Friends Creators Reveal Questionnaire Network Gave Audience About Monica Sleeping with Someone on a First Date

The creators Friends tried to confront an NBC executive who went to great lengths to try to embarrass Monica Geller’s character for sleeping with a co-worker on their first date.

In a retrospective interview for a UK outlet The Timescreators of the hit ’90s sitcom, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, revealed they had to pitch Courteney Cox’s character against an NBC executive before the pilot episode even aired.

In “Pilot,” chef Monica sleeps with a co-worker the group calls “Paul the Wine Guy” (John Allen Nelson) on their first date after he says he hasn’t had sex with anyone since his last breakup, which was two years ago year.

As she recaps the events of the date with another co-worker, Monica discovers that Paul’s story was a lie that got her into bed.

Crane, 67, recalled in The Times: “The guy who was in charge [an NBC executive] said: »We won’t like Monica because [in the pilot] she sleeps with the guy on the first date.’ We made the argument that it makes her likable.”

Courteney Cox as Monica Geller in ‘Friends’.

Reisig & Taylor/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

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Unnamed NBC executives disagreed so strongly that Crane said they went to great lengths to prove the creators wrong.

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“In an attempt to prove that the audience won’t like Monica if she sleeps with a guy on the first date, [the network] handed out a little questionnaire to the audience at our dress rehearsal,” Crane continued.

“And it was so twisted. The question was like, ‘When Monica sleeps with a guy on a first date, is she a) a slut or b) a whore?’ ” The audience at the dress rehearsal chose “none of the above”, even though it wasn’t an option.

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“And people were saying, ‘No, it’s fine,'” Crane concluded on the subject.

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The TV producers also said The time that fans of the series – especially in London – also influenced the later story – the marriage between Monica and Chandler Bing (played by the late Matthew Perry).

Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox in 2006.

Kevin Winter/Getty

“We thought it was going to be a one-night stand. But they got such a strong response from the London audience that it actually changed our direction with the story,” Kauffman, 67, said.

“It’s a cliché that the British are incredibly reserved, but they were so welcoming [of the couple]Crane added.

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Source: HIS Education