Former Friends Director Names The One Guest Star He Was Less Than Convinced By

Posted on 31/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Former Friends director James Burrows has admitted there’s one guest star that he was less than sold on.

James directed 15 episodes of Friends during its first five years on the air, as well as working on shows like Will & Grace, The Big Bang Theory, Cheers and its spin-off Frasier.

In his memoir Directed By James Burrows, excerpts of which have been published by the Daily Mail, the 11-time Emmy winner reflected on working with Cold Feet star Helen Baxendale, who appeared in Friends’ fourth and fifth seasons.

The British actor played Emily Waltham, who met Ross while on holiday in New York and wound up marrying him in a disastrous wedding ceremony that saw him saying the wrong name at the altar.

In his book, James admitted that while Helen was “nice” to work with, he didn’t find her “funny”, and admitted he wanted to recast the character of Emily.

Helen Baxendale with the stars of Friends on location in London

“She was nice but not particularly funny,” he wrote. “[David] Schwimmer had no one to bounce off. It was like clapping with one hand.

“’In sitcoms and any type of romantic comedy, the funny is just as important as the chemistry. We discovered that any new girlfriend for Ross needed to be as funny as Rachel.

“Often, you can’t recast, because of tight shooting deadlines or other logistical considerations. You don’t cast anyone to be a straw man, unless it’s for one episode.”

He continued: “You need someone who gets laughs. Sometimes you start an arc and it ain’t working out, so you have to get rid of that person.”

After her ill-fated wedding to Ross, Emily remained in London, with Helen’s appearances in the fifth season of Friends being filmed remotely until she was eventually written out.

David Schwimmer and Helen Baxendale in character as Ross and Emily

Helen previously told The Mirror in 2012: “I am very proud and delighted to have been in such an amazingly successful and international show.

“It’s always a talking point and it was a very clever set up – even now young people especially seem to love it. But it doesn’t feel like part of my life at all now. I look upon it as a strange surreal little blip in my life almost like a dream.”

She recalled: “They were all very nice and professional. We were never great mates though. People expect because it is called Friends that everyone was great friends, but they were real professionals.

“They’d been doing it for years and I was one of many guest stars to appear.”

Singer Louise Redknapp revealed in 2020 that she’d been in the running to play Emily at one point, but eventually turned the part down.

Friends Forever – All The Times The Cast Reunited On Screen After The Sitcom’s Finale

Posted on 09/07/2023 by Boris Clair

It’s been almost 20 years since since Friends aired its fina episode, which saw longtime fans saying goodbye to Joey, Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Phoebe, and Monica once and for all.

But even though Friends has been off the air for two decades, the show wouldn’t be the last time its cast – Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow – would work together.

Since Friends ended in 2004, some of the stars have reunited on-screen for a variety of shows, from Episodes, to Cougar Town.

Here’s a look back at all the times the Friends cast have appeared on screen together since Friends came to an end…

Dirt

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In 2007, Courteney took the lead in Dirt, a drama about a high-end tabloid, in which she played editor Lucy Spiller.

Jennifer popped up in the season one finale as the editor of a rival publication called Tina Harold, who ending up sharing a kiss with Lucy.

The guest role also marked Jen’s first appearance in a TV show since Friends came to an end three years prior.

Web Therapy

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Lisa’s improvised series Web Therapy, which aired for four seasons between 2011 and 2015, saw the actor transform into online therapist Fiona Wallace.

During its run, she was joined by all of her former Friends co-stars in various guest roles, except for Jennifer, who was approached about an appearance shortly before the series was cancelled.

Cougar Town

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It’s been 17 years since we last saw our favourite Friends characters on screen together, and with the cast set to reunite on an upcoming TV retrospective, we’ve been dying to find out what the actors think their fictional counterparts would be up to now.

Well, we now have some answers, as Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer have given us the lowdown on what they reckon has happened to the gang in the intervening years.

The actors spilled the beans in a new interview with People magazine, previewing the upcoming reunion, which is set to debut in the US on 27 May.

Here’s what they had to say…

Rachel Green

Jennifer Aniston says she would to see Rachel still working in fashion, having now started her own clothing line.

“It’s sort of a small franchise, like a Nili Lotan. And I live in New York City on the Upper East Side,” Jen imagines.

Monica Geller

Courteney Cox believes Monica’s competitiveness wouldn’t have mellowed in middle age and that she would be “doing something competitively with other mothers and trying to outdo them”.

“Whether it’s the bake sale at school or something,” she says. “I mean, she’d be so annoying. She’d be at the head of the PTA or something.”

Phoebe Buffay

Lisa Kudrow reckons Phoebe would still be married to Mike Hannigan (Paul Rudd) and they would have moved away from New York, to settle in Connecticut with their children.

“She’s in charge of the arts program for the school,” Lisa says. “And the advocate for her kids because they’re different like she was.”

Chandler Bing

Matthew Perry believes Chandler would be “a wonderful father”, having had twins with Monica at the end of the series.

He also believes the character would have had another change of career, and would now be “a wonderful comedy writer”.

Joey Tribbiani

While we got a glimpse of post-Friends life for Joey in the ill-fated spin-off series Joey, which saw him try and make it as an actor in LA, Matt reckons his character has had a humbler life since.

He says Joey “would have opened a chain of sandwich shops”, to which Matthew Perry adds: “And eaten all the sandwiches.”

Ross Geller

David Schwimmer is convinced Ross is still “playing with the bones” and working as a palaeontologist, but that he also would have invested in Joey’s sandwich shop and “lost a lot of his savings for his kids”.

People magazine have also obtained the first official images from the unscripted special, one of which shows the gang playing the epic trivia game from season four, which saw Joey and Chandler win Monica and Rachel’s apartment.

Another image shows them sat down to do a table read of part of The One with The Jellyfish episode.

Last week, it was announced that the cast will be joined by a host of special guests, including James Michael Tyler and Maggie Wheeler – better known as Gunther and Janice.

Joining them will be Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles (who played Monica and Ross’ parents, Jack and Judy Geller), Reese Witherspoon (who co-starred as Rachel’s sister in two episodes of the sitcom) and Tom Selleck (who played Monica’s love interest, Richard).

Also appearing in the show will be a string of famous Friends fans, who include Lady Gaga, David Beckham, Malala Yousafzai, James Corden, Justin Bieber and Cindy Crawford.

The Friends reunion will be available to stream on HBO Max in the US from 27 May, exactly a year after it was supposed to launch, before the pandemic scuppered plans to begin production.

It’s still not clear exactly when or how British fans will be able to watch, but HBO productions typically come to Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.

Read the full cover interview with the cast of Friends in the latest issue of People magazine, available in the US on Friday, or read an excerpt here.

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