Secrets of 'Friends': Matt LeBlanc Was Meant to Have Surprising Love Interest and Why Jennifer Aniston 'Hated' Her Iconic Hairdo
'Friends' first premiered in 1994 on NBC.
July 24 2026, Published 7:25 p.m. ET
Friends premiered on NBC in 1994, and more than 30 years later, it's still beloved by fans.
Ahead of Matt LeBlanc's 59th birthday on July 25, RadarOnline.com revisits surprising behind-the-scenes secrets about the iconic sitcom and its cast members.
Joey Tribbiani Almost Had a Major Romantic Arc
Joey and Monica were meant to be major love interests.
Fans of Friends know the show had a revolving door of romantic interests for the main characters, from one-off celebrity guests to on-again, off-again relationships with recurring cast members.
However, the central romance of the show was initially intended to be between LeBlanc's Joey Tribbiani and Courtney Cox's Monica Geller.
Co-creator David Crane told Entertainment Weekly, "When Monica and Chandler (Matthew Perry) went to bed together the first time in London, the original plan wasn’t that they were going to then become a couple for the rest of the series. It was one of those things where originally the thought was, ‘Oh it was just a big, quick, funny mistake, and how are they going to get out of that?’ Then the more we explored it, the more stories it provided, and it really reinvigorated the show."
Another key romance was between Ross Gellar (David Schwimmer) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston).
Jennifer Aniston Was Not a Fan of the 'Rachel' Hairdo
Jennifer Aniston called Rachel's hairdo the 'ugliest haircut.'
Rachel's iconic haircut sparked an influx of fans asking their hairdressers to give them "The Rachel," but Aniston was far from a fan of the look.
"I think it was the ugliest haircut I’ve ever seen," she told Allure magazine in 2011. "What I really want to know is, how did that thing have legs? Let’s just say I’m not a fan of short, layered cuts on me personally, so I don’t love revisiting that particular era."
'Friends' Almost Wasn't 'Friends'
'Friends' was originally titled 'Insomnia Cafe.'
Friends went through a few working titles before it settled on the simple-yet-classic choice.
It was originally going to be called Insomnia Cafe, seemingly in reference to the characters' favorite coffee shop and hangout spot, Central Perk.
Later, it was renamed to Six of One, and after that, it was dubbed Friends Like Us.
Cast and Character Switch-Ups and Fun Facts About Central Perk
There were a few cast and character switch-ups before the show premiered.
Phoebe Buffay, played by Lisa Kudrow, was also originally imagined as a brooding goth woman, rather than the bubbly – and just a bit eccentric – blonde musician whose classics include "Smelly Cat" and "Sticky Shoes."
As for Cox, she was originally meant to play Rachel, but according to co-creator Marta Kauffman, it just didn't feel right.
"We met with Courteney Cox and she explained to us why she didn't think she was a Rachel and that she, herself, was more of a Monica — and she was right," Kauffman explained in a past interview. "Courteney brought this incredible joy to the character."
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When it comes to the Central Perk, set decorator Greg Gande has revealed the famous orange sofa wasn't carefully shopped for at a furniture store, but instead, it was found in the Warner Bros. Studio basement.
Although it was a little beaten up, he managed to revive it for the show.
Another major fixture at the coffee shop was Gunther, played by late actor James Michael Tyler. While playing a barista on the famed sitcom, he actually was one in real life.
"I had a job at a coffee shop called The Bourgeois Pig in Hollywood," Tyler told Digital Spy in 2018, three years before his death. "I kept my day job because I never knew if they were going to bring me back … But once Gunther was more established and they would have me on all week, not just one day a week, basically, I thought, ‘OK, I don’t really have time for this.’"
