Monica as Rachel? Jo as Monica?!

Before a young unknown named Jennifer Aniston entered the equation, Courteney Cox was originally cast as Rachel on Friends -- and Facts of Life star Nancy McKeon was set to play Monica, which Cox ultimately took on. The role of Chandler that eventually went to Matthew Perry was originally given to lesser-known actor Craig Bierko.

And, indeed, Friends almost wasn't Friends -- the NBC smash sitcom's original title was Six of One. "We thought [that title] was such a snore," former NBC exec Karey Burke says in the May Vanity Fair's "Oral History of Friends" story, as excerpted in Thursday's Page Six. "Some people thought the show was too Gen X, way too narrow."

Before landing the Chandler role, Perry, 42, was originally set to star in a show called LAX 2194, about baggage handlers of the future. Debuting in 1994, Friends lasted for 10 seasons and became one of the most successful and beloved sitcoms ever, with each cast member (also including Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc) netting $1 million per episode for the final seasons.

Also revealed in the "Oral History": The cast hated the romantic pairing of Rachel (Aniston) and Joey (LeBlanc). "It felt wildly inappropriate," LeBlanc says. "[The cast] got super-defensive about the whole thing."

滬江娛樂快訊：原來在安妮斯頓進組之前，《老友記》中的“瑞秋”是打算讓惠特妮考克斯——也就是大家熟悉的“莫妮卡”——來演的。那么“莫妮卡”又是誰呢？就是上圖這位。其實“錢德勒”的演員馬修派瑞也不是劇組的最初選擇，而是另一位不是很有名的演員。其實，作為觀眾我們很慶幸他們最終成為了“他們”，然后為我們獻上這么一部伴隨我們成長了十年的好劇。