China Gets Some New 'Friends'

China, meet Ross, Monica, Joey, Chandler, Phoebe, and Rachel.

The Chinese state broadcaster, China Central Television, will begin broadcasting the popular U.S. sitcom "Friends" to the world's biggest potential audience next year, the Beijing Star Daily newspaper reported in Friday's editions.

In Chinese, the show will be called "laoyouji" - "Old Friends' Story."

It will be shown on CCTV-8, which broadcasts foreign and domestic TV series and soap operas, in Chinese, the newspaper reported in a brief announcement, quoting CCTV officials who met Thursday to set their 2004 schedule.

"It is very popular in the United States and has won many Emmy prizes," the newspaper offered. It quoted Wang Guohui, chief executive of programming for CCTV.

The show is already quite popular in China. Bundles of counterfeit DVDs of various "Friends" seasons are widely available on the streets of Chinese cities for less than $6 and sell well alongside fake Hollywood movies.

"Friends" has been running on NBC since 1994 and has become one of the most popular sitcoms in recent history.

The 2003-2004 season will be its last, though Matt LeBlanc, who plays Joey, is set to star in a spinoff - also named "Joey" - that will take over the Thursday night time slot held by "Friends."

CCTV-8 also plans to show two Hollywood feature films next year - "The Fifth Element," Luc Besson's 1997 science-fiction epic that stars Bruce Willis, and "The Fugitive," (1994) with Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.

China has been increasing its Western programming in recent years. The first American television series to be bought by Chinese TV was "The Man From Atlantis," starring Patrick Duffy. It premiered in China in early 1980.