‘Friends’ Writer Claims Cast Would “Deliberately Tank” Jokes They Didn’t Like, Says They “Seemed Unhappy to Be Chained to a Tired Old Show”

Friends may continue to be a global phenomenon nearly 30 years after it first came on the air — but, according to Patty Lin, who joined the show as a writer in Season 7, it wasn’t the most welcoming environment.

In the retired television writer’s new book, End Credits: How I Broke Up with Hollywood, she recalls joining the hit sitcom in 2000 — and her seemingly negative experience working with the cast, which starred Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer.

Per an excerpt from the book released by Time, Linn remembers the grueling 12-hour days in the writing room — where “sex” was a frequent topic of conversation. While she explains her initial excitement over being in the same room as the famous cast when it came time for table reads, she says the novelty “wore off fast.”

“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 writes. “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.”

Lin adds, “Dozens of good jokes would get thrown out just because one of them had mumbled the line through a mouthful of bacon. [Creators] David [Crane] and Marta [Kauffman] never said, ‘This joke is funny. The actor just needs to sell it.'”

Once the first rewrite of the script was complete, the writers, actors and director would have a run-through on the set. When they finished rehearsing and blocking, they would all sit around Chandler and Monica’s apartment and talk about the script.

“This was the actors’ first opportunity to voice their opinions, which they did vociferously,” Lin says. “They rarely had anything positive to say, and when they brought up problems, they didn’t suggest feasible solutions.”

She continues, “Seeing themselves as guardians of their characters, they often argued that they would never do or say such-and-such. That was occasionally helpful, but overall, these sessions had a dire, aggressive quality that lacked all the levity you’d expect from the making of a sitcom.”

Before working on Friends, Lin, who retired from writing in 2008, wrote for shows like Freaks and Geeks, Desperate Housewives and Breaking Bad. While she “got along with everyone” at Friends — despite referring to the atmosphere as “cliquey” — her contract was not renewed after the seventh season.

“I didn’t learn that much, except that I never wanted to work on a sitcom again,” she concludes. “But the choice had been clear at the time. And, for better or worse, Friends would remain my most recognizable credit.”