It has been around 17 years since the NBC sitcom Friends aired its finale, and it’s been nearly as long since the rumours of a reunion have been swirling. Or so it feels. No sooner had the series gone off the air that viewers had started to hope for its return. Disappointment, alas, was all that the cards held for these fans, as the cast repeatedly shot down any chances of Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, and Ross returning to the screen.

Then came 2021. Another year, another round of reunion rumours. Was it finally going to happen?
Well, not quite.

Hopes for a scripted episode were dashed yet again when it became apparent that yes, something was in the works, but that the new special was not a continuation of the series; it was instead a cast get-together where the actors would sit around and talk about being on the show. The initial disappointment eventually gave way to measured excitement. It may not be what we wanted, but we’ll still take what we can get.

And so it finally arrived, amidst much hype, the long-awaited onscreen reunion of Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer. And it was … fine, I guess?

There were certainly a lot of emotions as the cast members came together, one by one, on the set of the series that made them ridiculously rich and famous, the strong hit of nostalgia guaranteed to leave everyone teary-eyed.

They reminisced about their time on the show, sharing memories and recalling anecdotes. Between their banter, the table reads of parts from old episodes, and an amusing reprise of their infamous trivia game, you could tell their camaraderie was still intact and see just why this group of people made such a terrific onscreen ensemble.

It was all rather warm and sweet, but then the randomness really started to kick in. Before you even had the chance to wonder who let James Corden host this thing and why they would do this to us, you were distracted by a string of celebrities – people who had absolutely nothing to do with the original series but kept popping up in the special anyway to deliver testimonials about just how wonderful and vital and hilarious Friends had been. Instead of giving more time to the likes of guest stars like Larry Hankin, Thomas Lennon, and Tom Selleck, we got to hear from … Kit Harington (?), David Beckham (??), and Malala Yousafzai (???).

There were also interviews with Friends executive producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman, and David Crane, but the special could have done so much more with the crew who were actually integral to the success of the series or actors who had made memorable guest appearances (no Paul Rudd, Hank Azaria, Christina Applegate, Anna Faris, Aisha Tyler, among many others?). Instead we got Cara Delevingne dressed as an armadillo and Justin Bieber dressed as a potato. Awesome.

The whole endeavour also came off as too self-congratulatory. While Friends had been a consistently reliable comedy, it certainly had its issues, especially if you see it through today’s lens. The reunion was determined not to discuss any of that. The darker elements – like the aspects of the show that haven’t aged well (the lack of representation, Monica’s cornrows, and so on) or Matthew Perry’s battle with addiction (Perry brings up his anxiety but the special quickly moves on) – were conveniently ignored in favour of sanitised treacliness.

That said, despite the weaker bits of the program, the special still worked, thanks to the core cast who were still a delight to spend nearly two hours with. The parts where they just hung out were a lot more charming than the Corden hosted Q&A section, although neither of those was particularly revelatory. Most of what was said was stuff fans were already familiar with.

Perhaps the entire point of the reunion, though, was to spend some time revelling in nostalgia, which is something this outing certainly managed to do. But maybe some of the disappointment stems from the fact that this presentation was not the kind of entertainment – crisp, brisk, well-crafted – that made Friends such a phenomenon in the first place. Instead, it was more along the lines of lazy late show snippets, the kind that mildly entertain, in the moment, but are ultimately more disposable than essential. All in all, the special was fun, but it left you with the feeling that it could have been more, well, special.