Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer star in this hit comedy about six close-knit young friends living in New York City.
As the leadoff series on NBC’s enormously popular ’Must See TV’ Thursday night lineup, ’Friends’ continues to garner critical acclaim and ratings success. ’Friends’ is television’s highest rated comedy in all key demographics and among total viewers. In addition, ’Friends’ has been the top-rated 8 p.m. show on any network for the past five seasons, reaching an average audience of 23.5 million people each week.
Since its debut season (1994-95), ’Friends’ has received 19 Emmy nominations, including three for Outstanding Comedy Series. Lisa Kudrow won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress for the 1997-98 season for her portrayal of Phoebe Buffay, and is nominated again for the 1998-1999 season. Additionally, the cast won a Screen Actors Guild Award in 1996 for Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Series and has been nominated three times (1996, 1997, 1998) for a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy.
The series focuses on the friendship of three men and three women who frequently gather at each other’s apartments and share sofa space at Greenwich Village’s Central Perk coffeehouse. Monica Geller (Cox Arquette) is a restaurant chef with an obsession for neatness and order in her life. Her roommate, Rachel Green (Aniston), is Monica’s pampered best friend from high school who works at a department store. Rachel has long been the object of affection for Ross (Schwimmer), Monica’s older, twice divorced brother.
Living across the hall from Monica and Rachel are roommates Chandler Bing (Perry) and Joey Tribbiani (LeBlanc). Chandler, a dry wit who is never at a loss for words, is a lovable wiseguy who works at a corporate office. Joey is a struggling actor who loves women, sports, New York and, most of all, himself. Rounding out the circle of friends is Monica’s ex-roommate, Phoebe Buffay (Kudrow), an offbeat, eternally optimistic folk singer and massage therapist, who recently gave birth to triplets as a surrogate mother for her half-brother and his wife.
The series was created by the writing team of Marta Kauffman & David Crane. Emmy and CableACE Award-winning producer Kevin Bright is executive producer with Kauffman and Crane. Adam Chase and Greg Malins (’Dream On’) also serve as executive producers. ’Friends’ is a Bright/Kauffman/Crane Production in association with Warner Bros. Television.