Hér eru viðtöl við alla Vinini sem voru tekin snemma á fyrstu seríu. Þau eru varla orðin fræg…..
Og takið eftir því sem Matthew segir “We're having a great time, and we hope to be able to do this for six or seven years. Or eight. Eight would be fine.”

Lisa Kudrow.

Entertainment Tonight: Actually, when I met you before we were at “Mad About You” and you were doing Ursula. Now you're doing this. Tell me how you made the jump to this show, and are you still going to be doing “Mad About You?”

Lisa Kudrow: Yeah, I just did one – like a week or two ago. So I'm still gonna do that. It was pilot season, and I was reading for shows. I was looking at shows that were going to be on NBC so I could hopefully still do “Mad About You.” It was pure luck that this was such a good show – such a good show, and that they even wanted me to bein their show.
ET: How different is Ursula from your character on this series?

Lisa: Uh, she has a lot more to say. No, it is different. To me, Ursula is at work so she's trying to appear really together, like she knows what's going on at every minute, but she's not listening to a word. Phoebe is a little more sincere. It's like actor stuff. I'm probably the only one who notices, but I think they're different.

ET: Is it true that JIM BURROWS asked you guys to hang out together when the show first started?

Lisa: He didn't even have to ask. I don't remember him ever formally asking, but he's wonderful. He gave us this room. It was supposed to be his office, but he let us have it so we could play poker – we don't bet money – so that we could play poker and just hang out there. So I guess he's very much in favor of us hanging out and doing fun stuff.

ET: Did that help you guys? Coming in and pretending that these people are your best friends seems like it would be a challenge.

Lisa: Yeah, it is a challenge. We did pretty well at the pilot, when we met each other the first day at the table. Then we just spent every moment that we weren't rehearsing together. It wasn't even a conscious decision, it was just craving to find out about each other. We all get along, and everything's great. That was just the pilot, so by the first show it was tighter.

ET: I heard that you guys just went on a trip to Vegas together. Tell me about that.

Lisa: It was insane. It was insanely fun and glamorous. It was so weird – Warner Brothers let us have the jet to go to Las Vegas – and we went! It was just too fun. The six of us went with Jimmy Burrows and we gambled. We had fun, we had dinner, then we flew back– on the jet. It was too fun!I don't know, it was too weird for me. It was like, “Hey, let's go to Vegas. Okay, let's see if we can get the company jet.

ET: Tell me about this incredible time slot.

Lisa: What is there to say – it's between ”Mad About You“ and”Seinfeld!“ What more do you need to say about it? It's great, but you just get worried. The show that was there before did really, really well, and I hope that they understand that we want to do really well, too. We have a really good pilot, so when you see it you say, ”It's good, and, my God, how good can it get?“ That's what makes me nervous.

ET: You're close to your premiere date now. Do you find yourself on pins and needles?

Lisa: Yes! I just can't wait to see what happens. I just hope that people will watch it and like it. It's hard to tell when you're this close.

MATTHEW PERRY :

Entertainment Tonight: Everyone's talking about this Vegas trip. What's your take?

Matthew Perry: People actually told you about that, huh? Oh, it was great. The six of us went, we lost money, figured out why they keep building hotels there and why we keep not having any money. It was great. We were on this jet – it was really terrific. That's all I'll say.

ET: It sounds like you guys have been bonding since day one. You've been hanging out off the set, playing poker.

Matthew: Yeah, I'm pretty much sick of everybody by now. The first couple of weeks were really great, but now it's kind of like, ”Hello. Back off!“ You know? ‘Cause I’m pretty tired of everybody. No, no. We're really getting along great. We're having a great time, andwe hope to be able to do this for six or seven years. Or eight. Eight would be fine. Do you guys have any pull on that? Canyou talk to anybody?

ET: We'll see what we can do. We've been on for fourteen years, so we'll see what we can do. Tell me about this group of friends compared to your other groups of friends in life.

Matthew: This group of friends is one where you show up to work and people get you coffee if you want, and you get a dressing room with a cool couch. Oh, you mean on the show? Oh. This group of friends is similar to any group of friends in that we sit around, make fun of each other, talk and laugh. Except this is at a coffee house. It's very similar to many groups of friends that I've had.

ET: So this is a good representation of twentysomethings, then?

Matthew: Yeah, at six of the people. I don't think across the board that all twentysomethings talk like this.

COURTNEY COX (EKKI ENNÞÁ ARQUETTE)

Entertainment Tonight: It seems like you and the cast have done this bonding thing from day one!

Courteney Cox: We all get along really well. We're friends. JIM BURROWS really encourages that in this cast. He really believes that's how it all should work. It's an ensemble show. Yeah, we're good friends. We've gotten together a bunch of times.

ET: You have a great show in a great time slot – that has to feel good.

Courtney: Yeah, it does. It's also a lot of pressure, because we need to do well in that time slot – we have such a great lead in. That's exciting. Thursday nights are going to be more competitive. They're moving some really great shows on that night. The show really is funny. I watched two episodes just recently and I was really surprised. Pleasantly excited. I took the job because it wasgood, but it's even better than I thought. Jim Burrows is so good. The show's even better than what's on the written page.

ET: You've done series before. As this gets close to its due date are you on ”pins and needles“ to see how it's going to turn out?

Courtney: No, not at all. I've been on shows that have been total failures. I've done shows that were really great. ”Family Ties“ was great. But I knew that was great when I joined the cast – I never had the added pressure. I did one pilot, but that was before ”Family Ties.“ I did another show that lasted six months.

ET: Does the ”Friends" show parallel life with your friends?

Courtney: Yeah. We didn't have a coffee shop to hang out in, but it's actually all the same problems. That's what's great about the show – it's very real. Some of it might not be totally real, but real life isn't as interesting as what you can write. It's all about real life stuff that can happen in your twenties and thirties. It's not just a show about people in their twenties, it can apply anywhere.

Matthew Perry: [Walking by] Do they have chicken salad there?
David Schwimmer:[With Matthew] Yeah, I think so.

Courtney: They are such hams. They are pretending to go to the commissary, just so they can get in the shot and be on TV.

Matthew Perry: What are you going to eat?

David Schwimmer: Are you going to eat with us or what?

Courtney: I'm doing this ET right now!

Matthew Perry: What, That little alien guy?

David Schwimmer: We'll leave and try another bit.

Courtney: Come back later. That was pretty good, though, but try again.

JENNIFER ANISTON :

Entertainment Tonight: You guys have been doing a lot of off-set bonding, and it appears that you've really become friends.

Jennifer Aniston: Absolutely. They're great. They're planning bits over there. We're just in shock every day that we come to work when we realize how well we all get along. There's not a black sheep in the group. No one gets on anyone's nerves. No one gets picked on more than the other. I'm sure that will happen eventually, but it's great.

ET: It's still early in the season.

Jennifer: Yeah, I think we're still being nice to each other. [laughs]

ET: How close is this group of friends to a real-life group of friends?

Jennifer: I actually have a group of friends that's really close to me. We really care for each other, making sure that everybody's okay. In that way it's very similar to my life.

ET: Which character would be your friend in real life?

Jennifer: Character wise? Ross.

ET: Why?

Jennifer: Because he's sweet and down to earth and doesn't have that many issues.

DAVID SHCWIMMER

Matthew Perry: Tell us what the show is all about.

David Schwimmer: Um, it's about six people. Six young people living in New York. Looking for love. Looking for the professional career success that we all strive to achieve. We have the support group of each other.

David: Do Do Do Do Do Do (“Entertainment Tonight” theme song) We're on the cast of “Friends.” We have an ensemble cast, and often do improvisation to build report between cast members.
Matthew: They screened the show and people say the show reminds them of ‘Free Willy.’ There's no little boy and no real water, so why would they compare it to ‘Free Willy?’

David: Well the plot is very similar, actually, if you think about it. You have six people living in New York.

MATT LEBLANC

Entertainment Tonight: How close is this show to anything you've experienced in terms of friendship in your life?

Matt LeBlanc: Fairly close. I have friends who are all very tight, and we help one another through tough spots in life. I think that's the same for everyone.

ET: Is it true that they asked you to hang out with the other cast members outside of shooting?

Matt: We're like a theater group in the sense that we spend a lot of time together, and that we've now sort of grown close to one another. These people have become my friends. It's really nice. You see them at work, and everyone gets alongreally well. Everyone sort of watches one another at work and we build the show as an ensemble group. It's a real ensemble in the sense that we help one another, guide one another, and support one another.

ET: When you first started working together, would you go and hang out after work?

Matt: Well, it was a building process – and it still is – but I think we all clicked pretty quickly. We all seemed to come together and everyone had a real positive attitude about getting along with one another, and it worked out great.

ET: First of all, you got a great time slot. That must feel pretty good.

Matt: Oh, yeah. It feels pretty good. I can't complain about that.

ET: That's sort of a vote of confidence from the network.

Matt: Yeah. Everyone at the network has been so behind us and so supportive. They've been making life easy for us.

ET: This idea of exploring friendships really started with “Seinfeld” a couple of years ago, but has really expanded. Why do you think this kind of show has caught on so well?

Matt: I think shows like this where you have very different characters allows many people of different types to relate better to one topic, whatever that may be. In our case, you have six very different opinions, so I think there's someone from each group of people out there who will relate to each character. That makes for a nice, broad audience.