Friends was one of the most popular and culturally relevant sitcoms throughout it's 10 year reign on network television—and thanks to Netflix (and nostalgia) it's still going strong. In honor of the 25th anniversary of the show's debut, we pulled together a collection of rarely-seen pictures of the actors, guest stars, producers, and more on set of the beloved show.
1994: Monica Geller's Apartment
The West Village apartment Monica lived in was the center of much fanfare and debate throughout the show's 10 seasons—mainly because viewers couldn't understand how a 20-something could afford a true two-bedroom with a massive living room and balcony. The show solved this by explaining it was rent controlled.
1994: Friends From the Beginning
Here, Aniston, Kudrow, and Cox are seen on set during season one. Courteney revealed that she and the other women ate lunch together every day for 10 years. "We always had the same thing—a Cobb salad. But it wasn't really a Cobb salad. It was a Cobb salad that Jennifer doctored up with turkey bacon and garbanzo beans and I don't know what," Cox told the Los Angeles Times.
1995: Joey as Dr. Drake Ramoray
It doesn't get more meta than this: Here is Matt LeBlanc on set as Joey Tribbiani playing Dr. Drake Ramoray, a character on a fictional version of Days of our Lives. Fun fact: Roark Critchlow (right) played Dr. Mike Horton in both the Friends version of Days of Our Lives and the real one.
1995: The Men's Department Store
Here's a look at the set of the men's department store where Joey is working as a cologne spritzer in season two. Even though the characters were supposed to be living in New York City, the series never shot there. Instead Friends was filmed on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank, California—which you can still visit today.
1996: The One with the Lesbian Wedding
In season two, Carol and her partner, Susan, get married. It was the first lesbian wedding on network television. "When we did the lesbian wedding episode of Friends, everybody was up in arms. [NBC] put 104 operators on for fear of getting a million phone calls. They got two," writer and executive producer Marta Kauffman told The Hollywood Reporter.
1997: Billy Crystal and Robin Williams Stop By
During season three, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams by chance happened to be in the same building where Friends was being shot. The two comedians accepted the opportunity to cameo on the show and completely improvised a scene on the coffee shop couch. Here's the cast posing afterward for a photo.
1998: Lisa Kudrow's Pregnancy
Throughout season four, Phoebe is pregnant as the surrogate to her brother's triplets. But in reality, it was Kudrow who was pregnant and the storyline was added in by writers. Here she is posing with Courteney on set during the episode called "The One With All the Wedding Dresses."
1999: Elle MacPherson Joins the Show
Model Elle MacPherson joined the cast for a multi-episode story arch as Joey's roommate during season six. Elle has since said if she knew how iconic the show was, she probably would have chickened out and turned it down.
2002: Laughs on Set
The cast has said that it was sometimes hard getting through scenes without cracking up—and there are more than enough blooper reels to support that.
2002: Christina Applegate's Cameo
Christina Applegate's guest appearance as Rachel's sister during season nine brought with it a plethora of funny moments, but one of Applegate's favorites? The scene where she messes up Pheobe's name, which was a rewrite done in front of the live studio audience.
2003: One More Season
The cast came together for the last, highly-anticipated season, which aired in 2003 and 2004. Most people don't know that Aniston had some reservations about season 10 and almost didn't appear in it.
