10 Interesting Facts About Friends

Almost twenty-five years ago— September 22, 1994— NBC released Friends on its network, and that single act forever changed American television history. Besides turning all six major characters— Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, and Matthew Perry —into famous figures (and at some point,  they became some of the highest-paid stars in TV history). 

Let's take a walk down memory lane to re-experience some interesting facts about one of TV's greats.  

1.  The Original name of the show was Insomnia Cafe 

Marta Kauffman and David Crane wrote a script seven pages long for a new sitcom to be titled Insomnia Cafe. Besides the different titles, the series' plot was a bit different. For instance, Rachel and Ross weren't the main relationship, and Monica and Joey were supposed to have a love interest dynamic.

However, after NBC got rights to the pilot, the title was changed to "Friends Like Us" at some point, NBC president, Warren Littlefield, had another idea for a title considered, "Across the Hall." When the series was shot, it had been changed once again to Six of One. Finally, when the show premiered in 1994, the consensus was Friends.

2. We could have seen a completely different cast

The roles could have gone to many other people for the main cast of six people. Jon Cryer and Jon Favreau were both considered to play Chandler before Matthew Perry was eventually settled on. However, he almost didn't get the part either. During the pilot season in 1994, Matthew filmed another pilot for a series called LAX 2194, besides the one for Friends. Fortunately, the show didn't work out, and Matthew took the Friends job.

3. Courteney Cox was supposed to play Rachel, but she refused.

Before the show's debut, Courteney Cox was the most popular cast member. She'd already done numerous commercials and also appeared in the “Dancing in the Dark” music video for Bruce Springsteen. The Friends producers requested that she play Rachel but insisted on playing Monica because she liked how she was considered the “strong” one.

4. David Schwimmer was the only actor the producer had in mind to play Ross Geller

Some people may be surprised about this, as Eric McCormack mentioned he had auditioned about three times to play Ross. However, Kevin Bright, the show's executive producer, had already been on a previous project with David Schwimmer, so the writers had already started developing the character of Ross Geller with Schwimmer in mind. At the end of the day, he was the first person cast in the series.

5. The opening credits were shot in Burbank

Don't be deceived by your New York tour guide into thinking the fountain you're looking at is the one from the Friends opening credits scene. Even though it has an uncanny resemblance to the Pulitzer Fountain at Central Park, it's actually in Burbank. The shoot was carried out in a Warner Bros. parking lot.

6. The cast had a Las Vegas trip before the show aired

Just before the show aired, James Burrows, who directed several episodes for Friends from 1995 to 1997, took the six cast members to Las Vegas because he had a strong hunch about how well the show was going to do. He took them to Caesar's Palace and encouraged them to have fun. 

7. Caesar's Palace was a pivotal part of the series 

In "The One in Vegas", which was the season 5 finale, Caesar's Palace played an important part. This is the episode where Joey is found playing a gladiator at the hotel. It's also where Rachel and Ross have a wedding being drunk and come out of a chapel in Vegas. Chandler and Monica, about to tie the knot, stare in confusion.

8. Lisa Kudrow didn't like playing the guitar 

Lisa Kudrow spoke about how she didn't even like the guitar, which was her character's preferred musical instrument. Eventually, they got a guitar teacher on board, but it didn't work after a while. Lisa Kudrow just learned a few chords and declared she was done learning. She eventually decided Phoebe was only going to know a few chords anyway. We're grateful, though, because "Smelly Cat" is a masterpiece just as we know it.

9. Friends was almost always filmed in front of a live audience

A typical episode shoot of a Friends episode was a long process. It generally lasted about 5 hours with about 20 minutes between scenes to get sets changed, and multiple takes for scenes. Yet, the entire show was almost always filmed in front of an audience of about 300 fans. 

For what wasn't filmed in a live audience, it generally was in the cases of cliffhangers. A good example is in season 4's final episode, "The One With Ross's Wedding". There was no audience for that for obvious reasons, not wanting to spoil it.

10. Matthew Perry’s struggle with addiction

Perry’s addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs led him to rehab in 1997 and later again in 2001. Although he told People Magazine, “[he] was never high at work” and usually just “painfully hungover”, when things got bad, there was no way he could have hidden it. It got to the point that everyone knew exactly when he was struggling.