Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Friends: The Complete Series 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Could this picture quality BE any better? Sadly yes.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 29, 2024

One of the most surprising UHD announcements of this year, Friends has made the jump to 4K following complete series releases on Blu-ray (later repackaged) and DVD, the latter of which is still unique for including longer extended versions of select episodes. As such, fans were basically told to expect a cosmetic upgrade of the Blu-ray edition, one that had been newly rebuilt from recent 4K scans of the original camera negatives with added HDR10 and Dolby Vision support as well as long-overdue lossless audio tracks. Add in two bonus discs worth of bonus features (some of them new) along with plenty of legacy extras and you've got what should be perfectly good reasons to justify why seeing even more detail in a surprisingly roomy NYC apartment and cozy coffeehouse is worth almost $200.

I kid, because Friends has long been a personal favorite of mine. I arrived a little late to the party, having not been quite old enough to care about the adventures of quirky twenty-somethings at the ripe old age of 15 in 1994, but I caught more than a few episodes in its later seasons and was later drawn back to the series as a whole. Revisiting the show on DVD with my future wife led to countless re-watches of classic episodes and moments, and this set's copious amount of exclusive material made it a standout on the format. It's still very much a prized part of my TV collection, even if some of the discs have begun to skip and stutter during the past 18 years, so I was hoping to place this new 4K collection alongside it as a definitive "broadcast version" companion piece, replacing the Blu-ray set altogether.

"Hoping" is the key word here. As you'll soon find out, several hasty decisions in regards to Friends' new look in 4K doesn't make this collection the landslide victor it should have been. Some may find that certain visual improvements overshadow the numerous drawbacks (or at least sidesteps), but others won't be nearly as forgiving.

As for the show itself, most should already be familiar with Friends' plot and characters; if not, it's been covered at length in previous reviews such as Kenneth Brown's coverage of the Complete Series Blu-ray set. So I'll spare you the cursory synopsis along with my basically identical take on the material, which is conveyed quite capably in Ken's 2012 review that also includes a season-by-season episode list. Fortunately, this sleek but user-friendly 25-disc set -- 23 triple-layered 4K discs for the episodes, two dual-layered Blu-rays for the non-commentary bonus features -- doesn't chop everything up in "books" like the old DVD collection and instead contains five main keepcases with two seasons apiece, making it relatively easy to find what you're looking for if you're not marathoning the whole series.

Friends: The Complete Series 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the 4K discs but have been downsampled to 1080p/SDR; while at least representative of Friends' new appearance in UHD, they obviously should not be considered truly accurate.

Any film-shot show like Friends should have been more or less a slam-dunk on UHD, but unfortunately this set will prove to be somewhat controversial to most fans of the series. But let's get the basics out of the way first: these new 2160p/HDR10 (Dolby Vision compatible) transfers are better-compressed and typically more detail-minded versions of what we got on Blu-ray, albeit still framed at a consistent 1.78:1 from start to finish. At a glance, they're vibrant and eye-catching, actually closer to the show's general aesthetic on DVD with its substantially warmer color palette. In fact, in direct comparison to the Blu-rays, the differences in overall color timing can be almost staggering.

That's not necessarily a good thing. Any sense of "naturalness" has more or less been thrown out the window here, leaving an almost candy-colored picture in its wake. This might not normally be a problem, but Friends is a very colorful show with lots of vivid hues found in its 90s-era fashions, set designs, and other background details, and cranking them up even further than normal has led to visual overload. Skin tones typically lean towards bronze and already-warm reds now practically leap off the screen, while other primaries aren't very far behind. Black levels also run extremely deep, occasionally threatening to crush details (and sometimes doing just that)... but in other instances, they actually look more refined and frustratingly less boosted than their Blu-ray counterparts, especially in mid-range details. Whites are a similar story; they pop out in an attractive manner at first glance, but elsewhere are pushed to within an inch of their life and generally just seem, well, too white. I'll admit that some shots, scenes, and entire episodes are more attractive at first glance than their Blu-ray counterparts, because these heightened colors are designed to be visually stimulating and the effect actually works well at times. But it's quite simply overwhelming on the whole, enough so that I couldn't imagine watching more than three or four episodes without having to take a break. (Pun intended.) Hindsight reveals that many portions of the Blu-ray's transfers were actually a little on the drab side color-wise, but I firmly believe that a more satisfying middle ground could have been achieved here. And just for the record, even if you dial back the color on your TV settings by a few notches, that doesn't solve the sporadic problems with black and white levels.

These transfers obviously tend to outshine their Blu-ray counterparts for raw image detail and encoding quality, on average at least doubling the previous bit rate and storage space allotted per episode. But again, occasional problems can be spotted due to the number of episodes per disc -- roughly 12 on average, which is about 3 or 4 too many -- and these sporadic issues include lightly pulsing artifacts that tend to fight with film grain (some of which has clearly been subjected to digital noise reduction, especially the last two seasons for whatever reason) as well as light macro blocking which, to be fair, is much less pervasive than what we saw on those Blu-rays. In motion these are all certainly visible to varying degrees... but whether or not they're distracting might be up to viewer opinion and personal taste.

I will say this: for the most part, what's here looks more stable and film-like than earlier physical iterations, and as such any perceived softness in specific shots and scenes can likely be traced back to original source elements. Most of those other problems, however, seem to be a result of the color "enhancement" on display which, in my opinion, was done to appeal to the same folks who like colorized films, pan-and-scan video, and faux surround mixes. While I can certainly recognize that certain issues that bogged down the Blu-ray edition have finally been rectified, the drawbacks of this extremely vivid presentation (as in "your TV might look like it's stuck in Vivid mode") make the UHD edition more of a visual sidestep that sadly doesn't advance the show's appearance any more than the Blu-ray set.

Friends: The Complete Series 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Warner Bros.' early-format war against lossless Blu-ray audio counted Friends among its victims, as it contained only 640 kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio for each episode. Not surprisingly they've finally given this show a courtesy bump to DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, which predictably doesn't reinvent the wheel for this multi-camera sitcom but nonetheless offers a slightly more satisfying sonic experience. Dialogue remains clean and precise, sporadic music cuts (from The Rembrants' ubiquitous theme song all the way to that surprising Interpol track in Season 10) sound excellent, and the big studio laughs -- which change its tone greatly -- add support from the rears. It's not game-changing or the sole reason to buy this set, obviously, but fans should still appreciate finally having Friends with lossless audio.

A wide variety of subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during all episodes and most of the extras.

Friends: The Complete Series 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This 25-disc set ships in six keepcases: five slightly chunky hinged 4K cases with two seasons apiece (2-3 discs per season) and a sixth dual-hubbed Blu-ray case for the two bonus discs, which are all tucked inside an outer slipbox. A small booklet is also inside the bonus disc keepcase that lists all the included episodes and bonus features. The wide majority are simply recycled from the Complete Series Blu-ray set and are detailed in that review.

4K DISCS #1-23 (Various)

• Audio Commentaries - Nearly 30 legacy audio commentaries with executive producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane are featured here on select episodes from the show's ten-season run. These are all carried over from the Blu-ray set and include more than a few fan favorites such as "The One with the Football", "The One with Ross's Wedding, Parts 1 and 2", "The One with All the Thanksgivings", "The One that Could Have Been, Parts 1 and 2", "The One with the Proposal", "The One with the Videotape", "The One in Barbados", and "The Last One". Most seasons get three or four commentaries apiece, though Season 2 is still the only one with none to its name. It's nice to see these carried over, but a few new ones wouldn't have hurt.

BLU-RAY BONUS DISC #1

• NEW! Friends: Through the Peephole (15:18) - One of only two brief new extras in this set, this short but sweet retrospective piece is hosted by Warner Bros. archivist Matt Truex and shows off a few dozen of the more than 2,000 props, costumes, and other items kept from the show's original run. Highlights include a signed copy of the original pilot script (when the show was still called Six of One), Joey's Soapie Award, Rachel's handwritten 18-page letter, Phoebe's bike helmet, Chandler's "Best Bud" bracelet, original pencil-drawn set designs, Monica's peephole doorbell frame, all of Chandler's clothes (as worn by Joey), the Holiday Armadillo suit, and more.

• NEW! How Well Do You Know Your Friends? (6:37) - A paltry seven "Easter Egg" trivia questions are presented game-show style to test the show's biggest fans. Some of these are actually pretty tricky (although the previous extra actually gives a few answers away), but either way this is a once-and-done piece.

Season 1-5 Extras (Previously included on the Blu-ray set's episode discs)

• Friends of Friends- Seasons 1-4

• Season 2 Trailer

• "Smelly Cat" Music Video

• What's Up with Your Friends? - Seasons 1-4

• Friends Around the World

• The One that Goes Behind the Scenes

• Friends on Location in London

• Gunther Spills the Beans About Season 6

"True Friends" Documentaries (Previously included on the Blu-ray set's bonus disc)

• Friends From the Start (27:48)

• When Friends Become Family (29:18)

• The Legacy of Friends (10:44)

BLU-RAY BONUS DISC #2

Season 6-10 Extras (Previously included on the Blu-ray set's episode discs)

• Friends of Friends Seasons 6-8, 10

• Gag Reels - Seasons 6-10

• Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season (Seasons 6-9)

• Extended Broadcast Episodes - "The One Where Rosita Dies," "The One Where They All Turn Thirty," "The One with Joey's New Brain" and "The One with the Truth About London", all in standard definition.

• Behind the Style: The Look of Friends

• The Flaming Lips' "Phoebe Battles the Pink Robots" Music Video

• Friends Final Thoughts

• Matt LeBlanc's "Joey Joey" Music Video

Other Extras (Previously included on the Blu-ray set's bonus disc)

• "The One Where Rachel Tells Ross" - Producer's Cut in standard definition

• "The One Where Rachel Tells Ross" Original Script

• Additional Gag Reel

• Friends Visits The Ellen DeGeneres Show

• Friends on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

• The Rembrandts' "I'll Be There for You" Music Video

Friends: The Complete Series 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Friends was a huge part of the American and even worldwide TV landscape from 1994-2004, remaining continuously popular during its run and in the two decades since its final episode aired. It's almost no surprise, then, that Warner Bros.' 30th Anniversary Complete Series Collection is the studio's first venture into classic TV on 4K, although truth be told it's not exactly a home run. Featuring a somewhat questionable new appearance, long-overdue lossless audio, and only a paltry pair of new bonus features to go with a mountain of familiar ones, there's admittedly not as much to get excited about here as initially hoped. (The addition of the still DVD-exclusive extended episodes -- even in standard definition -- would have gone a long, long way towards making this a definitive set, to say nothing of the missing 2021 feature-length HBO Max reunion special.) I'll still say that this UHD collection is lightly recommended to die-hard fans for this things it actually does right, though I certainly wouldn't most people for waiting on an inevitable holiday sale. While this clearly isn't a great start for classic WB TV on UHD, I guess we'll see where they go from here.