HBO Go crashes as Friends reunion special goes live
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Fans around the world were excited to catch the special episode, but many were unable to tune in.
PHOTO: HBO MAX
Follow topic:
SINGAPORE - Streaming service HBO Go reportedly crashed when the reunion special of the seminal sitcom Friends (1994 to 2004) went live on the platform at 3.01pm on Thursday (May 27).
This is the first time the six cast members of Friends - Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Courteney Cox (Monica), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), Matthew Perry (Chandler) and David Schwimmer (Ross) - have reunited onscreen in 17 years.
Fans around the world were excited to catch the special episode, but many were unable to tune in.
Filipino vlogger Angel Dei tweeted that her HBO Go app would not open and retweeted a fellow fan, who wrote: "The One Where No One Can Watch Because HBO Go Crashed", a play on the sitcom's naming convention for its episodes, which often begin with "The One Where".
Many more users tweeted that their HBO Go app would not load or that when they tried to play the episode, they were shown an error message.
An HBO Go spokesperson for South-east Asia said the service experienced a surge in traffic due to "exceptionally high demand for the premiere of Friends: The Reunion". This caused a regional service outage at 3pm that lasted around 30 minutes, affecting users in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
HBO Go apologised to fans.
Once the issue was resolved, reactions to the reunion special began popping up on social media.
Many fans, including celebrities, talked about how they shed tears watching the almost two-hour show.
Indian actress Aathmika posted on Twitter a photo of her television screen, which was focused on the photo frame in Monica's apartment in the show, and wrote: "Don't cry don't cry don't cry."
The multitude of guest stars appearing on the show also caught the attention of fans. Viewers posted videos of pop singer Lady Gaga showing up to sing Smelly Cat - a song created by Phoebe in the series - with Kudrow.
Lady Gaga also channelled Phoebe's hippy vibe in her dressing - with long blonde hair and loud, colourful prints.
Twitter user HeyitsAKay wrote: "Sorry Lady Gaga, but you're nowhere close to The Phoebe Buffay."
Friends also trended as a topic on Chinese microblogging site Weibo on Thursday. The show has a huge following in China.
Many users jumped on the revelation that Schwimmer and Aniston - who played the on-again-off-again couple - actually harboured feelings for each other during the early seasons but never officially dated off-camera.
A user on Weibo wrote: "Ross and Rachel was real!"
The Friends reunion special is available exclusively on HBO Go, with a same-day broadcast on Thursday (May 27) at 9pm on HBO (StarHub TV Channel 601 and Singtel TV Channel 420).
