THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
DATELINE: PASADENA, CALIF. LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
AM I the luckiest dude in the world, or what?
Today, your humble columnist is in chic Pasadena, where a three-bedroom ranch home sells for $500,000, having lunch (grilled herb-marinated Pacific swordfish) with the hottest babe on TV if you don't count Pamela Anderson of ``Baywatch.''
There's scarcely any humidity. The temperature is content to stay in the low 80s. Life is good.
Jennifer Aniston of ``Friends,'' wearing a black dress cut low to show off a Malibu tan, slips into the NBC luncheon with her publicist leading the way. Her hair is as you know it from ``Friends'' - straight, falling all over the place and always threatening to hide her cheerleader-wholesome good looks.
While ignoring the swordfish entree - actresses here tend to live on 800 calories a day - Aniston says she believes in her heart of hearts that all the cast members in the NBC sitcom will be nominated for an Emmy.
It didn't turn out that way. Only the recently wed Lisa Kudrow, who plays a semi-ditz, and David Schwimmer were among the friends on ``Friends'' to be nominated - one of eight nominations for a show that hasn't even been on TV a full year.
Don't pout, Jennifer. There is always next year.
It's a phenom, this ``Friends,'' rising recently to No. 1 in overall ratings, and No. 1 among viewers 18 to 49. That means a lot of people are discovering it in summer reruns.
But, success can be a scary thing, said Aniston.
How so?
``I was attending a premiere when one person asked for an autograph, and then another asked, and then another. Before long, I was surrounded. I was mobbed. Crushed. The fans of `Friends' seem to have invested a great deal of their emotions in the show.''
And since their investment is so deep, they no doubt spend these long summer days dwelling on the outcome of the Rachel (Aniston) and Ross (Schwimmer) almost-romance.
Last season, it finally dawned on the clueless Rachel that Ross was crazy about her. But by the time she picked up on it, he had flown overseas and found love elsewhere in the person of Lauren Tom.
What now, I ask producer David Crane, who also came to lunch to schmooze with TV writers.
Crane promises that the new season of ``Friends'' will pick up where it ended last May with Rachel, flowers in hand, waiting at the airport for Ross who bounded off the plane with another woman on his arm.
As for the future of Ross and Rachel, he says, ``We've scripted out the first third of the season, and I still honestly don't know in what direction their relationship will go. We don't want to frustrate or annoy the audience by carrying out the Ross-Rachel thing forever. We don't want to make them so mad that they will stop watching.''
Let's suppose that Ross and Rachel do bond. And then break up.
Will that not disrupt the chemistry of this sitcom about close friends who hang out in a coffee house called Central Perk?
Crane doesn't think so. ``What-ever happens to any or all the characters, the result will always be the same. They will come back together as a group, as friends.''
Among the things that could happen, says Crane, is a lasting romance for Chandler (Matthew Perry). ``He's had short relationships. Affairs. But never a real-life girl-friend.''
The producers are also thinking about bringing the spirit of Phoebe's deceased mother into the show because Phoebe is always talking about her.
But the biggest change of all involving ``Friends'' this fall will have nothing to do with plotlines. The biggest change comes when NBC moves the show from its peach of a time slot at 9:30 p.m. Thursday after ``Seinfeld'' to Thursday at 8 p.m.
NBC has given the ``Friends'' 9:30 Thursday night time period to a new sitcom, ``Caroline in the City.'' And NBC is making another bold move in relocating ``Mad About You'' (seven Emmy nominations) from Thursdays at 8 p.m. to Sundays at 8.
``Single Guy'' will be the NBC show at 8:30 on Thursdays, replacing ``Hope & Gloria.'' ``H&G'' follows ``Mad About You'' to Sunday in a time slot where ``Murder, She Wrote'' on CBS once ruled. (You'll find that show on Thursdays at 8 p.m., up against ``Friends'' and ``Single Guy'').
The producers and stars of ``Friends'' are a bit troubled by the move. Who can blame them?
Of the switch to 8, Aniston comments, ``We did really well at 9:30, and I expect an audience that loves the show and is faithful to the show will follow it to 8 o'clock. But, you know, there are an awful lot of people who aren't home at that hour.''
When Crane is asked to define the success of ``Friends,'' he notes that many things came together to make the show work - fine scripts, a young, attractive cast gifted at comedy plus a terrific time slot.
He brings up the intangibles. ``There is an element of magic in a successful television show.
``When a series goes into production, the potential for messing it up is great,'' he says. ``So far with `Friends,' nobody has messed it up.''
Until now, he means.
It remains to be seen if ``Friends'' will maintain its momentum as an 8 o'clock show. Isn't it too sophisticated, too charged with sexual energy for the family hour?
If ``Friends'' loses viewers by the millions in its new home, then NBC will have messed up by disturbing a Thursday night schedule that buried the competition last season.
What's for dessert? MEMO: Television columnist Larry Bonko is in Los Angeles for the twice-yearly
Television Critics press tour. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
NBC
Jennifer Aniston, bottom left, and David Schwimmer, top left, with
the rest of cast of "Friends."
by CNB