Jennifer Aniston Tells All On Working With ‘Blue Bloods’ Star Tom Selleck

Nov 21, 2022 by apost team

One of the most popular sitcoms of all time, “Friends” brought laughter to audiences for 10 years. The show was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman and ran from 1994 to 2004 on NBC. The series stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer. The cast reunited in 2021 to film a reunion special for HBO Max.

“Friends” revolves around the lives of six friends living in New York City. In the beginning, Rachel Green, played by Aniston, flees her wedding. She seeks out her childhood friend, Monica Gellar, portrayed by Cox, and the two rekindle their friendship and move in together. Kudrow appears as the eccentric member of the group, Phoebe Buffay. 

Working on the show for so many years allowed the cast to form real friendships, and they are still close with each other to this day. During their years together on “Friends,” the cast banded together to ensure everyone was treated, and paid, equally. This type of camaraderie is not particularly common in Hollywood and really sets this show apart from the rest. 

Like with any workplace, there are sometimes coworkers we don’t get along with. This can be challenging as an actor because you have to work so closely with your castmates. There was one guest on “Friends” who made a very bad impression, and Aniston opened up about the topic to Howard Stern on his podcast in June 2021. Read on to find out more about this difficult guest star and how Aniston handled the situation.

“Friends” was one of the most critically acclaimed sitcoms that aired in the '90s. The iconic television sitcom landscape was changed since its release and while many shows have tried to emulate the dynamism of its cast and sharp writing, no other sitcom has burrowed into the hearts of viewers the way “Friends” managed to for 10 years. 

The show, which went down as one of the most popular television series in American history, won countless awards, accolades and fans over the show’s run from 1994 to 2004. On paper, the show might seem rather ordinary. As its name suggests, the show revolves around a group of six friends as they live life as young adults in New York City. The show followed the ensemble cast as they dated each other, moved in together and moved up the career ladder in Manhattan. It also saw cameo appearances from several famous stars, including Reese Witherspoon, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Bruce Willis, Susan Sarandon and Denise Richards.

The show was highly acclaimed and often features on the highest-ranked TV series of all time lists. It also aired one of the most-watched television episodes in history: the series finale, which attracted 52.5 million viewers. To say the least, that means the NBC show has its fair share of fans.

On May 27, 2021, the hit show returned for a one-time television special, “Friends: The Reunion,” which aired on HBO Max. The show saw the reunion of the much-beloved gang sitting together again on the iconic orange sofa in front of the equally iconic fountain. As the gang geared up for the reunion, the spotlight once again fell on the cast, some of whom opened up to radio host Howard Stern on their experiences making the show.

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On The Howard Stern Show in June 2021, Aniston, Cox and Kudrow gave an interview about their time on “Friends.” One thing that came up was how the cast banded together and fought to all be paid equally. “We’re all doing the exact same amount of work,” Aniston explained. “I wouldn’t have felt comfortable knowing I was making more.”

Cox added, “We all felt that way. I thought it was the most important thing — as we all did — that we all were equal in every single way. That was the first time that people had all stuck together in a cast. I think it was scary, probably, for productions after that.” When the show first began in 1994, Cox had been the most well-known and highest-paid cast member.

Despite being the most famous in the beginning, Cox was only interested in helping her costars. “I think Courteney had a lot to do with it, too, because she was the most well-known. When we got there she was like, ‘Let’s help each other if you think something’s funny, let’s give each other notes,’” Kudrow explained.

Making sure everyone was treated and paid equally made the cast members incredibly close, and they knew they could trust one another. Kudrow also shared with Stern, “It just got rid of bitterness. It was such a great relationship that is really rare and really lucky.”

Working so closely with genuine friends over 10 years made the cast into better people. Aniston said, “It was healing. We actually kind of parented and healed and loved each other.”

Because the group worked so well together, it was very obvious when a guest star did not fit in with the others. This was the case when one mystery man appeared on the series for a few episodes.

"It was as if they were just too 'above' this, to be on a sitcom,” Aniston told Stern. “And I remember when we were doing a network run-through, the network and the producers would just laugh. And this person would be like, 'Listen to them, just laughing at their own jokes. So stupid, not even funny.'"

This type of behavior was frustrating to the original cast, although Aniston said the actor tried to make amends after the fact. "The funny thing is, that male did apologize about their behavior years later, and just said, 'I was so nervous, to be honest, that I wasn't on my best behavior,' It was just like, 'What are you doing here? Your attitude, this is not what we're all about. This is a wonderful, warm place to be, and you're coming into our home,” Aniston explained.

Stern asked the women if the mystery star was Tom Selleck. "It was Tom," Aniston joked. "You just don't know how cruel and unusual he is.”

Then she added with seriousness, “Tom has an angel's halo over his head, it's just a permanent halo over Tom's head." The rude guest star wasn’t Selleck, so the true identity of this mystery man will have to remain unsolved.

Aniston ended the interview with this sentiment: "It's still, to me, one of the greatest jobs I've ever had. It goes so beyond the work and what the show was, which was just a spectacular phenomenon, but the friendships and family that came out of it is just — you can't put words to that. It's priceless."

Who do you suspect the rude guest star on “Friends” was? Are you a fan of the hit TV show? Let us know, and be sure to pass this on to your friends and family, too.