‘Friends’ Co-Creators Recall Standing Up to NBC Executive

[hewontgo]

‘Friends’ Co-Creators Recall Standing Up to NBC Executive Who Objected To Monica Sleeping With Someone On A First Date https://t.co/jpZTAg0Qn9
- Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) August 18, 2024

NBC executive wanted to change Monica’s pilot plot, which featured her sleeping with someone on a first date.

“The guy who was in charge said: ‘We’re not

Comments

[wonky]

My most controversial opinion is that Rachel and Joey getting together made sense. Feelings can develop over time and that development wasn't creepy like Ross's high school obsession. They lived together, got closer, feelings developed. 🤷‍♀️ It made sense to me and the hatred is so OTT to me.

Ross and Rachel as a couple deserves all the vitriol. 😂 They did not work. They were not compatible. Ross's jealousy and controlling behavior was super gross and it kinda weirds me out that people just ignore all that.

Anyway, divorced Rachel/divorced Mark for endgame. Thank you for your time.

[silverstarry]

I hated that Ross somehow felt this territorial and entitled sense of ownership with Rachel from the very first episode. Just because you have been harboring a crush on someone for ten years doesn't mean that you have any right to be jealous that she's meeting and dating other men. I mean, that alone was a huge red flag. But once they actually got together, he was dismissive of her job, jealous of someone trying to help her get a job that was in a field she was actually interested in, and immature enough to keep showing up at her job to do really personal/unprofessional things.

[rabbitofalice]

Though I agree with you completely, i hated Rachel's immature behavior following the breakup, including her fixation on getting married to the OC guy, her decision to attend Ross's wedding and declare her love for him, as well as her telling him how she felt when she saw how broken he was about Emily. Even Monica called her out on it. The same happened when she was pregnant, even though they weren't in a relationship.

[icedevil0289]

yeah it was annoying they never really allowed the other to move on long enough. I do think Rachel had her flawed moments as well when it came to the relationship that she doesn't get called out enough on. Ross is obviously horrendous but I think most people acknowledge that

[silverstarry]

Love that multiple people in the audience ignored the two slut shaming options offered by the network and wrote in their own answers.

[wonky]

As they should! Kudos to them because WTF at the stupid studio execs. I'm sure normal people in an audience in LA absolutely loved getting a questionnaire that slutshamed a character for something so banal that they very well may have done themselves. 🤦‍♀️

[helliosx]

it's been 30 years and TIL Friends wasn't filmed in NY

[yurasama_love]

These fucking executives. They love to harass and sexually assault actresses and actors, but a consensual sexual encounter? How dare a woman have agency?

[anna_drenxavier]

Yeah, I remember some trivia from years ago that the execs thought Monica was "a slut" for sleeping with a man on the first date. And they punished her character for it a few times over the years, like when Phoebe told Richard that Monica had been with "a LOT" of men, and he wanted to know the number, and she was reluctant to tell him. Or when the girls read that goofy inner goddess book, and then got into a fight, and Phoebe reminded Monica that she'd slept with that guy on the first date. There are probably more examples. I'm a weirdo enough for even remembering these two...

[notoriousreign]

I love how Chandler and Monica were originally not gonna last but they were so well-liked that it lasted. For awhile there too I thought them not telling the rest of their friends for so long was stupid, but then the fact that when they DO find out they all instantly go OH WHEN ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED... now I see why they didn't lol.

[flyingpigs_live]

But it DID give us the amazingness that is TOW Everybody Finds Out

[silverstarry]

But they don't know that we know that they know!

[poisonapple73]

this is one of the many things I miss about long seasons/network tv. If an audience really liked something (or really hated it) the writers could tune in to that. That's how we got Joey/Pacey on DC!