Members of the Friends cast have appeared alongside their former costars in other projects, but one of the best reunions didn’t happen until a decade after the iconic sitcom ended in 2004. Friends doesn’t just remain in place as one of the best sitcoms ever, it also boasts one of the best ensemble casts in TV history. The chemistry that existed between the six main actors is something that can’t be faked, and other projects have made use of the phenomenon – albeit to a lesser extent.
The core cast remained intact throughout all 10 seasons of Friends, allowing the stories of the main characters to grow over the course of a decade. Friends had the rare ability to make a great episode with any permutation of the characters, proving how well they were all cast. Even 20 years after the show ended, the actors still snag roles, in large part, due to the pull they still have from Friends‘ success, and it’s even better when it leads to a mini-reunion.
Matthew Perry Played Courteney Cox’s Love Interest In Cougar Town’s “Like A Diamond”
Their chemistry hadn’t changed since Friends
Five years after the Friends cast disbanded, Monica Geller actor Courteney Cox snagged a role in another sitcom, spending all six seasons as part of the Cougar Town cast between 2009 and 2015. In the show’s penultimate season, Cougar Town season 5, episode 2, “Like a Diamond” brought Cox’s Friends costar into the mix, with Matthew Perry playing the character of Sam.
Although it’s a one-sided “relationship,” as Jules is leading Sam on to get away with damaging his car, the installment brings to mind strong shades of the Monica/Chandler dynamic from Friends. Because of this, it makes the reunion of Cox and Perry one of the most poignant and meta instances of members of the Friends cast working together again after the show’s final episode.
How Courtney Cox & Matthew Perry’s Cougar Town Characters Were Different From Monica & Chandler
Jules & Sam are surprisingly different from their Friends counterparts
The general demeanor of Matthew Perry’s Cougar Town and Friends characters is pretty similar, and the same is true of Courtney Cox’s characters. However, there are traits that separate them. For instance, Sam is far more spontaneous than Chandler, as proven by Sam’s high-budget marriage proposal to Jules after just one, very brief, fake date. He’s also far wealthier, and more fickle with matters of the heart.
Jules accepting Sam’s proposal in “Like a Diamond” is a perfect example of her desire to please people, which is not necessarily one of Monica’s biggest traits. The biggest difference is obviously that Sam and Jules, as far as Jules is concerned anyway, are never actually together. Alternatively, their Friends counterparts enjoy a long and happy marriage and start a family of their own.
