1.
First, whereas filming the pilot of Mates, the community reportedly “bought actually nervous” that audiences would not like Monica as a result of she sleeps with Paul the Wine Man after the primary date. So, Lisa Kudrow recalled that whereas filming, they made up a survey to provide to the viewers to ask them questions in regards to the present, together with in the event that they have been high-quality with Monica sleeping with a man after just one date.
2.
For “The One After the Tremendous Bowl,” Matthew Perry requested Julia Roberts if she would wish to visitor star — he apparently despatched her a card and flowers — and in response to govt producer Kevin Vivid, Julia wrote again to Matthew saying, “Write me a paper on quantum physics and I am going to do it.” He apparently wrote the paper and faxed it to her the following day.
3.
The concept for “The One with the Blackout” took place as a result of NBC pitched that every one of their comedies — Mates, Seinfeld, Mad About You, and Madman of the Individuals — do “an entire night time of blackout” centered on a blackout in NYC. Each present, besides Seinfeld, participated within the promotional stunt.
4.
Mates is credited with popularizing the time period “good friend zone” because of the episode “The One with the Blackout” the place Joey tells Ross that he is caught within the good friend zone with Rachel.
5.
The now well-known second when Ross says Rachel’s title as a substitute of Emily’s in “The One with Ross’s Marriage ceremony” was reportedly impressed by a real-life mistake David Schwimmer made whereas filming. Within the e-book Technology Mates: An Inside Have a look at the Present That Outlined a Tv Period, whereas rehearsing traces someday, David by chance stated, “Rachel, the taxi’s right here” as a substitute of “Emily, the taxi’s right here,” and that impressed producer Greg Malins and co-creator David Crane to tweak the top of the episode.
6.
In “The One with Ross’s Marriage ceremony,” they filmed all the inside moments in London in entrance of a stay studio viewers, aside from the Phoebe scenes which have been shot on their common soundstage in LA. Whereas Mates solely taped a typical episode as soon as, for this Season 4 finale they really “did it 3 times,” according to co-creator David Crane.
7.
The reveal of Monica and Chandler in mattress collectively within the Season 4 finale acquired such a wild and positive reaction all 3 times they carried out it in entrance of the stay viewers that it truly made the creators change the storyline. At first, Monica and Chandler have been simply going to sleep collectively as “a giant, fast, humorous mistake,” however after the audiences’ reactions, the creators determined to check out Monica and Chandler as a pair.
8.
Throughout Season 5, particularly “The One in Vegas,” there was reportedly an preliminary concept for a storyline that concerned Chandler dishonest on Monica. The present employed Lisa Money to play the girl. In accordance with Lisa, she and Matthew Perry even rehearsed the scene, however finally Matthew apparently instructed the writers that he was involved that followers would “by no means forgive” Chandler for his actions.
9.
Phoebe’s hilarious “My eyes! My eyes!” second in “The One The place All people Finds Out” was inspired by Matthew Perry. Lisa Kudrow defined that the way in which she says the road was “how Matthew Perry stated issues,” and he or she truly bought his permission to carry out the second like he would earlier than they filmed the episode.
10.
Mates dictated a whole lot of its jokes primarily based on how the stay viewers reacted throughout filming. Strains have been typically re-written if an viewers did not giggle or actors tried a number of line readings of the identical joke to see which one the viewers preferred finest. Attributable to this, generally stay tapings reportedly went till 1 or 2 a.m., and generally audiences have been swapped out midway via so the “sleepy viewers” was changed with a “contemporary one.”
11.
In truth, in “The One with the Embryos,” which is usually thought of one of the best Mates episode, the forged and crew reportedly shot quite a few variations of the trivia questions Monica, Rachel, Chandler, and Joey reply throughout the sport for the house. In the long run, they used those that bought “the most important giggle doable.”
12.
The turkey that Monica and Joey placed on their heads throughout “The One with All of the Thanksgivings” wasn’t a real turkey, however was as a substitute made out of froth. Nonetheless, author Greg Malins stated he did need an actual turkey at first, simply so Matt LeBlanc needed to put it on, however, “the most important turkey ever on the market is just not large enough to suit a human head.”
13.
Whereas Mates turned recognized for the six core buddies — Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey, and Ross — NBC reportedly steered {that a} seventh character be added so the group would have “an older secondary character.” The community was apparently apprehensive that due to the younger forged, they might lose a whole lot of older viewers.
14.
Jane Krakowski, Bradley Whitford, Neil Patrick Harris, Sandra Bullock, and Molly Ringwald have been reportedly among the many listing of potential actors up for roles in Insomnia Cafe, the unique title of Mates.
15.
Manufacturing designer John Shaffner is the one who got here up with the concept to color Monica’s house the now iconic shade of purple. He recalled that everybody was “actually anxious” about it, till he painted his white mannequin of the set purple. John defined his alternative saying having the house be purple helped set up the present’s identification and set this house other than different sitcom units.
16.
As for the enduring burnt orange sofa in Central Perk, set decorator Greg Grande stated he initially found it whereas combing via an previous basement storage space at Warner Bros. studios, the place the present was filmed. After the primary rehearsal, the community reportedly questioned why the sofa was ripped and never brand-new, however director James Burrows stated it made the espresso store really feel “completely plausible and actual.”
17.
Monica’s house was furnished by set decorator Greg Grande rummaging via thrift shops, the Rose Bowl and Lengthy Seashore swap meets, and the Warner Bros. prop home. You may discover all of Monica’s eating desk chairs are totally different as a result of it gave the sensation that she “actually could not afford a matched set” and it helped create the backstory that “her Sundays have been spent in New York in these car parking zone swap meets and he or she did a whole lot of mixing and matching.”
18.
Bruce Willis guest-starred on Mates as a result of he misplaced a wager with Matthew Perry that their movie The Complete 9 Yards would not carry out effectively on the field workplace. In Matthew’s memoir Mates, Lovers, and the Huge Horrible Factor, he explained, “Bruce hadn’t been positive the movie would work in any respect, and I might wager him it will — if he misplaced, he needed to do a visitor spot on Mates.” After his three episodes, Bruce donated his total paycheck to charity.
19.
When it got here to the costume design for Mates, it was vital that every character stood out on their very own, but in addition complemented one another. So, costume designer Debra McGuire assigned every character a shade palette in Season 1. For the women, Rachel sometimes wore greens and blues, Monica caught to black, white, grey, and burgundy, and Phoebe bought brighter colours and floral palettes.
20.
In “The One The place No One’s Prepared,” which incorporates the second when Joey wears all of Chandler’s garments, it offers the phantasm of being layers of garments, however costume designer Debra McGuire explained that “it opened from the again…it was truly one garment that you just walked into.” The look is so iconic a parka from Balenciaga in 2018 was seemingly impressed by it.
21.
And at last, after filming wrapped, Matthew Perry revealed that he stole the cookie jar with the clock face on it that sat in Monica’s house. He ended up giving it to Lisa Kudrow as a gift as a result of he remembered one time she “checked out it and thought it was an actual clock,” which he discovered hilarious.
