LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - How long can six attractive, twentysomething singles hang out in a coffee shop talking about love and sex before getting on with their lives? In the case of TV's "Friends,'' the answer may be eight years.

When the six co-stars of U.S. television's top-rated comedy renewed their contract last May for its seventh and eighth seasons, at $750,000 per episode per actor, it was assumed that the hit NBC show was nearing its homestretch.

Now, as the series heads into the second and final year of that deal this fall, fans may wonder whether perennial pals Monica, Chandler, Ross, Rachel, Joey and Phoebe will ever leave behind their roommates and dates in Manhattan and move to the suburbs like grownups.

"The show is clearly getting a bit long in the tooth for the antics that they're involved in,'' said TV Guide chief critic Matt Roush. "The last renewal contract was for a two-year extension and this would be the second year of that, and I think everybody was pretty much agreed at that time that this would be it.''

While the sitcom remains wildly popular with audiences and a hot property for both NBC and producer-distributor Warner Bros. Television, some observers say "Friends'' is beginning to show its age and running out of fresh ideas.

"I can't imagine those actors, slouching toward 40, suddenly finding a new way for that show to go,'' said Robert Thompson, head of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television.

"These people are supposed to be young, hip folks who are in a little holding pattern in their lives, and they were all there for each other. It's one thing for it not to be 'my day, my week or even my year,''' he added, referring to lyrics to the show's theme song. "It's another for it not to be my decade. At what point do you simply become a loser?''

Speculation about the show's future escalated with British media reports, disputed by co-star David Schwimmer (who plays Ross), quoting him as saying that all six cast members have decided to call it quits after the upcoming season.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?

"It's sad, but enough is enough,'' he was reported saying during a recent appearance in France. "We have all agreed that this will be our final year.''

Schwimmer's publicist denied that he made such a comment, or implied it. Representatives for the five others - Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc - either did not return phone calls or said no thought has been given to the show beyond its eighth season.

NBC spokeswoman Shirley Powell acknowledged "this could conceivably be the last season,'' but she added the show's future remains an open question. "We, of course, would love to see the show come back. It's our highest-rated comedy.''

Since "Seinfeld'' left in 1998, "Friends'' has reigned as the comic centerpiece of NBC's formidable Thursday night lineup of ''Must-See-TV.'' Ranked No. 5 among all prime-time shows last season, it consistently dominated its 8 p.m. time slot until it was eclipsed by the second edition of the CBS reality hit ''Survivor'' in a much-ballyhooed matchup this spring.

"Friends'' also is a cash cow for Warner Bros. TV, the AOL Time Warner Inc. division that produces the show and receives a reported $5 million license fee per episode from NBC. Warner Bros. makes millions more on reruns of "Friends,'' which air in domestic syndication and around the globe.

"Friends'' is expected to gross nearly $1.5 billion in license fees and advertising in its first six-year cycle of U.S. syndication alone, which began in 1998. As part of their last renewal deal, the six co-stars were said to have doubled their share of the syndication rights.

Debuting in the fall of 1994, "Friends'' and its cast of perky, good-looking, easygoing singles unfettered by mortgages and kids quickly caught on with viewers as the perfect antidote to the stressed-out '90s.

Aspiring chef Monica and pampered girl Rachel, starting over as a waitress, shared a Greenwich Village apartment across the hall from wisecracking computer programmer Chandler and his not-so-bright actor roommate Joey.

Rounding out the group are Monica's nerdy brother Ross (whose wife left him for a woman) and Phoebe, the folk-singing, flaky New Age masseuse. They all seem to spend most of their time hanging out in Monica's apartment or a coffee shop.

The appeal of "Friends'' is the implication that "the fun and hijinks of college life never have to end,'' Thompson said. But even "Friends'' cannot stay young forever.

Thompson said two sure signs that a TV series is "about to lose its grip'' - the marriage of two lead characters and the addition of a kid to the cast - surfaced last month in the season finale of "Friends'' as Chandler and Monica tied the knot and Rachel apparently got pregnant.

Now if only Ross and Rachel renew their off-again-on-again romance, and Joey and Phoebe, who have always shown a special fondness for each other, finally get together, "Friends'' could morph into something entirely new - "thirtysomething.''

Steve Gorman
Reuters/Variety
June 28, 2000