Turns Out TVNZ 2 Will Screen the Friends Reunion
May 21, 2021 
4 Comments
TVNZ 2 will screen the Friends reunion special after all, at 7.00 on May 27 — the same day as the US.
The broadcaster announced the deal this evening, despite previously advising ScreenScribe that TVNZ had missed out on being able to license the HBO Max special.
“We didn’t have an option to buy the rights to the Friends special until very recently,” a spokeswoman says. “This deal was done today.
“As soon as we got an opportunity here we jumped on it. We definitely think TVNZ 2 is the right home for it.”
Here’s the media release:
How You Doin’ New Zealand – Friends: The Reunion is coming to TVNZ
One of the most highly anticipated programmes of the year, Friends: The Reunion is coming to TVNZ. Mega fans of the iconic series won’t have long to wait either, with the special airing on TVNZ 2 this Thursday (27 May at 7pm) and streaming at the same time on TVNZ OnDemand – Could we BE any more excited!
Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer will return to the hit comedy’s original soundstage, for an unscripted celebration of the show. Featuring a superstar guestlist and even a redo of the trivia game— you know, the one that led to Chandler and Joey taking over Monica and Rachel’s apartment! – this is a not-to-be-missed moment of television history.
Shortland Street will air at 8.30pm on Thursday evening to accommodate the US scheduling of Friends: The Reunion. Shortland Street’s OnDemand episode will still be available from 7pm for those wanting to stick to their usual viewing routine.
The Friends’ party doesn’t stop there though – TVNZ 2 will carry the top 25 Friends episodes (as picked by Rolling Stone) from Saturday 28 May to Sunday 29 May.
TVNZ’s Director of Content, Cate Slater says “TVNZ 2 has been the home of Friends since the beginning. It’s been part of our schedule for 25 years now and so it feels fitting that we can bring this amazing special to New Zealand fans on free-to-air and OnDemand.”
Friends: The Reunion will air day and date with the US at 7pm, 27 May on TVNZ 2. It will also be available on TVNZ OnDemand.
The complete series of Friends is available to stream online at TVNZ OnDemand.
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May 21, 2021 at 6:10 pm
Despite it being an HBO Max property it would seem ludicrous for Sky to want to screen the Reunion. Core viewers are TV2 not either Vibe, SoHo or Neon. Just as ludicrous of trying to air Line of Duty S6 on a channel that has no previous history such that viewers are lost on character development and story arcs.
I would have thought so, too, Mike, but there’s nothing straightforward about the distribution of HBO Max content here. Both Sky and TVNZ have rights to different shows while series like Raised by Wolves and The Flight Attendant languish in limbo. It seems odd that a deal was done only today for the reunion special when the obvious broadcaster always was going to be TVNZ 2 — unless WarnerMedia was eyeing a Netflix run given it already streams Friends and other WM shows like The Big Bang Theory.
YAY, read on Twitter Discovery have got a new look 3 Now on the way. It definitely needs it 🙂
Fascinating from a scheduling perspective that they are bumping Shortland Street back. I suspect the embargo must lift at 7pm (or 7:02pm – as an ad seems to be saying), as it’s going to air in Australia at the same time on Foxtel’s platform (5:02 AEST).