They’ll Be Here For You: ‘Friends’ Reunion Gets A Tentative Summer Date, Can Go Virtual

Anyone can be devoted to a new show, but if you’ve been watching Friends reruns during the lockdown then you’re a true fan. These reruns give me a feeling that Ross, Rachel, Joey, Monica, Chandler and Phoebe have been here for me for 26 years. 

There’s never been a cosier sitcom hangout, secondary characters that we learned to love (like the Ugly Naked Guy), the theme song, the fountain and that oh-so-retro 90s fashion. Well, I can go on and on but let’s save that for another day. For now, let’s get back to why I am writing this article. So when I first heard about the Friends Reunion, I was prepared to feel exceptionally old. The OG cast David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston were set to reunite for the episode 16 years after the sitcom first hit screens on 22 September 1994.

But, the novel coronavirus had other plans for us and the reunion. Just when we were thinking we weren’t getting any fresh FRIENDS content, it turns out that the planned Friends reunion could be filmed by the end of summer.

Are we screaming or are we screaming!

The reunion was originally scheduled to be available on the WarnerMedia-backed streaming service at its launch on May 27. Due to the coronavirus, production was shut down across the globe. However, HBOMax still hopes to air the reunion special in the coming months.

According to WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer chairman Bob Greenblatt, they do still hope that it will happen. “We’re holding out for being able to get this special done hopefully by the end of the summer, if the stars align and hopefully we can get back into production,” he said in an interview to Variety.

“We do think there’s a value to having a big, raucous live audience to experience these six great friends coming back together and we didn’t want to just suddenly do it on a web call with, you know, six squares and people shooting from their kitchens and bedrooms,” he added.

He further added that if social distancing and stay-at-home norms continue then we might be seeing a virtual reunion finally. “May go more to a virtual route, if it is delayed too long.”

“But at the moment, we’re trying to look to the future and get this thing done in a more conventional way, and I think it’s worth waiting for,” he said. Damn right, Bob! ‘Coz we finally have something to look forward to for the rest of 2020.

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