Warner Bros. TV is preparing to negotiate new salaries for the cast of "Friends," and execs are expecting a friendly game of re-upmanship with the six stars. The cast, in its fifth season, is signed through 2000, but Warner wants them set for season 7. "We've extended an offer to them," a WB spokesperson tells EW Online, "basically saying, 'We're ready, willing, and able whenever you're ready to renegotiate.' We expect it to be an easy, peaceful renegotiation." A quiet haggle would be a far cry from 1996's bargaining, when the cast asked for (and received) $100,000 an episode each. Although the Warner rep says that the dealmaking wasn't as bad as the press made it out to be, at the time it was considered an unprecedented sum for a show only two seasons old.

The "Friends" stars shouldn't have much trouble winning a pay hike. First of all, their salaries are relatively low considering they have the top-rated TV comedy and the second highest rated program this season. Drew Carey, whose show hovers around twelfth place, makes $200,000 an episode, and Kelsey Grammer, who usually places third, makes $250,000. Over at No. 1 "ER," Anthony Edwards earns $375,000 an episode and Noah Wyle gets $285,000.

Plus, Warner can't exactly cry poverty. The studio stands to pull in $500 million in the show's first five years of syndication. And it'll have no trouble getting NBC to cover its costs: Last year Warner nabbed $13 million per episode for "ER" from the network, which badly needed to keep its hit drama after "Seinfeld" ended. This season NBC is losing viewers quickly (its entire Monday-night sitcom lineup, for example, was beaten by CBS's this week in record numbers), and badly needs to hold on to whatever hits it has. Looks like Thursday is becoming must-fee TV.