| ?Friends,? the most popular television show in America, will return next year for its ninth and final season. from NBCMV.com BURBANK, Calif. -- Feb. 11, 2002 -- War ner Bros. Television, Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions and the stars of the number-one rated ?Friends? have agreed to return next season to the NBC Television Network, it was announced today in a joint statement issued by the cast, NBC West Coast President Scott Sassa, NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker, Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman, David Crane and Warner Bros. Television President Peter Roth. ?We are enormously pleased and excited to be returning for a ninth season,? said Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer. ?We could not ignore the outpouring of public support for the show and we are looking forward to creating one more season with the best writers, producers, directors and production people in television.? ?The return of ?Friends? is a wonderful event for everyone?the fans, NBC, Warner Bros., the producers and the cast. We?re appreciative to the cast, producers and crew for the creativity and dedication that has made the show soar to new heights this season,? said Sassa. ?We?ve never had better ?Friends?,? said Zucker. ?And we?re thrilled. It?s no secret how important ?Friends? is to NBC. But what?s truly great is how important this program is to the entire country, and that the millions of fans will be able to watch the series continue for another full year. This is a great day.? Since we all had the same objective, this was the easiest deal we have ever made,? continued Zucker. ?Everyone wanted it to work out, because everyone wanted to be able to send the series out appropriately?and in style.? ??Friends? has been and is a phenomenal success story and with that comes a great deal of responsibility,? said Peter Roth, President, Warner Bros. Television. ?We believe it is essential that ?Friends? not only go out on top in the ratings, but also be creatively complete. We owe that to ourselves, to all of the extraordinarily talented people who have put their hearts and souls into the show for nearly a decade and, most importantly, to the millions and millions of the fans around the world. The reason this deal came together so amicably is that we all readily understood we could accomplish all of our goals and serve all of our interests by having a farewell season devoted to concluding the series.? ?The show is at a creative and ratings pinnacle and that is thanks to the dedication and caring of our cast, our writers, our directors and the hundreds of people it takes each week to put together a top-quality popular series,? said the series creators and executive producers Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane. ?We will devote the entire 24 episodes of the final season to wrap up storylines and send our characters off into the world. We are all very excited about being able to do that and very grateful to the many who will make it possible.? Anchoring television?s highest-rated night, the resurgent ?Friends? is enjoying one of its most successful seasons in its eight-year history. It is currently the No. 1 primetime series for the season among adults 18-49, total viewers and households. Compared to averages for the same point in the season last year, ?Friends? is up 13 percent among adults 18-49 (12.0/31), 17 percent among total viewers (24.7 million) and 13 percent in households (15.3/24). Since its debut season (1994-95), ?Friends? has received 33 Emmy nominations, including four for Outstanding Comedy Series. Additionally, the cast won a Screen Actors Guild Award in 1996 for Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Series and has been nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy. ?Friends? won the People?s Choice Award for Favorite New Comedy Series in its first season, and has since won three more times as Favorite Comedy Series. The series was created by the writing team of Marta Kauffman & David Crane. Emmy Award-winning producer Kevin S. Bright is executive producer with Kauffman and Crane. Scott Silveri and Shana Goldberg-Meehan, Ted Cohen and Andrew Reich are also executive producers. ?Friends? is a Bright/Kauffman/Crane Production in association with Warner Bros. Television. |