49 Friends
NBC 1994-2004
What if they chose an earlier title, like Six of One? What if Hank Azaria had in fact been hired to play Joey, or Nancy McKeon for Monica? The success of Friends was so miraculous, and so dependent on every piece of it existing in total harmony with every other piece — most of all, the chemistry among the six pals (Courteney Cox’s uptight Monica, Jennifer Aniston’s pampered Rachel, Lisa Kudrow’s spacey Phoebe, Matt Le Blanc’s goofy Joey, Matthew Perry’s sarcastic Chandler, and David Schwimmer’s mopey Ross) — that it could have failed if any one thing was changed even slightly. But all the ingredients came together in the right proportions, leading to a show so warm it’s been embraced by a younger generation that has no frame of reference for Chandler’s “I think this is the episode of Three’s Company where there’s some kind of misunderstanding” joke.