'Friends' actor Matthew Perry opens up about his addiction in new memoir

Before the much-loved show came to be called 'Friends', it went through a series of name changes.

When co-creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman originally wrote the pitch for the sitcom, they titled it 'Insomnia Café'.

After the pilot was bought by NBC, the show was called 'Friends Like Us'. Another title considered for the show was at the time was 'Across the Hall'.

However, by the time the show was shot, it was being called 'Six of One', before the makers finally settled on 'Friends' at the time it aired on September 22, 1994.

Courteney Cox's fame prior to landing the sitcom had led the show's producers to offer her the role of Rachel. Cox, known for several commercials plus Bruce Springsteen’s 'Dancing in the Dark' music video, was however more keen on playing Monica, as she liked the strong character.

The cast of 6 was paid around $22,000 per episode for the first season of the show. However, by the second season, each of them was being paid a different salary.

In 1997, in a first for an ensemble TV cast, the actors refused to work until they were all paid equally, demanding a salary of $100,000 each, per episode.

The strategy seemed to work, and by the end, each of them made $1 million per episode.

Well, you might love them all. But at the start, the makers intended for Phoebe and Chandler to be supporting characters.

The show would evolve around Ross, Rachel, Joey and Monica.

Now, aren't you glad that plan didn't pan out.

You may love the 'Friends' theme song, and can't imagine the show without the opening credits showing the cast dancing in front of a fountain and the popular couch, but turns out the stars of the show weren't really big fans of the Rembrandts' '90s hit.

Actress Jennifer Aniston, during an interview on BBC's 'The One Show' in 2016, revealed that “no one was really a big fan of that theme song.”

She, however, did clarify, by saying, "I don’t mean to say that, but we felt it was a little, I don’t know…. Dancing in a pond, or like, a fountain, felt a little odd.”

Before adding, “But we did it, because we were told to."