Courteney Cox Scores First Emmy Nomination for ‘Friends,’ Almost Two Decades After Show Ends

It took almost three decades, but Courteney Cox finally got an Emmy nomination for “Friends.”

More specifically, the HBO Max special “Friends: The Reunion” received a variety special (pre-recorded) nom from the Television Academy on Tuesday. Cox was one of the executive producers alongside the original show’s creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane and cast members Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, which resulted in the accolade.

During the NBC sitcom’s decade-long original run, the series nabbed 62 total Emmy nominations. Five of these were for Aniston, who was twice nominated in the supporting comedy actress category (in 2000 and 2001) before moving to the lead comedy actress category, in which she picked up noms from 2002 to 2004, winning in 2002. Kudrow scored a whopping six noms during the 10 years the show was on the air, all in the supporting comedy actress category, winning in 1998. LeBlanc was celebrated three times in the lead comedy actor category, getting nods in 2002, 2003 and 2004; Perry picked up a lead comedy actor nomination in 2002; and Schwimmer scored a supporting comedy actor nom in 1995.Cox was the only actor from the ensemble to be snubbed by the Television Academy then, and was also snubbed for later acting work, such as in ABC-turned-TBS sitcom “Cougar Town.” This is her first overall Primetime Emmy nomination. (She received a Daytime Emmy nomination in 2017.)

Just last month on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show, Cox addressed her previous snubs for “Friends,” saying that while she was happy for everybody else, she was upset to be left out. “It was finally like, ‘Oh, I’m the only one?’ It hurt,” she said.

However, she can celebrate now, not only for this long overdue Academy attention but also as a multi-nominee when it comes to the Daytime Emmys. She picked up her most recent NATAS nod in June for her Facebook Watch docuseries “9 Months With Courteney Cox” (in the short form daytime nonfiction program category).

“Friends: The Reunion” streamed on HBO Max in May and consisted not only of a sit down interview of the six stars with James Corden, but also bits of script readings, a trivia game, a fashion show, and more. The special was also nominated in the variety special directing, variety special production design and variety special lighting design/direction categories.