By JORDAN MARSHALL

Staff Writer

Central Perk is closed.

An estimated 51 million viewers said goodbye to Ross (David Schwimmer), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Monica (Courtney Cox Arquette), Chandler (Matthew Perry), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) last Thursday night in the series finale of NBC's "Friends."

When the final credits rolled, it was the "end of an era" for Alicia Molan, a freshman early elementary education major.

"It ended just how I wanted it to; it was perfect," Molan said. "My favorite part [of the finale] was the end when they all laid their keys to the apartment on the table."

The finale ended with Chandler and Monica moving to the suburbs with their new twin babies, Ross and Rachel professing their love for each other after a frantic cat-and-mouse chase (did audiences expect anything less?), Joey dealing with the new changes in his life and Phoebe, happily married, telling her husband she wants children.

Molan and her roommate Kylie Brewer, a junior medical technology major, have been addicted to the show for the past two seasons.

"I set everything aside for 'Friends' because I can't miss an episode," Brewer said.

The hour-long finale kept Michelle Shumate, a freshman elementary education major, laughing and crying.

"I cried at the end because it felt like a friendship was over," Shumate said.

"It felt like these characters were your best friends, and now they are gone."

The closeness audiences feel with the characters of "Friends" is what Shumate thinks kept the show on for the past decade.

The "Friends" phenomenon took America by storm 10 years ago, and it still has an effect on popular culture.

Women have modeled their hair after Jennifer Aniston, "How you doin'?" can be heard at any bar and there are DVDs, games and books galore for any "Friends" fans to enjoy.

Some critics think with the end of "Friends," "Frasier" and other sitcoms not having much staying power that the end of situational comedies is drawing to a close.

Brewer and Molan agree with critics. They think "Friends" will always be a classic, and nothing will be able to top it.

With the coveted Thursday 7 p.m. Central Standard Time slot open, what show will fill its shoes?

Jay Leno joked the night of the finale, "Now NBC will face the real 'Fear Factor': Thursday night without 'Friends.'"