The Friends Pilot Almost Introduced Monica's Story In A Very Different Way

Friends star Monica (Courteney Cox) is one of the most beloved characters on television (and Rachel, and Ross, and Chandler, and Joey, and Phoebe!), Yet as it turns out, the starting of her story could have been very different.


you might recall that in the series pilot, "The One Where Monica Gets A Roommate," Monica's got a date with "Paul the wine guy," who she case in point sleeps with the same episode. That nearly didn't happen, according to Friends co-creator David Crane.


whenever we were doing the pilot, Don Meyer, who was and then the head of NBC, took real supply with the fact that Monica sleeps with a guy on the opening date," mentioned Crane. "He mentioned, ‘We’re not going to like her!’ Although we really contained our ground on it." However despite how strongly Crane and firm felt about the scene, NBC was still on the fence about the complete situation.


Director James Burrows had a plan to test the pilot in front of a live audience in a bid to receive reactions as they happened, which NBC used as a litmus test to be able to see how viewers responded.


"The network gave the audience a questionnaire that was so skewed,” Crane mentioned. “It basically said: ‘When she does this, is she a trollop? Is she a slut?'" Yet despite the obvious slant from the network, crowds loved it, and had no need to dislike Monica because of her "choices."


"The audience all came back with, ‘No, we still like her,'" according to Crane. After the survey, the NBC executive Meyer approved the storyline and yes it went to air, yet for a less salient reason: he felt Monica "got what she deserved" connected with Paul's line that he hadn't had sex in two years.


"I could visualize the steam coming out of Marta’s nose," mentioned Crane of his partner Marta Kauffman's reaction. "And I’m tap-dancing going, ‘But you’re okay with it! So if you’re okay with it then we’re good, let’s move on, yay!'”


The rest, as they mention, is history – yet it's still disappointing to think that Monica might not have been the same character she is today had crowds not pulled through. The more you know, huh?