Friends: The One Where We Rank The Cast's Small Screen Follow-Ups

For 15 years, Emmy winner Jennifer Aniston was the lone standout among her former Friends, all of whom had previously returned to television since the mega-hit ended in 2004. But that finally changed in 2019, when Apple TV+ began streaming The Morning Show, a one-hour drama that reunited the erstwhile Rachel Green with onetime TV sister Reese Witherspoon.

Prior to Aniston's small-screen return, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer had all headlined their own shows, some of which ran for multiple seasons (and, in the case of Cougar Town, on multiple networks). All told, the six of 'em have collectively fronted 14 series over two decades — some good, some not so good — and the time has come for TVLine to determine which of those vehicles were the very best (and conversely, which of them were the absolute worst).

As a rule, the following ranking does not include series where the actor appeared in a supporting capacity — such as Schwimmer's turn in FX's Emmy-winning People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, or Kudrow's recent roles on Netflix's Feel Good and Space Force. We've also excluded any animated work.

Scroll down to see which post-Friends series came in at No. 1 — we'll update this ranking when at least one full season of any additional follow-ups (such as Cox's forthcoming Starz comedy Shining Vale) have aired — then hit the comments and tell us how you'd rank the 14 shows. 

After his acclaimed turn on Showtime's Episodes, on which he played a tongue-in-cheek version of himself, Matt LeBlanc returned to broadcast television in one of the worst reviewed shows of 2016. And yet, Man With a Plan survived four seasons, and surpassed the runs of both Episodes (sigh) and short-lived Friends spinoff Joey (fair enough).

Matthew Perry's latest comeback vehicle was the first to clinch a Season 2 renewal — and the least deserving. This pedestrian update of the Neil Simon play left much to be desired. The best thing it had going for it was Thomas Lennon — the Felix Unger to Perry's Oscar Madison — whose performance single-handedly elevated an otherwise lackluster show. It was cancelled after three seasons (and 38 episodes).

No one wanted seconds of David Schwimmer's People v. O.J. follow-up — a tepidly reviewed drama about a pair of best friends who open a Greek eatery in the Bronx, thrusting them into the seedy underbelly of New York City's restaurant scene. It was the equivalent of a bad meal at a Michelin-starred bistro, and the rare misfire by prestige cabler AMC.

The Friends spinoff did relatively well during its first season before getting shuffled around NBC's schedule in Year 2. Unfortunately, the LeBlanc-led offshoot turned lovable ladies' man Joey Tribbiani into a less lovable, perpetually down-on-his-luck mope — and over time, viewers tuned out in droves. NBC eventually pulled the plug on a series that is ultimately a smudge on the shine of the mothership. To this day, eight Season 2 episodes have never aired in the U.S.

Schwimmer went across the pond to find his first sitcom role since Friends, a lackluster workplace comedy about a pompous NSA agent who teams with an inept computer analyst (played by series creator Nick Mohammed) to form a cyber crimes unit in the Government Communications Headquarters. No word yet on a potential Season 3.

Easily the most forgettable of the post-Friends efforts was Courteney Cox's stab at a sexy cable drama, which took place at a fictitious celebrity tabloid. A late attempt at generating buzz by having Jennifer Aniston guest-star as a lesbian who takes interest in Cox's Lucy Spiller proved unsuccessful. The series was canned midway through production on Season 2, having only completed seven out of 13 episodes ordered before the 2007-08 writers' strike.

Perry's Studio 60 follow-up had the unfortunate task of temporarily bumping Cox's Cougar Town from the post-Modern Family time slot before it, too, was ultimately pulled. Though the show wasn't given much time to reach its full potential, and never quite figured out whether we were supposed to like or dislike Perry's cynical arena manager Ben Donovan, it sported a fine ensemble, including a post-Joey Andrea Anders, a pre-Mr. Robot Portia Doubleday and a delightfully over-the-top performance by Mom's Allison Janney. (It also scores points for its brief opening title sequence.) Four episodes never made it to air in the U.S., but were later made available on DVD.

Jennifer Aniston earned a Primetime Emmy nomination (and the title of TVLine Performer of the Week) for her dramatic return to the small screen, as embattled morning news anchor Alex Levy on the Apple TV+ streaming series. Her performance, though, is far superior to the show itself — a messy (but occasionally fun) soap opera — and singlehandedly elevated this one a notch or two. (Also fun: Seeing her act opposite former Friends sibling Reese Witherspoon.)

Perry's best sitcom since Friends featured a beloved cast, including Tony winner Laura Benanti, Cowboy Bebop's John Cho and The Walking Dead's Tyler James Williams. The series about a sports radio host who attends group therapy following the death of his wife was never as funny as, say, fellow NBC ensemble comedies Community and Parks and Recreation, but what it lacked in laughs it typically made up for in heart.

Aaron Sorkin couldn't quite leave behind his West Wing-honed political slant on this dramedy about the behind-the-scenes happenings at a late-night sketch-comedy show (think Saturday Night Live). Be that as it may, this flawed one-season wonder gave Perry his meatiest material to date opposite terrific performances by former West Wing-er Bradley Whitford, Brockmire's Amanda Peet and American Horror Story queen Sarah Paulson.

Lisa Kudrow brought an icy (but nevertheless deranged) edge to the role of self-professed therapist Fiona Wallice, who taped condensed, online-only therapy sessions in an effort to sell (and legitimize) her unorthodox methods to potential investors. While the show was supported by a first-rate batch of recurring players (including Victor Garber and Lily Tomlin), it also showcased the improve comedy chops of the A-list guests who played her patients, including Meryl Streep, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Steve Carrell, and former costars Perry, LeBlanc, Cox and Schwimmer.

Cox holds the honor of starring in the longest-running post-Friends series — a well-received (albeit dubiously titled) comedy from EP Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Ted Lasso) about a woman in her 40s making it by with the help of her beloved surrogate family and lots and lots of red wine. It helped that Cox, who also served as an executive producer, surrounded herself with another terrific group of friends, including Scrubs' Christa Miller and Freaks & Geeks' Busy Philipps.

LeBlanc starred as the exaggerated "Matt LeBlanc" in this Hollywood sendup far superior to HBO's long-running bro-sesh Entourage. For five seasons, this premium cable comedy excelled at generating laughs by showing us what indignities could have befallen LeBlanc had he followed up Joey with an even worse sitcom named Pucks! It also introduced us to Kathleen Rose Perkins, whose performance as network executive Carol Rance was simply sublime.

Kudrow's satire about a former Hollywood It Girl attempting to hold on to a modicum of fame boasted more critical acclaim than nearly all of the post-Friends follow-ups combined, earning her two Emmy nominations for the role of Valerie Cherish and countless TVLine accolades. Kudrow took the manic energy she brought to the role of Phoebe Buffay and channeled it into the performance of a lifetime.