'Friends' cast scheduled to appear in NBC tribute to comedy director

The cast of NBC's hit sitcom "Friends" is scheduled to come together next month for the first time on the network since the series ended in 2004 for a tribute to TV comedy director James Burrows, NBC executives said on Wednesday.

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer will be part of a star-studded tribute to the 75-year-old Burrows, NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt told journalists at the Television Critics Association.

The Feb. 21 special will also see the casts of other comedy shows that Burrows has directed, which includes "Cheers," "Frasier" and "Will & Grace."

"I'm hoping that all six of them will be in the same room at the same time, but I'm not sure of that," Greenblatt said of the "Friends" cast. "I'm not sure if we can logistically pull that off. But I think it's safe to say that all six of them will be there."

The six performers, whose careers were launched by the show, have rarely come together as a group since the show went off the air. Aniston, Cox and Kudrow last appeared together in 2014 to spoof their "Friends" characters in a sketch on late-night talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

"Friends," which premiered in 1994 and followed six adults in their mid-20s trying to navigate work, life and love in Manhattan, became one of NBC's most-watched shows and has appeared on lists of the greatest TV shows in history.