While speaking with Uproxx in 2015, Seinfeld writer Peter Mehlman revealed that NBC once pushed the idea of having Jerry, Kramer, and the gang cross over with the cast of Friends.
Evidently, this would’ve been part of a “blackout” event the network was promoting in 1994, which featured characters from shows like Mad About You and Madman of the People dealing with the effects of the same blackout in their respective episodes. In the case of Seinfeld and Friends, the Seinfeld characters would’ve popped up on Friends during the blackout and vice versa. However, Larry David immediately shot the idea down.
Before the concept was completely abandoned, Mehlman suggested that they tell NBC they’d do it, but in their episode, Ross (as played by David Schwimmer on Friends) would be killed off in some way.
“I think Larry’s arm twitched toward the phone,” Mehlman joked. “We had a big laugh about it.” Unfortunately, David didn’t find the proposal amusing enough to actually try and make it happen, though.
Larry David Rejected a ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Friends’ Crossover for a Very ‘Seinfeld’ Reason
“That would have been so funny,” said Mehlman. “[To just] do a radical thing with one of their characters,” he continued. “Anything that would have completely changed their show. And they have no choice.” As for what Mehlman thinks the Friends writers would’ve done with the Seinfeld characters under the same circumstances, he doesn’t believe that they would’ve been quite as vengeful.
Mehlman went on to explain that Friends didn’t have the darkness Seinfeld did. Friends, he says, included six likable characters, whereas Seinfeld had four people who would screw each other over at any opportunity and still hang out with one another.
“It was a whole different philosophy because our characters ultimately became pretty unlikable,” Mehlman recalled. “But we always thought as long as they’re funny, it doesn’t matter.”
The post The ‘Seinfeld’/’Friends’ Crossover That Almost Happened in 1994 (and Why It Didn’t) appeared first on VICE.
