Believe it or not, there was a time when Friends almost wasn't there for you.
Thanks to casting shake-ups, poor test-audience ratings, and flack from NBC, the show was
very close to DOA until a few fortunate coincidences brought the Central Perk Six together at last.
Here's what almost stopped Friends from happening.
The one with the complicated cast
There's no doubt about it that Friends was a success thanks to the comedic chemistry
of its leads, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow
and Matt LeBlanc.
But, as with any sitcom, it was a total case of Hollywood revolving doors that these six
ultimately landed their roles.
"I loathe myself"
For starters, co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane originally envisioned Janeane
Garofalo in the role of Monica Geller and offered Courteney Cox the part of Rachel Green
instead.
Kauffman told Vanity Fair:
"[The character was] darker and edgier and snarkier, and Courteney brought a whole bunch
of other colors to it."
Cox decided that Monica was the role for her, though, and the producers ultimately caved.
Meanwhile, Matthew Perry was high on the initial list for the role of Chandler Bing, but he'd
already signed up for a sci-fi comedy series called LAX 2194.
"Finally somebody at Fox was like, 'We've seen this.
It's the worst show we've ever seen in our lives.
He is available.
You can hire him for your show called Friends.'"
Imagining anyone else as Chandler is so not cool, but the show would have been completely
different if Jennifer Aniston wasn't Rachel.
The network originally offered the part to actress Jami Gertz, against the producers'
wishes, but she turned it down.
Meanwhile, Aniston was still contractually bound to another un-aired show with CBS called
Muddling Through, so until that series was cancelled, it was uncertain whether she'd
be able to accept the role.
"Oooh, thank God!"
As for the other three, well, the role of Joey Tribbiani wasn't originally written to
be so dense, but when Matt LeBlanc busted his face on a drinking bender the night before
his audition, they figured that he was "good at playing dumb."
And Lisa Kudrow was a no-brainer for the co-creators thanks to her role as Ursula Buffay in Mad
About You.
But she'd had a tough history with director James Burrows — since he'd previously fired
her from the pilot rehearsals for Frasier — and was concerned he might block her from
nabbing the part as a result of the friction.
Last but certainly not least, David Schwimmer was a shoo-in for Ross and wasn't required
to do any auditions or screen tests to land the role, but he didn't want it.
He'd given up on testing for television by then and was focused on starting a theater
company in Chicago.
Ultimately, it was the involvement of director Burrows that drew Schwimmer in.
He told Vanity Fair:
"It was hugely flattering, and I thought, 'Well, it's quite disrespectful with all this
talent asking to meet and just consider it.
I'd be an idiot not to go.'"
The one with the terrible test scores
Much like the love lives underscored in the show's earworm theme song, the test pilot
for Friends didn't go over so well with audiences.
In May, 1994, five months before the show would eventually premiere, the pilot for the
show, which was originally titled Six of One, then Friends Like Us, was screened and given
a "poor" performance rating.
"Ooh she should not be wearing those pants."
"I say push her down the stairs."
Chief among the complaints was the likability of the characters.
Monica was moderately favored by test audiences, but characters like Rachel and Joey were called
unappealing.
The report concluded:
"Most viewers felt the show was not very entertaining, clever, or original."
Following the show's initial notes, NBC suggested that a major change be made to the structure
of the series.
Kauffman told Huffington Post:
"We were told by the network, 'No one's going to watch a show about people in their 20s.'
[They said], 'You have to have an older person.'"
That proposed character would've been a policeman named Pat or "Coffee Joe" who'd sort of supervise
the romantic affairs of the Friends and provide a "mature" voice to their goings on.
Kauffman rejected the idea, however, though she did cave by adding a few parental characters
to the regular mix.
Crane ultimately decided:
"This show was always the six friends, and we were prepared to live or die by that."
In addition to the network's concerns over audience testing, the co-creators also had
to contend with one executive who deeply disliked Monica hooking up with Paul the Wine Guy on
their first date.
In fact, he was so concerned that he'd even handed out a questionnaire to test audiences
which asked if they believed Monica was a, quote, "trollop."
Much to his surprise, though, it wasn't the that romantic dalliance that had the audience
issuing their thumbs down.
Rather, a scene where Ross used his ex-wife's menstrual pads for arch supports in his shoes
was deemed too offensive to make the cut.
The one with that filled space
Despite all these behind-the-scenes difficulties, the real reason Friends made it to air was
simple: NBC needed to fill a blank space on its schedule.
Although network executives strongly disliked Friends — as well as sister debut series
ER — they were waved through for the Thursday night schedule with scant hopes of them becoming
hits.
Little did they know, the series would be an instant sensation, earning both respectable
viewership numbers and the highest ratings of any debut program that year, eventually
becoming a cultural phenomenon that still resonates with audiences to this day.
The show became part of NBC's Thursday night "Must-See TV" and garnered an incredible 52.5
million viewers for its series finale in 2004.
Each of the show's six stars have gone on to enjoy busy careers, and it even made a
cult favorite out of the background actor who played Gunther, James Michael Tyler.
So while the network might have seen the show as a wash when it originally aired, it was
the little entertainment engine that could in the end.
"THANK you."
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