brutal remark
Friends boss reveals he struggled to work with star on hit sitcom as she ‘wasn’t funny’
The star only ended up appearing in 14 episodes
ONE of the bosses on hit sitcom Friends has admitted he struggled with one show star after complaining she just "wasn't funny" on the programme.
The brutal comment came from one of the iconic programme's directors, James Burrows, who did not hold back when it came to his feelings about one show star.
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The actress in question is Helen Baxendale, who played one of Ross Geller's fiancés, Emily Waltham, across 14 episodes.
But her performance in the role has not come out with good reviews from James.
James noted there was a huge lack of on-screen chemistry between Helen and her co-star David Schwimmer as he remarked there was no room for them to bounce their humorous lines off each other.
In a scathing comment from his autobiography, James recalled of Helen: “She was nice but not particularly funny.
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"Schwimmer had no one to bounce off.
"It was like clapping with one hand.”
He went on to suggest that there was suggestion of wishing to recast Helen but was unable to do so due to "tight deadlines".
The director continued: “In sitcoms and any type of romantic comedy, the funny is just as important as the chemistry.
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"We discovered that any new girlfriend for Ross needed to be as funny as Rachel.
“Often, you can't recast, because of tight shooting deadlines or other logistical considerations. You don't cast anyone to be a straw man, unless it's for one episode."
I'm a Friends legend & was told I'd 'burn in hell' over famous scene
As well as her role in Friends, many fans know Emily for playing the role of Rachel Bradley in sitcom Cold Feet.
She appeared in the show between 1997 and 2003.
In recent years, she has taken on significantly less projects but did appear in the leading role in the 2020 Channel 5 one-off Agatha and the Midnight Murders.
Friends facts and figures
Dig into the facts behind the iconic 90s sitcom starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and the late Matthew Perry.
- Friends debuted on September 22, 1994. It ran for a decade, airing ten seasons and a whopping 236 episodes.
- The emotional finale, which aired on May 26, 2004, was watched live by 52.5 million viewers in America, making it one of the most-watched TV finales of all time.
- Friends also won a ton of awards over the years including a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, 6 Primetime Emmys, 2 SAG Awards, and 12 People’s Choice Awards.
- It was set in New York but filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in L.A.
- Friends almost had a number of different titles - sitcom creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman considered monikers like Friends Like Us, Insomnia Café, and Six of One before finally settling on Friends.
- The show’s iconic theme song was also meant to be different - Friends’ original theme song was Shiny Happy People by R.E.M. which was used for the unaired pilot episode, Friends Like Us. It was eventually changed to I’ll Be There For You by The Rembrandts.
- David and Marta originally planned for the show’s main couple to be Monica and Joey, but they weren’t romantically compatible unlike Monica and Chandler who had natural chemistry.
- The cast of Friends made a pact not to date or hook up - there really was no Ross and Rachel off-screen. “We didn’t want to jeopardise any of the great relationships and friendships we had established. It was kind of an unspoken rule," David revealed.
- The cast always stuck together though, even negotiating their salaries increases as a group. When they started out their each earned $22,500 per episode but that steadily increased to $1,000,000 per episode by the finale season.
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