I dunno if the IMDb is accurate, but it doesn't cover all the ground :-
How many writers have there been on Friends to date? Who wrote the most episodes? What is a) the least and b) the most writers on one single episode? What is the average number of writers an each episode? Who wrote for the show the longest? Is there anyone left from Season One still writing?
"John Dean" wrote in message
Why does it matter who wrote the most? Quality should be more important. A quick perusal of TVtome.com shows lots of episodes where only one writer is given credit and others where up to four people share credit. However that is misleading because...
As far as I know, the process of putting together each episode is a collective effort among the team of writers who are called Producers of some degree or other in the credits. Since the season is 24 episodes long, the main storylines are planned well in advance (probably ten or twelve episodes minimum) and secondary stories are just added for color. I would be willing to bet, for example, Monica and Chandler's baby efforts have been mapped out since the beginning of the season. After storylines have been agreed upon, each episode is farmed out to member(s) of the writing team who are probably given months to write their episode. Even so, revisions take place up to and including the day of filming.
Several, but most notably the co-creators and executive producers of the show Marta Kaufmann and David Crane. They've written some of the best episodes. The more interesting question is why there is such a high turnover among them. Some go on to other opportunities. Bill Lawrence, for example, wrote briefly for Friends and is the creator of Scrubs. Others leave for their own reasons.