20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Friends

10. The Pilot Didn'€™t Test Well

Friends pilot Ross Rachel
NBC

The show€™'s pilot eschewed the traditional TV approach of having a main A plot with a secondary B plot behind it, opting instead to give three stories equal footing and introduce a new format. It was far from an unqualified success.

After submitting their first edit, Crane and Kauffman were told that the show€™'s talky opening scene was too slow, but they got around this criticism by adding a title sequence featuring R.E.M.€™s upbeat Shiny Happy People. Still, when the pilot was screened for a test audience, they returned a verdict of €˜high weak€™ - far from a ringing endorsement - and rumours started to circulate that the prized Thursday evening slot the producers were angling for would not be on offer.

NBC eventually elected to run Friends in the coveted 8.30 p.m. slot, but that in itself was no guarantee of success.

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I watch movies and I watch sport. I also watch movies about sport, and if there were a sport about movies I'd watch that too. The internet was the closest thing I could find.