Friends, then and now

Yes, we’re still on a Christmas theme. Sort of. This time, it’s all about nostalgia, growing older and looking back. Where are the old Friends now? I asked myself this question a couple of days ago, when I caught Lisa Kudrow on a late night replay of The Comeback’s pilot episode on Velvet.

Phoebe Buffay

The Comeback was Kudrow’s next TV project, which followed a year after Friends ended in 2004. She was co-producer and co-writer of the show, along with Michael Patrick King, who gave us that show starring four New York women named Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha. The Comeback debuted to mixed reviews and lasted only for a season—but it earned Kudrow yet another an Emmy nomination.

Judging from the brains behind it, there’s no surprise the show’s quite original. It’s about Valerie Cherish, who was TV’s It girl from the late eighties to the early nineties. She hasn’t had a big project since, and she’s vowing to make a comeback. She’s followed by a camera crew as she attempts a resurgence of her stellar career. Shot in the mold of reality television, it’s a show within a show within a show: viewers watch “raw footage” of the reality show The Comeback as it follows Valerie’s exploits as a minor star of the sitcom Room and Bored.

Kudrow’s still pretty busy these days. She was seen in P.S. I Love You this year and five projects due next year.

Joey Tribbiani

Matt LeBlanc had a short-lived spin-off series called Joey, which follows his Friends character Joey’s move to California to pursue his acting career. It occupied the timeslot Friends had left vacant. Unfortunately, it didn’t make it in the ratings game. LeBlanc, who was last seen on the big screen in Charlie’s Angels: The Full Throttle (2003) hasn’t appeared on the screen since. He’s now focusing on his own production company.

Ross Geller

David Schwimmer was, er, heard in this year’s Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. He reprised his voice-over role as Melman the Giraffe. He’s also had some movies since, as well as appearances in the TV series 30 Rock.

Chandler Bing

Matthew Perry’s had a handful of television appearances since Friends, the most significant of which was as one of the stars of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, also a show within a show. On the big screen, he was last seen in Birds of America.

Monica Geller

Courtney Cox is still pretty busy. She has worked on six films since Friends ended, one of them in the voice-over role of Daisy the Cow in The Barnyard (2006). I’m looking forward to seeing her in the Adam Sandler film Bedtime Stories.

Rachel Green

Well, who doesn’t know where Jennifer Aniston is? Three years after ex-husband Brad Pitt left her for Angelina Jolie, Aniston and Jolie are still being pitted against each other in magazines and entertainment shows. She’s appeared in romantic comedies, like The Break-Up (2006) with ex-boyfriend Vince Vaughn, and a thriller, Derailed (2005). She hasn’t had a really big hit since Friends, but we’ve got the dog comedy Marley & Me and He’s Just Not That Into You to check out this year and next.

Watching Friends reruns on Star World can be a pretty strange experience for the now thirty-something me. The series started with a group of friends in their mid-twenties. I was fresh out of high school when I started watching it. Now, I’m 31—around the same age Phoebe, Joey, Ross, Chandler, Monica and Rachel’s lives shifted and the series just had to fold.

2009 is going to be one hell of a ride. I can feel it.

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