Friends is an American
sitcom created by
David Crane and
Marta Kauffman, which premiered on
NBC on September 22, 1994. The series revolves around a group of friends in the area of
Manhattan,
New York City, who occasionally live together and share living expenses. The series was produced by
Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with
Warner Bros. Television. The original executive producers were Crane, Kauffman and
Kevin Bright, with numerous others being promoted in later seasons.
Kauffman and Crane began developing
Friends under the title
Insomnia Cafe in November 1993. They presented the idea to Bright, with whom they had previously worked, and together they pitched a seven-page treatment of the series to NBC. After several script rewrites and changes, the series was finally named
Friends and premiered on NBC's coveted
Thursday 8:30 pm timeslot. Filming for the series took place at
Warner Bros. Studios in
Burbank, California in front of a live audience. After ten seasons on the network, the series finale was promoted by NBC, and viewing parties were organized around the US. The finale, which first aired on May 6, 2004, was watched by 52.5 million American viewers, making it the fourth most-watched series finale in television history.
