Entertainment

Gird Your Loins & Clear Your Diary, 'Friends' Is Coming Back To Terrestrial TV

by Aoife Hanna
NBC

It has been a pretty wildly gorgeous summer. OMG how we ave all been basking in the sunshine like a crowd of people on vacay. However, do not get it twisted, winter is coming. Sorry for being a realist, it's just who I am. Anyway, to soften my blunt blows and well, the reality that the weather will soon go to heck, I have some pretty lit news for you. Friends is returning to terrestrial UK TV. Yes guys, the agony of choice and/or paying Netflix bills may well be over for y'all. And you're welcome for the good news.

So, Channel 5 are taking on the privilege of screening the (maybe slightly problematic at times) iconic show, the Radio Times reports. They will be showing two episodes a day, at 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. respectively. It has been a pretty redonk 14 years since the final episode of the show aired. 14 years guys. Yet the show still stands up as one of the greatest ever sitcoms and has yet to be rivalled in terms of phenomenon, content, and of course OMGs. Everyone will be able to sit in front of the one eyed babysitter (TV) and veg out because let's be honest, life is hard and Friends is easy. Easy viewing that is.

Now play this and let's start dancing.

Believe it or not, because it was all those years ago, there are heaps of people who haven't watched it before. Yep, I'm going to call out Generation Z. Look it's not their fault. Anyhow, back in January the one and only occupier of my free time — Netflix — announced that they were going to be streaming all 236 episodes (OMG, WTF, etc). Thus began the relaunch of what is already like, and iconic show.

A survey of 2,500 viewers, released by Ofcom in July 2018, found that Friends was the UK's most popular subscription streaming show. Real talk, people are lapping it the hell up. And who would blame them? It is under a half an hour per episode, it is funny and pretty much always happy. Sad bits are a rarity and when they occur you feel like, hell involved because you know the characters so well.

Despite this good news re streaming, again, I'm going to have to be real with you. Is anything in this world quite as agonising as the amount of choice you have on Netflix? It's effing unbearable. Go to watch something of an evening, next minute its 6 a.m. and you are still scrolling, your eyes as dry and sticky as an unlicked stamp. So thank goodness Friends is getting back where it belongs, on terrestrial TV so you have zero choice to make.

Who knows, maybe it being back on telly will mean more fans and more pressure being put on the creators to make a movie. Rumours regarding a cinematic reboot have ebbed and flowed since the show finished way back when. However of late, the rumour mill has been turning again and all of us thirsty friends fans are eager AF. A fairly convincing fake trailer was even put up on YouTube. I know right, how mean is that?

In an interview with an Australian radio station, Matt LeBlanc sadly put the kibosh on any suggestion of a possible reunion, which makes it look unlikely. But who knows guys, if more and more people watch it, and keep baying for more action... we might get more.

The show will be on Channel 5 for a daily double dose from September 3 so all you have to do is sit down, unwind and enjoy the one when...