aniston, arguably the the “Friends” class clown—also enjoys de- Two Guys, a Girl biggest celebrity of the group in part be- livering a raspberry in an unsuspecting and a Pizza Place Trigger Happy TV cause of her marriage to Brad Pitt, says it castmate’s ear. They all show up on time. FOX FOX took her a while to get used to being every- On rehearsal days, the guys arrive un- Ned and Stacey The Show one’s Friend. “People won’t come up to Brad shaved and the women don’t wear make- Partners as easily as they’ll come up to me. I think up—seeing Aniston and Cox in flip-flops, NBC ’cause something about movie stars is un- ponytails and shorts is like waking up in a Common HBO touchable. In TV, we’re in their living room National Enquirer fantasy. “No matter how every week,” she says. “Some days you’re not big people’s careers have gotten, or how Men Behaving Badly Sex and the City Bernie Mac in the mood. I’m premenstrual and cranky we’ve taken hits in movies or something, it’s and you just want to tell everyone to f––– off, all really a question of the six of us trying to Union Square but you can’t. The people are so warm. They make the best show we can,” says Perry. I’m With Her come right up and practically hug you.” “There’s never once in 10 years been a So we’re losing these friends. Are we go- raised voice here.” That’s not entirely true. The King of ing to make any new ones? It’s no secret that “Sure, we have little tiffs over the years, like the sitcom is dying. This fall, the four major you do with siblings,” says LeBlanc. About networks broadcast 24 comedies, compared what? “I’m not going to tell you,” he says. Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, with 46 in the fall of 1993. It’s become fash- They’ve had plenty to bum them out. Rachel Ross Monica Joey Phoebe Chandler ionable to blame the rise of reality TV for the During season two, there was a huge sitcom’s demise—heck, it’s fashionable to “Friends” backlash—remember the I Hate blame reality TV for society’s demise. But the Friends Web site?—touched off by the stars’ fact is, what gets on the air is pretty depress- endless magazine covers and a splashy THE OLD FAITHFULS CON: It stinks. THE for ing. The latest crop—“It’s All Relative,” But seriously, it’s Dating My Teenage $10 million Diet Coke campaign. They got There are a handful of hit shows that could FUTURE? Joey (NBC) CON: Spinoffs, the great “,” “Hope and Faith,” just a very Daughter (ABC) get even hotter once ‘Friends’ pulls the plug. PRO: The only ‘Friends’ ‘Frasier’ notwithstanding, “The Mullets,” etc.—are almost all “Every- generic ‘Ray- The networks have PRO: Genial old-style wanna-be with an actual are usually dead ends. body Loves Raymond” with an “Odd Cou- LITTLE-KNOWN FACT No. 3 Everybody Loves just won Emmy for best mond’ copycat. plans, of course. family sitcom that got off Friend in the cast. Come on. Ask the ‘Seinfeld’ cast. If Raymond (CBS) comedy series. (NBC) Judging from their to a start last year. ple” twist. “The executives think, ‘Well, Who doesn’t love Joey? you can find them. After 200-plus episodes, the PRO: Enormously popular; CON: is PRO: It’s a Scrubs record in the past, not CON: Its star, , “Raymond” is a family show, just do a fami- ly show’,” says “Raymond” creator Philip cast doesn’t have many threatening to call wonderfully many of them will work. just died. Can a comedy Rosenthal. “They don’t get the other part of Everybody it quits, but chances written show with a Will & Grace (NBC) survive such a tragic turn? regrets, but there are a few. it, which is you have to create a family, with “I wasn’t nuts Loves are CBS will bribe genuinely unique voice PRO: A popular, edgy, Coupling (NBC) I’m With Her (ABC) Raymond him into staying and a great cast. If you ask hilarious show. It’s got an PRO: Three attractive men, PRO: Cute concept about deep-seated relationships and characters about working at another year. us, anyway. unforgettable cast, and three attractive women, an ordinary schoolteacher that are not stereotypes. They think if you’re some coffeehouse The King of CON: The show didn’t already owns a big chunk wacky banter, sex talk. It dating a gorgeous not laughing every three seconds, people are on roller skates Queens (CBS) take off last year when it of Thursday night. looks like ‘Friends,’ it movie star. going to change the channel.” with big boobs and PRO: It’s a hot show, got the big call-up to CON: It’s entering its sixth sounds like ‘Friends’... CON: It’s tailor-made a wig,” says Cox. and it has been hold- Thursday night, so why season, so it’s no spring CON: ... but actually it’s to be a quiet success, Join Marc Peyser for a Live Talk “I felt pretty silly.” ing steady for years. should it now? chicken either. absolute garbage. not a huge phenomenon. 8 Simple Rules on “Friends,” Oct. 1 at noon, ET, on Newsweek.MSNBC.com

COX BY JON RAGEL—NBC, CUP BY DAMIEN DONCK FOR NEWSWEEK LEBLANC BY JON RAGEL—NBC, CUP BY DAMIEN DONCK FOR NEWSWEEK TOP TO BOTTOM: VIACOM—EVERETT COLLECTION, © FX NETWORKS—EVERETT COLLECTION, TOP TO BOTTOM: FOX, WARNER BROS.—COURTESY OF EVERETT COLLECTION, WARNER BROS., CLIFF LIPSON—CBS, PAUL DRINKWATER—NBC, ROBERT VOETS—CBS FOX, BOB D'AMICO—ABC (2)

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came ‘.’ When ‘Cheers’ went, along to wrap it up. They’ve gone off and on and I’m like, wow, this is 17 more huddles, and came ‘Seinfeld.’ When ‘Seinfeld’ went away, off and on. I would probably want them to then 16 more huddles and then 15. When I can think of worse fates than being Joey forever. Will along came ‘Friends.’ It’s just always worked get back together,” says Cox. Needless to January comes, we’re all going to be very out that way.” So who’s going to win? “NBC say, the creators are keeping mum about emotional. It’s going to be tough.” It won’t —MATT LEBLANC has had years to develop something to this one, though draw your conclusions be a picnic down the road, either. “When ‘Joey’ work as good as ‘Friends’? Probably not. plug in once they lost ‘Friends,’ and they’ve from Kauffman’s only concern: “We know it’s really going to be hard is three months never been able to do it,” says Stacey Lynn we want all of them to be happy and OK.” after it’s over and I go, ‘Wow, I’m not going Koerner, director of global research at Initia- Which is more than you can say for the back’,” says Cox. “That’s going to be a killer. Why is this happening? A major reason fore they embrace a sitcom,” says Susan network is in danger of losing Thursday tive Media. “I’d rather be CBS than NBC a cast these days. People aren’t weeping in I mean, these are my buds.” is corporate. Over the last few years, the net- Lyne, ABC’s president of entertainment. night for the first time in 20 years. That’s year from now.” their lattes yet, but each week gets sadder. And then what? What will they do works have gobbled up almost all the inde- “ ‘Cheers,’ ‘Raymond,’ ‘Seinfeld’—it’s two or not just a blow to NBC’s “Must-See” ad And now for the part of the story you “Every night before the show we have a cast when they’re not “Friends”? LeBlanc won’t pendent TV producers, which means ABC three years before they find their audience.” campaign. Thursday is the most profitable may want to skip—the part where we tell huddle; the six of us get together and we go far: he’s starring in a spinoff, “Joey.” “I buys most of its shows from Disney, and No one needs to find an audience faster night on television, largely because the ma- you about . OK, is, we say a couple of things—‘break a leg,’ you can think of worse fates than being Joey NBC creates most of its own. There’s no than NBC. With “Friends” about to leave, the jor movie studios drop serious cash trying to don’t know exactly, because the writers know,” says Schwimmer. “Now in my mind, forever,” he says. Cox and Aniston want competition, and as that great TV producer get you to see their blockbusters over the haven’t written it. “It’s really sad to think to start families. Schwimmer will work in Adam Smith would tell you, lack of compe- LITTLE-KNOWN FACT No. 5 weekend. CBS has already taken a huge bite about,” says executive producer Marta LITTLE-KNOWN FACT No. 6 his theater in and do some direct- tition is bad for business. “The truly great out of NBC’s pie in the last few years, thanks Kauffman. “It’s something we’re holding ing. They’ll all keep acting, of course. And comedies were risky, whether it was ‘All in Aniston’s favorite episode? to “Survivor,” “CSI” and the fast-rising off on because it’s very difficult to come to The producers wrote the role except for LeBlanc, the one thing they’re the Family’ or ‘M*A*S*H’ or ‘Seinfeld’,” says “Whenever we flash back to “.” “Some of their shows terms with. It’s hard to say, ‘This is the of Ross with Schwimmer in sure of is that they won’t do another sit- Michael Saltzman, executive producer of Fat Monica, I love,” she says. have aged. ‘ER’ is not at its height anymore,” end’.” They do know some things (skip mind, and he was the first com for a very long time. “Maybe in 20 “.” “If the network is both Schwimmer and Perry have says CBS chairman . “It’s a real ahead, “Friends” fanatics). The Rachel-Joey person cast. LeBlanc years, if I’m literally pounding the pave- producing and buying the show, you can’t the same favorite: the horse race.” The folks at NBC insist they’re romance will end fairly soon, much to the was the last. Cox ment and I haven’t even found a waitress afford to piss them off, even if it’s for the not worried. “Every time one of relief of the cast. “I hated it,” says Aniston. job,” says Aniston. “I would consid- blackout episode. competed with two creative good of the show.” With the bean “That was the first the Thursday-night staples has “Joey’s like my brother. I thought it was er it maybe, maybe, maybe years counters running the studios, television has gone away, another one has dangerous territory.” Chandler and Monica women to play down the line, ’cause you’re never time I realized we become much more product than art. If a come in,” says NBC entertain- will shop for a house, which probably Monica: actresses going to top this. I’d want people show doesn’t perform within a few weeks, were doing something ment president . means there’s a good shot they’ll become Nancy McKeon and to forget ‘Friends’ first.” She should it’s gone. “People need to be invested be- great,” Perry says. “When ‘Cosby’ went away, along parents. And Ross and Rachel? “We’ve got . live so long. ^

52 NEWSWEEK OCTOBER 6, 2003 ANISTON BY WARNER BROS., CUP BY DAMIEN DONCK FOR NEWSWEEK SCHWIMMER BY CHRIS HASTON—NBC, CUP BY DAMIEN DONCK FOR NEWSWEEK OCTOBER 6, 2003 NEWSWEEK 53

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