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‘Friends’ Reunion Missing Chandler: Matthew Perry Cites Timetabling Issues, But Does His Slurred Speech On ‘Graham Norton’ Hint At A More Serious Reason?

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 03:39 PST, Jan 18, 2016

Friends was an iconic TV show from the 1990s and early 2000s and ever since it went off the air, fans of the show have been wanting it back. The show isn’t being brought back, and probably never will be (sorry to all the fans out there), but the cast is getting together again for another reason. Entertainment Weekly reports that NBC has announced there will be a special tribute to director James Burrows, which will see the return of the cast of Friends, as well as casts from numerous other TV shows Burrows directed.

Burrows directed 15 episodes of Friends, including the pilot, and he recently directed his 1,000th episode on television. The only real problem is that getting the entire cast of Friends together might be difficult. Entertainment chairman for NBC, Robert Greenblatt, has said he isn’t sure it’s possible to get all six cast members together for the special.

“I’m hoping all six will be in same room at same time; I’m not sure we can logistically pull it off.”

Unfortunately, it looks as though Greenblatt’s concerns were well-founded. BuzzFeed reports that Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing on Friends, said on The Graham Norton Show that there is no way he can be there for the cast reunion because he is currently in England rehearsing for his play, The End of Longing.

“It’s not the reunion everyone is hoping for – they are celebrating Jim Burrows who was a director of Friends. The other five (Friends) are going to be on this special and I am going to introduce them from London. I’m doing the play here so I can’t be there.”

But Matthew Perry’s disappointing news on The Graham Norton Show wasn’t the only things viewers were commenting on. As the Sun reported, many people noted that Perry was behaving strangely on the show, with his face appearing somehow “different” and his speech slurred. Fans took to Twitter to voice their concerns.

Some even wondered if Perry was sick or worse: if he’d had a stroke.

Perry has been open about his problems with alcohol and drug additions in the past, so many are raising the possibility that all is not right in the world of Matthew Perry. Watch the interview here and see what you think.

When asked for a comment on Perry missing the Friends reunion, David Schwimmer, who played Ross Geller, only had positive things to say, Daily Mail reported.

“I wish I could say it was going to be a reunion. [It’s a] 5/6 reunion. Sure I’m sad, but I’m happy for him, he’s doing a play in London and it’s thrilling. I did one there and it was fantastic.”

At least the other five cast members, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow, will get together for the special. But what about the other cast members, the ones who weren’t in the immediate spotlight? While they might not be on the show, it is interesting to see where they are today. The Independent reveals that the twins who played Ross’ son, Ben, Cole and Dylan Sprouse, are doing just fine.

Actually, it was mostly Cole Sprouse who played Ben, but later on he and his brother went on to act in Hannah Montana and to star in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Now Cole Sprouse and his brother are well past their Friends days. At 23-years-old, Cole has graduated with a degree in archaeology and is very much into photography. He also has a heavily followed Twitter account and an Instagram account on which he posts photos of people trying to take his picture.

Cole Sprouse is only 23 and he knows all about Friends(he did have an advantage since he was on the show), but what is Kylie Jenner’s excuse? She isn’t that much younger, at 18-years-old, and she doesn’t know about Friends? Us Weekly reports that Jenner was interviewed by Elle and when asked who was her favorite character on Friends, she replied “What is that?!”

She later fessed up.

“I know what Friends is. I mean, I don’t watch Friends, but I know what it is.”

To be fair, no one remembers the shows that were on in the decade in which they were born, but for many who did love it, Friends was more than just a show. Hope Whitmore, writing for the Independent, says Friends wasn’t just a sitcom for her, but a roadmap for her twenties.

“I didn’t realise until I was a twentysomething myself how true to life the sitcom actually was.”

Friends definitely left an impression on a lot of people and it will be great to see most of the cast together again. The special tribute will air on NBC on February 21.

[Photo by Christian Bertrand/Shutterstock]

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