The much-anticipated Friends special, which will bring together the cast for a one-off reunion on HBO Max, has been delayed indefinitely. The hit sitcom ran for 10 seasons and turned its young cast into huge stars. The show captured the zeitgeist of the late 1990s,and has widely been hailed as one of the best sitcoms of all time, despite a sharp decline in quality in later seasons as a result of becoming too bogged down in the drama between the characters. However, it remains a hugely popular show worldwide, mainly thanks to its presence on Netflix for many years, before the streaming rights were purchased by Warner Media to run on HBO Max.
The announcement that Friends would be streaming on HBO Max at launch was accompanied by the news that a special new show would also be available at launch. Fans were disappointed when it emerged that the new show wasn't going to be a new scripted episode, but would rather be a reunion of all six actors - Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer - that would take place on the original apartment set. However, there was to be even further disappointment when it was revealed that the taping of the show had been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, Variety reports further bad news for Friends fans. The filming date for the reunion has been delayed once again, with no new date set for filming to happen. Once again, the culprit is the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The move is a pragmatic one, considering the dangers of filming, as this point in time. It would hardly make sense to risk the lives of the cast and crew for the sake of a reunion show. However, this new delay does leave the show in limbo.
At this point, one wonders if a Friends reunion show would even be worth it. The intention for the special was always to promote the launch of HBO Max and for the stars to talk about how the show was streaming on the new platform. That didn't happen, and now Friends has been available on HBO Max for close to three months. From a neutral standpoint, that's old news now.
On the other hand, if the reunion special does go ahead it could give HBO Max a boost. The streaming service has reportedly struggled to get subscribers, compared to Disney+, which has already got over 60 million. From a marketing perspective, having a reunion show that could draw new subscribers to the platform and get people to sign up is a no-brainer.
But the time is fast running out for this special to feel like anything more than HBO Max wheeling out some middle-aged stars for a reunion in a desperate attempt to get new sign-ups. Hopefully for Friends fans, filming can happen sooner rather than later, and they can see their favorite actors together on set one last time.
Source: Variety