Friends has a couple of scrapped storylines that ultimately benefited the show by never happening, such as a controversial one that would have repeated the same Ross (David Schwimmer) story three times. Friends continues to be regarded as one of the best TV shows of all time and one of the most influential ones, too, changing the genre of sitcoms. Friends premiered on NBC in 1994 and had a successful 10-season run, making history in the process. Friends ended in 2004, but the show is still quite popular, and its arrival on streaming has helped maintain its popularity.
Throughout its 10 seasons, Friends followed its main characters through many ups and downs in their personal and professional lives, but they weren’t spared from controversial storylines. Moments like Joey and Rachel’s relationship, Joey’s dumbing down, and everything about “fat Monica” are some of Friends’ worst and most problematic ones, but the show also saved itself from many others. Friends has many scrapped storylines, among them one that would have repeated a tiring Ross storyline and made his character a lot worse.
Friends Season 6 Almost Ended With Elizabeth’s Pregnancy (With A Twist)
Elizabeth’s Pregnancy Would Have Been A Double Surprise
Friends season 6 introduced Elizabeth Stevens (Alexandra Holden), a student of Ross’. As such, Elizabeth was, at least, 10 years younger than Ross, but she seized the chance in an anonymous teacher evaluation. After Ross discovered who wrote that evaluation, Elizabeth asked him out, and though they had a great time together, they learned that it was against the rules for a teacher to date a student. Ross and Elizabeth decided they couldn’t continue, but they ended up agreeing to meet in secret and hide their relationship from the school.
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After many ups and downs, including Elizabeth going on spring break vacation with her friends and Ross joining her out of jealousy and being overprotective, and meeting Elizabeth’s father, Paul (Bruce Willis), who briefly dated Rachel, Ross decided to end the relationship after realizing Elizabeth was too immature for him. However, this wasn’t the original ending planned for Ross and Elizabeth, as Friends season 6 was meant to end with the reveal of Elizabeth’s pregnancy (via CBR).
Friends season 6 ended with Chandler and Monica’s proposal to each other, with season 7 following the preparations for their wedding.
That would have changed Friends season 7, which would have followed Ross as he dealt with Elizabeth’s pregnancy, which would have had huge repercussions for him in his job and his personal life. The big twist in this scrapped storyline, however, would have been the reveal at the end of season 7 that Elizabeth’s baby wasn’t Ross’. Luckily, the writers of Friends had already planned for season 7 to end with Rachel’s pregnancy, and Elizabeth’s would have clashed with this, so this storyline was thankfully dropped.
Friends Would Have Repeated The Same Ross Storyline 3 Times With Elizabeth’s Pregnancy
Ross Had The Same Storyline Twice
By having Elizabeth announce her pregnancy and Ross dealing with it, Friends would have repeated the same Ross storyline three times: Ross dealing with unplanned pregnancies from his former partners. First was Carol, who revealed her pregnancy to Ross after they had separated and Carol had officially gotten together with Susan. Ross took responsibility for it, though he clashed a lot with Susan, but they all eventually found the best way to co-parent.
If Elizabeth had also become pregnant, Ross would have gone through the same, though it would have gone nowhere as the baby wouldn’t have been his.
Then came Rachel’s surprise pregnancy at the end of Friends season 7. It was revealed the next season that Rachel’s baby was Ross’, the product of a drunken night while preparing the invitations for Monica and Chandler’s wedding. Facing another unplanned pregnancy, Ross also took responsibility and was a present father to Emma for the rest of the show (though Ben ended up disappearing). If Elizabeth had also become pregnant, Ross would have gone through the same, though it would have gone nowhere as the baby wouldn’t have been his.
How Elizabeth’s Pregnancy Would Have Affected Ross’ Character
Ross Isn’t Friends’ Most Popular Character
Ross is already the least popular character out of the main group in Friends, and Elizabeth’s pregnancy would have made him even more unpopular. Ross and Elizabeth’s relationship was already controversial due to the age gap and their teacher/student dynamic, and adding an unplanned pregnancy would have made it worse (and Paul definitely wouldn’t have accepted Ross after that). This would have risked painting Ross as the most irresponsible member of the group, and he would have been limited to this type of story.
Surely, Elizabeth’s baby being revealed not to be Ross’ would have probably given some sympathy to Ross (depending on how this would have been handled and how he would have reacted), but the damage would have already been done. The writers of Friends were wise in leaving Elizabeth’s pregnancy storyline out, but she remains as one half of Ross’ most controversial relationship.
Source: CBR.
Friends
8/10
- Release Date
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1994 – 2004
- Showrunner
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Marta Kauffman
