friend ship

• Friends

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  This article is about the television sitcom. For friendship, see friendship. For other uses, see Friends (disambiguation).
  

  Friends
  Genre	Comedy
  Created by	David Crane Marta Kauffman
  Starring	Jennifer Aniston Courteney Cox Arquette Lisa Kudrow Matt LeBlanc Matthew Perry David Schwimmer
  Theme music composer	Michael Skloff
  Opening theme	"I'll Be There for You" by The Rembrandts
  Country of origin	United States
  Language(s)	English
  No. of seasons	10
  No. of episodes	236 (List of episodes)
  Production
  Executive producer(s)	David Crane Marta Kauffman Kevin S. Bright (entire run) Michael Borkow (season 4) Michael Curtis (season 5) Adam Chase (seasons 5-6) Greg Malins (seasons 5-7) Wil Calhoun (season 7) Scott Silveri Shana Goldberg-Meehan (both seasons 8-10) Andrew Reich Ted Cohen (both; mid season 8-season 10)
  Location(s)	New York City (setting) Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, California (filming location)
  Camera setup	Film; Multi-camera
  Running time	20-22 minutes (per episode)
  Production company(s)	Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions Warner Bros. Television
  Broadcast
  Original channel	NBC
  Picture format	480i (4:3 SDTV)
  Original run	September 22, 1994 (1994-09-22) – May 6, 2004 (2004-05-06)
  Status	Ended
  Chronology
  Related shows	Joey
  External links
  Official website

  Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which ran on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in the area of Manhattan, New York City. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. The original executive producers were Crane, Kauffman and Kevin S. Bright, with numerous others being promoted in later seasons.

  Kauffman and Crane began developing Friends under the title Insomnia Cafe in November 1993. They presented the idea to Bright, with whom they had previously worked, and together they pitched a seven-page treatment of the series to NBC. After several script rewrites and changes, the series was finally named Friends and premiered on NBC's coveted Thursday 8:30 pm timeslot. Filming for the series took place at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California in front of a live studio audience. After ten seasons on the network, the series finale was promoted by NBC, and viewing parties were organized around the U.S. The series finale (airing on May 6, 2004) was watched by 52.5 million American viewers, making it the fourth most-watched series finale in television history. ^[1]

  Friends received positive reviews throughout most of its run, becoming one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. The series won many and was nominated for 63 Primetime Emmy Awards. The series was also very successful in the ratings, consistently ranking in the top ten in the final primetime ratings. The series has made a large cultural impact. The Central Perk coffee house that had featured prominently in the series has inspired various imitations throughout the world. The series continues in syndication worldwide. All 10 seasons are also available on DVD. The spin-off series Joey was created to follow up with the series after the finale.

  Contents [hide] 1 Cast and characters 2 Season synopses 3 Production 3.1 Conception 3.2 Casting 3.3 Writing 3.4 Filming 4 Series finale 5 Impact 5.1 Critical reception 5.2 Awards 5.3 Ratings 5.4 Cultural impact 6 Distribution 6.1 Broadcast 6.2 International 6.3 Merchandise 7 Spin-offs 7.1 Joey 7.2 Film 8 References 9 External links

  [edit] Cast and characters

  See also: Characters of Friends

  The series featured six main cast members throughout its run, with numerous characters recurring throughout the ten seasons. The main cast members were familiar to television viewers before their roles on Friends, but were not considered to be stars.^[2] During the series' ten-season run, the actors all achieved household name celebrity status.^[3]