Little-Known Details About the Hit Show Friends

The Original Carol Wanted a More Stable Job

When Friends filmed their pilot episode, they had no idea how big of a hit it would become. They originally cast actress Anita Barone for the role of Ross' then-wife Carol in the first episode of the first season. However, they quickly replaced her with actress Jane Sibbett, who played the role for the rest of the series. Barone decided not to stick with the NBC show because they couldn't offer her a permanent position, so she looked elsewhere for more consistent work. It's common for shows to replace actors or actresses, but fortunately for Friends , it happened very early on, so the change didn't have a much of an impact in the long run.