Aside from some truly unforgettable characters, Friends introduced equally iconic places, of which some had a big impact in pop culture, like Central Perk, and others have served as inspiration for their peculiar decoration, like Monica’s apartment. The group spent a lot of time at Monica’s home, so much that it became an in-universe joke how they seemed to not have their own places, and even some episodes were set entirely there – but there was a good reason for that.
Friends followed a group of six young adults (Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, Chandler, Joey, and Ross) living in New York City and doing their best to balance their personal, social, and professional lives along with everything that comes with being an adult. It was a tight-knit group, and many of them were roommates at some point, either living at Joey’s apartment or Monica’s, though the latter was a more prominent setting. Monica always made sure her place was a home for her friends, so it’s not surprising that they spent most of their time there, to the point where many episodes took place entirely there and most viewers didn’t notice.
Along with Central Perk, Monica’s apartment became the main setting for the series, and viewers got so acquainted with it that it was very easy for the production crew to have episodes that didn’t get out of it when things got a bit rough behind the scenes.
Why Many Friends Episodes Were Set Entirely In Monica’s Apartment
Like many other TV shows, Friends had its budget struggles during the first seasons, so the producers went for a “bottle episode” format with season 3’s “The One Where No One’s Ready”. Bottle episodes use as few extra sets as possible and have no special guests nor extra effects in order to save as much money as possible, which is normally used for other episodes that do require some extra elements. In “The One Where No One’s Ready”, Ross gets increasingly anxious as they have to attend an event and everyone’s taking too long to get ready. Although the characters go back and forth between Chandler’s and Monica’s apartment, the group is only seen in Monica’s place. In addition to that, the episode plays out in real time.
Though the episode didn’t do well with critics, the audience’s reaction was much more positive, and the creative team behind Friends went on to make more bottle episodes in future seasons, such as season 6’s “The One On The Last Night” and season 7’s “The One With Monica’s Thunder”, which were set in both apartments. Thanks to how often the characters were seen in Monica’s apartment, it was very easy for the Friends crew to have a couple of episodes set there (and sometimes in Joey’s apartment too) without the audience feeling trapped or getting bored. Friends’ bottle episodes not always did well with critics, but in a way, they helped bring the characters closer to the viewers and proved that they didn’t need any special guests to make an entertaining episode.
Next: Friends: The Character’s Ages (& How They Get It Wrong)
