'Friends' Cast Members Talk to '20/20'

ByABC News
April 21, 2004, 5:02 PM

April 22 -- The laughs will mix with tears for the many fans of Friends on May 6, a day that will live in television history as it marks the farewell episode of the long-running series.

The premise was simple and timely: Six young people start life away from their own families and form a new family, with friends.

Since the show premiered on Sept. 22, 1994, Friends has never been out of the top 10, and the cast members are now household names.

So what is the secret of the show's success?

"I think that we have an amazing group of writers," Courteney Cox Arquette told Barbara Walters. "And there's a cast that, that really sticks together."

She said while the whole cast is close knit it's "crazy" how much the girls love each other. "We really see each other all the time. I mean, we eat lunch together at work everyday," said Arquette.

She might not be as eager to hang out with her character, Monica, admitting she gets tired of her cleanliness and organization. "She can annoy me pretty bad. I mean, she's, she's just, she's funny, I like the way she is really quirky with things, but no, I don't get excited about label makers or, you know, no."

Fellow cast-member Matt LeBlanc told ABCNEWS people often confuse him for his character, Joey, the struggling actor who can be a little dense. "When I meet people for the first time, they'll talk a little slower to me, and I get a kick out of it," said LeBlanc.

Secret to Their Financial Success

The long-standing hit has made millionaires out of the young cast.

For the final season of Friends the actors joined forces and negotiated the highest salary ever paid to a television ensemble: $1 million per episode.

"It's great that we stuck together, because that way no one gets their feelings hurt, no one's making more than the other," said Arquette. "We're a team and that's what we are."