Donny is a friend on 'Friends' tonight

CULVER CITY, Calif. — These days, there's nothing on TV hotter than "Friends," which is in its 10th and final fabulously successful season.

But the "Friends" themselves know a TV legend when they see one. And they got to see one recently when Donny Osmond visited their set before making a guest appearance on the NBC sitcom.

"When I walked in during rehearsals, I was standing right behind the director and they all saw me. And Jennifer (Aniston) said, 'Look! It's Donny Osmond!' " Osmond said. "And they all started singing, 'I'm a little bit country. . . . ' It was so cool."

And it was also pretty cool when Matthew Perry approached him after the rehearsal "and said, 'You know, we're like the No. 1 show right now. We're a very popular show. But it was your show, "Donny & Marie," that we grew up on.' "

Osmond appears as himself — the host of the syndicated game show "Pyramid" — in tonight's episode of "Friends," in which Matt LeBlanc's character, Joey Tribbiani, is a celebrity guest on "Pyramid."

"Working with Matt was great," Osmond said during an interview in his "Pyramid" dressing room. "His sense of timing is just perfect."

The episode finds the none-too-bright Joey in trouble and turning to Osmond for help. "He panics and realizes this (contestant's) going to lose the 10,000 bucks, and he's going to be responsible. And the way the answers come out of Matt's mouth — Joey's mouth — is just so funny."

Osmond recalled a recent conversation with a writer who's working on a coffee-table book recounting the 10 years of "Friends."

"He said, 'You've got to be in it,' which is kind of cool. I made the comment that it's going to be pretty darn cool to be part of pop culture — pop-television history.

"And he said, 'Excuse me?' You already are,' " Osmond said with a laugh.

Osmond is speaking on the last day of shooting for this season of "Pyramid," and it isn't a great day for him. He has received news that his mother, Olive, has just had "another slight stroke, so my mind is there."

And yet he's smooth and glib and funny and charming with the celebrities, the contestants and the production staff. "Well, I'm driving the ship so I've got to keep the energy going. That's where 41 years of show business comes in. But you know what's interesting? It's so contagious. You really get caught up in the spirit of the game once you get started. And I still get into the game."