As TV's top sitcom nears the end of its tenth and final season, take a look at the friendships behind the humour and laughter they've given America.
A decade ago, America was introduced to 6 friends: adorable Rachel, lovelorn Ross, ditsy Phoebe, confused Joey, uptight Monica and sarcastic Chandler. Record paydays, ratings jubilance and Emmy gold - no wonder Friends is the number one comedy, but sadly is coming to an end.
For ten years in a row, over 30 million North American viewers tune into NBC every Thursday night to catch up with the lives of their favourite friends making Friends the number one primetime series.
But before ratings soared off the charts, this consecutively unbeaten sitcom had become one the most successful shows ever. As an added bonus, the theme song "I"ll be here for you" was already a No. I radio hit, giving Friends a jump start to their ratings.
Friends has helped NBC climb and claim the number one position for numerous years over all other television networks on Thursday nights. NBC Studios has maintained an astounding 46% lead in viewers for Friends over CBS's Survivor at 8:00.
Friends" successfulness is the main reason why it and its cast have accumulated so many awards over their ten years running. Alone, the number of Emmy, Golden Globe, People's Choice and Screen Actors Guild Awards are enough to cover all the coffee tables at Central Perk. Not to mention countless other awards such as best directing, best scripted comedy, funniest guest appearance, technical direction, best music, countless teen choice awards and the list goes on .
Of course, behind every great show there has to be a big pile of cash and Friends is no different. Financing is a major part in the production of Friends where each actor has been making $1 million per episode for the past season! So that's $24 million each, per season - just for the main cast. Not to mention wages for the A-list celebrity guest stars! But Friends doesn't give out this kind of money without receiving some.
