Post by The Good Girl on Oct 23, 2004 6:02:22 GMT -5
101 Things Every Friends Fan Should Know
1. The first line of dialogue in the very first pilot episode of Friends was "There's nothing to tell."
2. A 30-second commercial during the break in the show in America cost advertisers over $500,000.
3. Other titles considered for the series included "Once upon a time in the West Village", "Insomnia Cafe" and "Across the Hall". The original title, "Friends like Us", was shortened to the current one-worder.
4. The six characters full names are Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), Joey Tribbiani (Matt le Blanc), Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) and Ross Geller (David Schwimmer).
5. According to Aniston, her famous "Rachel" hairdo was created by accident when her "friend" Chris cut her hair with a razor.
6. Courteney Cox, who was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, is known as CC to friends and family.
7. David Schwimmer attended Beverly Hills High, the school on which the series Beverly Hills: 90210 was based.
8. Matthew Perry appeared in Beverly Hills: 90210 earlier in his career. He said of his role: "Its kind of a blur, but I remember playing the most popular kid in school who ends up with a gun in his mouth because his Dad is so overbearing".
9. Perry's wit is so legendary that the scriptwriters have often incorporated his gags into the show.
10. Cox had the honour of being the first person to say "period" on American TV, making a commercial for Tampax.
11. Aniston attended the New York High School for the Performing Arts, the school that Fame was modelled on.
12. Central Perk, the cafŽ in which they all hang out, is based on the Manhattan CafŽ in New Yorks West Village.
13. Cox was a cover girl for People Magazine's "50 most beautiful people in the world" issue.
14. She was also dubbed "TV's hottest babe" by American Playboy magazine.
15. Director Hames Burrows, responsible for many of the early episodes of Friends, also directed Taxi, Cheers and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
16. Matt le Blanc loves dogs and has a mutt called Lady that he rescued from a dog pound, and a Doberman called Shadow.
17. Kudrow is married to a French advertising executive Michel Stern.
18. Schwimmer is the son of two Los Angeles lawyers. His mother, Arlene, handled Roseanne's first divorce.
19. Le Blanc, son of a mechanic and a circuit-board maker, originally studies carpentry. "I am not a dumb guy," he says. "I just play one on TV".
20. Famous guest stars on the show have included ER's George Clooney and Noah Wyle, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chris Isaak and Julia Roberts.
21. Perry dated Roberts after her appearance on the show. His verdict? "She does leave toothpaste all over the sink and she's always wanting to borrow money".
22. The whole cast huddle together before each episode to wish each other luck. This made frequent guest star Tom Selleck feel a bit left out.
23. Perry's Dad was an actor who starred in the Old Spice aftershave ad's, his mother was Press Secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
24. Kudrow has made appearances on several "worst dressed" lists in American magazines, but because of her characters clothes rather than her own.
25. Perry is very fond of female vocalists. He says, "If you're a woman and in any kind of emotional duress and you sing a song about it, I will buy your album". Favourites include Shawn Colvin, the Indigo Girls and Tori Amos.
26. When the pilot show was approved by the network, and a series comissioned, the entire cast was sent on a free trip to Las Vegas.
27. Cox dated Batman actor Michael Keaton for five and a half years, and they are still reportedly "good friends".
28. After graduating from speech and theatre from Chicago's Northwestern University, Schwimmer founded a theatre company, Lookinglass, with 17 classmates.
29. Aniston's Dad was an actor, John Aniston, who starred in top US soap "Days of our Lives". He divorced her mother when Aniston was nine.
30. Kudrow gets fed up with being considered in real life to be as dippy as her on-screen character, Phoebe. "People talk slower to me, as if I were a ten year old", she reveals.
31. Kudrow graduated from exclusive American college Vassar, where she gained a major in biology.
32. Cox has been known to bleach her teeth.
33. Like Ross, le Blanc has simian friends, he starred with an animatronic chimp in the baseball movie Ed.
34. Aniston, real name Anistonopolous, used to be 30lb heavier, until her agent told her to lose weight. She gave up mayonnaise, pre-meal snacking, white bread, post-meal snacking and butter to reach her current trim size.
35. Cox, who weighs 7st 3lbs (101lbs) and wears a British size six, is terrified of being fat. She says, "My ideal weight would be 100lbs. My whole family is shaped like pears and I'm afraid of looking like that".
36. Aniston recently played a very unglamourous role in Ed Burn's film Shes the One. She was cast as a wife whose husband refuses to sleep with her.
37. Courteney Cox's stepcousin is Stuart Copeland, of pop group The Police fame.
38. Schwimmer is very keen to become a father. "I've always wanted a family", he says. "I think that's why we're here - to have children, raise them well and try to improve the quality of life for all the people who will follow".
39. His most recent girlfriend, Natalie Imbruglia - who played Beth in Neighbours - was seen canoodling with record producer Nigel Godrich.
40. The cast apparently get on as well in real life as they do on screen. They play poker and Scrabble together, and the girls often shop with each other. The rumour that they had made a pact never to sleep together is untrue.
41. Le Blanc and Aniston were rumoured to have had a fling.
42. The day he auditioned for Friends, Le Blanc had a big scab on his nose and forehead after falling down drunk on a bender the night before.
43. When Schwimmer first met Le Blanc he was sceptical. Le Blanc was wearing leather jeans and Schwimmer thought he was "Joe cool stud" and hated him on sight.
44. Cox originally read to play the part of Rachel.
45. Perry has been linked to actress Tricia Fisher, daughter of Connie Stevens and Eddie Fisher, who played Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss in a TV film.
46. Le Blanc is a speed freak who competed in amateur motor-racing competitions at the age of eight. In a recent celebrity Grand Prix he ran into a wall, taking Jason Priestly's car out of the race.
47. As a teenager, Cox was Bruce Springsteen's dancing partner in Brian de Palma's video of Dancing in the Dark.
48. Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz was linked to both Cox and Aniston.
49. Like his on-screen character Joey, Le Blanc has a reputation as a womaniser. He has been linked to volleyball star Gabrielle Reece, English actress Minnie Driver, porn star Jenna Jameson, Goldie Hawn's 16 year old daughter Kate Hudson and several strippers.
50. Schwimmer complains of being hounded by women who demand that he kiss them - even when their boyfriends are there too.
51. In The Pallbearer, Schwimmers first film since joining Friends, he starred with Gwyneth Paltrow. The film did badly in the USA.
52. When she was younger Aniston wanted to be a sculptor. At the age of 11, she had a painting in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
53. After being picked to play Roz Doyle in Frasier, Kudrow was subsequently dropped in favour of actress Peri Gilpin before the pilot was even shot.
54. Friends is Channel 4's top-rating comedy, regularly attracting three million viewers.
55. Kudrow's father is one of the world's leading experts in headaches.
56. Le Blanc was down to his last $11 when he got the part in Friends.
1. The first line of dialogue in the very first pilot episode of Friends was "There's nothing to tell."
2. A 30-second commercial during the break in the show in America cost advertisers over $500,000.
3. Other titles considered for the series included "Once upon a time in the West Village", "Insomnia Cafe" and "Across the Hall". The original title, "Friends like Us", was shortened to the current one-worder.
4. The six characters full names are Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), Joey Tribbiani (Matt le Blanc), Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) and Ross Geller (David Schwimmer).
5. According to Aniston, her famous "Rachel" hairdo was created by accident when her "friend" Chris cut her hair with a razor.
6. Courteney Cox, who was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, is known as CC to friends and family.
7. David Schwimmer attended Beverly Hills High, the school on which the series Beverly Hills: 90210 was based.
8. Matthew Perry appeared in Beverly Hills: 90210 earlier in his career. He said of his role: "Its kind of a blur, but I remember playing the most popular kid in school who ends up with a gun in his mouth because his Dad is so overbearing".
9. Perry's wit is so legendary that the scriptwriters have often incorporated his gags into the show.
10. Cox had the honour of being the first person to say "period" on American TV, making a commercial for Tampax.
11. Aniston attended the New York High School for the Performing Arts, the school that Fame was modelled on.
12. Central Perk, the cafŽ in which they all hang out, is based on the Manhattan CafŽ in New Yorks West Village.
13. Cox was a cover girl for People Magazine's "50 most beautiful people in the world" issue.
14. She was also dubbed "TV's hottest babe" by American Playboy magazine.
15. Director Hames Burrows, responsible for many of the early episodes of Friends, also directed Taxi, Cheers and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
16. Matt le Blanc loves dogs and has a mutt called Lady that he rescued from a dog pound, and a Doberman called Shadow.
17. Kudrow is married to a French advertising executive Michel Stern.
18. Schwimmer is the son of two Los Angeles lawyers. His mother, Arlene, handled Roseanne's first divorce.
19. Le Blanc, son of a mechanic and a circuit-board maker, originally studies carpentry. "I am not a dumb guy," he says. "I just play one on TV".
20. Famous guest stars on the show have included ER's George Clooney and Noah Wyle, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chris Isaak and Julia Roberts.
21. Perry dated Roberts after her appearance on the show. His verdict? "She does leave toothpaste all over the sink and she's always wanting to borrow money".
22. The whole cast huddle together before each episode to wish each other luck. This made frequent guest star Tom Selleck feel a bit left out.
23. Perry's Dad was an actor who starred in the Old Spice aftershave ad's, his mother was Press Secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
24. Kudrow has made appearances on several "worst dressed" lists in American magazines, but because of her characters clothes rather than her own.
25. Perry is very fond of female vocalists. He says, "If you're a woman and in any kind of emotional duress and you sing a song about it, I will buy your album". Favourites include Shawn Colvin, the Indigo Girls and Tori Amos.
26. When the pilot show was approved by the network, and a series comissioned, the entire cast was sent on a free trip to Las Vegas.
27. Cox dated Batman actor Michael Keaton for five and a half years, and they are still reportedly "good friends".
28. After graduating from speech and theatre from Chicago's Northwestern University, Schwimmer founded a theatre company, Lookinglass, with 17 classmates.
29. Aniston's Dad was an actor, John Aniston, who starred in top US soap "Days of our Lives". He divorced her mother when Aniston was nine.
30. Kudrow gets fed up with being considered in real life to be as dippy as her on-screen character, Phoebe. "People talk slower to me, as if I were a ten year old", she reveals.
31. Kudrow graduated from exclusive American college Vassar, where she gained a major in biology.
32. Cox has been known to bleach her teeth.
33. Like Ross, le Blanc has simian friends, he starred with an animatronic chimp in the baseball movie Ed.
34. Aniston, real name Anistonopolous, used to be 30lb heavier, until her agent told her to lose weight. She gave up mayonnaise, pre-meal snacking, white bread, post-meal snacking and butter to reach her current trim size.
35. Cox, who weighs 7st 3lbs (101lbs) and wears a British size six, is terrified of being fat. She says, "My ideal weight would be 100lbs. My whole family is shaped like pears and I'm afraid of looking like that".
36. Aniston recently played a very unglamourous role in Ed Burn's film Shes the One. She was cast as a wife whose husband refuses to sleep with her.
37. Courteney Cox's stepcousin is Stuart Copeland, of pop group The Police fame.
38. Schwimmer is very keen to become a father. "I've always wanted a family", he says. "I think that's why we're here - to have children, raise them well and try to improve the quality of life for all the people who will follow".
39. His most recent girlfriend, Natalie Imbruglia - who played Beth in Neighbours - was seen canoodling with record producer Nigel Godrich.
40. The cast apparently get on as well in real life as they do on screen. They play poker and Scrabble together, and the girls often shop with each other. The rumour that they had made a pact never to sleep together is untrue.
41. Le Blanc and Aniston were rumoured to have had a fling.
42. The day he auditioned for Friends, Le Blanc had a big scab on his nose and forehead after falling down drunk on a bender the night before.
43. When Schwimmer first met Le Blanc he was sceptical. Le Blanc was wearing leather jeans and Schwimmer thought he was "Joe cool stud" and hated him on sight.
44. Cox originally read to play the part of Rachel.
45. Perry has been linked to actress Tricia Fisher, daughter of Connie Stevens and Eddie Fisher, who played Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss in a TV film.
46. Le Blanc is a speed freak who competed in amateur motor-racing competitions at the age of eight. In a recent celebrity Grand Prix he ran into a wall, taking Jason Priestly's car out of the race.
47. As a teenager, Cox was Bruce Springsteen's dancing partner in Brian de Palma's video of Dancing in the Dark.
48. Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz was linked to both Cox and Aniston.
49. Like his on-screen character Joey, Le Blanc has a reputation as a womaniser. He has been linked to volleyball star Gabrielle Reece, English actress Minnie Driver, porn star Jenna Jameson, Goldie Hawn's 16 year old daughter Kate Hudson and several strippers.
50. Schwimmer complains of being hounded by women who demand that he kiss them - even when their boyfriends are there too.
51. In The Pallbearer, Schwimmers first film since joining Friends, he starred with Gwyneth Paltrow. The film did badly in the USA.
52. When she was younger Aniston wanted to be a sculptor. At the age of 11, she had a painting in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
53. After being picked to play Roz Doyle in Frasier, Kudrow was subsequently dropped in favour of actress Peri Gilpin before the pilot was even shot.
54. Friends is Channel 4's top-rating comedy, regularly attracting three million viewers.
55. Kudrow's father is one of the world's leading experts in headaches.
56. Le Blanc was down to his last $11 when he got the part in Friends.