This story was originally published in November 2013.
Were republishing it today for the25th anniversary ofFriends.
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So even as early as that, they said, Oh, theyre kind of special together.
If were ever looking for another relationship, thats something to file away.
People got excited about the idea, he says, including himself among that group.
Goldberg-Meehan, however, thought it was simply too soon in the shows life to introduce another couple.
It became clear it was too early to explore something like that.
Wed already done a lot of drama between Ross and Rachel.
And nobody wanted it to become the Get Together and Break-up show.
We werent so immersed in relationships, Silveri says.
So it follows that if another pair got together, that would be fun and provide more story.
They just needed to figure out how.
The writers knew they couldnt do the exact same thing as Ross and Rachel, Silveri explains.
If someones too high drama, you look for someone stable.
Specifically, they wanted to keep things low-key.
With Ross and Rachel, it was so public, it was experienced by the group, Silveri says.
Wed ridden that bus as far as we cared to.
What the writers came up with was definitely a shocker.
to much audience shrieking.
(A season-seven episode,The One With the Truth About London,revealed more details.)
Who wouldnt want you?
and, This stinks, I saw that coming!
More of a delighted, That is surprising, but also very satisfying and organic.
It might not stink!
So we got to experience them seeing that [Monica and Chandler] scene three times, Silveri says.
The first time, I was huddled around a monitor, watching [the actors] perform.
And when Monica popped up from beneath the sheets, there was just this explosion from the audience.
It was a combination of a laugh/gasp/cry/shriek.
They were just blown away by it.
Before the dawn of social media, you could keep secrets, Silveri laughs.
We didnt have to worry about it.
[or] Is it something we explore a little more?, he says.
They did that with all of the relationship arcs, Silveri explains.
They went into that, and it was going to be one episode, two tops.
It was always, Were gonna see how it feels …
Were gonna see how it plays to the audience, and then go forward from there.
It was sound producing on their part.
The take-it-slow approach also helped smooth out another potential pitfall of Monica-Chandler: the actors.
I dont think anybody balked too much at them hooking up.
The fallout came in the following year, when it became a relationship.
They were acutely sensitive to how it played out.
That hesitation, plus the writers own doubts, helped shaped the first half of season five.
We plotted it out in a self-protective way, he says.
It wasnt a relationship [the other characters were] talking about.
Nobody knew about it.
We as writers were almost as protective of it as those characters were.
We didnt want to make too much of a deal about it too early.
Thats what you saw on the screen, but its also howweexperienced it.
We didnt want to spend too much too fast.
We didnt want it to be high drama.
So we just kept taking baby steps forward and feeling our way through.
Because of the way we eased into it, we sort of greased the machine, Silveri says.
It altered the shows dynamic, but didnt ruin it.
(They ultimately did feel more like a brother/sister relationship, Silveri says.)
Without Monica and Chandler, it ends three years earlier.
