Friends isn’t a perfect show, and its cultural impact is constantly being re-evaluated — co-creator Marta Kauffman recently acknowledged Friends‘ problems with diversity — but its characters, charm and humor have been enough to win it a lot of loyal fans over the years.
It’s also a show that had a fascinating production life ,and there are a ton of cool details about the sitcom that would be of interest to anyone who considers Friends among their favorite shows.
Friends Almost Had A Very Different Title
Originally conceived around the idea of being young and having no idea what the future held, Friends almost had a very different name from the simple, iconic one that stuck. Creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane told NBC News that they referred to the show as “Insomnia Street” in their original 7-page pitch.
The title had already changed to the much more familiar “Friends Like Us” ahead of the pilot before being changed again due to similarities with another show on air at the time. In the end, simplicity was key as Friends has ended up being one of the most recognizable titles in television.
Ross Geller Was The First Character To Be Cast
Ross is undoubtedly one of the funniest characters on Friends thanks to his distinctive personality and the perfect casting of David Schwimmer. In fact, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Schwimmer as Ross Geller and it seems that the show’s creators were in agreement too.
Despite having auditions on a huge scale and having question marks over who would play most of the main characters, David Schwimmer quickly became a shoo-in for the role. Although it could be argued this isn’t much of a compliment given Ross’s flaws, Schwimmer himself appreciated it, telling NBC News he identified with the loser character archetype a lot.
Courteney Cox Was Originally Intended To Play Rachel
There are always arguments over who the best friend on Friends is but Courteney Cox seemingly had an immediate preference when she auditioned for the show. The producers thought that her cheery, upbeat energy would be better for Rachel, but she had other ideas, wanting to play Monica from the very beginning.
Even the show’s creators didn’t initially feel that the actress would be a good fit for their more downbeat concept for Monica but they changed their minds quickly after seeing her audition for the role. The actors ended up influencing the characters of the show in a bunch of ways but this is one of the clearest examples.
Matt LeBlanc Had Only $11 When He Was Cast In Friends
Although it’s well-known that several of the cast were struggling actors until they got the call to do Friends, what’s less known is just how bad it was particularly for Matt LeBlanc. In an interview, the actor revealed that he had no more than $11 to his name when he was cast as Joey and didn’t have another job before the call came in, as reported by Today.
LeBlanc also revealed that his financial situation led to him filing his own tooth down with emery boards bought from a store as he didn’t have insurance to get the dental work done. Luckily, the stars aligned for the actor who went on to become one of the highest-earning TV stars of all time along with the rest of the cast.
The Show’s Big Love Story Was Originally To Be Between Joey And Monica
A lot of fans may disagree that Ross and Rachel were the best Friends couple but there’s no doubt that the relationship produced a ton of the most memorable storylines in the show’s history. The usefulness of this relationship wasn’t discovered until the show’s pilot, however, when they realized the two could work well together.
Before the show’s creators had a good feel for the characters, the potential love story being discussed was between Joey and Monica, as they told NBC News. It’s easy to see why they quickly changed their mind after getting a better feel for the characters, as most fans would likely agree it’s not the best pairing.
The Episode Naming Format Wasn’t Meant To Be Known To Viewers
The classic naming format that was used for almost every single episode of Friends, “The One…”, is now as synonymous with the show as Central Perk and “I’ll Be There For You” by The Rembrandts but this wasn’t intentional from the producers. In fact, the only reason it became the naming convention is that the title wasn’t to feature in the opening of the show.
Since the vast majority of the audience wasn’t ever to see the name of each individual episode then, it wasn’t worth putting much thought into the names beyond a few words to distinguish them from the others. In the age of streaming and box sets, the episode titles have come to be a lot more prominent.
The Friends “Blackout Episode” Was A Crossover
Although it wasn’t initially meant to be, the reason behind Friends‘ iconic blackout episode has become a secret known only by original viewers. The blackout helped give the entire episode a different feel than usual and spawned some iconic moments including Joey’s “Gum would be perfection” line and the introduction of some fan-favorite characters.
Although it would have been obvious to viewers at the time if they’d been watching Mad About You, the show that held the slot just before Friends, this was actually a crossover episode. Helen Hunt’s character Jamie Buchman causes a blackout in that show after messing with her building’s power cables and it led seamlessly into the Friends episode.
Friends Filmed An Episode In London But Never In New York
Friends is synonymous with its New York setting but, aside from the establishing shots of buildings in the show, it was filmed almost exclusively on a set at Warner Bros. Studios in California. They never ended up shooting on location in New York throughout the show’s run and producer Kevin Bright told USA Today that the show always lost something without its iconic studio audience.
One famous city that the show did film in was, of course, London for the finale of the show’s fourth season. The producers knew that Friends had a strong UK fanbase, which was a big contributing factor to them choosing to shoot on-location in the capital.
The Friends Franchise Is Still Extremely Lucrative
Some of the insane figures surrounding Friends give an idea of the scale of the show’s success, including the rumored $1m payouts that the show’s stars were receiving for each episode towards the later seasons. What’s more surprising is that, even before the show’s high-profile reunion last year, the franchise was still making a ton of money.
As reported in USA Today, Friends was still pulling in $1 billion a year for Warner Bros. as recently as 2018, meaning the stars also continue to benefit from the show’s continued success. Though it’s not the case for everything about the show, plenty of episodes have aged surprisingly well so its continued success makes sense.
Friends Helped A Ton Of People Learn English
The benefit of being a worldwide phenomenon and extremely popular even in countries where English is not the predominant language is that the show has actually been credited with helping people to learn English. This even includes some notable figures in the world of entertainment.
Perhaps the most famous example from recent years is BTS’s RM who revealed the role the show played in his English development in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2019.
