The woman. The legend. The hair. Jennifer Aniston is the show's biggest star by miles, with several showbiz awards (she's still the only Friend to win an Emmy as a Lead), the healthiest film career (Bruce Almighty, The Good Girl), and countless magazine covers. As if all that wasn't enough, she also happens to be married to fellow superstar Brad Pitt, in a pairing so apparently happy and well-matched that they draw comparisons to Newman and Woodward and have the whole world press clamoring for them to deliver unto the world their perfect golden progeny. AND, she manages to be the vessel of this unimaginable fabulousness with winning good humour and humility. Okay, fine: we're a little bit in love with her.

• Really seems to have absolutely everything going for her...

• ...which probably means that next week she'll get divorced, arraigned for tax fraud, and diagnosed with syphilis

Current approximate level of fame: Julia Roberts
Deserved approximate level of fame, post-Friends: Jennifer Lopez

Courteney Cox had a fair amount of fame before the show -- roles in a couple of decently performing TV series and movies, and a relationship with a fellow celebrity (Michael Keaton). During the show, very little has changed; she's made a few movies that have done okay, none of which has rested entirely on her shoulders, and she's dated a couple of celebrities and married one. In recent years, she's started to give the impression that she's less interested in on-camera fame: she's created both a TV series (the decorating show Merge) and a baby (yet to be born as of press time). Our guess is that she'll take some time out of the spotlight to nest with her kid, living off her Friends residuals and taking very rare supporting roles. Actually, based on how much she seems to enjoy telling people how to live -- see Merge and her former advice column in Jane -- a daytime talk show might be a good fit for her.

• A lot less scary to look at now that pregnancy has put a few pounds on her

• Still exactly as scary to listen to. Girlfriend is shrill, man

Current approximate level of fame: Meg Ryan
Deserved approximate level of fame, post-Friends: Patricia Richardson

Not so many years ago, Lisa Kudrow co-starred in The Opposite of Sex and briefly convinced us that she was the most talented and versatile Friend. She still may be, somewhere deep down, but in light of Analyze This, Analyze That, Marci X, Lucky Numbers, and many other stinky stinkers, Sex is starting to look less like the evidence of her untapped potential as an actor and more like a fluke. In the short term, Kudrow -- like Cox -- has a TV show to produce (starring recurring Friends guest star Aisha Tyler) and a child to raise; if she's wise, she'll take a few years off, wait for a decent script to come her way (or write her own; she is a former Groundling, after all), and come back in something that reminds us of what we used to like about her before she got all hard and crabby.

• Married a non-celebrity and seems to be pretty happy with him and her child

• We don't want to say she's made the most terrible movies of all the Friends, but...you know, Lucky Numbers

Current approximate level of fame: Julianne Moore
Deserved approximate level of fame, post-Friends: Rachel Griffiths

Matt LeBlanc may play a simpleton on TV, but he is obviously no dummy. Or, at least, his advisors are smart enough to know that LeBlanc should cling to the role of Joey Tribbiani until there's no one left who wants him to play it anymore -- hence, Joey, the Friends spin-off sitcom slated for this fall. LeBlanc is quite likable as Joey, but he has the least range, as an actor, of all the Friends, has had the least success in other media, and truly has no post-Joey career prospects. If he's lucky, Joey will be the new Frasier, and LeBlanc will be able to stay Joey well into his fifties. If not...well, he'll always have syndication.

• Joey has been the least grating Friend for about the last four years

• "Marriage" to his "wife" isn't really fooling anyone

Current approximate level of fame: Bruce Willis
Deserved approximate level of fame, post-Friends: Kevin Costner

Matthew Perry may play a clever wiseacre on TV, but he is certainly giving all possible indications that he's not so bright in real life. In fact, the weekend after The Whole Ten Yards opened (eighth in the box-office top ten...ouch), he must have been wishing he'd agreed to do a Chandler spin-off. Except that, unlike Joey, Chandler hasn't been likable in about six seasons -- coincidentally (not), ever since he hooked up with Monica's shrieking harpy and got to be boring and whipped. And unfortunately, Perry has yet to play a movie role that isn't some slight Chandler variation, so he has nothing to do now except Ben Stiller's romcom cast-offs. Maybe he can try tennis again.

• We have to like him; he's almost Canadian

• One more stint in rehab and he's the new Robert Downey Jr.

Current approximate level of fame: Mike Myers
Deserved approximate level of fame, post-Friends: David Spade

David Schwimmer's future may be the toughest to predict; we're kind of rooting for him not to fail, just because we have such a soft spot for big dork Ross. More than any of his colleagues, Schwimmer seems to be aware of the limits of his talents, and works reliably well within them. He's a fine character actor (see his work in the HBO WWII mini-series Band of Brothers) and a decent sitcom director (having helmed several Friends episodes). He also does a lot of work with his Chicago theatre troupe, and played himself quite hilariously as a high-maintenance jagoff this season on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Post-Friends, he probably won't try to style himself the next Tom Hanks or anything, but will continue both doing good if not especially flashy work, and not irritating us like Matthew Perry undoubtedly will.

• Between the bad keyboard playing, the roommate-quiz hosting, and the leather pants, he's arguably the funniest Friend, and our favourite overall

• Homer Simpson put it best: "Yes, he is attractive, in an ugly sort of way"

Current approximate level of fame: David Hyde Pierce
Deserved approximate level of fame, post-Friends: Steve Buscemi