Dark Side of the 90's S3 Episode 2
Dark Side of the 90's Season 3 Episode 2
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00It's not very often an event comes along that brings everyone together.
00:10Even insiders are surprised when it becomes one of the most popular and profitable shows
00:15in TV history.
00:16We didn't know it was going to be as big as it was.
00:20Skipping Friends is almost a crime in the 90s.
00:23You couldn't escape it.
00:24At one point, the cast won basically every single magazine.
00:28We all crave to have friends who will really be there for everything.
00:32But not all friends are created equal.
00:35The cast are not being given the same paychecks.
00:37They're all out for themselves.
00:38And production on the show becomes increasingly filled with drama.
00:42It's just a sausage factory.
00:43The show's stars are singed by the glaring spotlight.
00:47It's just a very, very strange thing to go through.
00:50They are under the vicious microscope of late 90s tablet media.
00:55And then the cast of the world's favorite comedy
00:58It can be a lot to manage.
00:59is touched by tragedy.
01:01Particularly if you're hiding a secret.
01:03I'm doing great.
01:04I'm doing great.
01:05Couldn't be better.
01:06Yeah.
01:14How you doin'?
01:25In the 90s, America stops on Thursday nights as the Rembrandts sing 11 words punctuated
01:36by four claps.
01:44The sitcom about 20-somethings living in New York is impossible to ignore.
01:49Everybody watched Friends.
01:50Unless you were living under a rock.
01:52Fans are soon asking each other, which friend are you?
01:56The spoiled runaway bride?
01:57Well, maybe I don't need your money.
01:59Wait, wait, I said maybe.
02:01A smart, obsessive compulsive?
02:03The science nerd?
02:05Maybe the charming, dumb hot guy?
02:07How you doin'?
02:08Or eccentric musician?
02:10How about the funny one?
02:11I'm not great at the advice.
02:13Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?
02:17It's really very hard to overstate what an exceptional hit it was.
02:23How good of friends are you?
02:25Not just in the States, but really all over the world.
02:28Thirty years after its debut, the series continues to make friends with new generations of viewers.
02:35I find it amazing that it's continued to have such love and such an audience.
02:42It wasn't that they were just beautiful people, it's that they created something so magical
02:47together.
02:48But the show's bright, happy exterior hides shadowy secrets behind the scenes.
02:53We think the story of Friends is going to end happy, but unfortunately, it ends with
02:59a surprise twist.
03:01Requesting two additional units and a supervisor respond to Blue Steel Drive.
03:07Thursday, Watsi TV means no more repeat.
03:12Friends is born at the height of NBC's dominance as America's number one network, anchored
03:17by a Thursday night lineup of hit comedies, including Seinfeld, Mad About You, and Frasier.
03:22It's all-new comedy, all night long.
03:25We just related to television very differently in the 1980s and early 1990s than we do now.
03:32My name is Saul Austerlitz, and I'm the author of Generation Friends.
03:36That we would just, you know, turn the TV on at 8 and turn it off at 10 or 11 and not
03:40change the channel.
03:42It seems very alien now, but NBC in particular became a real master of evenings like this.
03:51The shows on primetime are not being cast for audiences of all ages.
03:56There were shows about middle-aged people, doctors and lawyers kind of professional shows,
04:03and then there were shows about families with mom and dad and the kids.
04:07Television, even in the early 90s, really wasn't about young people.
04:11The president of NBC wants desperately for that to change.
04:16Warren Littlefield said he started wondering about those people and that age group and,
04:20you know, where was the show about that and for them?
04:23I'm Kelsey Miller, and I am the author of the book I'll Be There For You, the one about
04:28friends.
04:29Some would say it was the right moment for a Gen X comedy.
04:32Enter writers and real-life friends Marta Kauffman and David Crane.
04:37Along with their producing partner Kevin Bright, Kauffman and Crane create Dream On, a hit
04:42for HBO.
04:43But they stumble trying to repeat that success on network TV.
04:48They're kind of wondering, is it worth it for us to keep at it in terms of trying to
04:53get a network series?
04:55But they do.
04:56Pitching a new sitcom to NBC, they call Friends Like Us.
04:59The story draws upon the writers' own experiences as 20-somethings living in New York.
05:05It's a show about the time in your life when you're friends with your family.
05:07There is a sort of inherent romance to that.
05:10It's also a show NBC's Warren Littlefield hopes can lure young adults to NBC.
05:15Littlefield, also in 1993, orders a pilot.
05:18But casting six actors, all in their 20s, all trying to figure it out, proves to be
05:23an unexpected challenge.
05:25I read the script and I was thrilled.
05:28It just seemed like fun.
05:29My name is Ellie Kanner and I cast the pilot and the first season of Friends.
05:35We were towards the end of pilot season, so the pool was limited.
05:39It was frustrating because a lot of actors were unavailable.
05:44Kaufman and Crane already have two performers in mind, 28-year-old David Schwimmer to play
05:49Ross and 30-year-old Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe.
05:53But neither actor is an easy yes.
05:55Schwimmer had been on a really short-lived Fox sitcom called Monty.
06:00I'm going to be a chef.
06:01Oh really?
06:02I want to be a jazz singer.
06:05Schwimmer found it to be kind of a dispiriting and unpleasant experience.
06:09He really resisted going back to television.
06:12Kaufman and Crane, when they wrote Friends, they had him in mind, him and only him.
06:18And they had to really woo him to get him back.
06:20I think once he read the script and heard that it was written for him, he probably felt
06:26like, oh yeah, oh yeah, I can do this.
06:29Casting Kudrow as Phoebe presents a different problem.
06:32She's already got a small part on the NBC Thursday night show Mad About You as the waitress
06:37Ursula.
06:38Do you think that this boy should call his wife?
06:41Yeah, maybe he could tell her about that blonde girl he's always bringing in here.
06:44That's my wife.
06:46Oh.
06:47They worked it out so Ursula could actually be sisters with Phoebe, twin sisters.
06:57For the role of aspiring actor Joey Tribbiani, producers spot 26-year-old Matt LeBlanc, a
07:03relatively unknown actor starring in a Married with Children spinoff.
07:08He's on a show called Top of the Heap on Fox and, you know, Top of the Heap is not
07:13a particularly good show.
07:15Can't resist that nutty cat.
07:18That Garfield is some actor.
07:20Matt LeBlanc, he had the least amount of experience, but he came in and was funny and he just kept
07:28getting better and better.
07:32Unlike LeBlanc, 26-year-old Courtney Cox is a seasoned sitcom star known for her recurring
07:37role on another NBC hit, Family Ties.
07:41And more recently, she had been in Ace Ventura Pet Detective with Jim Carrey.
07:46So they knew that they wanted to cast Courtney Cox as Rachel.
07:50That's right.
07:51She slotted to play Rachel Green, the romantic lead of the ensemble cast.
07:56Cox suggests she's better suited to play Monica, Rachel's career and cleanliness-obsessed roommate.
08:02Producers pretend to agree.
08:04We said to ourselves, okay, we'll let her read and test at the network for Monica, but
08:09then we'll offer her Rachel.
08:11Then she was so good.
08:13When she was testing for Monica at the network, we were like, oh, wait a second.
08:18Cox gets the role she wanted, but producers are stuck trying to cast the show's most critical
08:23role out of an increasingly shrinking talent pool.
08:26The challenge in casting Rachel was that we needed someone who was gorgeous and could
08:33play this princess and yet be likable and warm and funny.
08:40Then LEC is an up-and-coming actress who seems like the perfect fit.
08:44When you look at Jennifer Aniston, she's funny and you love her.
08:50We've seen hundreds of people, but not quite like this.
08:54The 25-year-old Aniston nails her audition.
08:57There's just one problem.
09:00Jennifer Aniston was committed to another show called Muddling Through, which was with
09:05a different network, CBS, which we heard was not great.
09:09The rival networks cut a deal.
09:11NBC gets Aniston for six episodes of Friends Like Us, but if CBS picks up Muddling Through,
09:17Aniston will be forced to leave the NBC show.
09:21It was a very risky move.
09:23Equally risky is the producers' gamble on 26-year-old Matthew Perry, who wins them over
09:28with his charming take on Chandler, Joey's wisecracking roommate.
09:33Matthew Perry was also cast on another show, a show on Fox called LAX 2194.
09:38It was a futuristic show about baggage handlers at LAX.
09:44Enjoy Los Angeles.
09:45By the way, Griffith Park has the best picnic areas.
09:49We're all sitting around praying that the pilot that Matthew Perry did doesn't get picked
09:53up.
09:54There were a lot of actors that just weren't available.
09:57So we had to take that risk.
10:00With the cast tenuously assembled, producers recruit veteran sitcom director James Burroughs
10:04to direct the pilot.
10:06On May 4th, 1994, the first episode of the show, now simply called Friends, is filmed
10:11in front of a live studio audience.
10:13Hey, everybody.
10:14This is Rachel, another Lincoln High survivor.
10:17This is everybody.
10:18This is Chandler and Phoebe and Joey.
10:21And you remember my brother Ross?
10:23Sure.
10:24Hey.
10:25Hi.
10:27It just felt like magic.
10:30James Burroughs really helped them bond together and form this chemistry that just came alive.
10:37I just feel like someone reached down my throat, grabbed my small intestine, pulled it out
10:41of my mouth and tied it around my neck.
10:43Cookie?
10:46When news cameras are invited to set, they capture the real-life camaraderie that's already
10:51developing.
10:52They're just such hams, though.
10:53That's the problem.
10:54We're doing a little skit right now, pretending they're going to the comments, right?
10:56They just want to be on TV.
10:57We can leave here.
10:58We're getting along great.
10:59We're having a great time.
11:00We hope to do this for six or seven years, or eight.
11:03We didn't know it was going to be as big as it was, you know?
11:06Like, I don't think anyone really knew.
11:09Maybe James Burroughs knew.
11:11He definitely seems to know something, because after shooting the pilot, Burroughs charters
11:15a jet and flies the six actors to Las Vegas to celebrate.
11:20During dinner, the director makes a prophetic statement.
11:23He says, enjoy this weekend, and maybe the last time you'll be able to be out in public
11:29without people recognizing you.
11:32I think it's a kind of reminder that there's something amazing about knowing that you're
11:36on the cusp of this success, and also maybe something a little bit terrifying about it.
11:41But that success is soon threatened by the producers' risky move in casting Aniston,
11:46knowing she had a possible prior commitment at CBS.
11:50On vacation, I found out, oh, by the way, just so you know, when you come back, you're
11:55going to have to recast Jennifer Aniston, because they picked up muddling through.
11:59And I was like, what?
12:01So we spent another month trying to recast Jennifer Aniston, which we obviously could
12:06not do.
12:07And then at some point, they just said, OK, she'll do both shows, and let's see what happens.
12:12But NBC's Warren Littlefield isn't going to wait and see if muddling through muddles through.
12:17He actively tries to sync the show using counter-programming.
12:21NBC had this unused cache of movie adaptations of Danielle Steele novels that they had never
12:27put on the air.
12:28Once in a lifetime.
12:29Jeffrey!
12:30A tragedy to her husband, now a single mother afraid to love is torn between two men.
12:36And decided that they would run a whole bunch of them in the slot that muddling through
12:41was on on CBS to kind of kill off the show.
12:46It works.
12:47CBS cancels the sitcom for low ratings.
12:50Aniston is now on the set of Friends exclusively, understanding it's the cast's big break.
12:55All the elements are in place, so if we blow it, that'll be really sad.
13:02After hundreds of auditions, dozens of rewrites, and months of shooting, Friends debuts on
13:07September 22nd, 1994, as part of NBC's Can't Miss Thursday Night lineup.
13:14And then it kind of misses.
13:16It wasn't that big of a hit, it was just, you know, it was finding its audience.
13:20It did well, not amazing.
13:23And then I'd say the beginning of the summer, everyone was talking about it.
13:28It was a summer rerun effect, and by the time they came back for their second season, it
13:34had gone from pretty good, successful, doing well show, to something closer to a phenomenon.
13:42But the show's days in the sun will be short-lived.
13:45By the middle of the second season, clouds form as controversy brews.
13:50Everybody was so afraid that people would come bearing torches to NBC.
14:02In the early 90s, a new generation is coming of age.
14:05These former latchkey kids, raised on MTV and now wearing flannel and listening to grunge,
14:11are getting a bad rap in the media.
14:13They are angst-ridden, a bit bitter, and their chief talent seems to be the ironic aside.
14:19The title of Douglas Copeland's 1991 novel becomes the shorthand name for these young adults.
14:25Generation X or the X Generation, it is, I suppose you'd call it a splinter generation
14:30from the baby boom at large.
14:33It's these 20-somethings that help make friends a ratings sensation.
14:37But in an interview on the Today Show, the cast seemed reluctant to be the voice of Gen X.
14:42You know, a lot of people say this is a hot show for Generation X.
14:47Ooh!
14:48I know, I know, I know, I know.
14:50Generation X, I guess, implies that we're all aimless and we're just kind of hanging out
14:53listening to, you know, music and watching the Brady Bunch or something, I don't know.
14:58But as the Friends audience grows, it's clear the show's appeal crosses demographics.
15:04David Crane has this experience where he's walking through LAX and sees the cast of his
15:10show on basically every single magazine.
15:13It's the beginning of Friends mania and the cast and creators, Kevin Bright, David Crane
15:18and Marta Kaufman, are intent on cashing in.
15:21It's a great thing on one hand when your show kind of becomes a named brand and you can
15:25stamp it on anything and people want to buy it.
15:28The cast and not being given the same paychecks, they're all out for themselves.
15:31They're trying to strike while the iron is hot.
15:33They're trying to make deals with different brands, to do commercials.
15:38Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston did an infamous Microsoft Windows informational video.
15:43And you are?
15:45This is Jennifer Aniston, I'm Matthew Perry.
15:47We're here to see Mr. Bill Gates.
15:48There was this massive, massive tie-in with Diet Coke.
15:52Match the name under the cap with a Friends character who drinks the Diet Coke in the
15:55Diet Coke commercial each week and you're a winner.
15:58Friends is popular enough to turn Aniston's 90s hairstyle into the hottest thing since
16:03Farrah Fawcett's 70s feathered blowout.
16:08It's a look that launches a wave of Rachel clones.
16:11Yeah, you couldn't escape it.
16:12You saw Rachel coming out of every door all across the country.
16:16But the haircut was part of the pylon effect that pushed Friends into the realm of great overexposure.
16:26One of the things that Crane comes to realize in particular is they kind of have to forget
16:31about all of that.
16:32They just need to concentrate on making the best possible version of the show.
16:36And for Crane and Kaufman, that means writing storylines in the show's second season not
16:40usually seen on a network sitcom.
16:43David Crane is himself gay and is interested in telling stories of gay and lesbian characters.
16:49And the thought that they have is that it would be appealing to tell this story involving
16:56Ross' ex-wife getting remarried.
16:59Carol, Ross' ex-wife, she's recently divorced him and come out as gay and is now partnered
17:08with a woman named Susan.
17:10Actress Anita Barone plays Ross' pregnant ex-wife.
17:13That opens my cervix.
17:18But she quits the show after just one episode.
17:21She has said that she went off to pursue another job or she wanted something more.
17:26Barone is replaced by a 28-year-old actress who just had her own real-life baby.
17:31I am Jane Sibbet and I play Carol on Friends.
17:36I have just gotten home from the hospital after delivering my son after a 24-hour labor.
17:41And I get a phone call and it's my agent.
17:44And they said they would like you to play the pregnant lesbian.
17:47I'm like, oh, that's awesome.
17:50Like, yeah, but they'd like you to start tomorrow.
17:53And I just went, ah, wow, um, I'm kind of sore.
17:58That was a big labor.
18:00And they'd like, look, they'll make it super easy.
18:02It's just two weeks.
18:03I just knew that I had to do it.
18:06Did you just feel that?
18:07I did.
18:08Does it always?
18:09No, no, that was the first.
18:10One year before Ellen DeGeneres comes out on her own sitcom.
18:13I'm gay.
18:15And almost 20 years before gay marriage is legal in all 50 states, Friends shoots an
18:20episode around Carol's same-sex nuptials.
18:23We're, uh, we're getting married.
18:27We didn't see a lot in the way of gay and lesbian characters on television.
18:31And there had never been a lesbian wedding on TV of any kind prior to this.
18:36Nothing makes God happier than when two people, any two people, come together in love.
18:42But NBC executives are worried not everyone will be happy.
18:48There was a very large fear they would lose all their audience and people would come bearing
18:55torches to NBC.
18:57We'd heard that a couple of the affiliates were going to block out the show.
19:02What do you think about certain stations not running the episode?
19:05I just think it's, it's sort of absurd.
19:09NBC put a whole bunch of hotline operators on, you know, to be able to handle calls.
19:14I don't really know how they did it.
19:15In the end, I think it was two local NBC affiliates wouldn't carry it.
19:19And I think they got maybe one call that night.
19:23But essentially, the reaction was, so what?
19:28What's the big deal?
19:29For the queer community in 1996, representation on a network sitcom is a very big deal.
19:35And Friends wins a GLAAD award from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
19:41But some still see the episode as an assault on their religious beliefs,
19:45something Jane Sibbitt experiences firsthand.
19:48Almost all of my family embraced it.
19:50There was no problem with it, even though we've come from a very conservative Christian background.
19:55But my dad and his, and his new wife had a problem with it.
20:00And so instead of watching Friends,
20:03he and she had Bible study at their house starting about 7.30 on Thursday nights, every week.
20:11Merely playing a lesbian on TV causes a deep rift between Jane and her father.
20:17I was not allowed, really, to be near my father for a little while.
20:21He didn't say that he was proud of me until he was on his deathbed many years later.
20:27He always wanted your parents to be proud of you.
20:32And he eventually got to that.
20:35So we've made our peace.
20:38The lesbian wedding episode isn't the only standout from season two.
20:42The one with the prom video was also a fan favorite,
20:45introducing a recurring character that hurt some feelings back then.
20:50The one with the prom video was also a fan favorite,
20:53introducing a recurring character that hurt some feelings back then,
20:57but would be labeled fat-shaming today.
21:00Where's Monica?
21:01Over here, Dad.
21:03Wait, how do you zoom out?
21:07There she is.
21:09Mmm, Fat Monica.
21:14I mean, she's just a walking fat joke.
21:16Monica, why don't you finish off these pies?
21:18I don't have any more room in the fridge.
21:22When I was a younger person,
21:24like a small fat child, basically, and teen,
21:29I looked at her and felt enormous shame
21:32and probably laughed louder than anybody in the room.
21:36You know?
21:38Anytime you put a thin person in a fat suit,
21:41you're already miles in the wrong direction.
21:45But for the cast,
21:46Friends launches their careers in the right direction,
21:49including lead roles in movies.
21:52Although that's a mixed blessing.
21:54Matt LeBlanc's role opposite a chimp in Ed
21:57gets universally panned.
21:59Bad monkey!
22:00But Courtney Cox helps kickstart the Scream franchise,
22:03and Matthew Perry receives generally good reviews
22:06for his role in the rom-com Fool's Rush In,
22:09opposite Salma Hayek.
22:10Uh, how you been?
22:13Great.
22:14Really?
22:15But Perry's jump to the big screen comes at a cost.
22:18During filming,
22:19he injures his back in a jet ski accident
22:22and is prescribed a painkiller.
22:24It leads to an opioid addiction
22:26he will struggle with long after Friends.
22:30Friends' Matthew Perry
22:31admitted an addiction to painkillers.
22:34When I heard about Matthew Perry's struggles,
22:38I was heartbroken.
22:39As Friends continues its fast descent,
22:42Matthew Perry is in the throes of a slow decline.
22:46Fame is a very dangerous substance.
22:50If fame came in a bottle,
22:52it would have to have all kinds of warnings on it.
22:59The 90s usher in a new golden age in Hollywood,
23:03with celebrities earning record-setting salaries.
23:06Table die!
23:08In 1995, after a string of hits,
23:12actor-comedian Jim Carrey is paid $20 million
23:15to star in a movie directed by Ben Stiller.
23:18It's the most in history.
23:20$20 million man.
23:22Everyone's wondering if he's worth the money.
23:24Studio executives whine about rising talent costs,
23:28labeling it a dangerous precedent.
23:31It's against this backdrop
23:32that the cast of Friends
23:34renegotiate their contracts with Warner Brothers,
23:37the studio making the show.
23:39A third season rides on them making a deal.
23:43The actors weren't being paid equally at the time.
23:46They all had their own separate deals,
23:47worked out by their own agents.
23:49That's how it worked.
23:50But their show is just getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
23:54They realized that the pay issue could so quickly
23:59and almost inevitably would tear them apart
24:01and pull the show out from under them.
24:03Nobody wanted that to happen.
24:05David Schwimmer comes in and says,
24:06I think we really need to make some decisions
24:09about how we're going to operate as a team.
24:12And they decide then and there
24:14they're going to do all negotiations together,
24:16they're going to speak as one voice.
24:19It led to them getting enormous paychecks.
24:25And ownership in the show.
24:27Their collective bargaining
24:28eventually nets the six actors
24:30a percentage of the show's syndication profits
24:33and a per episode salary
24:34that will grow to over a million dollars.
24:37It was unprecedented.
24:39Certainly the biggest paychecks
24:41that an ensemble cast had been getting.
24:43The group scores a huge win,
24:45but for Matthew Perry,
24:46there's one battle he's fighting alone.
24:50A struggling alcoholic since the age of 14,
24:52Perry's new dependence on the prescription drug Vicodin
24:56leads the actor to check himself into rehab.
24:59After a 28-day stay,
25:01he gets back to work.
25:03Well, hello, Matthew.
25:04Well, hello there.
25:05How are you?
25:06Good.
25:07Perry even lands a dream gig hosting SNL.
25:10In an interview backstage,
25:12he reassures fans that this friend is on the mend.
25:15I'm a person that would want to ask you
25:16how you're doing personally.
25:17I'm doing great.
25:18I'm doing great.
25:19Couldn't be better.
25:20Yeah.
25:21Perry remains clean for 18 months
25:24until he says one casual drink ends his sobriety.
25:29Like all addicts,
25:30Perry is locked in a lifelong battle.
25:33One he will lose.
25:35I think that being that celebrity
25:38and struggling with addiction
25:40is its own challenge.
25:41At one point,
25:42Perry is consuming a bottle of vodka
25:44and 55 pills a day,
25:46the effects of which he tries to hide
25:48from the cast and crew on Friends.
25:50When you see what happened to Matthew Perry,
25:53the sequence of events of how he got into
25:56the trouble he got into,
25:57it's all pretty understandable.
25:59My name is Robert Thompson.
26:00I'm a professor of television and popular culture.
26:03For a guy who was having
26:06the substance abuse problems that he had,
26:08he retained a remarkable ability
26:11to do his job.
26:13Stop, stop, stop!
26:14Oh, I'm sorry.
26:15Do you need a break?
26:17He was pretty clear
26:19that he did not use or drink
26:22on the job.
26:23He, you know,
26:24many times was profoundly hungover
26:26at work
26:27and that that affected his performance at times,
26:30you know, having to
26:31put his hand on a table
26:33before the, you can see him shaking.
26:36He's talked about
26:37cast members confronting him
26:39and saying they could smell alcohol on him.
26:42He would have weight gains,
26:44alcohol use.
26:45He would have that weight losses
26:47with his Vicodin use.
26:48By the end of the decade,
26:50producers Kauffman, Crane, and Bright
26:52have their own struggles,
26:53namely overcoming
26:54a glaring lack of diversity
26:56within the all-white cast.
26:58There are a couple of
27:00non-white performers
27:02who come in.
27:03Gabrielle Union plays a love interest.
27:05Hi.
27:06Are you moving in
27:08or moving out?
27:09Moving in.
27:10Aisha Tyler comes in later on.
27:12Oh, hey, you guys.
27:13This is Charlie.
27:14As a woman who
27:16is interested in Ross
27:17but also interested in Joey.
27:19But none of them
27:21stick around for very long.
27:22When people say that,
27:23oh, you know,
27:24it was a product of its time.
27:25I think you say,
27:26yes, it was a product of its time.
27:28Which was a
27:29not very inclusive time.
27:32Friends had the standing,
27:33I think,
27:34to make changes
27:35and
27:36chose not to
27:37make some of them.
27:39That begins to change
27:40in the show's seventh season
27:42when NBC directs
27:43Warner Brothers
27:44to broaden the hiring pool.
27:46That year,
27:48NBC had started
27:49a diversity mandate.
27:52They were encouraging
27:53their shows
27:54to hire at least
27:55one person of color
27:56per writing staff.
27:58I think that
27:59that was a big reason
28:00why I got
28:01called in
28:02you know,
28:03given that I hadn't
28:04ever written on a sitcom
28:05and, you know,
28:06was not a joke writer at all.
28:07I'm Patti Lynn
28:08and I was
28:09a writer on Friends
28:10and I am the author
28:11of
28:12End Credits,
28:13How I Broke Up With Hollywood.
28:16The word
28:17diversity hire
28:18wasn't really being
28:19used at that time
28:20but that's
28:21essentially what I was.
28:22I was the only
28:23person of color
28:24in that room.
28:26To my agent,
28:27this was a no-brainer.
28:28Like, of course
28:29you're going to take the job,
28:30you know?
28:31It was the most popular
28:32show on TV.
28:33In July of 2000,
28:34Patti Lynn steps
28:35into Friends' offices
28:36for her first day
28:37on the job.
28:39The prominent
28:40emotion
28:41that I was feeling
28:42was just
28:43fear.
28:44What she faced
28:45is captured
28:46in a 1995
28:47E! television special
28:48that goes inside
28:49the show's writer's room
28:50showing Kaufman
28:51and Crane's
28:52relentless refinement
28:53of every episode.
28:55Let's say it's Monica
28:56saying,
28:57I feel really bad,
28:58you know,
28:59we should all
29:00be together
29:01and say
29:02Ross says
29:03look.
29:04Then it seems
29:05like Monica's
29:06the only one
29:07who's feeling bad.
29:08You create an outline,
29:09the writer
29:10who was assigned
29:11that episode
29:12would then
29:13go off
29:14with that outline
29:15and write the episode
29:16by themselves,
29:17bring it back
29:18and then
29:19that episode
29:20was written
29:21by committee.
29:22Lynn says
29:23when a writer
29:24takes a script
29:25into the Friends'
29:26writer's room
29:27it's likely
29:28neither of them
29:29will come out
29:30in one piece.
29:31The industry
29:32jargon
29:33for writing
29:34a script
29:35by committee
29:36is called
29:37a gangbang.
29:38To watch it
29:39just get
29:40picked apart
29:41and,
29:42you know,
29:43rewritten
29:44right in front
29:45of me
29:46and to have
29:47to participate
29:48it's a certain
29:49brand of hell
29:50that I wouldn't wish
29:51on anyone.
29:52When cameras
29:53from the Discovery Channel
29:54are permitted
29:55to film behind the scenes
29:56during a live taping
29:57in season six
29:58it provides
29:59rare insights
30:00into Crane
30:01and Kaufman's
30:02writing process.
30:03One that the actors
30:04and the writers
30:05experience differently.
30:06Oh,
30:07you don't think it's funny
30:08to play that kind of
30:09bong switch?
30:10Let's just get married
30:11I guess.
30:12Get married?
30:13Married.
30:14It didn't feel funny.
30:15All of the writers
30:16would go down
30:18the stage
30:19and be there
30:20for the taping.
30:21What happens is
30:22you're doing
30:23the scene
30:24audience reacts
30:25director calls
30:26cut
30:27it's a joke
30:28what,
30:29well
30:30you hear
30:31moving on.
30:32If a joke
30:33fell flat
30:34we would then
30:35have to huddle
30:36on the side
30:37of the bleachers
30:38and come up
30:39with a new joke.
30:40We cannot
30:41stay
30:42married.
30:43That process
30:44of rewriting
30:45the show
30:46in real time
30:48Is there anything
30:49funnier than
30:50stop saying the word
30:51marriage?
30:52And you see pencils
30:53scribbling
30:54and everybody's
30:55like trying to
30:56throw out jokes.
30:57It's amazing
30:58the machine of comedy.
30:59It was the most
31:00stressful part
31:01of the job for me.
31:02Just the grind
31:03of having to
31:04produce this material
31:05it's just a
31:06sausage factory.
31:07And I think that
31:08that's the sort of
31:09thing that
31:10a lot of people
31:11don't want to hear.
31:12Two years later
31:13a member of the
31:14Friends writers room
31:15will accuse the
31:16NBC's most
31:17profitable sitcom
31:18of shameful
31:19conduct.
31:20She complains
31:21and files a lawsuit.
31:22And she will
31:23find herself
31:24up against
31:25some of the
31:26biggest names
31:27in Hollywood.
31:32In the late 90s
31:33pharmaceutical giant
31:34Purdue Pharma
31:35is turning its
31:36painkiller
31:37Oxycontin
31:38into a
31:39blockbuster drug
31:40using a
31:41calculated campaign
31:42of disinformation.
31:43Some patients
31:44may be afraid
31:45of taking
31:46opioids
31:47because they're
31:48perceived as
31:49too strong
31:50or addictive.
31:51But that is
31:52far from
31:53actual fact.
31:54No, that's
31:55an actual fact.
31:56The drug is
31:57highly addictive
31:58and while Purdue
31:59knows the truth
32:00it continues
32:01its fraudulent
32:02marketing while
32:03producing sufficient
32:04pills to meet
32:05the ever growing
32:06demand of addicts.
32:07On a given day
32:08400 to 800
32:09people are on
32:10the streets here
32:11looking for
32:12their next high.
32:13With prescription
32:14pills already
32:15available
32:1629 year old
32:17Matthew Perry
32:18now in his
32:19seventh season
32:20of Friends
32:21is trapped in
32:22a revolving door
32:23of addiction
32:24and recovery.
32:25He would have
32:26been sick for
32:27about a week
32:28if he stopped
32:29using Vicodin.
32:30My name is
32:31Dr. Drew Pinsky
32:32I'm a physician
32:33I'm an internist
32:34by specialization
32:35and addiction
32:36medicine specialist.
32:37Addicts delude
32:38themselves into
32:39thinking well I
32:40can't stop right now
32:41because I'll get
32:42sick which is
32:43completely off
32:44and went back.
32:45That's addiction.
32:51It's not just
32:52being in the
32:53public eye
32:54it's like how do
32:55you manage it
32:56and maintain it
32:57particularly if
32:58you're hiding a secret
32:59and that secret
33:00is I'm using
33:01they feel shame
33:02and that shame
33:03motivates more using.
33:04As the show
33:05progresses
33:06Matthew Perry
33:07increasingly has
33:08a substance abuse
33:09problem.
33:10In the writers
33:11room
33:12at Friends
33:13I think everybody
33:14was aware
33:15clearly he
33:16was struggling.
33:17One of the
33:18concerns
33:19that Crane and
33:20Kaufman have
33:21is is it harming
33:22him to continue
33:23to be in the
33:24public eye
33:25in this way.
33:26In spring of 2000
33:27after an awkward
33:28rehearsal where
33:29he's slurring his
33:30words Perry
33:31discovers the
33:32entire cast and
33:33crew assembled
33:34in his dressing
33:35room.
33:36The opiate
33:37addiction is
33:38so dangerous
33:39and if you
33:40don't
33:41do something
33:42they die.
33:43They die.
33:44Marta Kaufman
33:45asked Perry
33:46to make a change
33:47but Perry
33:48continues to
33:49battle his
33:50substance abuse
33:51for another year
33:52before finally
33:53checking himself
33:54back into rehab.
33:55And while no
33:56other cast member
33:57struggles so publicly
33:58with personal demons
33:59each feels the
34:00acute pressure
34:01of being famous
34:02from Friends.
34:03David Schwimmer
34:04he's been pretty
34:05open about the
34:06the fact that he's
34:07not in love with
34:08being a celebrity.
34:09I can totally
34:10see now why
34:11like child stars
34:12some child stars
34:13have major
34:14problems because
34:15it's it's just
34:16a very very
34:17strange thing
34:18to go through.
34:19Schwimmer isn't
34:20the only one
34:21withering in the
34:22spotlight.
34:23Lisa Kudrow
34:24talked about
34:25the fact that
34:26she was
34:27larger in her
34:28body than
34:29Jennifer Aniston
34:30and Courtney
34:31Cox were.
34:32My bones feel
34:33bigger I just
34:34feel like this
34:35mountain of a
34:36woman.
34:37And I
34:38don't know
34:39how I feel
34:40about
34:41this mountain
34:42of a woman
34:43next to them.
34:44Certainly these
34:45women were all
34:46put under
34:47the vicious
34:48microscope of
34:49late 90s
34:50tabloid media.
34:51Jennifer Aniston
34:52to a
34:53massive degree
34:54was a target
34:55both because of
34:56Friends and because
34:57of course who she
34:58was married to
34:59for a lot of
35:00that show's run.
35:01Hollywood's
35:02most camera shy
35:03couple went
35:04public Saturday
35:05night as Brad Pitt
35:06and Jennifer Aniston
35:07hit the town.
35:08But the fascination
35:09with the cast and
35:10the show continues
35:11well into the new
35:12millennium.
35:13At the 2001
35:14People's Choice
35:15Awards, Friends
35:16wins the award for
35:17Favorite Comedy
35:18Program for the
35:19second year in a row.
35:20But the warmth
35:21from the fans is
35:22cold comfort to the
35:23show's newest writer
35:24Patti Lynn.
35:25We finished the
35:26season and I got
35:27a call from my
35:28agent and he
35:29told me that they
35:30were not going to
35:31pick up my option
35:32for the next year.
35:33It was
35:34bittersweet because
35:35obviously I was
35:36going to be
35:37working on that
35:38show was great
35:39for my resume.
35:40But on the other
35:41hand, all of these
35:42late night rewrites
35:43and all of these
35:44things that were
35:45so stressful to me
35:46to know that I
35:47didn't have to go
35:48back for another
35:49year of that was
35:50actually a relief
35:51in a lot of ways.
35:52A year later, a
35:53woman who worked
35:54in the Friends
35:55writer's room
35:56goes public to
35:57expose what she
35:58sees as the
35:59abuse of work
36:00culture that
36:01Hollywood enables.
36:02It's not
36:03just about
36:04the show.
36:05It's about
36:06how it
36:07enables.
36:08Imani Lyle
36:09was hired as
36:10a writer's
36:11assistant on
36:12Friends.
36:13It's sort of
36:14like being a
36:15writer in training.
36:16You're listening
36:17to many people
36:18talking at the
36:19same time and
36:20shouting out jokes
36:21and just kind of
36:22jotting it all
36:23down and Imani
36:24Lyle feels that
36:25the conversation
36:26in the writer's
36:27room is
36:28inappropriate.
36:29The kind of
36:30frank discussion
36:31that often has to
36:32do with sex in
36:33particular and
36:34complains about
36:35it and ends
36:36up losing her
36:37job as a
36:38result.
36:39Lyle claims she's
36:40the victim of
36:41sexual harassment
36:42and files a
36:43lawsuit against
36:44a number of
36:45her producers.
36:46Her lawyer goes
36:47to the media to
36:48make her case.
36:49What she had a
36:50problem with was
36:51the writers talking
36:52about their own
36:53personal sexual
36:54stories, own
36:55personal fantasies.
36:56They referred to
36:57women in the
36:58most degrading
36:59ways.
37:00But Lyle has
37:01few allies in
37:02the creative
37:03community.
37:04Some of the
37:05legends like
37:06Norman Lear,
37:07The Simpsons'
37:08James L. Brooks
37:09and Seinfeld's
37:10Larry David all
37:11come out in
37:12support of the
37:13writers on Friends.
37:14There was this
37:15sense that this
37:16would lead to
37:17mass censorship.
37:18They were saying
37:19if she's allowed
37:20to get away with
37:21making these
37:22allegations then
37:23it's going to
37:24have a massive
37:25chilling effect on
37:26creativity.
37:27Now Warner
37:28Brothers argues
37:29this is freedom
37:30of speech and
37:31it's protected
37:32by the Constitution.
37:33It's a court where
37:34Lyle loses.
37:37The court said
37:38one of the reasons
37:39that this wasn't
37:40harassment was
37:41because it wasn't
37:42directed at her.
37:44It came at
37:45great cost to
37:46Imani Lyle who
37:47really lost her
37:48chance to build
37:49a career in the
37:50television industry.
37:52There's just no
37:53way to know for
37:54sure.
37:55It very well
37:56might have made
37:57it easier for
37:58people to get
37:59away with all
38:00sorts of other
38:01abuses.
38:02In 2017 we
38:03were in the
38:04throes of the
38:05early Me Too
38:06movement and
38:07I wonder if
38:08the case had
38:09gone the other
38:10way if things
38:11if that particular
38:12reckoning might
38:13have happened
38:14sooner.
38:15Lyle's case goes
38:16largely unnoticed
38:17in the media so
38:18it has little
38:19effect on the
38:20reputation and
38:21the popularity of
38:22friends.
38:23It's not very
38:24often an event
38:25comes along that
38:26brings everyone
38:27together.
38:28NBC relentlessly
38:29hypes the final
38:30season as America's
38:31favorite sitcom.
38:32On May 6, 2004,
38:33after a decade of
38:34being one of the
38:35most watched and
38:36re-watched sitcoms
38:37on television,
38:38Friends airs its
38:39final episode.
38:40Fifty-two million
38:41viewers tune in to
38:42watch.
38:43So I guess this is
38:44it.
38:45Yeah.
38:46I think that
38:47Friends is a good
38:48example of a show
38:49that does a
38:50series finale well.
38:51This is harder
38:52than I thought
38:53it would be.
38:54It understands
38:55what its audience
38:56wants, that the
38:57audience is
38:58going to be
38:59kind of
39:00included in
39:01this group of
39:02friends, and
39:03wants to have
39:04that kind of
39:05bittersweet moment
39:06of saying
39:07farewell.
39:08Should we get
39:09some coffee?
39:10Sure.
39:11Okay.
39:12Where?
39:13It'll take over
39:1415 years before
39:15this beloved ensemble
39:16is seen
39:17together on TV.
39:18In 2021, James
39:19Corden hosts a
39:20two-hour reunion
39:21special.
39:22Look at this.
39:23Look at all
39:24of you.
39:25Hello.
39:26Hello.
39:27Hello.
39:28The following
39:29year, Matthew
39:30Perry, now two
39:31and a half years
39:32in recovery,
39:33releases Friends,
39:34Lovers, and The
39:35Big Terrible
39:36Thing.
39:37Is everybody
39:38rolling?
39:39His autobiography
39:40opens with a
39:41foreboding couple
39:42of sentences
39:43about the big
39:44terrible thing.
39:45Diane Sawyer
39:46reads it aloud
39:47in her hour-long
39:48interview with
39:49the actor.
39:50First page.
39:51Hi, my name
39:52is Matthew,
39:53although you may
39:54know me by another
39:55name.
39:56My friends call
39:57me and I
39:58should be
39:59dead.
40:00Yeah.
40:01He seemed to
40:02have some very,
40:03very serious
40:04issues and he
40:05describes them
40:06and they're
40:07harrowing.
40:08I was actually
40:09on methadone,
40:10Xanax, cocaine,
40:11and a full
40:12quart of vodka
40:13a day.
40:14But for all that,
40:15I don't think
40:16anybody saw
40:17it coming.
40:18Hollywood mourning
40:19the loss of one
40:20of its friends.
40:21Heart sink.
40:22Requesting two
40:23additional units
40:24and a supervisor
40:25respond to
40:26Blue Hill Drive.
40:2920 years after
40:30taking their
40:31final bow,
40:32the cast of
40:33Friends continues
40:34to reap the benefits
40:35from being on one
40:36of the biggest shows
40:37in television history,
40:38including a piece
40:39of the global sales
40:40of the sitcom
40:41that earns each
40:42actor an estimated
40:43$20 million a year.
40:45That's a reward
40:46few TV actors
40:47will ever receive.
40:48But on the
40:49press tour for
40:50his memoir,
40:51Matthew Perry
40:52laments the unique
40:53price he paid
40:54for their shared
40:55success.
40:56It's not fair.
40:57It's not fair.
40:58That I had to go
40:59through,
41:00that I had to
41:01go through
41:02this disease
41:03while the other
41:04five didn't,
41:05they got everything
41:06that I got.
41:07But I had to
41:08fight this thing.
41:09The book's success
41:10feels like a victory
41:11lap for Perry,
41:12making the news
41:13one year later
41:14all the more shocking.
41:15Hollywood mourning
41:16the loss of one
41:17of its friends.
41:18The beloved
41:19Friends store
41:20was reportedly
41:21discovered dead
41:22in the jacuzzi
41:23of his L.A.
41:25Matthew Perry
41:26did die from
41:27acute effects
41:28of ketamine
41:29and subsequent
41:30drowning.
41:31They've been
41:32leaving flowers.
41:33We actually saw
41:34people crying
41:35out here today.
41:36My phone
41:37suddenly filled
41:38with texts.
41:39I'm so sorry,
41:40I'm so sorry,
41:41I'm so sorry,
41:42I'm so sorry.
41:43My heart sank.
41:44Perry's famous
41:45castmates,
41:46his friends
41:47on screen and
41:48off,
41:49are united
41:50in their grief
41:51over his passing.
41:52We are all
41:53Matthew.
41:54We were more
41:55than just castmates.
41:56We are a family.
41:58I certainly hope
41:59that Matthew Perry's
42:00legacy will
42:01lead with
42:02his advocacy
42:04on behalf of
42:06addiction awareness.
42:08Certainly toward
42:09the end of his life
42:10he went all out
42:12on that.
42:13Like it's not fun
42:14to talk about this stuff.
42:15I don't like
42:16talking about it,
42:17but I know
42:19it's going to help
42:20people to talk about it.
42:21In terms of his
42:22legacy as it
42:23pertains to friends,
42:24the fact that like
42:26everybody started to
42:27speak a little bit more
42:28like Chandler,
42:29which just didn't exist
42:30until he was on television.
42:32Could you want her more?
42:35Could I be more sorry?
42:38You can go find
42:39actual studies
42:40that look into the way
42:41that friends influenced
42:43patterns of speech
42:44in Americans.
42:46Could that report
42:47be any later?
42:50I don't sound like that.
42:51That is so not true.
42:54He invented that.
42:55The friends phenomenon
42:56will be reckoned with
42:57for years to come,
42:59as this wildly popular
43:00sitcom from the 90s
43:02is still one of the most
43:04watched television shows today.
43:06This idea that your friends
43:08will stick together
43:09and follow you
43:10throughout every change
43:11in your life,
43:12I think is an extremely
43:13appealing and durable
43:14fantasy for many people.
43:17It's like a time
43:18where people weren't,
43:19you know,
43:20worried about climate change
43:22and the country
43:24wasn't so politically divided.
43:26And I think that
43:27that's comforting to people.
43:29In the fragmented era
43:31of streaming,
43:32where you can watch
43:33whatever you want
43:34whenever you want,
43:35this is still very much
43:37one of the last bastions
43:39of mass culture.
43:41In spite of all of its problems
43:43and its total fantasy quality,
43:46friends really penetrated
43:48American culture
43:49in a way that
43:50few things can anymore.