Ross and Rachel's 'Break' on Friends Almost Didn't Happen
The saga of Ross and Rachel on Friends is one of the most beloved TV relationships of all time. But according to one of the masterminds behind the show, it was never supposed to play out the way it did. Friends executive producer and director Kevin S. Bright recently told Metro that Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) were never really meant to go on that infamous break. Wait, what?
“I would say initially when [Ross and Rachel] was planned it wasn’t planned that way, that came a little bit later," he said of the now-iconic storyline in which Ross and Rachel agree to take a pause from their relationship, leading Ross to cheat (or not cheat, depending on which side of the argument you fall on). "It allowed us to have fun with the show and give people something to root for."
Bright goes on to explain that after a few seasons of will-they-or-won’t-they tension, the show’s creators needed something to rock the boat after the duo finally got together. “We were well aware the audience wanted to keep them together but everything that was keeping them apart — we realized when we got them together when the first kiss happened we go, 'Wow, the air has kind of gone out of the balloon.' There wasn’t that sexual tension anymore,” he added.
And while we can readily admit to having our hearts shattered by their breakup, we’ll also say that Friends just wouldn’t have been quite the addictive emotional roller coaster had Ross and Rachel lived happily ever after right off the bat. Bright agrees, adding, “I thought what Marta and David did,” referring to show writers Marta Kauffman and David Crane, “which was such a brilliant and brave move with their relationship, as soon as everyone got their wish the wish was taken away. It made it so much better when they did get together."
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