“It was like a reunion of alumni: we meet and discuss the good times we have spent”. With these words, Stéphanie, a 47-year-old travel agent, does not tell us about her reunion with fellow students. She describes the "Friends reunion", or "meeting of friends" in French, a program broadcast this Thursday morning and bringing together, for the first time in 17 years, the cast of "Friends" on the filming locations of the series. It wasn't a question of picking up the plot where it left off in 2004, after 10 seasons, but rather of bringing the actors together and bringing them back to the good old days of the cult sitcom. "These are friends that I have not seen for 17 years, that I simply saw here and there, and to see them meet again ... I had the impression of being with them", sums up his side Emilie Lopez,38-year-old journalist.
To read also "Friends": the reunion of the actors keep their promises
If “Friends” still works as well, it is because the series has won over several generations. Some spectators have known the beginnings, others discovered it late. For Emilie Lopez, who "was lucky to have Canal Satellite" with her parents, it started very early, when the sitcom was broadcast in its original version with subtitles on Canal Jimmy (from 1997). The following year, the series landed in French on France 2, where Stéphanie saw it for the first time. Clémence, 28-year-old HR communications manager, immersed herself in the world at a very young age, thanks to "the complete in cassettes" - which she has watched so much that she can no longer rewind them! As for Alexis, a thirty-something who works in a cinema, it is only much later,around 2005 or 2006 - when the program had already stopped - that he discovered “Friends”.
Telework, lunch break and day off
For them, as for millions of people around the world, “Friends” quickly became a passion.
Sometimes even a little intrusive.
Emilie Lopez, who watches an episode "almost every day" collects goodies bearing the image of the series.
She went to New York, with friends like her, to see the replica of the Central Perk inaugurated for the 20 years of the show and the “pop-up store” opened for the 25 years anniversary.
For his part, Alexis "watches the series quite often, because it makes [him] laugh, but also because it is a series that [him] feels good".
The same goes for Clémence, who sees "a little pick-me-up, a comforting side".
For Stéphanie, it is quite simply “a story that has lasted for 25 years”.
So, of course, for them, there is no question of waiting and risking spoiling to watch the special episode. “I had warned everyone that I was not available this morning. I even told my girlfriend, who was leaving for work, that I couldn't wait for her, ”laughs Emilie Lopez, who is therefore preparing to watch this meeting again this evening with her partner, then a third time. with his friends who are fans of the series. Stéphanie took advantage of her telecommuting day to watch the episode in the morning, while "trying to work a little". Clémence devoted her lunch break to it. And Alexis was fortunately not working that day. "Otherwise, I would have watched it tonight: in any case, I had to see it today".
Luckily, the “Friends reunion” was broadcast not only on HBO Max - a channel to which Alexis subscribes - but also on the Salto platform, which offered a free month.
An offer on which have jumped Stéphanie and Clémence, the old broadcast.
"I was afraid of being disappointed"
It had been more than a year since this meeting - delayed because of the Covid-19 - had been mentioned. What to sharpen impatience, even if the extracts and teasers unveiled before the broadcast had frightened more than one. "I was a little afraid, because they made a lot of communication around the guests", summarizes Alexis, who was "not disappointed". Journalist Emilie Lopez was, for her part, "very worried at first", not really knowing what to expect. “I love
Friends
so much
that I was afraid of being disappointed, but I took a monstrous footing,” she tells us.
The criticisms put forward before the broadcast - especially on the absence of black characters - did not tarnish their image of the sitcom.
"The lack of diversity has always been one of the problems of the series", recognizes Alexis.
“I understand the criticisms, but we must not also forget the advances made by
Friends
: there was a lesbian marriage, a transgender person, a surrogate mother…”, lists Emilie Lopez.
Ah yes.
FRIENDS.
After convincing us that NYC has no Black or Brown people in it for 9 seasons, they issue a reunion with 25 celebs and somehow evade finding a single Black person.
https://t.co/kSYyN3MtQ3
- ᴅᴇʟ |
ʀᴏᴄᴋꜱᴛᴇᴀᴅʏ 🎮 (@TheCartelDel) May 14, 2021
After this one hour and forty-five minute dive with the interpreters of Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, Ross and many other surprise guests, the reactions are almost unanimous among the viewers questioned.
A "very good moment", passed "very quickly", in front of a "funny and moving" episode, well paced, well put together, very pleasant.
“I cried from the first few minutes!
», Tells us Stéphanie.
A visibly shared emotion.
“I laughed, I cried, I applauded all alone in my living room,” says Emilie Lopez.
For Clémence, the melodrama side, "very American" is one of the downsides of the show, even if she admits "having taken the game".
For her, the emotion comes mainly from “the links between the actors”.
An “alchemy” that Emilie Lopez also found.
The icing on the cake, the "Friends reunion" even offered some crisp revelations, in particular on two key actors. “I, who thought I knew everything, learned things! », Assures the journalist. In short, this show was a success, according to these best friends of the series.