'Friends' is Finally Coming To Netflix
Rachel Smith ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
2015 is shaping up to be the best year ever because binge-watchers of the world—rather, the US and Canada—will be given the belated Christmas gift of Friends. Forget an annual New Years resolution of joining a gym! Instead, January 1st should be utilized by curling up in bed and being engulfed in all 10 seasons of everyone’s favorite group of friends.
Time Warner and Netflix have finally reached an agreement to stream Friends for the first time. Sure it has been in syndication on TBS and The CW for a decade, but now all 236 episodes can be watched without interruption! That’s only 83 hours devoted to arguably the most profitable and popular sitcom in television history. If anyone is wondering if this really is a productive use of time, it is.
This agreement comes on the heels of the 20th anniversary of the show’s start, and though die hard Friends fans may have been hoping for a movie deal, they can accept this as a much appreciated distraction. For now.
The news of the agreement came in the form of a video announcement from Netflix. Though fans wish Ross (David Schwimmer), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Joey (Matt LeBlanc), Chandler (Matthew Perry), Monica (Courteney Cox), or Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) could have made a real-life appearance in the video, they will get a twinge of nostalgic joy seeing Gunther (James Michael Tyler) wiping down the counter of “The Central Perk.” They will also be delighted to hear the theme song, which was made famous by the show’s opening credits, “I’ll Be There For You,” played in an intimate acoustic performance by the band The Rembrandts.
The amount for which the show was sold to Netflix is not disclosed, but bet that people watching will find that the opportunity to watch all the episodes in one place is priceless. January 1st cannot come soon enough!