Joey, Chandler almost didn't live in front of Monica, Rachel

Can you imagine a world where Joey and Chandler didn't live across the street from Monica and Rachel? I'd rather not, but it almost happened.

The beloved show's production designer John Shaffner recently revealed to Architectural summary that his initial mockup for Monica (Courteney Cox) and Rachel's (Jennifer Aniston) New York City apartment set called for an entry area just off the hallway. But executive producer Kevin Bright actually initially rejected the extra space for the pilot.

Shaffner recalled rejecting the idea, telling Bright at the time, “I think we should have another performance workspace. And don't you think that eventually the guys [Matt LeBlanc’s Joey and the late Matthew Perry‘s Chandler] should he live across the hall?”

Bright was eventually persuaded to leave the extra space, which led to many memorable moments Friends moments in that corridor during the series' 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004.

Shaffner also revealed to TO who had initially planned the two apartments on the top floor of the building for the first season, as he thought it would be funny to see the cast huffing and puffing every time they finally reached the landing.

“It was a moment where we thought, 'Oh, we can't do that. That line is going to be too old,'” Shaffner explained. “So we took them down a few floors and never talked about it again.” (Monica's apartment number does change between seasons one and two.)

The design of the show's New York City apartment building was also remarkably personal to Shaffner, as it was nearly identical to his old sixth-floor Manhattan apartment that he shared with his partner Joe Stewart. Throughout his time creating the sets, he continued to draw on memories and real-life details to help bring the Friends world to life.

“Our world of New York that we have been creating for 10 years [in the show] it was, in a weird way, a soft landing place in New York,” he said. “We romanticized it. I mean, where else would you leave your apartment door open?”

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