That Martha Kauffman Interview...

... a lot of people mentioned. Where can I find it online?

thx in advance,

Andr�

"Andr?Knoche" wrote in message news:...

I saw this post earlier but couldn't find the interview again but here it is. .

Priya

... OK, this kind of "labor pain" Marta Kauffman can deal with.

Instead of sitting through another round of headline-making and headache-inducing -- contract negotiations between NBC and the cast of "Friends," the co-creator and executive producer of the hit Thursday sitcom has a more straightforward task: helping to craft a worthy finale to the show's eighth season, widely considered to be one of the best the series ever has fielded.

At the heart of the hourlong May 16 episode (8 p.m. ET): the arrival of Rachel Green's (Jennifer Aniston) baby, sired by her on-again, off-again boyfriend and ex-husband, Ross Geller (David Schwimmer).

"This has been an incredible year for us, so we really want to get this right," Kauffman explains, "but doing an hourlong episode is tricky. The rhythms are different, and you have to build to two act breaks instead of one -- and it also affects how many stories you want to try to tell, especially when the main one is so important to so many viewers."

Potentially so important to the future of the show, although Rachel isn't the first of the "Friends" characters to give birth. In Fall 1998, ditzy Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow, really pregnant at the time) gave birth to triplets she had carried as a surrogate mother for her half-brother, Frank (Giovanni Ribisi), and his wife ("That '70s Show's" Debra Jo Rupp).

While those triplets quickly were whisked away from future storylines, Baby Green-Geller will be there for keeps, which could mean some very different storylines next season.

"I know, adding a baby to the mix is definitely tricky," Kauffman acknowledges. "It's like how life changes after a real-life pregnancy: You have all the funny insanity, then you wake up and there's a real baby there. And you're, like, 'Oh! A baby.'"

"It isn't that we thought we wouldn't have to deal with it because everyone assumed this was going to be our last season," she adds. "First, I don't honestly think you can write like that, and second, I for one came into this season hoping that it would not be our last. If it had turned out that way, we reasoned, it would at least have made for a lovely closing of the circle for Rachel, a character who wasn't capable of making a cup of coffee when we first met her not too long ago. Now here she is making decisions based on what is best for another human being."

Nor was Rachel the only "Friends" character deeply transformed by this unexpected pregnancy. As she struggled to come to terms with her overwhelming new future, Rachel's platonic roommate, Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), began to see her in a new light and, after years as a serial lady-killer, fell deeply in love, albeit secretly.

"I was so proud of what Matt did this season," Kauffman says, "because everyone wants to take care of that character. He's just so sweet, but he's been a little boy and this was the season when he grew up and turned into a man. And he did it pretty much by himself."

Near the end of the season, Joey finally took Rachel to dinner and poured out his feelings, only to be gently rebuffed by his touched yet stunned close friend and roomie. Still, don't count Joey out just yet.

"You know, that's one thing that I really don't want to tell you too much about," Kauffman says coyly. "I will tell you that we definitely have not closed the door entirely on that relationship. Just stay tuned."

A consistent hit with viewers since its 1994 premiere, "Friends" earned renewed respect from critics starting in 1998 when the show's two most neurotic characters -- obsessive-compulsive Monica Geller (Courteney Cox Arquette), Ross' sister, and deeply insecure Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), Joey's best friend -- became clandestine lovers, then eventual spouses. The redefined relationship sparked with both writers and viewers, and two already-funny characters became even funnier.

"That catches us by surprise just as much as it does with you, because certainly we have had situations where characters haven't clicked together," Kauffman says.

She doesn't elaborate, but she could be referring off-handedly to the show's oft-maligned second season, in which Rachel and Ross became sweethearts. Most critics agreed that Ross's incessant mooning killed some of the comedy, but the show rallied once the pair finally broke up.

Now Aniston and Schwimmer are playing the pair in a pricklier mode -- they were briefly married during a drunken bender in Las Vegas -- with Ross having traded in his doormat status for a new backbone.

Still, Kauffman says she already is wondering what next season will bring.

"I have to say, I think we are going into next season in a somewhat nervous mode," she says. "This season has been so tremendous for us, but it's a tough act to follow and we've certainly had to deal with backlash before."

Not to mention with fans a little too, um, deeply invested in the show.

"Those rumors that Rachel was going to die in childbirth?" Kauffman chuckles, referring to recent Internet buzz. "I had to laugh when I read that, because it was just so preposterous. How could we do that, especially to this character?"

"That's the flip side of things. We're grateful people love the show, but sometimes I -- hmmm, how to put this nicely? -- I wish some people would explore having a life beyond 'Friends.' You know, make some real friends in the real world." ...

Thanks! However I think the "R/R don't click" comment is an assumption from the author, Kauffman never said so. But let's not debate this, it won't get us anywhere :)

Andr�