Category Archives: Friends

Doctor charged in Matthew Perry death appears in court after reaching plea deal

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Mark Chavez, 54, to turn over medical license as lawyer says client is ‘incredibly remorseful’ for role in star’s death

One of two doctors charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death made his first appearance in a federal court in Los Angeles on Friday after reaching a deal to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors.

Dr Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors earlier this month to plead guilty to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine. He is the third person to plead guilty in the aftermath of the Friends star’s fatal overdose last year.

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‘This one has cut deep’: Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow pay tribute to Matthew Perry

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Actors joined Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc in posting tributes to their late Friends co-star, who died unexpectedly last month

Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow have published tributes to their late Friends co-star Matthew Perry, a day after Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc did the same.

“Oh boy this one has cut deep,” began Aniston’s Instagram caption, posted on Wednesday alongside a photo of the two young actors, a text between them and a clip of the series finale farewell between their two beloved characters, Chandler Bing and Rachel Green. “Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before. We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love. Being able to really SIT in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep.

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Matthew Perry buried in service attended by family and Friends costars

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Mourners were gathered at the Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the actor

Actor Matthew Perry, who died on Saturday at age 54, was buried on Friday at a Los Angeles cemetery in a service attended by relatives and castmates from the hit 1990s television sitcom Friends, show business media reported, citing photographs.

Mourners gathered at the Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, less than a mile from the Warner Bros studio where the show was filmed. It is also the final resting place of numerous Hollywood A-listers including Michael Jackson, Lucille Ball and Elizabeth Taylor.

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Friends stars release statement after death of Matthew Perry: ‘We were more than just castmates’

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Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer have issued a joint statement

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer have issued a joint statement paying tribute to their Friends co-star Matthew Perry, who died on Saturday aged 54.

“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew,” the five actors said. “We were more than just castmates. We are a family. There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss. In time we will say more, as and when we are able. For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”

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Tributes pour in for ‘comedic genius’ Matthew Perry, dead at 54

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Justin Trudeau and Adele among public figures to speak fondly of actor best known as Chandler Bing in Friends

World leaders and Hollywood stars have hailed the “comedic genius” of Friends star Matthew Perry after the actor’s death at 54.

The American-Canadian star, best known for playing Chandler Bing in the sitcom Friends, was found dead in an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home on Saturday.

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Friends co-creator to donate $4m amid embarrassment over show’s whiteness

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Marta Kauffman will fund professorship in African and African American studies at her alma mater

The co-creator of the TV sitcom Friends is planning to donate $4m to an African and African American studies project because she’s so “embarrassed” by – and feels such “guilt” at – the white homogeneity of the characters on the classic coming of age series.

Marta Kauffman told the Los Angeles Times that she intends for her planned gift to fund the Marta F Kauffman ’78 Professorship in African and African American Studies at her alma mater, Brandeis University, a liberal arts college in Massachusetts.

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James Michael Tyler, who played Gunther in Friends, dies aged 59

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Tributes pour in for ‘seventh friend’ who revealed he had stage 4 prostate cancer in 2021

James Michael Tyler, most famous for playing Gunther, the manager of Central Perk in the hit sitcom Friends, has died aged 59.

In an interview with NBC in June 2021, Tyler announced that he had stage 4 prostate cancer, which was diagnosed in 2018.

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‘Her biggest challenge will be credibility’: Can Jennifer Aniston conquer skincare?

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The Friends star’s LolaVie range launches this week in an already overcrowded celebrity beauty field – so how does she make it stand out?

Jennifer Aniston is to launch her own beauty brand, LolaVie, on Wednesday. But can the star of Friends and The Morning Show make it in the ever more crowded celebrity beauty space?

The competition is fierce, with Ariana Grande, Hailey Bieber, Kim Kardashian and Harry Styles all rumoured to be following Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Jenner and Alicia Keys into the skincare market.

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From Shonda Rhimes to Armando Iannucci: 10 of the best TV showrunners

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A celebration of the brains behind some of the small screen’s biggest and best shows, including The Wire, Grey’s Anatomy and Friends

Since graduating from the US remake of The Office, Schur has done more than anyone to develop its ethos of making comedy that’s cool without being unkind. He was the boss of Parks and Recreation, which recovered from a so-so start to become truly beloved. Then The Good Place wowed us with primary colours and slyly intelligent philosophising. He co-created Brooklyn Nine-Nine, too.

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More than Friends? Are David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston really dating?

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The Friends reunion seemed pointless – until now. If it paved the way for Ross and Rachel to get together in real life, the world might explode with joy. So why do I have a sinking feeling?

Initially, this year’s Friends reunion didn’t exactly offer much in the way of entertainment. There was Justin Bieber dressed as a potato, and there was that meme about Matt LeBlanc looking like someone’s Irish uncle. Apart from that, the whole thing felt like an elaborate attempt to give James Corden even more air time.

But that was then. Because now that David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston are dating, the Friends reunion has become an important historical document and must be preserved for ever.

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David Schwimmer: ‘I was a roller-skating waiter’

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The actor, 54, on childhood activism, studying drama at Oxford, bringing up his daughter and learning to fight the good fight

My parents are my heroes. I marvel how they were able to work as young lawyers while keeping family as a priority. They raised my sister and me with a hyper-awareness of justice, equality and gay rights. I have memories of protesting on picket lines. It really informed my worldview and perspective.

I wanted to be a surgeon. I was fascinated by the human body: I knew everything about the lymphatic, the vascular and the skeletal systems. I was a big science geek, but I found that I could talk to more girls in acting class than in the science lab. So that kind of derailed my medical career.

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The Friends Carpool Karaoke is even more mortifying than the reunion

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The stars of Friends initially seem more relaxed in James Corden’s golf cart than on stage at the recent reunion. But if you look closely, it’s utter horror you see

Like everyone, I had two main criticisms of last month’s Friends reunion special. The first is that, after almost 30 years of watching the cast suspended in the throes of perfect youth, the sight of their weird, cosmetically altered faces in HD came as such a shock that I would have preferred it to be called something like All Things Decay: A Harrowing Reminder That Everything We Love Will One Day Be Dead. The second is that James Corden didn’t make it enough about him.

Oh, sure, he made it plenty about him. He hosted the thing, despite having no tangible connection to Friends. And, yes, when the cast came on, he spoke for more than two minutes before bothering to ask them a question. But did he make it about himself, in a truly Cordenesque way? No, he did not.

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A banal, excruciating mess – you review Friends: the Reunion

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The show you’ve waited 17 years for aired at last – and could you BE any more emotional? But what did you rate and what did you hate? And why did Matt LeBlanc come out on top?

Friends was a huge part of my life. Growing up, and realising I was gay but having nobody to talk to, I felt very alone and very isolated. Watching Friends got me through some really dark moments.

I sat down to watch [the reunion], fully expecting to hate it, but was crying within minutes. All the feelings I had growing up came back. I loved seeing the cast get together and hearing how they felt on set and how they reacted when they arrived. The bond they all share is so clear and strong. I always felt as if I was a part of Friends, as silly as that may sound, but watching it definitely influenced my personality. I’m sarcastic like Chandler, a clean freak like Monica and a little bit different like Phoebe.

Seeing them all together again just reminds you that lifelong ‘Friends’ are achievable. I just wish I could let the cast and the writers know how much it means to me. Scott, 30, Essex

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Friends reunion: the one where China censors its guest stars

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Viewers say scenes featuring Lady Gaga, boyband BTS and Justin Bieber are missing from Chinese version

For many Chinese millennials, the US sitcom Friends was a window to the American way of life. Teachers would use the show to help students learn English. Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai have Friends-themed Central Perk cafes. So when news that the original cast were to hold a reunion special nearly 20 years after the show was first introduced into China, diehard fans were excited, and some of China’s biggest online streaming platforms bought the rights to broadcast the show.

But eagle-eyed viewers complained on Thursday that some of the much-talked-about scenes in the original 104-minute runtime were missing.

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Allee Willis, songwriter behind Friends theme tune, dies aged 72

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Willis penned hits for Earth, Wind & Fire, and wrote score for musical The Color Purple

Allee Willis, the US songwriter behind the Friends theme tune as well as hits such as September by Earth, Wind & Fire, has died aged 72.

She had suffered a sudden heart attack and Willis’s partner, Prudence Fenton was described as being “in total shock” over the news.

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De Niro’s company sues ex-employee for $6m for embezzlement and Netflix bingeing

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Canal Productions alleges Chase Robinson accrued enormous hotel and Uber bills as well as watching TV during working hours

Chase Robinson, who until recently held a senior role in Robert De Niro’s film production company, has been sued by her employer for $6m.

According to Variety, who have seen papers filed in a state court on Saturday, Robinson – whose most recent position was vice-president of production and finance at Canal Productions – is accused of embezzling money and wasting time during office hours watching television shows.

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