Today in History: TV sitcom "Friends" debuts for first time ever

There are a few TV series that hold a special place in my life and *Friends" is definitely one of my favorites of all time. There are a couple of people here and there that claim to not like the show and I suppose there is no reason to not believe them, but I guess I don't understand how they can come to that conclusion. In my mind it is one of the most entertaining and endearing shows that has ever existed and I think most of the global population agrees with me seeing as how it is one of the most successful series of all time.

It all started back in 1994

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It's hard to imagine given the success of the show and its 62 Emmy nominations but Friends at one time was nearly shelved because certain studio executives thought that it was a bad idea. It seems as though almost all shows and hit movies have run into similar problems convincing studios to film a good idea but I can see how Friends would have been tough to pitch since it doesn't really have an overall plot now, does it?

The original name of the series was going to be Friends like Us but the studio suggested that the name be changed to Six of One. When I hear stuff like this I wonder what the hell studio executives are thinking and how they got their jobs. Six of One? That just sounds stupid.

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When the show originally was pitched it was meant to be about a group of 20 somethings who were trying to make their way in Manhattan and didn't really have much direction in life. The explanation was that each of their lives was one big question mark. I think that is something that most of us can relate to, especially when we are just starting out professional lives.

The only person that was pre-selected for the cast was David Schwimmer because the series creators had worked with him in the past. The character of Ross was the only one in the cast that was built around the actual actor, the others were developed by a coordination between the actors who got the job, and the writers. Courtney Cox was one of the only members of the cast with some level of fame so while she did have to audition, the show's creators wanted her to play Rachael rather than Monica. It seems so crazy to imagine her playing anything other than Monica, but who know... maybe she would have nailed that too.

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My favorite character on the show was without question, Joey. The cool thing about the character of Joey is that the creator's idea for the Joey character wasn't actually have have him be a loveable idiot but rather more of a Chandler type character. It was solely because of Matt LeBlac's audition and the spin he put on the character that the Joey we know and love today ever existed at all. Just like all of the other characters, I can't really imagine him being any other way.

There were thousands of people who auditioned for the show even though it was not a guaranteed gig. It was eventually whittled down to 75 and I wonder how the people who were in that "final cut" feel about how close they came to fame and fortune... but just barely missed it. Ouch, that must hurt.

The pilot actually had riders on it that if it wasn't a success that the people who pitched it would be somewhat financially responsible for the cost of filming. That is to say that there were still some executives who didn't believe that this silly Gen-X series that was about nothing was ever going to go anywhere, let alone become one of the most financially successful television shows of all time.

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I had a lot going on in my life in 1994: I had just graduated from high school and moved to a new city where I knew very few people and made very little money. I suppose in a way I was a lot like one of the people in Friends just not as good looking and I struggled to pay rent most months. Because of the fact that I was busy socializing and working some shitty job, I never even knew that this show existed until a girlfriend pointed it out to me. Since I overly criticized anything that she enjoyed as far as TV is concerned, and trust me, there were very good reasons for me to have this opinion, I didn't ever watch the show for several more years.

These days I am convinced I have seen every single episode - and there are a lot of them - at least 2 times and when I see it on my Netflix screen, I know that I can turn it on and still find it funny. I just feel as though it is one of the best-written shows of my lifetime. In fact, I'll go ahead and say that it is my favorite sitcom ever. The laugh tracks are a bit outdated and I am happy to see that this is being phased out but that was just how all sitcoms were at the time.

In the 10 years that Friends was on the air there was never a season that had fewer than 20 million average viewers per week average. This resulted in the main characters eventually demanding, and receiving, a salary of $1 million per episode. I don't think there has ever been another time where all of the main cast members ever received anything near that much money for a 25 minute weekly sitcom. I did find out how they pulled this off though... It was because they worked as a team of friends. They collectively bargained with the studio that they demanded $1 million each per episode or all of them were going to leave the show. That obviously would have spelled the end for the cash cow that the show was and all of the cast members could have gone on to do other things although we can say with certainty that they wouldn't have been as successful as they were in Friends. Let's just say that if the studio had said no, that none of them would be in the bread line anytime soon.

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One thing that might surprise you is that all of the cast members were making barely over $20,000 per episode during seasons 1 and 2 although Anniston and Schwimmer were making slightly more than the other cast members because they were seen as the "stars" of the show at that point. That's a lot more money than I make, but certainly a lot less than you would imagine that actors on one of the most-watched shows in the world would make. They actually wouldn't go on to make superstar money until the show's last 4 seasons jumping up from $125k per episode to $750k and eventually a cool million per episode.

I love Matt LeBlanc's response to an interviewer when they asked him "are you guys worth $1 million per episode."

"It’s like, well, that’s irrelevant. Are you worth it? How do you put a price on how funny something is? We were in a position to get it. If you’re in a position in any job, no matter what the job is — if you’re driving a milk truck or installing TVs or an upholsterer for a couch — if you’re in a position to get a raise and you don’t get it, you’re stupid. You know what I mean? We were in a position and we were able to pull it off. 'Worth it' has nothing to do with it."

I don't know if the interviewer was expecting a "Joey" type answer but as it turns out Matt LeBlanc isn't stupid at all.

The earnings aren't over now though, not by a long shot. When I was looking up stuff for this I found out that *Friends" still generates nearly a BILLION dollars a year with reruns, syndication, and their Netflix contract. Each of the 6 main stars of the show get 2% of this so yeah, they are doing pretty well financially from their involvement in this.

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_{the reunion show...everyone looks like they have had some work done and they certainly can afford it!}
There are a grand total of 236 episodes of Friends that exist in the 10 seasons and I got back and randomly choose an episode here and there. I can honestly say that there are only a handful of episodes that I will skip even though I have seen them so many times before. It is truly a wonderful piece of television history and love it or hate it, there is no denying its success. I can't believe that I turned my back on it when it first was released but at least I was doing other important stuff like dating, working, and partying... oh and i went to school every now and then too!

No one could conceive that this show was going to become the blockbuster that it was. Many of the studio executives certainly didn't think so when they tried to initially kill it, but it did go on to become something amazing that will likely be part of people's lives for the rest of mine.

....and it all started today 28 years ago