Could it BE more over?

It's the end of an era.

After what seems like an eternity, Channel 4 (and its multiple offshoots) have ended their fifteen year deal with Warner Bros to exclusively air Friends.

Even though the show ended five years ago, it's become such a staple of the media landscape that it's hard to turn on the TV without seeing the giant porcelain greyhound, the peephole picture-frame, or a thin Matthew Perry spitting a spray of water out of his mouth.

In fact, Friends has become so ubiquitous, that it's hard to remember that, for the best part of a decade, it was the best comedy show on TV. Maybe we take it for granted, like a moving version of the test card picture of the girl with the terrifying clown ragdoll.

Even now, the show manages to drum up daily viewing figures of around 400,000, despite the fact that the majority of the population must have committed all 236 episodes to memory.

The E4 schedulers must be flicking through page after page of blank diary sheets, wondering how they're ever going to fill all that space without Monica's OCD, Rachel's amazing hair or Ross's borderline paedophilia.

As for The Rembrandts, who performed the show's nosebleed-inducing theme tune, they're going to take a massive hit on their royalties now that it's not going to be broadcast around the clock.

Head of Channel 4 acquisitions Gill Hay says "It's time to say goodbye to old Friends and welcome new ones, in the form of more comedy, drama and entertainment from the US and UK. We are incredibly proud to have been the home of Friends for so long, but at a point when the channel is undergoing a period of creative renewal it felt like the right time to part company."

It's a sad time for anyone who's grown accustomed to their daily fix of Central Perk. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that BBC takes note and follows suit by finally putting 'Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps' out of its misery. At least Friends had the decency to be funny.

It's time...to face...the music

OK, I thought we'd try the live blog again, since the last one was such a success (i.e. not a success at all). Before we get started, I feel obliged to mention that when it comes to blow-by-blow accounts, nobody does it better than these guys.

Anyway, the show's started, so let's follow their lead. Cheryl's arrived in a dress that should have a Christmas tree hanging out of the bottom of it. No time for that though, they're already up and running with the acts.

First up... it's Rachel.

She's wearing a sweater with shoulder pads and make-up that looks like she just finished a shift spooking people on a ghost-train. The echo chamber is dropping her vocals out on the verses, but the backing dancers from Cats are doing their best to distract the audience. Her voice has a nice gravelly quality, but the song ended just as she was getting started. By the way, someone should point out to Simon that 'mis-underestimated' isn't a real word, unless you live in George W Bush's world.

Good Lord, here come the girls... it's Kandy Rain. They're tasked with 'proving Louis right', which is easier said than done.

Any attempts at encouraging the public to forget that these girls used to be strippers has been thrown out of the window, there's barely a skirt between the four of them. And the vocals have all the tuneful finesse of... well a bunch of strippers who've been asked to keep their clothes on and find some other way of keeping the audience engaged. I'm just glad they didn't try stand-up. Surprisingly, the girls didn't like it, Simon did. Who saw that coming?

Here's Olly. He aspires to be like Robbie - which makes sense, since Robbie's made a career out of being smug and blokey.

Some people shouldn't attempt falsetto, and he's the one. Bit of a silly dance and an annoyingly expectant face, but he warmed up and the vocal got better. Louis' "made the song your own" button must have gotten stuck, we've had it three times and we're not even at the second break. Speaking of which, here's one now...