The Status of TV Writers

Caught a rerun of the last episode of Friends the other night, and was struck by an ominous omission. Amid all the self-congratulatory goodbyes and "thank you"s to fellow cast memers, the crew, and of course the viewing audience, there was absolutely no mention of the writers. As far as the viewing audience was concerned, the actors who played the Friends must have been ad libbing the whole time. The discussion was about how these beloeved characters over time, but it was as if the actors were responsible for the characer development. There did not seem to be any recognition that somewhere in the backroom there was a team of writers building characters, developing plots, and writing the gags. I mean, if they are going to thank the camera man, should there be at least a tip of the hat to the contributio of the writers?