The sexual and racial harassment lawsuit is being brought by a writer's assistant who worked on the show in 1999, which could result in a payout running to millions of dollars.
Amaani Lyle is alleging that male writers on the programme had detailed discussions about how they would like to have sex with two of the female stars, Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox-Arquette, and speculated on whether the latter was "competently sexually servicing her boyfriend at the time, David Arquette", according to the complaint.
Lyle is also saying that she was fired because she is black and a woman, and because she complained at the dearth of black characters on the programme.
According to The New York Post, the writers have denied all the allegations. Their lawyer Adam Levin has said that there was some sexual discussion but that it was part of the creative process.
The suit is not a new one. It was first thrown out by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge in 2002 but partly reinstated last week by an appeals court.
Lyle says that the writers on the NBC show made obscene references to Cox's anatomy and cruel remarks about her alleged problems with fertility. They also, she claims, made jokes about David Schwimmer being gay and "discussed making... Joey a serial rapist".
Lyle's lawyer Mark Weidmann told The Post his client, now serving in the Air Force, was "very happy" the suit against production firm Warner Bros, the three writers and Bright, Kauffman, Crane Productions had been reinstated.
The $2m (£1.12m) for a 30-second spot is a record for non-Super Bowl broadcasts. According to reports, the previous record was an average of $1.7m for each ad sold during the finale of 'Seinfeld'.
However, the $2m mark still falls short of the record $2.3m paid for a slot in this year's Super Bowl.
'Friends' finally comes to an end on Thursday May 6 after a 10-year run. NBC will run an hour-long episode, already one of the most-anticipated television events of the year, with projections that between 40m and 50m viewers will tune in. This figure is still well short of the 'M*A*S*H' finale in 1983, when 106m people tuned in, still the most-watched US television programme to date.
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