8 TV Shows You Had No Idea Were Rewritten By Real Life Events
5. Friends Ran A Bizarre Episode Because Nobody Wanted To Tell The Writer No
There are a lot of bizarre episodes of Friends, but the fourth season episode The One With The Cat is certainly up there. In it, Phoebe discovers a cat stowed in her guitar case and becomes extremely fond of it, later stating her belief that the cat is actually her mother reborn.
Most of the episode centres around this premise, with various characters attempting to debunk the idea that Phoebe's mum has been reincarnated (in reality, it's just a lost cat). In the end, the "lesson" so to speak is that it doesn't really matter, because the cat makes Phoebe happy.
Apparently, the episode only exists because it was written by co-creator Marta Kauffman after the death of her own mother in reality. Many of the show's writers at the time didn't feel comfortable rejecting the script due the sensitive nature of the material, and so it was made regardless. The episode is even dedicated to Dorothy Kauffman.