As Friends completes 25 years, here are some facts about the iconic show that we think are quirky and interesting:
1. The theme song performed by the band The Rembrandts became the #1 single on American pop charts, and in 2019 we’re still singing away!
2. An average episode of Friends took about five hours to shoot.
3. Monica and Joey were actually supposed to be love interests before the show was cast.
Thank God that didn’t happen!
4. On the other hand, Ross and Rachel’s romance wasn’t supposed to be a pivotal part of the story line. The makers later developed the track because of David Schwimmer and Jennifer Anniston’s crackling chemistry.
5. Courtney Cox gave us such a memorable character in the finicky and quirky Monica, but unlike the other members of the cast, she never got nominated for an Emmy. Ouch!
6. So if you wondered why Chandler was written as a character who was awkward around women, it’s because Mathew Perry told the producers that he was like that!
7. The entire cast used to ‘huddle’ before every episode, to wish each other luck and motivate each other. Cuteeeeee!
8. Remember that white dog statue that Joey had? It was actually originally given to Jennifer Anniston as a present from her friend.
9. The role of Phoebe was initially offered to Ellen DeGeneres, but she turned it down.
10. When Lisa Kudrow, who plays Phoebe, read the script for the first time she thought Chandler’s character was gay!
11. Also remember Bruce Willis’ cameo on the show? He did it for free.
12. Cole Sprouse, who we know from the The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and more recently in Riverdale, also made an appearance on Friends. He played Ross’ son.
13. The show was initially titled ‘Insomnia Cafe’, and then they considered calling it ‘Friends Like Us’ and ‘Six of One’ before they finally zeroed onto Friends.
14. After running successfully for a few years, the cast got together and demanded a fee hike to $100,000 per episode. This was in 1997 and for the first time in television history that actors had done something like this.
15. A highlight of every season of Friends was the Thanksgiving episode. But there was one season that didn’t have it and that was season 2.
16. Nobody from the cast actually liked the theme song! Jennifer Aniston once said, “We felt it was a little…I don’t know…dancing in a pond? A fountain felt sort of odd.” She said the only reason they did it was because they were ‘told to’ and had to comply.
17. Friends was originally supposed to have only four lead characters and Phoebe and Chandler were going to be supporting characters. What a loss that would have been!
18. Gunther was a Barista not just in his reel life but his real life also. James Michael Tyler who played the character told Buzzfeed in an interview, “I had a job at a coffee shop called The Bourgeois Pig in Hollywood, which is still around and one of the last independent coffee shops that hasn't been taken over or what not. I was one of their first baristas—I think I started there in 1990 or so.”
19. Lisa Kudrow didn’t like the guitar! She took a few lessons and then finally gave up and decided that Phoebe would only know a few chords and that actually works perfectly!
20. Courteney Cox is actually older than David Schwimmer, and on the show she plays his younger sister.
21. Phoebe carrying her brother's triplets was written into the story line because Lisa Kurdrow was actually pregnant.
22. The apartment numbers of the characters switched during the series. Monica’s door had number 5 written on it, and later they realised she was assumed to be living on a higher floor so changed it to 20.
23. So why does the frame around the peephole not have a mirror in it? It was because it was accidentally broken by a crew member, but it looked nice so they left it like that.
24. That iconic orange couch in Central Perk was actually found by a set designer in the basement of the Warner Bros. Studios.
25. The refrigerator you see in Monica’s apartment actually had water and drinks for the crew of the show, and worked. Now that’s a fridge we’d like to raid!
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