TVSquad

(S01E11) I have to open this review by saying I've never been a big fan of Lisa Kudrow's work. Phoebe, for the most part, was my least favorite character on Friends, and Kudrow always struck me as the kind of actor who plays one role really well, then just plays variations on that role for the rest of his or her career. When you like that signature character, you're fine with it. But when you don't, it just becomes grating.

Any role I've seen Kudrow in just reminds me of Phoebe, and the role she played last night, as mean skin doc Amy Evans, just felt like Phoebe when she was in one of her bad moods. So the overhyped Friends-reunion part of the episode didn't do much for me, for a lot of reasons. But the rest of the episode was just more evidence that this is quickly becoming one of the best ensembles on TV.

It was bound to happen. We even wrote about it this past July. While a reunion show probably won't happen, it's always news when two cast members from the former hit sitcom Friends appear on screen together. In this case, it's Lisa Kudrow who will be guest-starring on Courteney Cox's sitcom, Cougar Town.

Of course, as a twist, they will not be friends in Kudrow's visit, but rather enemies. Kudrow plays a dermatologist that Cox's character goes to see. Will this be any different than Jennifer Aniston's appearance on Dirt playing a rival of Courteney Cox on that show?

This is Spoilers Anonymous, a weekly column here at TV Squad where we supply you with the dirt on some of the more popular shows on the air. We'll never put spoilers up here on the main page in order to help the reformed stay unspoiled. If you have anything to add to the group, feel free to step up and let yourself be heard, either with our tips form or by emailing us at tvsquad at gmail dot com, or call and leave a message at (775) 640-8479. Your anonymity is guaranteed, if you wish to remain as such.

This week we have spoilers for: 24, 90210, Cougar Town, Desperate Housewives, Eastwick, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, and NCIS. (SPOILERS FOLLOW!)

You know, ever since Friends went off the air, rumors have cropped up again and again that there would be a big screen version of the show, presumably picking up the storylines from the grand finale. Of course, if you remember the great stories on Joey, maybe post-Friends storytelling isn't such a grand idea after all.

However, at least one person is sure that a feature film is coming. James Michael Tyler, who poured the coffee at Central Perk as Gunther (he also ogled Rachel), was asked about the movie version and Tyler said that Friends: The Movie is definitely on.

So no one told him life was going to be this way, but it was, at least for a few days. A gentleman in Brixton, South London named Steve Misiura watched every single episode of Friends in a non-stop marathon. That's 84 hours of Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey, and Phoebe loving, fighting, and drinking coffee. He actually broke the world record for watching TV, which was at 72 hours straight. I think this is a record someone here at TV Squad should try to break.

Of course, this being the age of the web, he kept a blog about it and uploaded pictures from the event. The picture above is Steve about 80 hours into his marathon. He began to hallucinate and get various ailments.

I think it would have been OK, record-wise, if he had interrupted his marathon at some point. He could have just used the excuse "I was on a break!"

The media never turns down a chance to advertise a "reunion" of the cast of NBC's Friends, even when it's only two cast members appearing in the same show. Courtney Cox will be guest-starring on Web Therapy, an online-only show produced by L Studio starring Lisa Kudrow.

I recall when Jennifer Aniston guest-starred on the two-seasoned FX series Dirt which starred Courteney Cox. That was subliminally billed as a Friends reunion as well.

One could argue that this is a cheap marketing ploy, and that person would be correct. It could be one that works, though. I haven't watched Web Therapy, but the premise seems interesting and it's certainly the sort of role Lisa Kudrow could pull off.

There are many Thanksgiving traditions we all enjoy: the turkey, the stuffing, watching football, fighting over the drumstick to see whose wish comes true, and putting up with family members you avoid 363 days of the year (you see them at Christmas too).

There's another tradition, this one TV-oriented: Friends!

We all speculated as to what role Jennifer Aniston will play when she guest stars on NBC's 30 Rock later this year, and now we know what part she'll play. It's actually one of the choices we came up with.

Aniston will play an old friend of Liz Lemon who starts to stalk Jack Donaghy. The character is described as an ex-roommate of Liz's from Chicago who is a "free-spirited, Fatal Attraction-like stalker." Well, let's hope that she isn't completely like that. We don't need any gunshots to the chest or bunny-boiling on 30 Rock. The character's name is Claire Harper.

So we've had Aniston and David Schwimmer on the show. I think all of the Friends people should appear on 30 Rock at some point.

Thanks to the success of the Sex and the City movie -- and talk of more to come -- the rumor mill has been bubbling with other TV shows making the leap to the big screen. In the case of Arrested Development, it sure sounds like the truth.

However, the Friends feature is a rumor that has no legs. Warners owns the property and on July 4th, even though all U.S. offices were closed for the holiday, denied the rumors via the London office.

Jayne Trotman, Warner's director of publicity, said of the Friends movie, "(There's) no truth in the story."

Just to be sure, Matthew Perry's press rep also denied the rumor. She told the BBC that nothing is happening and the rumor is just that, a shred of news with no value attached to it.

If there is one rumor that never dies it's the one about the possibility of a Friends reunion. Since the series finale aired in May 2004, rumors about a reunion popped up here, there and everywhere. Sometimes the rumor takes the form of "there will be another spinoff" (remember Joey?) but most of the time it's a "there are talks about a movie but one of the stars doesn't want to commit." This week's revival of the rumor is of the latter kind.

What can I say about Friends that hasn't already been said? You either like the show or you don't. I think a lot of people look at the show as "just another sitcom" about friends who hang out somewhere, one that was overhyped and one where the stars where overpaid. The hype I can't argue with and the pay, well, more power to them if they could get it. But I also happen to think that for a while there, several seasons in the middle of the show's 10 year run, it was one of the best sitcoms of all-time. It was remarkably well-written, clever, and at the same time had at its core a really big heart that all the copycats that followed couldn't recreate.

But what about this DVD set? Should you go out and buy the complete set?

I had a very interesting week last week. The high point was an interview I did with Laura Silverman for my podcast. Most of you will know Laura from her role as Sarah's sister on The Sarah Silverman Program. However, she also had major roles on HBO's The Comeback and the comedy classic Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist.

She had some funny things to say about working for HBO and Comedy Central but the best part of the interview was a story she told about Sarah's pooch, Duck, who plays Doug on the Comedy Central show.

Since the last episode of the hit series Friends aired in May 2004, rumors have been flying around as to if and when a reunion would happen. Over the years, there have been reports that some of the actors didn't want to be part of a reunion, at least, not for a while. None of these reports were properly confirmed. However, this week comes the confirmation that David Schwimmer, who played the character of Ross, will not take part in a Friends reunion if there ever is one.

I guess this holiday season will be the season of the complete set. First The West Wing, then Alias, now comes word that a DVD set containing all of the Friends episodes will be released on November 14.

Note to family: you probably won't be getting any gifts from me this year.

Not only will the set include all 10 season sets from the show, there will be tons of extras, including 25 commentaries, 25 documentaries, a gag reel, and trivia. In this special set will also be a 60 page collector's book with the history of the show, photos, and the original pitch the creators made to the network.

Like most sets, it will go for around $300, but Amazon and other places will have it for much less.

I don't get all the hoopla surrounding Lisa Kudrow. She played a ditzy blonde on Mad About You and then she played a higher-profile ditzy blonde on Friends. Now there's news that she has a development deal with NBC that could have her starring in a new show. Why??? It seemed to me that she totally phoned in a lot of her performances on Friends. Especially after she had her own baby in real life, but her character, Phoebe, was still pregnant on Friends. Watch those episodes and you'll see she doesn't even try to act like the belly is real. She sits down, stands up, and bounces around even though she's supposed to be pregnant with triplets.