The amazing chemistry among the Friends cast was an essential element of the show's success. Switching out any one of the six stars would undoubtedly have changed the show, and it's impossible to know how significant the impact of that change would have been. Would we have seen ten successful seasons if Nancy McKeon had been portraying Monica, for example?
We'll never know.
My personal bias, though, says that Matthew Perry is the one guy the ensemble couldn't have reached its level without. I'd never heard of him before Friends and didn't watch the show until long after its initial run was over, but one thing that quickly became clear was that Chandler's delivery was absolutely critical to the group dynamic. That's why I was a little stunned when I learned that he almost wasn't a part of the cast.
Apparently, at the time the Friends opportunity rolled around, Perry was committed to a little project called LAX 2194. To illustrate where in his career Perry was at that moment, this trailer for the pilot doesn't include or mention him--he's taking third billing (or something further down the line) to Ryan Stiles and Kelly Hu.
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Fortunately (big surprise, huh?) the pilot wasn't picked up, freeing Perry up for the role of Chandler Bing.
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