The American sitcom ‘FRIENDS’, is one of the most popular sitcoms to have ever hit television screens. The show aired from 1994 to 2004. However, its popularity only grew stronger as the series continues to gather a large audience during its reruns on TV. In fact, Netflix paid $100 million to keep FRIENDS on its streaming catalog. 

Due to its continued popularity, every new generation comes out from watching the show only to say that they wished there was more. Thus, Real Research launched a survey on whether the TV show FRIENDS should have a sequel. It aims to find out where the respondents stand on a possible FRIENDS sequel and the TV show FRIENDS. Here are the results.

Highlights

  • Over 85% say they have watched the American sitcom FRIENDS.
  • 11.03% do not want a FRIENDS sequel.
  • Only 9.02% were unaware of the FRIENDS reunion special episode.

86.43% Have Watched the TV Show FRIENDS

What’s more, 85.66% say they enjoy watching FRIENDS. To dive deeper, the survey asks who amongst the 6 main characters do the respondents like most?

Figure 1 Respondents reveal their favorite friend from the series 
Figure 1 Respondents reveal their favorite friend from the series 

In response, 51.61% say Chandler is their favorite friend from the series. Following Chandler are Joey (16.12%) and Monica (12.90%). Lastly, Ross (10.89%), Rachel (4.96%), and Phoebe (3.51%). 

88.97% Want a FRIENDS Sequel

When asked ‘do you want the show FRIENDS to have a sequel?’, only 11.03% are against it.

Figure 2 The majority are hoping for a FRIENDS sequel
Figure 2: The majority are hoping for a FRIENDS sequel

Accordingly, the survey asks why respondents would not want to see a FRIENDS sequel? In response, 33.26% say it wouldn’t be as good as it was back then. Meanwhile, 18.01% say the cast is too old, 11.36% say the show should be left as it is, and 10.18% say a FRIENDS sequel would flop.

In addition, 9.55% are against a FRIENDS sequel because they believe it would be irrelevant to the present time. Likewise, 8.32% say FRIENDS ended happily and there is nothing left to unravel. Lastly, 8.11% say there are other better shows out right now.

In contrast, the survey asks respondents why they want to see a FRIENDS sequel? In answer, 68.31% say they wish to see how the characters are doing after FRIENDS ended. Meanwhile, 12.36% say they think a sequel would be more relevant to current times and 4.87% say they simply need to watch something similar to FRIENDS. 

Likewise, 4.71% say they miss the characters and would love to see them again while 4.16% say they want a FRIENDS sequel that will focus on the children of the 6 original friends. Lastly, 3.42% they’ve always been waiting for a FRIENDS sequel and 1.68% say they want new FRIENDS episodes as they have watched the old ones multiple times already.

79.94% Watched the FRIENDS Reunion 2021 Episode

Despite the demand for a FRIENDS sequel, the closest the fans came to seeing the characters in a new episode was the FRIENDS reunion episode in 2021. This special episode was more of a behind-the-scenes, reminiscence sort of episode for the cast and crew. Almost 80% of respondents watched the FRIENDS reunion episode. Meanwhile, 11.05% did not watch it and 9.02% did not know of it.

To conclude, the survey asks respondents if they still watch the TV show FRIENDS. On this, 70.05% say ‘yes, all the time’ while 20.27% say ‘yes, on occasion’, and 9.68% say ‘not anymore’.

Methodology

 
Survey TitleSurvey on Whether the TV Show FRIENDS Should Have a Sequel
DurationApril 23 – April 30, 2022
Number of Participants50,000
DemographicsMales and females, aged 21 to 99
Participating Countries Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia,… Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, China (Hong Kong) China (Macao), China (Taiwan), Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Greanada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Maldives, Maluritania, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar [Burma], Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.