Friends was originally pitched to network television executives under the incredibly sterile and boring title Six of One, which sounds less like a culturally defining sitcom and…

A closer look

Friends was originally pitched to network television executives under the incredibly sterile and boring title Six of One, which sounds less like a culturally defining sitcom and more like a depressing British murder mystery. The creators also heavily considered calling it Insomnia Cafe or Across the Hall before finally landing on the one-word title that would be printed on millions of oversized coffee mugs for the next thirty years. It is genuinely terrifying to think about how close we came to living in an alternate reality where people unironically asked each other if they caught the latest episode of Insomnia Cafe, completely ruining the catchy rhythm of the Rembrandts' theme song. This just goes to show that the difference between a forgotten nineties television flop and a multibillion-dollar syndication empire often comes down to a room full of suits realizing that shorter words look significantly better on a billboard