Friends Reboot Is A Bad Idea, Creator Says

Friends is one of the most iconic TV shows ever, and it's remained popular--and lucrative--thanks to its continued play on Netflix and other streaming sources. Given the current wave of reboots happening for TV shows, many are wondering if Friends might come back someday.

Creator Marta Kauffman said in a new interview that there are "several reasons" why there will be no Friends reunion, and if it were to happen, it would only disappoint.

"One, the show is about a time in your life when your friends are your family. It's not that time anymore. All we'd be doing is putting those six actors back together, but the heart of the show would be gone," she told Rolling Stone. "Two, I don't know what good it does us. The show is doing just fine, people love it. [A reunion] could only disappoint."

Last year, NBC executive Robert Greenblatt said there was effectively zero chance of Friends coming back for a reunion show. One of the issues with reboots of shows that were immensely successful in their own time is that actors are asking for big paydays.

"The actors want a lot more money than we're willing to pay them," Greenblatt said.

The entire catalog of Friends is available on Netflix in the United States, and the streaming network reportedly paid $100 million to keep it there through the end of 2019.

Friends ran for 10 seasons from 1994 through 2004. Its May 2004 finale drew 52.5 million viewers in America, according to The New York Times. As of 2015, the show was bringing in $1 billion every year from syndication, with stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, and Matthew Perry making $20 million a year from that based on their 2 percent share of syndication revenue, according to USA Today.