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Why ‘Friends’ Changed One of Its Episodes After 9/11
Back in the ’90s and early 2000s Friends dominated television. Running for ten seasons, fans just couldn’t seem to get enough of the group, tuning in for every laugh, tear, and love confession in the sitcom’s run. Going into Season 8, the show was going strong. Fan-favorite couple Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (played by Matthew Perry, who devastatingly passed away in October 2023) had just gotten married in the Season 7 finale, and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) revealed that she was pregnant – Season 8 couldn’t come fast enough. But prior to the season premiere, 9/11 happened, changing the world as we know it. People turned to film and television programs (such as Friends) as an escape from the horrors of the outside world. But given that no one could have anticipated such a tragedy, many shows and movies required rewrites. No mention of terrorism was to be had, and anything similar to the news coverage at the time was to be cut. Friends was no stranger to these rewrites, and the writers had to seriously revamp an episode of Season 8 due to a storyline that held an eerie coincidence to the tragedy.
The episode in question was Season 8 Episode 3 titled “The One Where Rachel Tells…” As the name suggests it is the episode in which Rachel tells Ross (David Schwimmer) that she is pregnant with his baby, with unexpectedly hilarious results due to Ross’s shocked (and non-verbal) reaction. But that wasn’t the storyline that posed an issue. One of the other story arcs of the episode focuses on Monica and Chandler who engage in a one-sided rivalry with another newlywed couple after said couple keeps getting special treatment and cool perks that Monica and Chandler want. To make it better, the couple ends up staying at the same hotel as Monica and Chandler, carrying on the hilarity all the way through. It’s a fun storyline and hits some great beats, but it wasn’t the original plan for the episode.