The concept of Friends is simple, but was very effective as it deeply connected with the audience: six friends with different personalities, goals, and backgrounds navigate adulthood together. Throughout 10 seasons, Monica (Courteney Cox), Chandler (Matthew Perry), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Joey (Matt LeBlanc), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), and Ross (David Schwimmer) won the audience over with the many ups and downs in their stories, and their chemistry was key to the show’s success. However, Friends’ legacy was almost tainted before it premiered due to its similarities to a 1992 rom-com.
Friends Is Very Similar To Cameron Crowe’s Singles (Which Was Almost A TV Show)
After writing Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Cameron Crowe made his feature-length directorial debut in 1989 with Say Anything…, which he also wrote. Say Anything… was only the beginning of a successful career as a filmmaker for Crowe, and it was followed by the rom-com Singles. Released in 1992, Singles follows a group of young adults in Seattle, Washington, at the beginning of the grunge phenomenon. The group is formed by coffee bar waitress Janet (Bridget Fonda), aspiring grunge musician Cliff (Matt Dillon), couple Linda (Kyra Sedgwick) and Steve (Campbell Scott), and Debbie (Sheila Kelley), who’s looking for her perfect partner.
Most of them live in the same apartment block, where a sign advertises its single-bedroom apartments as “Singles” for rent – but the title is obviously also about the love lives of the characters. Singles explores the ups and downs of two couples and the love lives of their friends, giving the audience a look at the grunge scene in the city that saw its birth and how dating was back then. Singles got positive reviews from critics, and Warner Bros. wanted to seize its success by turning it into a TV series.
However, Crowe declined the offer, but months later, when he saw ABC’s fall schedule, he found a show titled Singles with a very familiar premise (via Jim Dero). The description of the show was a group of six 20-something roommates who are looking for love, so Crowe had his attorneys look into it. The show’s producers claimed it was a mistake and their show was Friends – still, there were some similarities that raised alarms for Crowe. However, Friends changed many details about Singles that saved it from a lawsuit, so Crowe didn’t go further with it.
Friends’ Legacy Wouldn’t Be The Same Had It Been Singles
Of course, Friends’ creators Marta Kaufman and David Crane have their own origin story for the show, so whether there was some Singles influence in it or not is something that only they know. Friends went on to become one of the best TV shows of all time and one of the most influential ones, popularizing “hangout sitcoms”, as seen with shows like How I Met Your Mother and New Girl, representing alternative family lifestyles, changing how actors are paid, and more. 20 years after its end, Friends continues to be quite popular, and new generations can still relate to the characters.
However, had Friends actually been Singles, the show might not have had the legacy it now has. Singles is a fun look at dating and young adulthood in the 1990s and, given its setting, it’s more grunge-like. This might not have appealed to everyone and just a very specific group of people, leading Singles to feel outdated pretty soon. It’s hard to say if Friends would have still happened had Crowe agreed to a Singles TV show, but ultimately, it was good that the latter wasn’t made.
