Writing for Friends may not have been the dream job that it seemed!
Patty Lin, who used to write for the popular TV show, revealed that it used to present her with a lot of challenges.
Before Friends she worked on the short-lived Freaks & Geeks and spoke of having a positive experience, before saying "then came Friends."
‘Friends’ writer Patty Lin says in new memoir that the actors weren’t happy to be on the show for so long and would deliberately tank jokes they didn’t like (via @TIME):
“The actors seemed unhappy to be chained to a tired old show when they could be branching out, and I felt… pic.twitter.com/Kl68YgWzCJ
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 24, 2023
The TV writer is currently promoting her memoir, where she revealed some harsh truths about what it was like to work on one of the biggest TV shows in the world.
“The novelty of seeing Big Stars up close wore off fast, along with my zeal about breakfast,” Patty Lin wrote in her book. “The actors seemed unhappy to be chained to a tired old show when they could be branching out, and I felt like they were constantly wondering how every given script would specifically serve them.”
She also wrote about how she would feel disheartened when a joke or a line was cut on the show because the actor allegedly didn't commit to the bit - or thought they knew better.
“They all knew how to get a laugh, but if they didn’t like a joke, they seemed to deliberately tank it, knowing we’d rewrite it,” Patty wrote. “Dozens of good jokes would get thrown out just because one of them had mumbled the line through a mouthful of bacon."
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Lin only wrote for Season 7 of Friends but for her that was enough. She went on to work for hit shows like Desperate Housewives and Breaking Bad.
Pretty damning claims! We wonder what the other writers on the show thought 🤔
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