“Friends ”Creators Reveal Questionnaire Network Gave Audience About Monica Sleeping with Someone on a First Date

Co-creator David Crane told 'The Times' that the audience pushed back against the choices an NBC network executive provided

The creators of Friends tried to stand up to an NBC executive who went to great lengths to try and shame the character of Monica Geller for sleeping with a co-worker on their first date.

In a retrospective interview for the U.K. outlet The Times, the creators of the hit '90s sitcom, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, revealed that they had to stand up for Courteney Cox's character against an NBC executive before the pilot episode even aired.

In "The Pilot," chef Monica sleeps with a co-worker whom the group calls "Paul the wine guy" (John Allen Nelson) on their first date after he shares that he hasn't had sex with anyone since his last breakup, which was two years prior.

While recapping the events of the date with another co-worker, Monica discovers that Paul's story was a lie to get her into bed.

Crane, 67, recalled to The Times: "The guy who was in charge [an NBC executive] said: 'We’re not going to like Monica because [in the pilot] she sleeps with a guy on the first date.' We made the argument that it makes her sympathetic."

Related: Courteney Cox Marks 20 Years Since Friends Finale: ‘Don’t Know How We Were Able to Act Through All the Tears’

Unnamed executives at NBC disagreed so adamantly that Crane said they went to great lengths to prove the co-creators wrong.

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"In trying to prove that the audience wouldn’t like Monica if she sleeps with a guy on the first date, [the network] distributed a little questionnaire to the audience at our dress rehearsal," Crane continued.

"And it was so skewed. The question was like, 'When Monica sleeps with a guy on her first date, is she a) a slut or b) a harlot?' " The dress rehearsal audience chose "none of the above," even though it wasn't an option.

Related: The Best 'Friends' Throwback Photos

"And people wrote in saying, 'No, it’s fine,' " Crane concluded on the subject.

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The TV producers also told The Times that fans of the show — particularly in London — also impacted a later storyline — the marriage between Monica and Chandler Bing (played by the late Matthew Perry).

"We thought it would be a one-night stand. But they received such a strong reaction from the audience in London that it actually altered where we were going with the storyline," Kauffman, 67, said.

"The cliché is that British people are incredibly reserved, but they were so welcoming [of the couple]," Crane added.

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