Friends Reunion
Courteney Cox had finally earned an Emmy nomination for Friends. It took almost three decades since the premiere of the Amrican sitcom, but now she's has an Emmy nod just like all her co-stars. In the recently announced nominees, the HBO Max special “Friends: The Reunion” received a variety special (pre-recorded) nom from the Television Academy. Cox, who's popular for playing Monica Geller on the show, was one of the executive producers alongside the show’s creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane and other leading cast members Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer.
Till Tuesday, Cox was the only member of the 'Friends' cast who had not been nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards during the hit show's original 10-season run from 1994-2004. All her other co-stars have received at least one nomination. Lisa Kudrow's Phoebe Buffay landed six, Jennifer Aniston earned five for being Rachel Green, whereas Matt LeBlanc garnered three for portraying Joey Tribiani on the show. David Schwimmer and Mathew Perry on the other hand, received one nomination each for playing Ross Geller and Chandler Bing respectively.
The Reunion Special episode is also nominated for production design and lighting design/direction for a variety special.
Soon after the announcements, the cast of the show shared their excitement with their fans on social media. Courtney posted a group photo and captioned it as, "The one where we are incredibly grateful to the Academy for this honor and especially thankful for @mrbenwinston and his entire team for their outstanding achievement."
LeBlanc too posted the same photo writing, "Thank you Academy and congratulations to @mrbenwinston We’re all very grateful. It was so much fun. #friendsreunion." Whereas, Kudrow posted a picture from the post production stage writing, "Congrats to @mrbenwinston and #friendsreunion for 4 Emmy nominations! Thank you academy!!"
Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer too posted on Instagram stories. Mentioning the details about the nomination, wrote, "4 Emmy noms... Variety Special, Directing, Production Design and Lightning." Whereas, Aniston posted on Instagram Story, "Congrats to my @friends family on FOUR Emmy nominations. This was such a special reunion for us and we couldn't be happier to share it all with you."AND extra extra special thanks and shout out to @mrbenwinston who made it all happen. You’re brilliant and we love you."
Meanwhile, the special was delayed multiple times due to the production shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It was originally set to film in February 2020 but the unit was only able to begin filming in April.
Besides, the original leading cast, the reunion special also featured guest stars including David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, James Corden, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Lady Gaga, Elliott Gould, Kit Harington, Larry Hankin, Mindy Kaling, Thomas Lennon, Christina Pickles, Tom Selleck, James Michael Tyler, Maggie Wheeler, Reese Witherspoon and Malala Yousafzai.
