Back to Book Segment, tonight the Factor TV Icon, the mega-hit Friends ran from 1994 to 2004. And over that ten-year period, the six actors featured are estimated to have made, -ready?-100 million dollars each including rerun payments. But what has happened to them since Friends went off the air? A few days ago I spoke with FOX Entertainment reporter Jill Dobson about that.

Bill: You are a brutal person. I mean you rank these people in order of success and the least successful is Matt LeBlanc. But it looked like out of the gate, he was gonna be one of the most successful because he’s got a spin-off from Friends. What happened?

Jill: Joey wasn’t a huge success. He got some nominations for his acting. But by 2006 it had been canceled. He hasn’t done much since.

Did you break another piece of the wall?

It’s just begging to be climbed.

B: It’s interesting because Kelsey Grammer, a spun-off from “Cheers” and “Frasier”, huge hit. Mr. LeBlanc had the same opportunity but the show went down the drain.

Show me your bra, he’s afraid of bras. Can’t look them.

B: Lisa Kudrow plays a lot of character actress parts, right?

J: She does and she’s a great actress. She won an Emmy for her role on Friends. And she had a role on a show called The Come Back, and did very well by critics but not so well with the audiences.

Read the card.

Congratulations from your favorite gay. Oh…. Mickey. Guy! Favorite guy. Yeah.

B: She is a good actress but she’s not gonna carry a film any more?

J: Yeah, She's never really gotten that headliner status even during Friends. She was always considered kind of the side, the parsley whereas the meat and potatoes were Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox.

Does this look like something the girlfriend of a paleontologist would wear?

I don’t know. You might be the first one.

B: Matthew Perry now, he is the guy who has some personal drug problems, things like that. I think that’s intruded on his career, I could be wrong.

J: He had the show 'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'.

What if you did tank tonight? What’re you afraid would happen?

Strangers wouldn’t like me. Friends wouldn’t like me. And the network wouldn’t like me.

Is he in therapy?

No, he’s got me.

J: But after that he didn't work for a while, but just had the movie 17 Again.

Of course I wanna live in the past. It was better there.

B: But these guys are now at the mercy of the market place because none of them can drive a vehicle. They are not stars any more.

Could you want her more？

Who? Dee. The sarcastic sister from What’s Happening.

B: David Schwimmer, I haven’t seen him around at all. He did some World War II thing.

Salute the rank, not the man.

J: They are paying the bills no problem, because he keeps lending his voice to different animation projects, especially Madagascar and Madagascar II.

What kind of zoo is this?

I just saw 26 blatant health code violations.

J: Kids know him. They know his voice, and he’s doing well so he’s in the business. He is working, but his face isn’t on TV or on the big screen.

B: Alright, so the two most successful would down to Courtney Cox, correct?

J: Uh huh.

B: She’s all over the place.

J: She is, and she looks fantastic. She’s got endorsement deals and continuing to act. She had the FX’s series Dirt which she produced and starred in, and her highest rated episode was when she got her friend Jennifer Aniston to come, do some episodes with her.

Thank you for lunch.

B: And the most successful in your opinion, Jill’s opinion is Jennifer Aniston, although outside “Marley & Me”, which really starred the dog, come on, to be honest.

Oh, honey you are shaking. Does thunder scare you, Mr.?

B: She hasn't had a lot of blockbuster movies, has she?

J: No, she’s had a lot of consistent work and she’s had films just about every year. And "Marley & Me" has made $143 million at the box office so far.

Sit! Sit!

J: She was in “He’s Just Not That Into You”, which did really well.

B: “He’s Just Not That…” See that’s kind of movie, she liked these like comedies with Vince Vaughn and other guys. Nothing wrong with that.

Well, I’m actually a wiccan.

Wiccan?

Male witch.

Right. Yeah. That’s fantastic.

J: She hasn’t got a lot of recognition from critics although she did win an Emmy for Friends along the way.

What is that noise?

You!

J: Fans love her and she continues to be, much to her chagrin, a tabloid staple, which means people are still intrigued by her life. They follow what she does.

B: Do you believe that her marriage with Brad Pitt catapulted her?

J: Certainly. It got her more headlines, drew more attention to her and when people are intrigued by someone’s personal life, they tend to go and see their movies as well.

Like if I want something from Joey, I would strike up a conversation about, say, uh… sandwiches, or uh… my underwear.

I’m listening.

B: Jill Dobson, everyone thanks you.

J: Thank you.

Vocabulary:

1.spin-off: a television programme involving characters that were previously in another programme or film

2.go down the drain: 前功盡棄，付諸流水

3.parsley: An individual who adds to the overall appearance or dynamics of a group but has no interesting qualities on their own. Similar to the herb parsley, which is used in many dishes as a garnish.

4.intrude on: to come into a place or situation, and have an unwanted effect

5.blockbuster: a book or film that is very good or successful

6.Wiccan: 巫師

7.chagrin: annoyance and disappointment because something has not happened the way you hoped