[IMG:L]It’s been a little over five years since the end of NBC’s beloved Friends, and with no reunion in sight (and probably no movie, unless you want to believe Gunther), the six main cast members continue to pursue other endeavors. And since most of the stars have been in the news lately for their respective upcoming projects, now’s the perfect time to look at what everyone has been up to since 2004 — and grade their post-Friends careers.
She was on the cusp of movie stardom towards the end of Friends, and that potential has been fully realized ever since — with some on- and off-screen hiccups along the way. Aniston’s under-the-radar, seldom-discussed break-up with Brad Pitt in 2005 — and her heretofore fruitless hunt for a replacement Pitt — continues to account for priceless publicity, while her big-screen career has been more hit (The Break-Up, Marley & Me and He’s Just Not That Into You were massive; Friends With Money was a critical success) than miss (Derailed, Rumor Has It, Management and Love Happens, none of which was a colossal financial bomb). She’ll primarily be staying the rom-com course for the foreseeable future.
Post-Friends Grade: B+
Life after Friends hasn’t been too pretty for the former Monica Geller(-Bing), but things are finally looking up. All of her movies have been either critical (November, Barnyard, Zoom) or commercial (Zoom again!) disasters, and her first post-Friends stab at the small screen, 2007’s Dirt, couldn’t even survive two seasons — on FX! However, Cox’s new sitcom, Cougar Town, has (inexplicably) been garnering solid ratings and was picked up for a second season after just two episodes. Movie-wise, the actress has been penciled in for the forthcoming Scream fourquel, along with her husband David Arquette.
Post-Friends Grade: C+
Kudrow’s uneventful — though not completely unsuccessful — post-Friends career is a testament to how difficult Hollywood can be when an actor’s proverbial once-in-a-lifetime role comes to an end. (Although the constant syndication checks probably help soften the blow!) Kudrow didn’t waste any time after Friends, starring in one of the most criminally under-watched and misunderstood series in a long time: HBO’s biting satire The Comeback. Her movie choices have been less admirable — and all over the radar, from indie garbage (Happy Endings) to sappy garbage (P.S. I Love You) and kiddie-flick garbage (Hotel for Dogs). She emerges unscathed from said missteps because her performances are always adequate and her roles small, but Kudrow could do a lot better.
Post-Friends Grade: C+
LeBlanc’s career since Friends hasn’t been unlike that of his character, Joey Tribbiani: bad acting and looong stretches of unemployment! It all started — and effectively ended — with the D.O.A. spinoff (and aren’t all spinoffs D.O.A.?) Joey, which lasted, quite charitably, just two seasons and initially sullied Friends’ legacy a bit. And that was literally the last we’d seen or heard from LeBlanc until just a few weeks ago, when it was announced that he would star in a great-sounding Showtime series that appears to be a thinly veiled shot at Joey. Self-satire might be just the antidote LeBlanc and his career need at this point, following what was essentially a self-imposed stint in showbiz jail.
Post-Friends Grade: D-
Well, give the guy some credit: He’s been busy over the last five years, even if he can’t quite be proud of every project. Which is to say … 2007’s Numb went straight to DVD; 2008’s Birds of America still hasn’t seen the light of day; and the 2006 TNT movie The Ron Clark Story, which did earn Perry an Emmy and Golden Globe nom, was cringe-inducingly cheesy. Projects for which he can hold his head much higher: the unfairly short-lived Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (legend has it that NBC had to cut one of its show-within-a-show series, and opted to axe Studio 60 instead of 30 Rock) and hitching a ride on the Zac Efron vehicle 17 Again. Perry also boasts an intriguing upcoming slate with the big-screen adaptation of Peter Biskind’s industry expose Down and Dirty Pictures and the just-announced ABC pickup of his as-yet-untitled sitcom pilot, which is already getting a great deal of buzz.
Post-Friends Grade: B
Schwimmer (aka the Annoying Friend), who amassed 10 directing credits during his Friends run, has gone behind the camera quite a bit since the show ended — but he hasn’t given up acting and has in fact chosen his onscreen work wisely. Schwimmer’s guest-starring performances on 30 Rock and Curb Your Enthusiasm were equally well-played (although his recent Entourage cameo was obnoxious); the Madagascar franchise has added blockbusters to his resume; and last year’s indie thriller Nothing But the Truth deserved more attention and praise than it received. But clearly Schwimmer is more comfortable wearing the director’s hat, and even though his debut Run, Fatboy, Run was straight-to-DVD-caliber awful, it displayed some promise. He vastly improved with six episodes of HBO’s wacky Little Britain USA, and, much like Perry and LeBlanc, Schwimmer made headlines recently: He will helm the well-pedigreed drama Trust, starring Catherine Keener and Clive Owen.
Post-Friends Grade: B+
