Over a decade has passed since the final episode of Friends aired, but multiple reruns, marathons, and the opportunity to watch it on streaming thanks to Netflix have kept the series alive – and has also helped fans notice some continuity mistakes, like when Monica and Rachel were replaced. Friends was all about the lives of six young adults (Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey, and Ross) in New York City, doing their best to balance adulthood, relationships, their careers, and more. The series is regarded as one of the greatest TV shows of all time and has a pretty solid fan base to this day.
The series went through some changes from the very beginning, such as Ross’ ex-wife Carol being recast and the numbers in Monica’s and Chandler’s apartments mysteriously changing. Of course, there were also continuity errors like a coffee mug changing colors and sizes in the same scene or objects in the background magically appearing and disappearing, but one of the weirdest mistakes is how Rachel and Monica were replaced in two episodes.
This mistake was brought to light thanks to Netflix, observant Friends fans, and social media. Friends being available to stream certainly made it easier for fans to go back to their favorite episodes as many times as they want, and they inevitably noticed that Rachel and Monica suddenly weren’t themselves.
Why Monica and Rachel Were Replaced
Monica’s replacement happened first. In season 8’s episode “The One With Rachel’s Date”, Phoebe and Monica are sitting in Central Perk (obviously), talking and drinking coffee. The scene cuts back and forth between the two and at one point there’s a close up on Phoebe, and on the right side of the screen instead of Courteney Cox is a completely different woman. Rachel’s moment came in season 9’s episode “The One With The Mugging”, when she rushes into Monica’s apartment to tell Joey that he got an audition. The scene cuts to a close up on Joey, and a different woman is standing where Rachel was just seconds ago – and she wasn’t even wearing the same outfit.
There’s actually a good explanation on why Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox were briefly replaced and why fans never noticed until the series joined Netflix. Back in the 1990s, TV shows were done in 4:3 aspect ratio, which is more square. Nowadays, the format has changed to 16:9, and transferring Friends to Netflix meant that viewers can now see what was going on on the sides of the screen – exactly where the “fake” Monica and Rachel were. Stand-ins are part of every TV show and film, and viewers often won’t notice they were there as they are either replaced in post-production or simply don’t make it into the final cut due to aspect ratio reasons... except this time. Stand-ins for the rest of the friends haven’t been found just yet, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the “replacements” of the rest are also hidden in plain sight.