The six actors of Friends will be reunited well during a special show, but this is not a new new episode of the series. Many press titles have fueled the confusion.
The six actors of the series Friends have accepted to get together for a special show for the launch of the HBO Max platform in May 2020. But this is by no means a new episode of the series, as some French media have been able to suggest because of misinterpretation of English terms.
One of the main misinterpretations comes from Agence France Presse, which offers its articles to part of the French press online. In his telegram broadcast on February 22, and taken up by many media, it claims that the HBO Max platform “ will offer a special episode of the cult series on the occasion of its launch in May “. In fact, the gray area around the term “special episode” does not allow us to assert that the information is completely false, but the expression leads to confusion, because it will not be a fictional episode as we hear it in French, but simply a talk show program where the 6 actors will be present and discuss.
The expression used for this kind of program is ” unscripted cast reunion special “Which literally means” a special non-fictional episode in which the entire cast is combined “. The actors and actresses, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, have also voluntarily maintained this fuzzy area by giving little information in the Instagram publication they shared at the identical: a photo from the 90s with a unique caption: ” It will finally happen “(” It’s happening “).
HBO Max relies heavily on Friends
Goodbye, therefore, the dreams of reboot of Friends or of great return of the series, 16 years after its stop. It is much more likely that this special program will resemble a classic talk show, where the six actors and actresses will have to look back on the ten years of Friends (1994-2004). This is also what Kevin Reilly, the head of HBO Max content, implied, saying that this program is supposed to immerse us ” in a time when friends – and the public – came together in real life [pour voir des épisodes ensemble] “, a ” mind “That this special program should” capture and bring together generations of fans “.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the actors would have each been paid between 2.5 and 3 million dollars for this filmed “meeting”. This program will be added to the HBO Max catalog when it is launched in May 2020, which should help attract new subscribers when it is released.
HBO Max is one of the new subscription video on demand (SVOD) services that will launch in 2020 in the United States. It will be one of the most ambitious and expensive: count on $ 14.99 per month for a very full catalog of new products and powerful “catalog” content. Series Friends is at the heart of its strategy: rival platforms fought for months to obtain the broadcasting rights for the cult program, until WarnerMedia (HBOMax) won the bet with at least an investment $ 425 million for 5 years exclusive to the United States, much to Netflix’s chagrin.
To date, Warner has not communicated specifically about its intentions to export HBO Max outside the United States: the platform will first target a national audience before nurturing broader ambitions. Nowadays, Friends is available on Netflix in France, and will be available until another platform purchases the rights.
