Still Friends
On sale
19th September 2019
Price: £12.99
Genre
The one where we remember the good times with Friends.
Twenty-five years on from when it first aired, Still Friends dives behind-the-scenes of a TV show that defined an era, reminiscing through exclusive interviews with the show’s creators, cast members and industry insiders.
In September 1994, six friends sat down in their favourite coffee shop and began bantering. Almost 30 years later, new fans are still finding their way into the lives of Rachel, Ross, Joey, Chandler, Monica and Phoebe, and thanks to a combination of talented creators, its intimate understanding of its youthful audience, and its reign during network television’s last moment of dominance, Friends has become the most influential and beloved show of its era.
Noted pop culture historian Saul Austerlitz is here to tell us how it happened. Utilizing exclusive interviews with creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman, executive producer Kevin Bright, director James Burrows, and many other producers, writers, and cast members, Still Friends tells the story of Friends‘ creation, its remarkable decade-long run, and its astonishing Netflix-fuelled afterlife. Readers will learn how the show was developed and cast, written and filmed. They’ll be reminded of episodes like the one about the trivia contest, the prom video, and the London trip. And, of course, the saga of Ross and Rachel. They’ll also discover surprising details: that Monica and Joey were the show’s original romantic couple, how Danielle Steel probably saved Jennifer Aniston’s career, and why Friends is still so popular today.
Friends has a legacy that has endured beyond wildest expectations. Now you can find out why.
As published in the US as Generation Friends.
Twenty-five years on from when it first aired, Still Friends dives behind-the-scenes of a TV show that defined an era, reminiscing through exclusive interviews with the show’s creators, cast members and industry insiders.
In September 1994, six friends sat down in their favourite coffee shop and began bantering. Almost 30 years later, new fans are still finding their way into the lives of Rachel, Ross, Joey, Chandler, Monica and Phoebe, and thanks to a combination of talented creators, its intimate understanding of its youthful audience, and its reign during network television’s last moment of dominance, Friends has become the most influential and beloved show of its era.
Noted pop culture historian Saul Austerlitz is here to tell us how it happened. Utilizing exclusive interviews with creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman, executive producer Kevin Bright, director James Burrows, and many other producers, writers, and cast members, Still Friends tells the story of Friends‘ creation, its remarkable decade-long run, and its astonishing Netflix-fuelled afterlife. Readers will learn how the show was developed and cast, written and filmed. They’ll be reminded of episodes like the one about the trivia contest, the prom video, and the London trip. And, of course, the saga of Ross and Rachel. They’ll also discover surprising details: that Monica and Joey were the show’s original romantic couple, how Danielle Steel probably saved Jennifer Aniston’s career, and why Friends is still so popular today.
Friends has a legacy that has endured beyond wildest expectations. Now you can find out why.
As published in the US as Generation Friends.
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Reviews
With careful research and new and revealing interviews, Austerlitz'sStill Friends does what a great behind-the-scenes books should do: it'll make you want to re-watch the entire series again from start to finish, with a new appreciation of everything from the writing and acting to set design and costumes. Better yet, Austerlitz provides some much-needed validation for those of us who never warmed to the whole Ross-Rachel thing, assuring us that we *might* have been on to something, even as he argues we were wrong. FIGHT ME, SAUL.
In Still Friends, Saul Austerlitz transports us back to Central Perk with our eternal friends trying to find their place in the world. Just as importantly, he lifts the curtain to provide a sprawling behind-the-scenes look at its creation, enactment and still-growing legacy.
On its 25th anniversary, the show's die-hard fans will love Austerlitz's detailed, discerning, and sumptuous history.
Chock full of behind-the-scenes info, this fond accounting is a must-read for both new and old Friends fans.
A treat for Friends fans full of insights into what made a quintessential '90s phenomenon into a lasting, international classic for the ages. You'll get your share of juicy behind-the-scenes tidbits, from vicious writers'-room debates about Rachel and Joey's romance to the time the producers almost moved the setting to Minneapolis (seriously). But you'll also get a hit of nostalgia for a time when an entire nation hung on the fate of Ross and Rachel, and plenty of smart analysis of why Friends was the right show at the right time ... and also continues to be the right show at an entirely different time.