It was a long time waiting, but after almost two decades, Courteney Cox finally ends her Emmy drought with a landmark nomination for Friends on Tuesday.
Though she didn’t get the nod for the original series, the reprised TV special released by HBO Max, “Friends: The Reunion” in which Cox was also an executive producer. The reunion show nabbed an “Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)” nomination from the Television Academy for the performance of the original ‘Friends’ cast which also included Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer.
When the NBC live sitcom closed its curtains in 2004, it had already earned an impressive 62 total Emmy nominations. Among the original cast members, Kudrow’s performance as Phoebe Buffay led the pack with a whopping six nominations during the 10 years that the show ran, all of which were for her supporting comedy actress role, eventually winning one in 1998. She’s trailed by Aniston, who plays Rachel Green, with five nominations. The first two of the handful were outstanding supporting actress nods before she moved to the lead comedy actress category, where she was nominated thrice and won once in 2002. LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani was up to win thrice in the lead comedy actor category for three straight years from 2002 to 2004. Perry’s role as Chandler Bing picked up a lead comedy actor nod in 2002, while Schwimmer, playing Ross Geller, shared the stage with other supporting comedy actor nominees in 1995.
Of the stellar ensemble, Cox, who played motherly Monica Geller in the sitcom, was the only one snubbed by the award-giving body for her act in the long-time comedy series. Although, she did notch a Daytime Emmy nomination in 2017 for Celebrity Name Game, a game show she helped develop alongside David Arquette.
Still, her long-overdue Primetime Emmy nod left the whole ensemble elated for Cox. On Instagram, the 57-year-old actress celebrated the occasion by posting a photo with her co-stars and Reunion director Ben Winston inside the iconic ‘Friends’ living room set.
‘The one where we are incredibly grateful to the Academy for this honor and especially thankful for @mrbenwinston and his entire team for their outstanding achievement,’ Cox wrote in the caption.
Built on the fanfare that surrounded the original sitcom, Friends: The Reunion was met with much hype and success when it premiered last May on HBO Max, eventually earning three other nominations from the Television Academy for outstanding production design, outstanding lighting design, and outstanding directing. The special was hosted by James Corden and saw the main cast revisit the sets of the original show as well as other behind-the-scenes footage like script readings, re-enactments, and a trivia game.
