# Predict the post-Friends careers of the Friends **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-post-friends-careers-of-the-friends/243369 "2004-05-03T23:38:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-post-friends-careers-of-the-friends/243369/21 "2004-05-04T21:20:06Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > She’ll need to choose projects very, _very_ carefully. Or else she’ll end up like Zsa Zsa as someone who’s famous for being famous. I think that’s exactly what Aniston’s been doing. Making a big chunk of money from Friends and testing her acting abilities in smaller, almost indie-type movies, where it doesn’t matter if it’s a big summer blockbuster or not. Consider these titles: Picture Perfect Object of my affection Office Space The good girl Iron Giant (voice) It’s just last year that she started in a bigger movies: Bruce Almighty. With the kind of money she has, and considering what she said in that interview with with Diane Sawyer (sp?), I think she’s got it very carefully planned. She’s got a long career ahead of her. Note that she always picks projects to fit her acting abilities. Look at her for some serious critical acclaim in less than ten years time. **Kudrow** might have a career along the same path Joan Cusack is walking. However, she’ll be 41 this year and it’s starting to show. Hollywood is cruel to actresses over 40. **Cox** will always be former star of Friends and little else. **Schwimmer** will try to do a ‘Ron Howard’, but I don’t think he’ll succeed. **LeBlanc** will fail with the spinoff, which will have many people tuning in the first couple of times and all of them tuning out shortly after. He’ll get blamed and will be in stupid comedies, released directly for video for the rest of his career. Look for him getting more and more bloated with age. Someone suggested that **Perry** should do more like that guest spot on West Wing. I agree and thought he was pretty believable. Unfortunately, I think he’ll pick ‘the whole ten yeards’ path, and become Alan Alda: Bitter, unfunny, able to land parts for a couple of years from pure momentum, but grinding to a halt. (Alda hasn’t been the lead star in a movie released for the theatres since 1990, and that was a movie he directed.) ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-post-friends-careers-of-the-friends/243369/22 "2004-05-05T02:02:19Z")
The same thing that happens with all ensemble shows: The cast members’ career after the show, with maybe one or two exceptions, will be on a downward spirl. In addition, _Joey_ will last for only one (or, possibly, one and a portion) seasons, before it is pulled. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-post-friends-careers-of-the-friends/243369/23 "2004-05-07T00:45:11Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > **David Schwimmer** will be forgotten by the public. Occasionally people will see him on the street and ask “weren’t you the Karate Kid?” Eh. David Schwimmer appears to have a promising directorial career, so I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss him. I rather like his comedic timing, but I think he probably has a better future behind the cameras. > [@](#): > > **Courtney Cox** will do a series of “zany” caper flicks with David Arquette. Then she will disappear behind the camera and will be a successful executive producer. She and David Arquette will both later be arrested for stalking her ex, Michael Keaton, while claiming that “Batman was watching them through the DVD player.” Heh. Actually, I do agree that she will probably continue to find employment as an executive producer. Now, several other posters have claimed that she will fade away into relative obscurity, but I’m not convinced of that. Heck, she’s been starring in a steady stream of movies for the past few years, and I don’t think that’s likely to end soon. So I think that those who are pronouncing doom on Courteney Cox’s career are jumping to hasty conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-post-friends-careers-of-the-friends/243369/24 "2004-05-07T03:41:35Z")
Courtney Cox hasn’t been in a single halfway-okay movie except “Ace Ventura”. And then she was a drag on every scene she was in. “3000 Miles to Graceland” and “Commandments” are not anything to brag about. Face it, limited acting range, poor choice of movie projects and a rep. for “not getting along.” Her career ended 100 minutes ago (my time). And don’t get me started on “Alien Love Triangle.” ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-post-friends-careers-of-the-friends/243369/25 "2004-05-07T04:06:54Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > She is attractive, yes, very. But she is lacking in a star-quality charisma when it comes to _expressiveness_. While she may have lovely cheekbones and ogglable boobies, and she can look great smiling for the cameras, she has a very neutral range of expressions that makes her rather “plain”. She doesn’t have a very dynamic range facial expressions. Wow, you really couldn’t be more wrong. Anniston is really hot, natch, but the thing nobody gives her enough credit for is that she’s a really, really good comedic actress. (At least, she used to be; maybe the fame has gone to her head or something). And she’s got _range_ as a comedic actress – she can do understated stuff, she can do funny dialogue, she can be a straight man, and she can do physical comedy. And on top of all that, she totally knows how to play off her hotness. She uses it when she needs to, but doesn’t let it get stuck in the way (that is, she can play what passes for “average-looking” in Hollywood, or she can be the bombshell). There was a terrible, terrible sketch comedy on Fox several years ago, years before “Friends”, and Anniston was the only memorable person on the cast. For more evidence, look at the first episode of SNL she hosted (the second more recent one was kind of lame and just focused on her celebrity). She’s got a lot more talent than anyone gives her credit for – and she doesn’t even need it, because of the aforementioned hotness. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-post-friends-careers-of-the-friends/243369/26 "2004-05-07T14:47:07Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > Wow, you really couldn’t be more wrong. Anniston is really hot, natch, but the thing nobody gives her enough credit for is that she’s a really, really good comedic actress. (At least, she used to be; maybe the fame has gone to her head or something). > > And she’s got _range_ as a comedic actress – she can do understated stuff, she can do funny dialogue, she can be a straight man, and she can do physical comedy. 100% correct. Aniston is one of the best actors on TV in the last ten years; absolutely first-rate actress. Nobody seems to notice it because she’s so famous for being Jennifer Aniston, The Haircut Girl Who Married Brad Pitt, but she can ACT. So my prediction for **Jennifer Aniston** is a string of starring roles in comedies and light drama. Within 3-5 years she’ll do something better than usual and get an Oscar nomination; picking then from a lot of coveted roles, she’ll win an Oscar by 2015 and be one of the most respected actors in the world. **Matthew Perry** will do a few more lousy comedies, then get another TV series, a drama, and do surprisingly well. Within 10-12 years he’ll retire as an actor and spend his time counting his money. If he doesn’t get married he will struggle with substance abuse again. **David Schwimmer** will be out of acting within 3 years and will start directing some major projects, and will make a career of it. **Courteney Cox** will return to TV as a TV-movie regular, sort of like Judith Light or Valerie Bertinelli, always around but never 24 episodes at a time. **Lisa Kudrow** , who is the anti-Aniston - critically acclaimed for no reason - will be out of acting within a few years and will occupy her time producing. **Matt Le Blanc** will enjoy unexpected success with “Joey,” which will surprise everyone by lasting 4 or 5 years. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-post-friends-careers-of-the-friends/243369/27 "2004-05-07T16:30:07Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Courtney Cox hasn’t been in a single halfway-okay movie except “Ace Ventura”. And then she was a drag on every scene she was in. “3000 Miles to Graceland” and “Commandments” are not anything to brag about. > > Face it, limited acting range, poor choice of movie projects and a rep. for “not getting along.” Her career ended 100 minutes ago (my time). > > And don’t get me started on “Alien Love Triangle.” I’ll grant that she hasn’t had truly outstanding roles; however, I also think that you’re selling her short. She was in the wildly successful _Scream_ trilogy, for example, which was more than “halfway-okay” in my book. She doesn’t have outstanding acting range, but she’s at least a decent Hollywood- and TV-type actress. I agree with **RickJay** that she’ll probably be a TV regular (though I suspect she’ll do a good number of guest shots, in addition to TV movies). In any event, I don’t think she’ll fade into obscurity as others have claimed. Oh, and I also think **RickJay** is probably correct in predicting that _Joey_ will have a successful run for a few years. This will depend on the quality of the writing, casting and production, of course, but I think it’s likely. Matt LeBlanc’s comedic timing is priceless, and if he loses a few pounds, that’ll be an additional draw for the female audience. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-post-friends-careers-of-the-friends/243369.md?page=1)