Friends almost had to write Jennifer Aniston OUT of the show and there was originally going to be a seventh ‘friend’, new book on sitcom reveals
JENNIFER Aniston was almost ditched from TV phenomenon Friends claims a bombshell new book about the 90s sitcom.
The book, Generation Friends, reveals that the show's writers nearly had to recast the character of Rachel Green because of a conflict with another project.
It turns out then-unknown actress Jennifer had filmed several episodes of another new comedy called Muddling Through for a rival network before auditioning for Friends in 1994.
And while Friends bosses were desperate for Jen, now 50, to play Central Perk waitress Rachel, the book alleges that they were concerned that they would have to lose the actress halfway through their first season if Jennifer's other show get picked up for a full series.
In a crafty move, US network NBC, the channel that aired Friends for ten seasons, decided to "kill " the rival show by scheduling a series of blockbuster TV movies against it during the summer so it couldn't find an audience.
As a result, Muddling Through was axed, Jen - who is returning to telly in Apple series The Morning Show - got the Friends gig and the rest, as they say, is TV history.
And that's just one of the fascinating behind-the-scenes secrets author Saul Austerlitz lifts the lid on in his tell-all, which is released next month to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the show hitting the airwaves.
The book also reveals that network bosses initially wanted producers to add a 'seventh friend' into the mix alongside Rachel, Monica (Courteney Cox), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Ross (David Schwimmer), Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc).
"The one major suggestion the network has was the addition of an older secondary character," writes Austerlitz.
The writers than came up with a character known as 'Pat The Cop' who would have rubbed shoulders with the gang, but they ultimately begged the bosses to ditch the seventh addition.
"The writers made a good-faith attempt, even casting the role, but hated the resulting script so much that they pleaded with NBC to drop the idea," reveals the book. "NBC gave its permission and Pat the Cop was no longer."
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Other gems in the book include the fact the show was initially called Friends Like Us before being given the shorter moniker, execs originally wanted a more racially-diverse cast and the character of Joey was meant to be "less dim-witted" than he turned out to be.
Even Courteney Cox almost lost out on the role of Monica.
The book reveals that bosses first cast actress Janeane Garofolo - famous for 90s flicks like Reality Bites and The Truth About Cats & Dogs - in the role.
They also envisioned Monica to be a "tough, cyncial, sarcastic" character before they reworked their vision.
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