Friends continues to be a very popular TV show in big part thanks to its time in the world of streaming (although it’s now waiting until HBO Max launches), which has also allowed viewers to catch details and mistakes that hadn’t been pointed out before – like that time there were two Phoebes in the same scene. Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, Friends made its debut on NBC in 1994 and came to an end in 2004 after ten successful seasons and lots of memorable moments and jokes.
The series followed a group of six friends (Phoebe, Monica, Rachel, Joey, Chandler, and Ross) living in New York City and doing their best to juggle their social, personal, and professional lives as well as dealing with everything adulthood threw their way. Friends is still regarded as one of the best TV series of all time, even if there are some situations and jokes that haven’t aged well, and its time at Netflix introduced new generations to this peculiar group. These recent revisits, along with a wider format, have brought to light a couple of mistakes and weird details that have been hiding in the series for years, among those a double dose of a fan-favorite character: Phoebe.
Continuity errors and other harmless mistakes are very common in TV shows, but there’s one in Friends that makes Phoebe look as if she has mastered the art of being in two places at the same time.
Friends’ Pilot Episode Has Two Phoebes
A lot of things happen in the pilot episode of Friends: viewers are introduced to the group, Rachel runs away from her wedding, Monica’s date turns out to be the worst, and Phoebe pulled out four eyelashes. It’s in that scene where Phoebe realizes that four eyelashes falling off can’t be good that a fun mistake can be found, as it’s revealed that there are two Phoebes in Monica’s apartment (that or she moves very quickly). Right after Phoebe tells Rachel about her eyelashes, the scene cuts to Monica’s date, Paul, sitting in the living room, and Phoebe is seen in the background – and it actually looks as if she was paying attention to herself in the kitchen.
This minor yet curious mistake recently came to light thanks to an eagle-eyed viewer, and the reason why it hadn’t been pointed out before might be due to the series’ original format. Back in the 1990s, TV shows were done in 4:3 aspect ratio, meaning it was more square. The format has now changed and a 16:9 aspect ratio is the go-to, so when transferring series like Friends to the streaming world, all those details hiding on the sides of the screen are now visible, and that includes the extra-Phoebe in the pilot episode. Of course, it’s nothing more than an honest mistake from a production crew that was only getting started with a new sitcom, but in a way, it also adds to the mysticism of Phoebe Buffay.
Next: Friends: Phoebe’s Third Husband Everyone Forgets About
