It’s no secret that ‘Friends’ was one of the most popular sitcoms in the ’90s. Even over two decades later, the show is still incredibly popular thanks to reruns on cable and the ability to stream the show whenever we want on Netflix. While we all know everything there is to know about our six favorite friends, there are some facts from behind-the-scenes that’ll probably surprise you.
1. The fountain featured in the opening credits of the show may look like the Pulitzer Fountain in Central Park, New York, but in reality, the scene was shot on the Warner Bros. Studios lot in California.
2. While an episode of the show is only a half-hour long, it took 5 hours to shoot the entire episode.
3. The show was filmed in front of a live-audience so that the writers could “test jokes” before the episode would air on TV. However, they never shot important scenes and “cliffhangers” in front of the live audience, so that they’d never spoil the show for anyone else.
4. In the first season, the cast started off making $22,000 per episode. By the time they reached season six, all six actors were making different salaries. But, the teamed together to negotiate a way where all six of the ‘Friends’ could be making the same amount of money.
5. By the time they reached the final season, each castmate was earning $1 million per episode.
6. The show went through several name changes before NBC finalized it. The pilot was called “Insomnia Cafe.” NBC changed it to “Friends Like Us” after buying the rights. They also were thinking of calling it “Six Of One.”
7. Originally, the numbers on Monica/Rachel’s apartment and Chandler/Joey’s apartment were 5 and 4. The writers thought it made absolutely no sense seeing as they lived pretty high up (as you could tell by Monica and Rachel’s balcony) so they changed the apartment numbers to 20 and 19.
