Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Best ‘Friends:’ Hundreds flock to sitcom’s finale at House of Blues

There were laughs. There were cheers. There were even a few tears.

Then the final episode of "Friends" started and things really got emotional.

The evening was a showcase to mark the end of the beloved sitcom. NBC began the proceedings with a one-hour clip show, followed by the one-hour-plus "Friends" finale.

Nearly 800 fans of the series showed up at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay to watch the conclusion.

The "Last Cup of Coffee With Friends," as the House of Blues event was billed, served as a charity benefit for the Las Vegas Ronald McDonald House.

Beyond the good cause, for many, coming to the event was simply a way to say goodbye to some old friends.

"I wish I had friends like that in real life," said Monica Haskin, a 40-year-old Las Vegas resident who watched the show with her husband, Scott.

"They're funnier. They enjoy each other more. Each character is so unique, they're unlike anything on TV before."

Which is why, after faithfully watching the series from the beginning, she was sad to see them go.

" 'Friends' is a big part of my life," Haskin said. "I will cry ... ' "

True to her word, Haskin did tear up after Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) finally professed her love to Ross (David Schwimmer) near the show's conclusion.

"It was very nicely done," she said.

Haskin, however, wasn't the only one to shed a tear during the finale.

Amanda McGowen, 30, from Las Vegas, welled up when Rachel first told Ross that their sleeping together was "the perfect goodbye."

Later in the show, Rachel opted to leave for Paris, where she had a new job. With some encouragement from Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc), Ross chased after Rachel in an airport.

Rachel boarded her flight, but eventually had a change of heart and came back to Ross.

"I think everyone was happy with the ending," McGowen said.

And based on early expectations, NBC should be happy as well.

The network predicted 45 million would tune in to see the final episode of "Friends," in which the six thirtysomething New Yorkers finally move on with their lives and away from each other.

In a previous episode, Phoebe happily married someone outside of the circle of friends, Mike. And in the finale, husband-and-wife Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Monica (Courteney Cox Arquette) became parents of adopted twins and prepared to move to the suburbs.

Meanwhile, lovable Joey was moving to Los Angeles to further his acting career, which will be chronicled in the "Friends" spinoff "Joey" next fall.

Some fans even wondered why more wasn't made of Joey's new show in the "Friends" finale.

"I thought maybe they would set it up more for 'Joey,' " Allison Alexander, a 34-year-old Las Vegas resident, said. "But I guess they had to give the others a bigger send-off since they're not coming back next season."

But that was Alexander's only reservation with the "Friends" conclusion.

A fan of the show since it first aired 10 seasons ago, she said she still watches episodes in syndication and "knows them all by heart."

"I can pretty much recite an episode by myself," Alexander said.

She said she's always appreciated how much she could "identify" with the characters.

"When they started, they were my age onscreen," Alexander said. "So many things (in the show) relate to a certain point in your life. It's kind of validating watching them go through the same real problems as we are. It's somewhat comforting."

During its decadelong run, "Friends" has produced 236 episodes, received six Emmy Awards (including a 2002 honor for top comedy series) and has been a top-10 rated show since the 1994-1995 season.

It's little wonder, then, why the show has a devoted following, some of whom were in attendance at the House of Blues event.

Nancy Wardzinski, a forty- something Las Vegas resident, dropped out of two club organizations that met on Thursday nights to avoid a scheduling conflict with the show.

"I got so involved with 'Friends,' I quit going to meetings," she said.

And when Eileen Welch, 48, learned of the "Last Cup of Coffee With Friends" fund-raiser, she cut into her vacation time with her husband Frank to attend, even though their children were recording the show back home in Boston.

"If we weren't here, she would have pressured me to stay in the room," the 48-year-old Frank Welch joked. "And this is for a charity."

Perhaps the most dedicated fans at the finale party, though, were Stuart and Clare Bone, 28 and 29, respectively, who were on vacation from London.

The couple are such big fans -- they own every episode on videotape except for this season -- that when they first made plans for the trip two months ago, Stuart began hunting for somewhere to watch the finale.

A search on the Internet eventually led him to the House of Blues "Friends" party, where they could watch the finale live and not wait the three weeks before it airs in London.

Seeing the show ahead of time also allows for a joke they plan to pull on one of their pals, who also is a big fan of "Friends" and is in suspense over how the series will end.

"We're going to text message her and say, "Oh my God ... " Stuart Bone joked. "Just keep her hanging."

That's what friends are for.

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