When we reach New Year's Eve this year, many of us will look back at HBO Max's 'Friends - The Reunion' as one of the most hyped TV programmes of 2021.
There has been huge interest in the reunion show not just from those who avidly watched the sitcom over its 10 season run from 1994 to 2004 but subsequent generations who have caught reruns or come to it through streaming services.
Broadcast in over 100 countries, 'Friends' was one of the defining US sitcoms of the 1990s.
It made Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimer, Matthew Perry and Matt Le Blanc household names.
It also spawned many imitiations like CBS's 'How I Met Your Mother,' BBC2's 'Coupling' and Fox's 'New Girl,'
However the story of Rachel's turbulent love affair with Ross, Chandler's eventual romance with Monica and Phoebe and Joey's adventures has endured in a way that those other shows haven't.
In the 17 years since, Aniston has carved out a career in movies.
LeBlanc's spin-off 'Joey' was axed after one series but he recovered his mojo in the BBC sitcom 'Episodes' and as the host of the corporation's 'Top Gear'.
Schwimmer, Cox, Kudrow and Perry have dabbled in small and big screen ventures to varying degrees of success.
Meanwhile fans have wondered if the characters will ever be resurrected for a one-off episode or a movie or a reboot series.
'Friends - the Reunion' doesn't breathe new life into the sitcom's characters.
But what it does is bring together the cast to reminisce on the old sets about their time working on it.
Now in their fifties, some cast members have aged better than others and that will no doubt jolt some people who are still used to seeing them in their twentysomething prime.
However the purpose of the show is to tap into the deep well of nostalgia around 'Friends' and lift the curtain on what it was like to star in a massive TV show.
Produced and hosted by chat show presenter and 'Gavin and Stacey' creator James Corden, the HBO Max special assembles a stunning array of stars to gush over the show.
Korean pop sensations BTS, David Beckham, Malala Yousafzai, Kit Harrington and Mindy Kalling are among those who come to praise 'Friends'.
Cara Delevingne, Justin Bieber and Cindy Crawford take part in a mock fashion show modelling costumes from classic episodes like Ross's Spudnik Halloween outfit or the Holiday Armadillo.
Lady Gaga joins Lisa Kudrow to sing Phoebe's iconic song 'Smelly Cat' and kind of hijacks it.
Actors who played iconic characters like Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles (the Gellers), Maggie Wheeler (Janice), James Michael Tyler (Gunther), Reese Witherspoon (Rachel's sister Jill Green) and Tom Selleck (Monica's older boyfriend Dr Richard Burke) pop up to share their memories or join in a quiz based on 'Friends' trivia.
However the bulk of the special is taken up by the cast and its creators Kevin S Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane recollecting with dewy eyes what it was like to work on the show and to suddenly find themselves catapulted into incredible fame and fortune.
Some of that reminiscing is done on set.
Some of it occurs before a live audience while Corden interviews them.
Some of it is triggered by the cast watching clips of classic scenes, footage captured on set or a bloopers reel.
Some of it emerges from table reads of classic moments like Ross and Rachel's first kiss or Phoebe's discovery of Chandler and Monica's affair.
During the show, Aniston and Schwimmer admit to Corden to having harboured huge crushes on each other during filming but never quite acting upon that urge.
We see footage of Le Blanc dislocating his shoulder on set and being taken to hospital, with the writers having to work out how to explain in subsequent episodes why Joey's arm is in a sling.
Schwimmer also confesses to his loathing of the monkey who played Marcel.
Fans from all over the world from Germany to Mexico to Ghana, India, France, Russia, South Africa and Slovakia also get a chance to explain what 'Friends' means to them.
Ultimately whether you enjoy the reunion will very much depend on whether you liked the sitcom in the first place.
Some aspects of the sitcom have not aged well in the 2020s - the fat shaming of Monica as a teen, the lack of ethnic diversity, the disparity in the way male and female homosexuality is portrayed, the transphobia around Chandler's dad and the laughing off of a rather creepy storyline about Rachel's Italian boyfriend sexually harassing Phoebe during a massage.
Even if you are prepared to overlook these huge flaws, the reunion can at times be deeply frustrating and slight.
Some of that is down to the way Ben Winston directs it - hopping around from item to item like a giddy child on a sugar rush.
Some of that is down to the edit which does James Corden no favours.
Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles are wheeled in during the live audience section, only for Corden to appear to totally ignore Gould.
The same is true around James Michael Tyler's contribution via Zoom which reveals little other than he had a great time playing Gunther and is largely eaten up by the playing of a classic clip.
Asked if the cast will ever get a chance to play their characters again, the answer from Lisa Kudrow and the writers appears to be a resounding no.
Kudrow reasons having given fans their happy ending 17 years ago, why mess with that?
And you have to agree.
Fans of that other big NBC sitcom of the time 'Frasier' are getting a reboot some time soon on Paramount+.
That prospect fills fans with trepidation because it'll be really hard to recreate the magic of 'Frasier' 17 years after it last aired and without John Mahoney on board as Marty Crane.
Nobody in their right mind should want a 'Friends' reboot.
The show's appeal was grounded in the hope and expectations of twentysomethings starting to make their way in the world.
Who really wants to see Joey, Phoebe, Monica, Chandler, Ross and Rachel in their autumn years?
Sometimes, it makes sense to leave a formula alone - no matter how flawed it is.
('Friends - the Reunion' was released in the US on HBO Max and on Sky One and NowTV in the UK and Ireland on May 27, 2021)
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