The exterior of the famous Central Perk
Central Perk is a coffee house that the six main protagonists frequently visited throughout the series. It is situated in New York City's Greenwich Village, near Monica's apartment. It was where they spent much of their free time conversing.
Serving Staff
Rachel
Rachel works as a waitress at Central Perk from the start of the show till half-way through Season 3. Being pretty much a spoiled, self-centered individual throughout this period of her life, Rachel clearly shows ineptitude at work, mixing up orders, neglecting her waitressing duties, and showing little care about where everything goes and how it should be done. Ironically, in The One With The Flashback, it is revealed that prior to getting this job, while out with her friends one night, she had responded to a waiter getting their drinks mixed up by remarking: "how hard is it to get a couple of drinks?". When Joey starts working at Central Perk, Rachel mentions that she would spit on the food of any customers who were rude to her.
It quickly becomes clear that Rachel does not care for her job at Central Perk, only for her financial income. However, she does try for other job opportunities in fashion (mostly during Season 1), with little success. In Season 3, she decides to pursue the fashion business again after Gunther assigns her to re-training, quitting her waitressing job to work with Fortunata Fashions, then moving on to Bloomingdale's.
Joey
Joey becomes a waiter at the coffee shop half-way through Season 6. His acting career being at a standstill, Joey is tight on money, so much that he can't afford paying for coffee. Gunther decides to let him work there.
Like Rachel, Joey shows ineptitude at the job. Unlike Rachel, however, this is mostly due to his immaturity coinciding with the house's policies.
However, later in the season, Joey's acting career takes a step forward when he gets the lead role in Mac & C.H.E.E.S.E.. This makes him quit his waitering job, which he does without mentioning anything to Gunther. Gunther, however, points this out to him in The One With The Ring, and that he was going to fire Joey anyway.
Layout and furniture
The interior of Central Perk
Throughout the coffee shop are small tables with chairs that extras on the show usually occupy. These, from the main camera angle, are behind the large orange sofa in the middle of the shop. The green chair on the right, the coffee table and the table and chair on the left are nearly always used as the main setting for any scenes in Central Perk.
In the earlier episodes, irrespective of how busy the coffee shop became, those seats were always available. The writers turned this into a joke and, in the first episode of season three, the six main characters arrive in the shop to find their seats taken, apparently by Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, the show's creators. They then look at each other, dejected, and walk out.
The artwork in the back of Central Perk was changed every three episodes (including images of King Kong and Uncle Sam), but the layout of the furniture remained largely unchanged for the entire series.
The Orange Couch
The most prominent fixture of Central Perk is the large orange couch that the characters usually sit on. It usually seats four of the Friends at one time. One of the others then occupies the green chair on the right and, if all six are present, there is a table with one chair to the left that sits the last person. Rarely is anyone else ever seen on the couch and the guys consider it their own. In one instance, Chandler is seen sitting reading, when a young man comes in and goes to sit down on the green chair, only for Chandler to promptly usher him away. Another example is when Rachel complains about sitting by the window instead of the couch, or when the Friends came in only to see the couch taken, and leave. In The One With The Bullies two bullies 'steal' the seating area, and also steal Chandler's hat.
The couch is also seen in the opening credits of the show in front of the large fountain the cast of Friends dance in. At the end of the credits all of the friends sit on the couch at once as Monica turns off the lamp to the right.
Continuity
- During season 1 and 2 Gunther is seen as another staff member in Central Perk and a man called Terry is the owner.
- In The One with the Flashback we find out that the coffee house was a bar before it became Central Perk and the friends hung out there.
Entertainment
Phoebe regularly plays guitar in Central Perk.
Phoebe Buffay was also a regular fixture in Central Perk, and played songs such as Smelly Cat to often bemused audiences. Phoebe was, at one point, replaced by Stephanie Schiffer, a professional who was hired by Terry.
Cultural Impact
The Central Perk logo
The Central Perk coffee house, one of the principal settings of the series, has inspired various imitations. In 2006, Iranian businessman Mojtaba Asadian started a Central Perk franchise, registering the name in 32 countries. The decor of the coffee houses is inspired by Friends, featuring replica couches, counters, neon signage and bricks. The coffee houses also contain paintings of the various characters from the series, and televisions playing Friends episodes. James Michael Tyler, who plays the Central Perk manager in the series, Gunther, attended the grand opening of the Dubai cafe, where he worked as a waiter.[101] Central Perk was rebuilt as part of a museum exhibit at Warner Bros. Studios, and was shown on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October 2008. Jennifer Aniston revisited the set for the first time since the series finale in 2004.[102] From September 24 to October 7, 2009, a Central Perk replica was based at Broadwick Street, Soho, London. The coffee house sold real coffee to customers and featured a display of Friends memorabilia and props, such as the Geller Cup from the season three episode "The One with the Football".[103] In 2009, a dance remix of the song "Smelly Cat" became a popular Internet meme.[104] In Beijing, business owner Du Xin opened a coffee shop named Central Perk in March 2010.
Friends has a very large fandom to this date even after being over for almost a decade. It has reached the newer generation of teens and young adults who were born either when the show started or during its run.
Friends has a huge following on Social Networking sites. They have over 18 million likes on the Friends fan page on Facebook. They're also many Friends blogs all over the internet. Tumblr being one of the main sources for Friends photos/clips of the show.
Friends reruns are on television a lot. Channels like TBS, nick@nite, TV Land and many more play the show frequently. All the seasons of Friends have been released on Blu-ray and DVD. The complete series can also be found in box sets online.