The 25th anniversary of Friends officially hits Sunday, commemorating the airing of the deathless show’s very first episode on September 22, 1994. And while the last month and change has seen an avalanche of nostalgia pieces and even the occasional “Is this problematic?” hand-wringing, it may be a safe bet that the winner for nerdiest tribute goes to Jennifer Garner.
As caught by Entertainment Weekly, the actress — who, sadly, never appeared on the show, even pre-Alias — dropped a video on Instagram of her dorking out over a favorite show in fairly original way: Hunched over a coffee table, she plays with the official 25th anniversary Friends Lego set, which recreates the iconic coffee shop Central Perk in miniature. Garner introduces us to each of her pint-sized buds, arranging them about the spot, and climaxing with one of Phoebe’s performances of “Smelly Cat.”
Garner also singles out Phoebe as her favorite, proving she has great taste: Ms. Bouffay was the least melodramatic and the arguably funniest character on the show, played by arguably the sextet’s sharpest performer, and the one who had probably the most interesting post-Friends show, The Comeback. But we digress. Point is Garner’s childlike glee is infectious — although it does serve to remind us why there wasn’t a similar universal geek-out over the 25th birthday of ER, which premiered only three days prior.
(Via EW)
