Matt LeBlanc was ‘firmly against’ the most ridiculous plotline in Friends

Paul Moore

Even Joey knew that this was a bad idea.

Much like that play Joey did when he had to get on that spaceship and “go to Blargon 7 in search of alternative fuels,” there’s an awful lot of Friends that left fans puzzled and demanding answers, despite the fact that it’s still constantly being repeated on TV and Netflix.

For example, did anyone else think it was weird when Ross tried to shift his cousin, Cassie (Denise Richards)? Also, the entire episode when Chandler became addicted to bubble baths was crap, as was the one with the shark porn.

Elsewhere, Joey’s inability to speak French was awful, as was Phoebe’s obsession with the rat babies but thankfully, these storylines only lasted one episode and given the show’s overall quality, we can’t be too critical.

This being said, a plotline that was given far too much time to breathe was the romance between Rachel and Joey. As fans may remember, they hooked up at the end of Season 9 and that arc developed through .Season 10.

Granted, we know that Joey would never say no to the chances of getting laid, or a sandwich, but that whole storyline felt unnatural, forced, and well, really weird.

All this without mentioning the fact that Joey ‘accidentally’ proposed to Rachel, she said yes, and basically, years and years of character development was just ignored at a whim.

Yep, no jazz hands for that whole plotline and Matt LeBlanc felt the exact same way because even Joey – a man who when asked if he had a lot of sex, once had to pause and tentatively answer: “When? Today? Some, not a lot” – absolutely hated the idea of Joey and Rachel dating.

Speaking to Digital Spy, Friends executive producer/director Kevin S Bright said: “I can tell you this – in the beginning, Matt LeBlanc did not want to do that story. He was very firmly against it, saying that he’s Ross’s friend, and that the type of friend that Joey is would never go and take someone else’s girlfriend.”

Bright added that it took “a lot” to convince LeBlanc to agree to the storyline.

See, Joey knows some stuff.

Then again, he did get his head stuck in a door.