TV shows can come to an end for any number of reasons.
Whether the series doesn't draw in sufficient audience numbers, or the network simply doesn't see where it could go - all good things have to end at some point.
While Friends seemed to have just naturally run its course, the late Matthew Perry once said it ended for a different reason entirely.
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Perry was tragically found dead in his hot tub on 28 October.
Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer said in a joint statement: "We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family.
“There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss."
Perry had previously spoken out about why Friends came to an end while promoting his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing last year, and claimed it was largely Aniston who wanted to call time on the show.
Perry, Kudrow, Aniston, LeBlanc, and Schwimmer had all been relatively unknown prior to the hit series, which ran from 1994 to 2004.
In the end, the show ended up launching their careers.
Speaking about the show coming to a close, Perry said in his book: “The truth was, we were all ready for Friends to be done.
"For a start, Jennifer Aniston had decided that she didn’t want to do the show anymore, and as we all made decisions as a group, that meant we all had to stop.
"Jennifer wanted to do movies; I had been doing movies all that time."
He continued: “Mostly by Jenny’s design, ten was a shortened season.
“But all the characters were basically happy at this point, too, and no one wants to watch a bunch of happy people doing happy things — what’s funny about that?”
In the end, it was Perry's character Chandler who had the very last line in the show.
Ross asks if they would like to go for coffee after leaving their flat for the last time.
Chandler replies, deadpan: "Sure, where?" - the joke obviously landing because the characters always went to Central Perk for their caffeine hit.
The actor recalled: “I got to bring the curtain down on Friends.
“I love the look on Schwimmer’s face as I deliver that line — it’s the perfect mixture of affection and amusement, exactly what the show Friends had always given to the world.”
Topics: Film and TV, Friends, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry
Kit Roberts