Delayed 'Friends' Reunion & Competing With Netflix - HBO Max's Content Head Opens Up

Probably the biggest and indeed the most exclusive attraction for HBO Max during its launch was initially the much-awaited Friends reunion. It is indeed unfortunate that the reunion is currently delayed owing to the pandemic and the streamer had to be launched anyway.

Sara Aubrey, the content head opened up on the same and competing with Netflix in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

When asked as to apart from Friends reunion, the pandemic has affected any other major projects, she said, "We added international content both in the scripted space [British comedy Frayed] and the nonscripted space [U.K. hit The Dog House] to smooth out our offerings; we also acquired Charm City Kings and An American Pickle. And when we do get to go back into production, we're looking at breaking up our order pattern so that we're shooting a longer overall order but doing them in shorter tranches so that we can get a chunk of episodes up."

When asked if paying the Friends cast the huge amount of money is worth it, she said, "We definitely think so. Of course, it would have been fun to have at launch, but I do not think it loses value whether they watch it next week or later in the year."

It wasn't exactly how Aubrey intended to celebrate day one for the Netflix competitor, but in the face of the novel coronavirus, which has shuttered production and upended the business, little has gone as planned.

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