TMC
02-10-2022, 09:15 PM
https://www.looper.com/763568/why-matt-leblanc-wasnt-a-fan-of-this-friends-storyline/
Matt LeBlanc took some persuading for Joey to fall for Rachel
In an interview with Digital Spy (https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a867413/friends-joey-rachel-matt-leblanc-against-storyline/), "Friends" producer and director Kevin S. Bright revealed that Matt LeBlanc wasn't initially on board with how the show wanted to take Joey and Rachel's relationship. "He was very firmly against it," Bright recalled. Apparently, for LeBlanc, it was an issue of character consistency, as Bright says the actor argued, "he's Ross's friend, and that the type of friend that Joey is would never go and take someone else's girlfriend."
Eventually, LeBlanc came around to the idea, but in the end, which Bright still thinks was the right move. "I think, if she's not going to be with Ross, who else would you want her with?" he asked. "That went okay with the audience. No big letters on that one!"
Nonetheless, it remains a plot twist that many fans are still unhappy about. Even years after the show's end, it's still debated if giving Joey and Rachel a short-lived romance was a good move. One Darth Mcree on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/howyoudoin/comments/5vin6y/comment/de2e4t5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) deemed it as "doomed from the start. The whole thing had 'cheap trick to get more viewers' written all over it. Also they dumbed down Rachel's character to new extremes so she'd seem compatible with Joey." Zxols (https://www.reddit.com/r/howyoudoin/comments/5vin6y/comment/de2h57c/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) agreed with this but spotted the silver lining, saying, "I didn't really enjoy that relationship, but at least because of that we got the amazing 'What is love?' scene."
Surely that's something everybody had L-O-V-E love for?
Matt LeBlanc took some persuading for Joey to fall for Rachel
In an interview with Digital Spy (https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a867413/friends-joey-rachel-matt-leblanc-against-storyline/), "Friends" producer and director Kevin S. Bright revealed that Matt LeBlanc wasn't initially on board with how the show wanted to take Joey and Rachel's relationship. "He was very firmly against it," Bright recalled. Apparently, for LeBlanc, it was an issue of character consistency, as Bright says the actor argued, "he's Ross's friend, and that the type of friend that Joey is would never go and take someone else's girlfriend."
Eventually, LeBlanc came around to the idea, but in the end, which Bright still thinks was the right move. "I think, if she's not going to be with Ross, who else would you want her with?" he asked. "That went okay with the audience. No big letters on that one!"
Nonetheless, it remains a plot twist that many fans are still unhappy about. Even years after the show's end, it's still debated if giving Joey and Rachel a short-lived romance was a good move. One Darth Mcree on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/howyoudoin/comments/5vin6y/comment/de2e4t5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) deemed it as "doomed from the start. The whole thing had 'cheap trick to get more viewers' written all over it. Also they dumbed down Rachel's character to new extremes so she'd seem compatible with Joey." Zxols (https://www.reddit.com/r/howyoudoin/comments/5vin6y/comment/de2h57c/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) agreed with this but spotted the silver lining, saying, "I didn't really enjoy that relationship, but at least because of that we got the amazing 'What is love?' scene."
Surely that's something everybody had L-O-V-E love for?