1- The fountain in the opening is neither in Manhattan nor in New York. It is located in California on a farm that belongs to Warner Brothers.
2- The show originally was going to be named “Insomnia Café”, “Friends Like Us”, or “Six of One”.
3- David Schwimmer (Ross) thought the third divorce was unnecessary.
4- NBC wanted one main story for each episode, but the writers insisted to have 3 separate ones justifying that by not wanting to be like other TV shows.
5- Post the 9/11 attacks, an American flag was put in the Central Perk coffee shop to show sympathy and sorrow.
6- James Michael Tyler (Gunther) was a Barista in real life when he auditioned for the part.
7- The painting in Central Perk was changed every three episodes.
8- Tea Leonie was going to play Rachel, but turned the part down for a part in the show “The Naked Truth” which was canceled after three seasons.
9- Gunther did not have a name until the second season and didn’t have a last name throughout the show.
10- The orange couch the actors always sat on in Central Perk was found by accident in a basement in one of Warner Bros studios.
11- There was going to be an extra character, Pat the Cop, who gives advice to the 6 friends, but the idea didn’t even make it to the first episode.
12- The yellow frame on Monica’s door was originally a mirror which one of the crew members broke by mistake, but the director decided to keep it because it looked nice.
13- The main love story was going to be between Joey and Monica, not between Chandler and Monica or Ross and Rachel.
14- In the show, Rachel was a big fan of “Days of Our Lives”. In real life, Jennifer Aniston’s father played a role in the series.
15- Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) was scared from the duck Chandler and Joey had.
16- The word “Friends” was mentioned at least once in every episode of the show.
17- Jon Favreau (Monica’s rich boyfriend Pete) was offered Chandler’s part initially.
18- Ellen DeGeneres refused to play the role of Phoebe.
19- Maggie Wheeler (Janice) made up the annoying voice and laugh during the audition but in reality, she sounds nothing like that.
20- Bruce Willis agreed to play a role after losing a bet to Mathew Perry regarding how successful their movie “The Whole Nine Yards” was going to be. Bruce donated what he got for the part to charities.
21- Ross stayed 29 for three years during the show. Maybe he was a medical marvel after all!
22- The white ceramic dog that joey owned belongs to Jennifer Aniston who received it as a gift from a friend for good luck.
23- The producers wanted Courtney Cox to play Rachel in the beginning, but she wanted to audition for Monica because she thought the character was closer to her real personality.
24- The initial plot was to have four main characters, Monica, Rachel, Ross, and Joey. Chandler and Phoebe were going to be supporting characters only.
25- Hank Azaria auditioned for Joey’s part twice and got rejected which how he ended up playing Phoebe’s scientist boyfriend.
26- Monica and Joey’s fridges both were working throughout the show. While Joey’s fridge was empty most of the time, Monica’s always had drinks for actors and the crew.
27- Matt injured his shoulder while filming “The One Where No One Is Ready” which forced the director to include the jumping on the bed scene in one of the episodes.
What is your favorite episode?