season 4 almost made a drastic change that would have completely ruined the show, though a similar idea was picked up for season 9 and it actually worked. Although almost two decades have passed since came to an end after 10 successful seasons, it continues to be regarded as one of the greatest TV shows of all time, and while it might seem like all has been said about , there are still many secrets that are yet to be revealed about the stories of Monica, Chandler, Joey, Phoebe, Rachel, and Ross.
took the audience to New York City to follow the lives of the above-mentioned group of six friends as they do their best to juggle their social, personal, and professional lives while also dealing with everything adulthood threw their way.
Although the group went on a couple of trips outside New York City, most of their adventures took place in the big city, but at the end of season 4, the group was almost taken to another state, but luckily, the producers and writers changed their minds and avoided completely ruining the show.
Saul Austerlitz’s book (via ) includes various behind-the-scenes stories as well as interviews with creators David Crane and Martha Kauffman, producers, writers, directors, and more.
Among the big reveals in the book is that, while trying to come up with a big surprise for the finale of season 4, they considered making a drastic change and having the group move to Minnesota. For this, Chandler would have been the one who had to move to Minnesota because of his work, but after realizing that splitting the group would be controversial and could negatively impact viewership, the writers decided that the rest of the gang would have followed him. This would have meant seeing each character settling down in a new city, getting new jobs, and dealing with a completely new environment, and the writers even considered reshooting with the characters in front of a frozen fountain.Permanently taking the main characters of out of New York City would have deeply hurt the show as that would have meant no more Central Perk, Gunther, Monica and Joey’s apartments, Ugly Naked Guy, and even no more Janice, as all of them are part of the New York City shown in and, ultimately, were an important part of the stories of the group. Luckily, David Crane stepped in and rejected the idea, and instead, the big surprise in season 4’s finale was instead of Emily’s and Monica and Chandler sleeping together.
As mentioned above, the main group in traveled outside New York City a couple of times, but in season 9, for a while. After falling asleep at a staff meeting, Chandler accidentally agreed to relocate to Tulsa, but he traveled back to New York City on weekends. Although Chandler’s presence in was reduced when he was taken to Tulsa, he continued being part of Monica’s storyline, so his “absence” wasn’t really felt and didn’t affect the series. Of course, it was also key that it was only Chandler who temporarily moved out of New York City, and the rest of the gang stayed and continued with their lives in their beloved city.
