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Synopsis: “Friends: The Reunion, also known as ‘The One Where They Get Back Together’, is a 2021 reunion special of the American television sitcom Friends. The episode is executive produced by the show’s co-creators, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, Kevin S. Bright, the show’s main cast, and Ben Winston (who will also direct the special). The unscripted episode sees the main cast revisit the sets of the original show (such as the Friends apartments, the Central Perk coffee shop, and the Friends water fountain), meet with guests who appeared on the show as well as celebrity guests, do table reads and re-enactments of older Friends episodes, and share behind-the-scenes footage.”

Studio: HBO

Streamer: HBOmax, HBO Go, Sky One, Now, Foxtel Now, Binge, TVNZ, ZEE5, Youku, iQIYI, Tencent

Release Date: May 27, 2021

Format: Live Action

Genre: Comedy

Sub-Genre:  Sitcom

Runtime: 1 hour, 39 minutes

Director: Ben Winston

Producers / Writers: Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman, David Crane, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, Ben Winston

Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer

Guests: David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, James Corden, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Elliott Gould, Kit Harington, Lady Gaga, Larry Hankin, Mindy Kaling, Thomas Lennon, Christina Pickles, Tom Selleck, James Michael Tyler, Maggie Wheeler, Reese Witherspoon, Malala Yousafzai, Nicollette Sheridan

Review: Have you watched the Friends Reunion (2021) yet? I finally caught the “show” last night, a week after its debut… I’m so happy that I waited. Why? Because the initial reviews and critical reaction were so mixed, to outright negative, that my expectations going-in, were low. So low, that I happened to enjoy “The Reunion” for what it was.  An event, not an episode to continue or cap-off the series.

Instead of being an episode in the series, it was simply a reunion show, gathering together, not the Friends characters but the cast, guest stars, creators, producers and writers. If you go in with that understanding, then I think any fan of the series will appreciate seeing these six “friends” reunited after 17 years apart, within faithful recreations of 4 familiar sets, on the very sound stage where the show was filmed over 10, highly successful seasons.

What did you think about this reunion event, its direction, story flow, selected highlights, guests and content presented? Do you think it will be a one-off or will it spark an actual episode or film that continues the series?

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I look forward to your JoulePepper rating of the long delayed and much anticipated, 2021 Friends: The Reunion and I would love to read your comments in the JouleView section, below. While not the best 2 hours of television, The Reunion gave us a tiny peak behind the scenes, into the history of the production, casting, bloopers and on-set gossip. While I was entertained to see and hear from the cast in their current form, I was left a bit disappointed as the show should have covered more. As neither a documentary, in my opinion, the show failed to be both comprehensive and informative but for minor insight nor an episode, the show didn’t offer fans much in the way of content. However, as a “let’s assemble the cast, in a familiar setting, to reminisce about the past for 2 hours” show, sure, that works. Based on the above, I give this film 3 JoulePeppers – it’s Warm!