It’s the show we grew up watching, loving and quoting.
From Ross and Rachel’s never-ending love story, to Joey’s acting career and Monica’s control freak ways, FRIENDS is one of the few shows we’ll watch on re-runs.
So when co-creator Marta Kauffman was answering questions on her new Netflix drama Grace and Frankie at a television festival in Texas, the audience were delighted to hear some new facts about the show.
Fact 1: A “misogynist” network executive thought Monica was an unlikeable character for sleeping with Paul the wine guy after one date in the pilot.
Kauffman told the audience:
“He said … ‘She deserved what she got.’ At which point, fire came out of my nose.”
The next day, the executive passed out a survey to the studio audience with the question: For sleeping with a guy on a date, do you think Monica is …
A) a slut
B) a whore
C) too easy
D) none of the above
Kauffman said everyone chose D.
Fact Two: NBC didn’t think a show focused solely on young people would succeed.
“We were told by the network, ‘No one’s going to watch a show about people in their 20s. You have to have an older person.”
So Kauffman wrote in Jack and Judy Gellar, adding Rachel’s dad and other parents to the show as time progressed.
Fact Three: Paolo could have been an eskimo
Remember Rachel’s Italian boyfriend Paolo who couldn’t speak English?
One writer wanted actor Cosimo Fusco to play an Eskimo but Kauffman overruled him saying he didn’t fit the part.
She added, “What’s sexy about an eskimo?”
Fact Four: Ross and Rachel were ALWAYS going to end up together
Despite the weddings, partners and the drama, Ross and Rachel were always meant to end up together. Kauffman said the characters were the classic ‘will-they-won’t-they’ that everyone was rooting for:
“My rabbi would come up to me in the parking lot demanding to know when they’d get back together.”
