Friends Reunion on HBO Max is out today - tell me your thoughts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, this "reunion" just made me feel weird, because the show WAS SO WEIRD!

CC and Jen A. were so cringy it hurt to look at them. My God, what are they thinking?? Jen came across as fake and forced happy- EW EW EW.

Poor Matthew Perry- the guy is in rough shape, and it was hard to watch. I felt his pain thru the TV.

Lisa Kudrow is 57 years old- the oldest of the cast and she looks the best by far!! she has not screwed up her face, but she did not want to be there at all.

LeBlanc may be fat but he looks good- cute face, just needs to lose the pounds. He seems genuine and sweet.

David is odd looking, but was engaging and articulate, he seemed like he really wanted to be there, the others did not.

It was SO SO awkward when Matthew Perry said "I never hear from anybody, seriously" because he was not joking.

What a train wreck. I wish I never saw it- it changed the way I think about these actors and the show.

Sex and the City reboot- take notes!

I found this painful to watch and agree that Lisa Kudrow looked the best. CC looked like an alien but I thought Jen looked ok.

It was hard not to focus on Matthew Perry and wonder what's wrong; especially when they were showing old clips and you could compare and contrast. The other two were old but not, like, incapacitated.

I had to turn it off when they did the smelly cat gospel choir abomination thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A bunch of them - most noticeable Matthew, Jen and David - had this weird thing where their upper lips looked kind of pinched and thin. Is that a plastic surgery thing?

Lisa and Leblanc are adorable.

+1

I love them. Hated Lisa during first run - thought the whole "Smelly Cat" schtick was lame, and stopped watching just about then.

[Anonymous]

Matthew Perry almost seemed like he was in the early stages of Parkinson’s. I know he battles addiction but there seemed to be something more.

Aniston kept making weird out of whack comments/memories.

I think they all looked fine, just older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six people who were average to below average looking in their twenties/thirties don't look good now that they're in their fifties? You don't say!

They were not average looking! Ross maybe. The rest of them were beautiful people in their 20s.

I concede that Jennifer Aniston had a hot body and a cute haircut. CC was okay looking. The rest were all ugly.

[Anonymous]

It was so good!!! Loved Matt Leblanc and the women really shined

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the reunion was cringey. And Matthew Perry looked drunk - not just the slur but the empty gaze.

No way he wasn't on something. He slurred in the interviews as well. You could see the other two guys were a little nervous/uncomfortable about him when it was just the three of them. He made some inappropriate jokes, was slurring, gazing ahead with an empty gaze, slow response time (a full beat behind the others). If you pay attention to the reunion, he hardly said anything. Some was probably cut to keep his participation minimal. Poor guy did not seem up to this at all. It was pretty awful to see.

It was awful to see and also awful that he presumably showed up on set in that condition and every one of his cast mates and the producers said, “let’s carry on with filming”. He shouldn’t have been on the show in that condition and it’s sad that his costars - supposes buddies - were complicit in pretending there was nothing wrong.

What’s your suggestion? They have the entire cast present, the sets are ready, the crew is ready, the additional people are ready to appear by “Zoom” (or whatever, including camera crews at their homes, etc. all this money and hype is poured into this and contracts and deadlines are in place. What’s your idea as to what to do when someone appears to work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six people who were average to below average looking in their twenties/thirties don't look good now that they're in their fifties? You don't say!

Shut your whore mouth - bc some of us appreciated looking at some of them.

They were embarrassing and so are you.

[Anonymous]

I also felt badly for Matthew Perry. He seemed anxious and fragile. I didn't get the feeling that he was drinking or using illegal drugs though. I think he has mental health issues and is on heavy duty psych meds.

[Anonymous]

Former addicts often have issues that affect their aging. Cocaine use is linked to increased risk of Parkinson’s. And if he’s bipolar, those meds (lithium) give you slurred speech and related issues. I really doubt he was drunk or high. I think he’s just a mess. That is probably really awkward for former friends/colleagues. It’s only been 4 years since his last show was cancelled, but maybe it’s been a rough 4 years health wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the reunion was cringey. And Matthew Perry looked drunk - not just the slur but the empty gaze.

No way he wasn't on something. He slurred in the interviews as well. You could see the other two guys were a little nervous/uncomfortable about him when it was just the three of them. He made some inappropriate jokes, was slurring, gazing ahead with an empty gaze, slow response time (a full beat behind the others). If you pay attention to the reunion, he hardly said anything. Some was probably cut to keep his participation minimal. Poor guy did not seem up to this at all. It was pretty awful to see.

It was awful to see and also awful that he presumably showed up on set in that condition and every one of his cast mates and the producers said, “let’s carry on with filming”. He shouldn’t have been on the show in that condition and it’s sad that his costars - supposes buddies - were complicit in pretending there was nothing wrong.

What’s your suggestion? They have the entire cast present, the sets are ready, the crew is ready, the additional people are ready to appear by “Zoom” (or whatever, including camera crews at their homes, etc. all this money and hype is poured into this and contracts and deadlines are in place. What’s your idea as to what to do when someone appears to work?

Um, yes. It’s possible to pause a production if a cast member isn’t well; they have insurance for that. Or you send an intoxicated cast member home and carry on without them. This absolutely can be done but in this instance people clearly cared more about the “optics” and the money than an obviously sick person involved. Also these people are all very rich. The result was that Perry looked sad and under the influence and the whole show was cringe inducing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also felt badly for Matthew Perry. He seemed anxious and fragile. I didn't get the feeling that he was drinking or using illegal drugs though. I think he has mental health issues and is on heavy duty psych meds.

It wasn’t just the slurring it was the dead-eye gaze. He’s not well and that came across clear as day for the viewer and must have been so very obvious in person - who knows what was edited out. People with mental health issues that are being effectively managed and treated aren’t showing up like zombies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also felt badly for Matthew Perry. He seemed anxious and fragile. I didn't get the feeling that he was drinking or using illegal drugs though. I think he has mental health issues and is on heavy duty psych meds.

It wasn’t just the slurring it was the dead-eye gaze. He’s not well and that came across clear as day for the viewer and must have been so very obvious in person - who knows what was edited out. People with mental health issues that are being effectively managed and treated aren’t showing up like zombies.

Emergency dental surgery my @ss.

[Anonymous]

NPR review notes the reunion was the first meeting the whole group of supposedly close and cherished friends had together since the show ended, save for one prior meeting. The first meeting. They were paid $2.5-$3M each for the reunion. Couldn’t get these people to hang out for free, I guess.

No wonder everyone looked uncomfortable when Perry said no one contacted him. He was calling them out on the whole BS of the reunion.

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/27/1000519295/the-friends-reunion-that-lost-its-nerve

[Anonymous]

I agree with the person who said the women seemed fake. The part where they played the outgoing answering machine message from an “ophthalmologist” and the actresses needed to wait until the entire message finished playing before they could guess. Very forced and seemed fake. I know part of that was the writers and when they were cued to come in but their reactions were all them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the reunion was cringey. And Matthew Perry looked drunk - not just the slur but the empty gaze.

No way he wasn't on something. He slurred in the interviews as well. You could see the other two guys were a little nervous/uncomfortable about him when it was just the three of them. He made some inappropriate jokes, was slurring, gazing ahead with an empty gaze, slow response time (a full beat behind the others). If you pay attention to the reunion, he hardly said anything. Some was probably cut to keep his participation minimal. Poor guy did not seem up to this at all. It was pretty awful to see.

It was awful to see and also awful that he presumably showed up on set in that condition and every one of his cast mates and the producers said, “let’s carry on with filming”. He shouldn’t have been on the show in that condition and it’s sad that his costars - supposes buddies - were complicit in pretending there was nothing wrong.

What’s your suggestion? They have the entire cast present, the sets are ready, the crew is ready, the additional people are ready to appear by “Zoom” (or whatever, including camera crews at their homes, etc. all this money and hype is poured into this and contracts and deadlines are in place. What’s your idea as to what to do when someone appears to work?

Um, yes. It’s possible to pause a production if a cast member isn’t well; they have insurance for that. Or you send an intoxicated cast member home and carry on without them. This absolutely can be done but in this instance people clearly cared more about the “optics” and the money than an obviously sick person involved. Also these people are all very rich. The result was that Perry looked sad and under the influence and the whole show was cringe inducing.

I disagree. For a film or TV set, sure. For a reunion special where it’s not required to be any specific way (audience members won’t be lost because of it, it will probably actually increase viewership, doesn’t affect the storyline, doesn’t impact the other actors, etc), the shoe was going to go on.