FRIENDS’ 25th Anniversary: Please Stop Asking for a Reunion

[On Thursday, September 22, 1994, NBC debuted the pilot of FRIENDS. The sitcom, about a group of six 20-something friends, went on to become a pop culture touchstone. In honor of the milestone, we’re doing 25 Days of FRIENDS, looking back at the show in big and small ways.]

With approximately five billions shows on TV/streaming right now, it makes sense so many outlets are choosing to revive and reboot beloved titles. And it feels like since nearly when FRIENDS ended, the cast has been asked about possibly reuniting to do more of the series.

But, my goodness, can it please stop?

I get why fans want more. (And, clearly, I’m a fan of the show.) Would it be fun to see the gang celebrate another Thanksgiving? Sure. But how many revivals actually lived up to the original series? What unnecessary drama would need to be interjected to justify all of them being together? (You can easily justify Monica, Ross, Chandler, and Rachel, obviously. But Phoebe and Joey could take a little more work.) Heck, when the series ended, people were happy! Why undo it?

“The show is about a time in your life when your friends are your family,” series co-creator Marta Kauffman told Rolling Stone. “It’s not that time anymore. All we’d be doing is putting those six actors back together, but the heart of the show would be gone.”

“[FRIENDS] was about people in their 20s, 30s,” Lisa Kudrow told Conan O’Brien. “The show wasn’t about people in their 40s, 50s. And if we have the same problems, that’s just sad.”

A number of reunion shows have had exactly that issue: WILL & GRACE, for example, undid its leads’ development (and long-term relationships/kids/the controversial finale) to bring the show back. VERONICA MARS had its title character dealing with more adult topics, but she herself seemed stuck back in her teenage days.

And there is the (admittedly, very slim) chance that if the show was ever revived, it wouldn’t get the reaction the team was used to. “I have this recurring nightmare…that we do FRIENDS again and nobody cares,” Matthew Perry told Variety. “We do a whole series, we come back, and nobody cares about it. So if anybody asks me, I’m gonna say no. The thing is: We ended on such a high. We can’t beat it. Why would we go and do it again?”

What the cast and creative team has done in the 15 years since the show ended, in lieu of a proper revival, is really fantastic: They’ve revisited the world via sketches on talk shows and reunited with each other on their various projects. Let them indulge us (and maybe themselves) without dragging the show back.

Please.

RELATED:

• FRIENDS’ 25th Anniversary: TOW They Appeared on Each Other’s Shows
• FRIENDS’ 25th Anniversary: How Did Monica Afford Her Apartment?
• A FRIENDS Mini-Marathon is Hitting Theaters This Fall
• Warner Bros. Stages FRIENDS Pop-Up for 25th Anniversary
• FRIENDS, Rita Moreno Honored by the TCA Awards
• Which Current TV Stars Appeared on FRIENDS?

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