The Sad Reason Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry’s Vacation Scenes in Friends Season 8 Had to Be Redone
reruns of Friends will continue to be watched for years and years by different generations. What made the sitcom so popular was the simple fact that it was an easy watch and gave fans a sense of comfort for a decade.
Behind the scenes, when it came to shooting the show, things were a bit more complicated. An average episode could have taken five hours to shoot and on top of that, editing would take place.
In one instance, Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry had to completely redo their Season 8 honeymoon scenes. While the original version could have been better, it came at an awkward time.
Friends had a few reshoots in its 10 seasons
A lot happened behind the scenes during the filming of Friends. It wasn’t shot like an ordinary sitcom, one that didn’t dare touch the writing. Instead, the producers and writing staff were very flexible when it came to changing lines, especially if it didn’t elicit a reaction.
Heck in one instance, Lisa Kudrow herself asked the live audience if they got the joke.
Reshoots would also occur from time to time. In one instance, the reaction to Tom Selleck’s sitcom debut was too powerful and loud, leading to a complete stage overhaul, this time without an audience.
A similar case occurred with Jennifer Aniston and her spontaneous “world’s worst hangover” line. The moment got a lot of laughs, so much so that it had to be brought up to the editors’ room for the laugh to last less than it did.
Those covers were minor compared to this one. Considering what happened with 9/11, the show needed to make some changes given the sensitivity of the topic.
Monica and Chandler’s Honeymoon Story Had to Be Redone Because of 9/11
“The one where Rachel tells Rossduring Season 8 featured an entertaining story, which saw Monica and Chandler on their honeymoon. In the episode that aired, everything was going badly for the couple.
However, according to Initiated, things were supposed to be even worse for the couple, however, changes were made due to 9/11.
“In reality, Monica and Chandler were never supposed to arrive at their destination in the original version of the episode.”
The couple were in for trouble after Chandler used the term bombshell, “You don’t have to worry about me, ma’am. I take my bombshells very seriously.” The irony of the scene was the sign on Chandler’s back, forbidding this type of language.
Things would only get worse once they could board, “When they are allowed to board, Monica gets a call from Joey and Phoebe about their apartment door being damaged. When Joey asks Monica if she I’m going to charge them, she screams, “No, I want you to stay here and wait for the whole place to explode!”
The original scenes have been kept and can still be viewed among the deleted scenes. As with the rest of the episode, other changes were also made behind the scenes.
Other changes were also made to the episode “The One Where Rachel Tells Ross”
Another addition to the show was to pay homage to New York during a difficult time. IMDb noticed an “I Love New York” add-on in the episode.
“When Ross and Rachel talk at the end of the show, the magna-doodle has “I love New York“written on it. This was filmed right after the 9/11 attacks and the doodle was a way of showing sympathy for the people of New York.”
Additionally, Ross and Rachel also saw significant script changes: “The original script was intended to make a running gag that Ross, the one with a Ph.D., doesn’t know much about a lot of things, because he was destined to panic both about the ineffectiveness of the condom and about not seeing the baby on the ultrasound.”
“However, the writers later decided it would make more sense for Rachel, being the inexperienced mother, to panic about the ultrasound, so the script was changed and the episode was filmed that way.”
Despite all the changes, episode 3 of season 8 turned out to be very good.
Leave a Comment