Over the course of ten seasons, Friends featured an array of major guest stars - and one of the biggest cameos came from Julia Roberts with her memorable "Susie Underpants" episode. Roberts portrayed Susie Moss in the second part of the Friends season 2 episode, "The One After the Superbowl". Susie went to grade school with Chandler Bing and ran into him while working as a makeup artist on a movie set.
Susie reminded Chandler about a time when he lifted her skirt when they were kids which gave her the nickname "Susie Underpants". Chandler apologized and proceeded to ask her out. The pair began dating and Susie finally got her chance to get revenge on Chandler for the prank he pulled on her in fourth grade. After urging Chandler to wear her panties while at dinner, Susie made him strip down in the men's room before she stole his clothes to humiliate him. Susie then left the restaurant and was never seen again.
Roberts joined other well-known actors such as Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, and Reese Witherspoon who have starred in unforgettable Friends episodes. Roberts' appearance, however, was set up to achieve a larger goal set by the network. NBC had control of the highly-coveted post-Super Bowl timeslot in 1996. The network set out to have the highest-grossing ad-revenue day so they decided to air a double-length episode of Friends, their most popular sitcom. In order to grab even more viewers, they sought a high-profile guest and successfully acquired Roberts.
Julia Roberts Starred In Friends' Most-Watched Episode
Before 1996, NBC experienced a few failures when it came to choosing the lead-out program for the Super Bowl's telecast. Debuting a brand-new series was risky so NBC decided to air a two-part Friends episode. To make "The One After the Superbowl" even more special, the sitcom featured a number of guest stars. Aside from Roberts, the guest stars included Brooke Shields, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Fred Willard, Dan Castellaneta, and Chris Isaak.
Due to Friends' level of popularity, it wasn't too difficult for NBC to get guest stars in the mid'-90s. It also didn't hurt that Friends already had a connection to Roberts. Friends star Matthew Perry was dating Roberts when she was booked for the cameo. This, in turn, helped develop the storyline focusing on Roberts engaging in a relationship with Chandler while she had ulterior motives. NBC's plans worked out greatly because "The One After the Superbowl" became the most-watched Friends episode in history with nearly 53 million viewers. It still stands as the highest-rated program to lead out the Super Bowl.