Back in the day, which I suppose is less than a year ago at this point, when HBO Max was but a whisper, it came with the promise of Friends. Not the type to sit down and stream stuff with you, sadly there is no service for that, but the ones you watched in the height of ‘90s television. The type of Friends who would tuck in their shirts without wearing belts. The type of Friends who were able to afford auh-mazing city apartments with no jobs. The type of Friends who had a pet monkey. The type of Friends who always seemed to have the air conditioner on. Could I be any more obvious?!

One of the big drawing points to HBO Max was that it was going to be the new home for Friends. HBO Max was hoping that people would flood off of Netflix and sign up for their service because they needed their Friends fix. HBO Max wanted Friends to be their The Office, dealing yet another blow to the streaming giant Netflix. That’s not what happened though as HBO Max’s subscription numbers have been sad, at best, and terrifying if you’ve invested money into it. I assume people stayed with Netflix despite losing The Office and Friends but were annoyed about it. And let’s be honest, HBO Max had a lot of other things to concern themselves with upon launch. Like, a lot of concern.

And while we’re here HBO Max, where did all the Harry Potter movies go?! You’ve been a streaming service for like a year and you’ve already removed so much content that people signed up for. Disney has a literal vault and they use it less than you when concerning content. Ugh, you truly are my least favorite streaming platform.

I digress.

Part of the Friends promise was that coming with the series would be a reunion show, something fans of the show have been wanting ever since the chords of Pearl Jam’s “Yellow Ledbetter” strummed up during the final moments of the finale. The reunion was supposed to be there in the early stages of HBO Max buuuuut #COVID. Instead, we’ve heard rumors and seen pictures of the cast together with the belief that the reunion actually exists and HBO has just been biding its time.

Well, it would seem that time is up and the Friends reunion special is coming on May 27^th!

And good news, the whole cast will be there. That’s right, you’ll be able to see Rachel, Ross, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, and Chandler in all their aged reminiscing glory… at least you’ll be able to see their actor counterparts talking about those characters. And they’re not coming alone. Nope, Mindy Kaling, Lady Gaga, Reese Witherspoon, James Corden, David Beckham, and a list of stars that for some reason includes Justin Bieber will all be present celebrating Friends.

This is clearly what HBO Max wanted from the jump but instead, we’ve been placated with Mortal Kombat and Godzilla vs Kong, which I have not been complaining about, but this is the moment they’ve been waiting for. The cast of Friends together in one place for the first time since the show has ended. This is what the people want. We’ll see if this is what HBO Max needs but I can see a large spike in subscriptions, so people can say “how you doing” to their old friends… before canceling that subscription the day after. But man, what a ride it’ll be.