All I can think is that they were running out of couples, and the execs wanted to keep their cash cow alive for as long as possible. So, they ordered the writers to make it work somehow.
Yeah, fans don’t typically respond well to new MCs being thrown into the cast late into a series’ run, but they also love relationships so that’s why you see so many series turn long-time friends into couples after a while
It was about money. Nothing else.
All I can think is that they were running out of couples, and the execs wanted to keep their cash cow alive for as long as possible. So, they ordered the writers to make it work somehow.
Joey and Phoebe would have made much more sense, but they wanted to squeeze every last ounce of viewing time out of the Ross-Rachel thing.
Yeah, fans don’t typically respond well to new MCs being thrown into the cast late into a series’ run, but they also love relationships so that’s why you see so many series turn long-time friends into couples after a while