You could spend all day discussing whether the cast of "Friends" deserves this kind of money.
Does Harrison Ford or Arnold Shwarzenegger deserve 20 million a picture? Do some baseball players deserve 100 million dollar contracts?
Look at it this way, when the show was in it's infancy, and really began to take off, the cast was making about a tenth of what they earn now, while the network was raking in the advertising and merchandising money.
The studio and creators who own the show made a killing when the show went into syndication all over the world.
NBS still makes about a half a million dollars per 30 second commercial during a "Friends" episode, and with the show going into it's last season, will make even more.
All of these folks have gotten rich because of six talented people that the world tunes in to watch every week, and they will continue to get rich as the show runs on forever in syndication.
Why shouldn't the cast of "Friends" share in the wealth?
Frankly, it looks like these guys will never work in TV again, because they will forever be typecast, and none of their fledgling movie careers show any signs of taking off.
Think of the money they're making next season as their retirement plan.
A very comfortable retirement plan.
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