20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Friends
13. Jennifer Aniston Wasn't Even Available
The part of Rachel proved the hardest one to cast. The role was first offered to Courteney Cox, who turned it down in favour of playing Monica, and Jami Gertz also received an offer. When she also turned it down, the producers decided on a risky strategy that could easily have been the show's undoing.
Jennifer Aniston's audition for Rachel was well received but she had recently filmed ten episodes of a rival sitcom called Muddling Through for CBS. The rival network had her under contract if they decided to go ahead with further episodes, and NBCs decision to film several episodes with Aniston as a fixed part of the cast could have cost them millions of dollars had Muddling Through found an audience.