TOPLINE The hotly anticipated Friends reunion will air on HBO Max on May 27, the streamer announced Thursday, releasing a teaser trailer and star-studded list of guest stars for the unscripted Friends: The Reunion—or, “The One Where They Get Back Together.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MedRN92V6lE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trailer</a>&nbsp;shows the backs of the six central&nbsp;Friends&nbsp;cast members—Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer—who will all be participating in the reunion special.



HBO Max described the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2020/11/13/friends-reunion-episode-to-film-in-march-after-months-of-covid-19-delays/?sh=6a535d3f6593">reunion</a>&nbsp;as a “real-life unscripted celebration” of the TV series, which was filmed on the show’s original soundstage at the Warner Bros. Studio backlot in California.



HBO has previously&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/friends-reunion-special-miss-hbo-max-launch-1289773/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;the show will feature the original cast members reuniting on the show’s sets as themselves “to reminisce,” stressing they “want to make it very clear that this is not a new, original episode of the series.”



Friends: The Reunion&nbsp;will feature such guests stars as David Beckham,&nbsp;Justin Bieber,&nbsp;BTS,&nbsp;James Corden,&nbsp;Cindy Crawford,&nbsp;Cara Delevingne,&nbsp;Lady Gaga,&nbsp;Elliott Gould,&nbsp;Kit Harington,&nbsp;Larry Hankin,&nbsp;Mindy Kaling,&nbsp;Thomas Lennon,&nbsp;Christina Pickles,&nbsp;Tom Selleck,&nbsp;James Michael Tyler,&nbsp;Maggie Wheeler,&nbsp;Reese Witherspoon&nbsp;and&nbsp;Malala Yousafzai, HBO announced Thursday.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



The&nbsp;Friends&nbsp;reunion special was first confirmed in Feb. 2020 after years of the cast denying the show would return after going off the air in 2004, with the show’s original stars revealing on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B82FMKcBKHL/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Instagram</a>: “It’s happening.” The special was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/friends-reunion-special-miss-hbo-max-launch-1289773/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">delayed</a>&nbsp;for a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2020/11/13/friends-reunion-episode-to-film-in-march-after-months-of-covid-19-delays/?sh=6a535d3f6593">year</a>&nbsp;due to the Covid-19 pandemic, however, after being originally slated to film in late March 2020 and launch with HBO Max. It was unclear when the special would debut before Thursday’s announcement, and the show’s official Instagram account&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNgYJgoHWZm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">revealed</a>&nbsp;April 10 that filming had only just been completed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



At least $2.5 million. That’s reportedly how much each of the Friends stars are being paid for the one-off special, according to <a href="https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/friends-cast-reunion-hbo-max-1203510743/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple</a> <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/friends-reunion-special-officially-a-go-at-hbo-max-1280432/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sources</a>.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2020/11/13/friends-reunion-episode-to-film-in-march-after-months-of-covid-19-delays/?sh=6a535d3f6593">Friends Reunion Episode To Film In March After Months Of Covid-19 Delays</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/friends-reunion-special-miss-hbo-max-launch-1289773/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘Friends’ Reunion Special to Miss HBO Max Launch</a>&nbsp;(Hollywood Reporter)



<a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a31050315/friends-reunion-special-news-cast-spoilers-date/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Friends Reunion Special Is Coming in 2021</a> (Harpers Bazaar)



By Alison Durkee, Forbes Staff

Friends Television Stills Television

‘Friends’ Reunion To Air On HBO Max May 27 — See Who Will Be Joining The Original Cast

WarnerMedia revealed the name of its new streaming service, HBO Max, and said it will lay claim to exclusive streaming rights to the hit sitcom&nbsp;Friends, a blow to rival Netflix.



The service, which launches commercially in the spring of 2020, will be anchored in HBO’s premium content, as the name implies. But it also will feature exclusive originals, such as a one-hour thriller series starring&nbsp;The Big Bang Theory’s&nbsp;Kaley Cuoco, and a ten-episode romantic anthology series featuring&nbsp;Pitch Perfect’s&nbsp;Anna Kendrick.



Though original programming may attract subscribers, popular shows likeFriends&nbsp;have the enduring, comfort-food appeal of the familiar. HBO Max will be home to all 236 episodes of&nbsp;Friends,&nbsp;the long-running situation comedy about a group of friends in Manhattan that debuted in 1994 but remains popular long after the last episode aired on NBC in 2004. Netflix paid a reported $100 million last December to keep Ross, Rachel and the rest of the crew on for another year.



WarnerMedia didn’t reveal pricing for Max. The network’s stand-alone subscription streaming service, HBO Now, costs $15, more than Netflix’s standard plan ($12.99) and the recently announced Disney+ streaming service ($6.99). It declined&nbsp;Forbes’&nbsp;request for an interview.



The announcement follows a tumultuous period at WarnerMedia, as AT&amp;T entertainment division&#8217;s chief executive, John Stankey, reorganized business units and installed new leadership.



Eager to lay claim to a corner of the rapidly evolving streaming media landscape, Stankey announced plans last fall to launch a three-tiered service, with a variety of pricing and content offerings. He promised the service would debut in “beta” by the end of 2019—matching the planned launches of the Walt Disney Co.’s streaming service and the anticipated debut of Apple TV+. The newly christened HBO Max will exist alongside HBO Now and HBO Go, the streaming service offered free to the network’s TV subscribers.



Under the details made public today, HBO Max will feature seven original series and draw from HBO’s programming slate, which includes an adaptation of Stephen King’s mystery,&nbsp;The Outsider,&nbsp;starring Ben Mendelsohn;&nbsp;Lovecraft Country,&nbsp;a horror series based on a novel by Matt Ruff, and executive produced by Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams; and&nbsp;The Undoing,&nbsp;a psychological thriller from noted television producer David E. Kelley, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant.



The forthcoming service will also draw from Warner Bros. Television’s extensive library, claiming popular past shows like&nbsp;The Fresh Prince of Bel Air&nbsp;and&nbsp;Pretty Little Liars.&nbsp;It will also get dibs on the new shows Warner TV produces for The CW network, including the forthcoming DC Entertainment series&nbsp;Batwoman.



WarnerMedia said HBO Max reached exclusive deals with Hollywood producer Greg Berlanti (The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow) and award-winning actress and producer Reese Witherspoon. Berlanti will produce an initial four movies focused in the young adult space, while Witherspoon&#8217;s Hello Sunshine will produce at least two films.



-Dawn Chmielewski; Forbes Staff

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Netflix Rival HBO Max To Launch Next Year With ‘Friends’

The creator of the notorious&nbsp;Game of Thrones&nbsp;<a href="https://www.change.org/p/hbo-remake-game-of-thrones-season-8-with-competent-writers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">petition</a>&nbsp;calling on HBO to remake the show’s eighth and final season only learned of its success (more than 1.2 million have signed) on Thursday, days after it went viral.



HBO’s high fantasy series&nbsp;Game of Thrones&nbsp;has for years been a juggernaut, giving the network some of its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hbo-season-premiere-ratings-popular-shows-compared-chart-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">highest</a>&nbsp;ratings ever. But the show’s final episodes have drawn the ire of fans and some critics who say the writing has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/game-of-thrones-season-8-backlash" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sloppy</a>&nbsp;and plot points were unearned.



After offhandedly making the petition more than a week ago as a way to vent, Dylan (he declined to give his full name to&nbsp;Forbes), a 30-year-old analyst for a health system in Fort Worth, Texas, hadn’t given it a second thought. That is, until a coworker approached him after work.



“Hey, is this you?” the coworker said.



And that’s how he learned his Change.org petition had blown up. After learning of his newfound internet fame, he provided an online&nbsp;<a href="https://www.change.org/p/hbo-remake-game-of-thrones-season-8-with-competent-writers/u/24572094" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">update</a>, where he told the world that no one from HBO has approached him. He doesn’t reasonably expect HBO to remake anything, he said, but he wants to send a message: he’s disappointed.



In an email exchange with&nbsp;Forbes, here is what Dylan had to say about the petition. Warning: This contains spoilers.



What exactly prompted you to start the petition? You said it was a few days after Episode 4. What in particular were you disappointed by, both in that episode and the next one?



Really it was a combination of Episode 3 and 4’s failures that brought me to the point of writing the petition. There were many, many qualms I had with the episodes, but I’ll mention a couple. The Battle of Winterfell was a strategic disgrace. I mentioned in my long update that the show suffered from “everyone is stupid” syndrome. I’m sure there is a better term for it, but when the plot is intense and dramatic simply because every character involved is an idiot, that is not great writing. You had some of the wisest, most experienced individuals in Westeros all in one room, and THAT was the defense strategy? As for Episode 4 I had many lamentations, but the specific one that made me facepalm the hardest was how Rhaegal died. Easily one of the cheapest deaths of the whole series. I could probably go on for a long time about it, but that’ll do for now.



Have you started other Change.org petitions before?



I have not. I understand that they are normally for more social and humanitarian issues, but maybe this whole thing has drawn more people to the site that can browse these other petitions.



What do you make of the overwhelming response this petition has gotten? And some of the backlash about “entitled fans” and whatnot.



Well in my long update I talked about how I started it and how surprised I was by the response when I checked back in after a week. I was mostly just chuckling at it, taking it lightly, then I learned my parents had contacted news institutions and reporters and I was taken aback. This petition isn’t about me. Any passionate nerd could have written it. Heck I clearly put like the minimum effort into the original post! I have seen a few things calling out the petition and its signers as a whole, but nothing yet that calls me out directly. I guess if we’re entitled, we’re entitled together. I hoped to clear some things up in my update post, but I may have taken too long to put some clarifying words out there.



Did your parents reach out to reporters after you found out the petition had been doing well? Are they fans of the show as well? (Author’s note: I asked this question in a follow up email).&nbsp;



Yeah I had called them on my way home from work after I found out myself, just to say, &#8220;Hey check this out, neat huh?&#8221; They were notably more excited than I was about the &#8220;internet fame&#8221; and started reaching out to reporters on their own. I wasn&#8217;t terribly thrilled about it, but they were excited for me. Yes, I got my parents into the show maybe around season 5 or so&#8230;can&#8217;t remember when, but I introduced everyone in my immediate family to the show.



Has your life changed at all since the petition blew up?



Well since I only learned of its success [Thursday] after work, the only life impact I have experienced so far is a lack of sleep for one night. I think I was too pumped to sleep well last night! I would imagine that after the finale the petition will garner more attention, but we’ll see.



What do you hope to get out of the petition now? I know you said you don’t expect HBO to actually remake Season 8 and that no one from HBO has been in contact with you.



That’s the question isn’t it? Sometimes acknowledgement of the outcry is enough, and decisions are made behind the scenes to adjust for such backlash. I am also one of the somewhat disgruntled&nbsp;Star Wars&nbsp;fans as well – relatively unhappy with the writing of the new trilogy – so seeing D&amp;D (D.B. Weiss and David Benioff) lose their&nbsp;Star Wars&nbsp;contracts might be interesting. I have seen people call for that. I just don’t know why they should be rewarded with another beloved story after what we saw from the end of&nbsp;Thrones, but who knows? If we get a&nbsp;Star Warstrilogy from them that&#8217;s as good as the first few seasons of Thrones, I might be eating my words.



Do you still think&nbsp;Game of Thrones&nbsp;&nbsp;is one of the greatest TV shows of all time?



Absolutely. It is a universal cultural phenomenon. I heard someone once say something along the lines of, “This show shouldn’t even exist. It’s this crazy, convoluted fantasy epic with dragons and zombies and castles and political drama. We should be happy it was brought to us.” That’s some huge paraphrasing, but I do agree with the sentiment. In my long update, I say that D&amp;D deserve praise for their adaptation of the books during the first several seasons of the show. Obviously the praise stops short towards the end of the rushed series.



-Rachel Sandler; Forbes Staff

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This ‘Game of Thrones’ Fan Demands A Rewrite—And 1.2 Million Sign Petition

On July 16, viewers around the world will eagerly tune into the premiere of the seventh season of Game of Thrones.
That phrase – “viewers around the world” – hasn’t applied to television premieres before. For most of its history, television has been a profoundly national medium. While shows like <a href="http://www.ultimatedallas.com/dallas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dallas</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096542/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Baywatch</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096697/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Simpsons</a> all drew large global audiences, international television trade required delays: A television series could air in different countries, but it often happened months – even years – after it would air in its country of origin.
As I explore in <a href="http://www.amandalotz.com/we-now-disrupt-this-broadcast/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">my book</a> “We Now Disrupt This Broadcast: How Cable Transformed Television and the Internet Revolutionized It All,” many of those practices have changed in recent years. It’s now possible for a series to release new episodes for viewers around the world, and the result is a global watercooler – a shared media culture that transcends national boundaries.
While you might think that <a href="https://www.netflix.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Netflix</a> or <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/getstarted" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Amazon Video</a> would have an advantage, it’s an <a href="http://www.hbo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">HBO</a> show – <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944947/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Game of Thrones</a> – that’s at the forefront of this phenomenon.
<h2>Building a global fan base</h2>
Even in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-has-tv-storytelling-become-so-complex-37442" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a golden era of television production</a>, Game of Thrones stands out. HBO <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hayleycuccinello/2016/04/22/game-of-thrones-season-6-costs-10-million-per-episode-has-biggest-battle-scene-ever/#62c056eb11bb" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spends lavishly</a> on the series – beyond what most other networks can afford – and the result is a visually breathtaking product.
Its fantasy setting takes place in a world that isn’t geographically or culturally distinctive to the U.S., which also broadens audience appeal. Television shows that aren’t country-specific – miniseries such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118414/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Odyssey</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115195/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gulliver’s Travels</a> – tend to be among the most successful in international trade. There was also a built-in global fan base from <a href="http://www.georgerrmartin.com/grrm_book/a-game-of-thrones-5-book-bundle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the popular series of novels</a> that inspired the show.
Game of Thrones, however, didn’t start out as a global blockbuster.
HBO debuted the show in 2011 for its U.S. cable channel. Following standard practice, the network sold the series to channels around the world that would air the series with the typical delay. For example, Canal+ airs it in France, Sky Atlantic airs it in Italy and Foxtel airs it in Australia. There are also several HBO branded channels around the globe such as HBO Canada, HBO Central Europe, and HBO Asia. Some are owned fully or in part by HBO’s parent company; others just license the name.
By 2014 Game of Thrones had become <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2014/06/game-of-thrones-now-hbos-most-watched-show-ever.html#" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the network’s biggest hit</a>. But as the show’s popularity grew, so did its rates of piracy. While unauthorized access of video is difficult to measure with certainty, many called the series <a href="http://time.com/4618954/game-of-thrones-pirated-2016/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the most pirated show in the world</a>.
<h2>How HBO pulled it off</h2>
We’d expect changes wrought by the internet to have played a key role. They did, but not in the way you’d expect. HBO didn’t use the internet to distribute Game of Thrones to subscribers around the world <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-unique-strategy-netflix-deployed-to-reach-90-million-worldwide-subscribers-74885" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">like Netflix and Amazon Video have done with their series</a>. Instead, the internet was important to the series’ global growth because of the opportunities it gave fans to interact with one another.
The intricate, surprising storylines on Game of Thrones inspired instant dissection and analysis on social media feeds. This encouraged fans in TV markets outside of the U.S. to seek out unauthorized video sources: It was the only way they could avoid spoilers. While <a href="http://ew.com/article/2015/04/21/game-thrones-piracy-record/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">news stories</a> about the high rates of piracy highlighted the popularity of the series – a form of free promotion – HBO certainly would prefer viewers to watch through authorized channels. Eliminating the delay in access was one solution.
In 2015, just before the start of its fifth season, HBO <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/game-thrones-season-5-set-780377" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced that it had deals</a> in 170 markets around the world to air new episodes simultaneously with its U.S. broadcast. This was not unprecedented. Dr. Who did the same in 2013 with a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/doctor-who/10470879/Doctor-Who-breaks-simulcast-world-record.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">94-country simulcast</a> in honor of its 50th anniversary – a one-time event.
Arguably no network other than HBO could have pulled it off.
Because HBO is both the producer and distributor of the series, it can adjust the timing of its international availability. Making shows (the job of studios) and presenting them to audiences (the job of channels) are two different businesses, and their interests don’t perfectly align. If a different studio produced Game of Thrones for HBO, the studio might be too concerned that the simulcast would diminish its ability to sell the series to other distributors. Moreover, HBO had significant international reach and relationships that provided it with a direct pipeline to viewers outside the U.S.
<h2>Not the new normal – for now</h2>
While HBO has shown that global TV blockbusters are now possible, they aren’t likely to become common practice. Internet-distributed services that are building a global subscriber base – such as Netflix and Amazon Video – have a clear advantage in this regard. They have customers around the world and can act as the producer and distributor of their series or negotiate for worldwide rights. It’s notable, however, that neither has succeeded in creating a true blockbuster hit. For example, Netflix’s “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2189461/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Marco Polo</a>” had a huge budget and a premise that appealed to audiences around the world. <a href="http://deadline.com/2016/12/marco-polo-canceled-2-seasons-netflix-1201869350/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">But it never caught on</a>.
While <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/blockbusters/anitaelberse/9781429945325/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">blockbusters can be incredibly lucrative</a>, there’s no magic formula for making one. The odds of success are far greater when making series that speak specifically to the cultural experiences of people in individual countries or with particular tastes.
Once Netflix and Amazon Video have firmed up a strong subscriber base outside of the U.S. with local programming, look for them to also wade into the risky – but rewarding – business of global blockbusters. &#8211; Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/amanda-lotz-154746" target="_blank" rel="author noopener noreferrer">Amanda Lotz</a>, Fellow at the Peabody Media Center and Professor of Media Studies, University of Michigan
This article was originally published in <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Conversation</a>
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Tag: HBO

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

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This ‘Game of Thrones’ Fan Demands A Rewrite—And 1.2 Million Sign Petition

How Game of Thrones became TV’s first global blockbuster