When showrunners Marta Kauffman and David Crane pitched the show to the network, there was no hint that nerdy paleontologist Ross Geller and rich girl turned waitress Rachel Green would ever be the will-they-wont-they couple that defined the show. Called Insomnia Café, the pre-pilot treatment called for out-of-work actor Joey Tribbiani and chef Monica Geller to hook up. Kauffman and Crane saw their characters as the mostly innately sexual of the six: early episodes retained the slight flirtation and sexual tension between the two, before the producers had settled into a comfortable groove establishing Monica as the obsessive compulsive mother hen and Joey as the amiably dopey womaniser. Once the writing process was properly laid down, it became clear that the Ross and Rachel pairing had greater legs, and the rest is sitcom history. However, the show would later make reference to Kauffman and Cranes initial idea in season threes episode The One With The Flashback, detailing Monicas first meeting with Joey, where the two have definite chemistry until Joey screws it up by getting the wrong end of the stick. Of course, every real Friends fan knows that Monica and Chandler were the best couple on the show anyway...
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
