Friends forced to reshoot

"Friends" Forced to Reshoot by Mark Armstrong Sep 20, 2001, 2:35 PM PT

After last week's devastating terrorist attacks, it's not just CIA shows that are getting another look from producers and network execs.

Even NBC's hit comedy Friends is getting reworked following the tragedies, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Producers have reshot the third episode of the season, which takes place entirely in an airport and features Monica (Courteney Cox Arquette) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) arriving several hours before their honeymoon flight.

"A lot of it had to do with how ridiculous it was for crazy, obsessive Monica to want to get there three hours in advance," Friends executive producer David Crane tells the Inquirer. "Two weeks ago, that would have been ridiculous. It's not ridiculous now. Everybody's doing it now. A lot of the comedy in it didn't feel funny, so we reshot the story line."

The episode is still scheduled to air October 11. But it's an odd moment for Friends--a happy-go-lucky series usually only offensive for its portrayal of New York as a city where young people can find or afford a 3,000-square-foot apartment.

The move was just one of many to take place as a shaken Hollywood continues rethinking, reworking and rescheduling in the wake of last week's attacks. Among the latest changes:

The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin has asked that NBC postpone his show's season premiere, which is still scheduled for next Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Times. Network sources told the paper that the request did not have to do with any specific content in the episode, but Sorkin just had a general concern with how viewers will respond to the Oval Office drama given its political tone. The networks have already postponed their fall season premieres, but no word on whether the Peacock is willing to delay it any further.

Although CBS originally hoped to salvage the pilot episode of its new CIA series The Agency, it ain't happening. The network has pulled its premiere episode, which included a reference to Osama bin Laden and a bomb being planted at Harrods department store in London. Next Thursday's premiere will be an already-shot episode revolving around a plot to assassinate Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. The pilot episode will likely never see the light of day.

Disney on Wednesday postponed its scheduled December release of Bad Company, an action-comedy starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock. The film, directed by Joel Schumacher, revolves around a CIA operation and features a band of terrorists as the villains. The film will now come out sometime in 2002.

Up-and-coming New York-based band the Strokes have halted distribution of their debut album for RCA in order to remove a song called "New York City Cops." The tune, a third-person tale about a couple on the run, featured the refrain, "New York City Cops/They ain't too smart." The band decided to remove the track and record a new one over the weekend--a far less offensive song called "When It Started." The album's release has now been pushed back from next Tuesday to October 9. "It's not a 'Cop Killer' song in any sense," says band spokesman Jim Merlis. "But they know, having been in New York City, that it's just inappropriate right now."

Connor

'Friends' Reshooting Airport Subplot

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Monica and Chandler hassling their way through airport security doesn't seem all that funny anymore.

The makers of "Friends" realize this fact, so a secondary plot in one of this season's early episodes came out this week.

The storyline had fussbudget Monica (Courteney Cox Arquette) insisting that she and Chandler (Matthew Perry) arrive at the airport three hours before their honeymoon flight, much to her husband's chagrin.

In light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and increased airport security since then, however, the show's producers decided the subplot was inappropriate.

A spokesman for the show says the airport subplot took up only a few scenes, and that new scenes are being written. The season premiere of "Friends" airs at 8 p.m. ET Thursday, Sept. 27 on NBC.

The Girl Connor escreveu nas not�cias de mensagem:luMq7.168$[email]...

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You have to wonder if and how the execs are going to include WTC in scheme of things. Hardly an episode goes by when a shot of the NYC skyline is not shown and the twic towers have featured prominently in them. Althought the series isn't filmed in NYC, those exterior skyline shots do bring a sense of reality to the audience that the show revolves around the lives of 6 NYkers.

"boy" wrote in message news:...

So that's why the show wasn't on last week - a lot of shows were getting back to "normal", but Friends didn't start the new season. I live in New York and nothing will replace looking down the street and seeing the WTC. I never even noticed it inthe shots of the show until very recently - they were just shots of New York. Until now.

We need new episodes to talk about so we stop talking about the WTC!

In article , [email] (j-me) writes:

Plenty of other shows also delayed their premieres until this week: JAG for one. The West Wing is premiering on Oct. 10. Other shows have had to reshoot scenes, or even entire episodes. One of the networks had a new show about the CIA where one of the episodes had to be completely redone. Many shows (I thought) delayed their premieres out of respect. For that matter, Sept. 16-20 was originally supposed to be premiere week, but the networks were still preempting prime time schedules to cover the crisis. Nobody started on time, and initially it wasn't because they weren't ready, it was because nobody cared at the time. --- James Squire - http://members.aol.com/jamess1889