Maggie Wheeler has carved out a nasally-niche as Chandler’s recurring nightmare/girlfriend “Janice” in 19 episodes of Friends (including Thursday night).  Is recent Grammy winner Amy Winehouse trying to clone the actress’s look, or what?  Interestingly, Maggie auditioned for the role of “Monica” on Friends and “Debra” on Everybody Loves Raymond, later appearing as different characters on each comedy.  The Friends cast is now engaged with big-screen projects, such as Matthew Perry’s “rewind” to become Seventeen Again—and look like Zac Efron—set to premiere in August.  Zac’s gal pal Vanessa Hudgens is filming the music comedy Will with Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) and David Bowie; while Courtney Cox (Monica) is on-set with Adam Sandler in the Christmas release, Bedtime Stories.  Busy Jennifer Aniston has two flicks in-progress and two on-deck; and moviegoers this weekend will see David Schwimmer’s (Ross) directorial film debut, Run, Fatboy, Run, a comedy shot entirely in England.  Yes, there’s life after Friends, but few sitcoms connect with an audience like that one does, so I’m glad we’ve got the nightly reruns to savor.  Janice and all.

The folks who syndicate Everybody Loves Raymond surprised us this week with a rare TV comedy-fest. They’ve selected 22 of the show’s very best episodes to air between March 17-29, gems that I always love seeing again, like Raybert, The Cannister, Baggage, Marie’s Vision and She’s The One. Mirroring other classic series, Raymond hit its comic stride in Season 2 and produced consistently funny stories for nine years. Here’s an early blooper reel that highlights the close chemistry of the cast, not to mention their ability to ad-lib. Two other sitcoms that deserve attention are Everybody Hates Chris and Aliens in America, both of which are riding a lengthy wave of new episodes. Young Chris Rock (Tyler James Williams) “trains” for his first kiss Sunday night; while on Aliens, nerdy Justin is mortified to be starring opposite his mother in a stage production of Rent. Click here for one of their hilarious scenes. Both programs expertly recreate the fish-outta-water tone of The Wonder Years and, seriously, are as good as any network comedy on the air. Beginning next week, The Game will follow them with nine new episodes, trading timeslots with Girlfriends to anchor a fresh lineup thru May.