A Network (and Nation?) Needs Them

Given the histrionics, cliffhanging suspense and staggering price that surrounded last year’s “Friends” renewal negotiations, one might expect that the show and its half-dozen handsomely paid stars would be happily galloping into the sunset.

A funny thing happened, however, on the way out to pasture, as various factors have combined to help “Friends” look more attractive than ever to NBC and the company that produces it, leaving the lingering question as to whether the cast can be coaxed, cajoled or caressed into agreeing to one or more additional seasons.

NBC and Warner Bros. Television, the studio behind “Friends,” would like another year, though insiders say no formal negotiations have taken place, anticipating that the process will probably be played out over the next few months. The cast members, who have twice before formed a united front in holding out for huge per-episode raises, have indicated that they don’t want to discuss a ninth season of the show until after Thanksgiving, said one source, who speculated that chances are good viewers will see “Friends” return next year.

During the last round of negotiations, “Friends” stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer jointly held out until less than 36 hours before NBC officially announced its fall prime-time lineup that May. The existing two-year extension expires this spring.

Warner Bros. and a representative for the cast declined comment. At this point, money is seen as less of an issue than whether the allure of $20 million a year each is enough to convince the performers--who have had a mixed track record in feature films--that they should continue.

Just a few months ago, it was generally assumed this would be the final year of “Friends,” and not merely because the actors have previously intimated as much. Not only had the show become extraordinarily expensive (each of the six stars earns more than $900,000 an episode after the advances against their participation in the rerun sales are added in), but it exhibited clear signs of audience fatigue last season opposite CBS’ “Survivor.”

Yet the current TV campaign has found the show reinvigorated, easily surpassing “Survivor: Africa” at 8 p.m. to rank as television’s most-watched program this season. Averaging more than 28 million viewers, tune-in for the show is up more than 20% versus the corresponding stretch last year, as a plot line involving the pregnancy of Rachel (Aniston) and identity of the father heightened ratings before the third “Survivor” made its debut. The show has largely maintained that momentum.

Even before the audience and Nielsen families weighed in, co-creator David Crane indicated that the producers felt the series had more stories to tell. During a press conference in July, he said, “We feel like the show has a lot more years in it, ninth season and beyond. I think we are still excited. We don’t feel like we’re telling the same jokes over and over again. And certainly the decision to have Rachel become pregnant has really energized the show and given us some exciting directions to go into the new season.”

At the same time, NBC’s other comedies--most notably the 9 p.m. anchor show “Will & Grace”--have failed to display the sort of broad appeal that has made the network a dominant Thursday night force since “The Cosby Show” and “Cheers” served as its 8 and 9 p.m. tent poles in the mid-1980s.

In fact, an intriguing pattern has emerged, with viewers essentially programming their own Thursday lineup. “Friends” and “ER” (also produced by Warner Bros.) easily win their time slots, while the second half of “Survivor” and CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” have ranked first during the 90 minutes in between.

While NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker acknowledged the network has struggled to find an 8:30 p.m. companion for “Friends,” the latest being the currently shelved “Inside Schwartz,” he said he isn’t alarmed by the network’s erosion from 9 to 10 p.m.--where, over the last two weeks, “CSI” has averaged 24.4 million viewers compared to 15.2 million watching “Will” and “Just Shoot Me.” Moreover, Fox’s “Temptation Island 2” washes ashore next week, a program that figures to most directly challenge NBC for the young-adult audience that remains its principal target.

Zucker noted that “Friends” has far exceeded the network’s expectations this season, making the disparity between its performance and the network’s other Thursday comedies appear more pronounced. As it is, viewing of “Will & Grace” and “Just Shoot Me” has declined about 8% versus this stage a year ago.

“We’re down a little bit, but the strongest non-NBC drama on the air has come into that time period,” Zucker said. “Yes, [“CSI”] has helped CBS’ performance, but it has only marginally impacted us.”

NBC has a particular interest in “Will & Grace” because the program is produced by NBC Studios and thus throws profits back to the network with the sales of its reruns. Still, the show--focusing on the friendship between a straight woman and gay man--appears to lack the kind of durability and widespread appeal that has characterized other occupants of its hallowed time slot, including “Cheers,” “Seinfeld” and “Frasier,” which NBC shipped to Tuesdays (much to the chagrin of series star Kelsey Grammer) last year.

In short, NBC would be hard-pressed to replace “Friends,” and while officials insist they aren’t panicking about the Thursday comedy block, TV industry sources say the network’s “Must-See TV” juggernaut would be dealt a serious blow without the series--making “Friends” valuable even if the network loses money on the fee paid to Warner Bros. (“ER,” by the way, has already been renewed into 2004.)

“At some point, ‘Friends’ will end or NBC will go bankrupt with renewals, so it’s imperative for this network that they come up with the next generation of hit comedies,” said John Rash, senior vice president and director of broadcast negotiations at Campbell Mithun Esty, a Minneapolis-based advertising agency.

Back when “Seinfeld” went off the air in 1998, The Times asked former network executives how they would address losing such a formidable hit. Brandon Stoddard, who once headed ABC Entertainment, gave his own scheduling thoughts before offering this last-resort suggestion: “You prepare a press release saying you would like to leave the network and spend more time with your family,” he quipped.

Asked if he has contemplated life without “Friends,” Zucker--the fourth occupant of the NBC Entertainment president’s chair since the show premiered in 1994--said, “I shudder to think. It’s not something that I’m prepared to dream about.”

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Times staff writer Paul Brownfield contributed to this story.

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Tracking ‘Friends’

Viewing of “Friends” had been steadily declining until this season, although it remained among TV’s most-watched shows:

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TVSeason Avg. audience in millions Rank ‘97-98 24.0 4 ‘98-99 23.5 2 ‘99-00 21.0 3 ‘00-01 19.7 3 ‘01-02* 28.4 1

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* Average for five new episodes. Other seasons cover September through May, including reruns.

Source: Nielsen Media Research