9/11: Why a ‘Friends’ episode was altered after the September 11 attacks

“Friends”, the American
sitcom with a near-ubiquitous audience across decades, had to severely alter an
episode after the September 11 attacks on the United States. “Friends” was
running its eighth season on NBC in 2001. Then, when the September 11 attacks
happened, the world changed for the United States and security concerns became utmost
priority. 9/11 did not just change the way we fly, but also changed a Friends
episode shot inside an airport.

On the third
episode of “Friends” season 8, titled “The One Where Rachel Tells Ross”, Chandler
and Monica are on the way to their honeymoon. The episode shows the newly-married
couple stumble into obstacles and get upstaged on their way to the vacation.
While another couple get moved to first class right before them, Chandler and
Monica don’t. When the other couple check in to a hotel, they get moved to a
better room, Chandler and Monica miss out.

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However funny one
might have found the friends-turned-lovers-turned-couple’s (mis) adventures, the
fact is the jokes came as an afterthought. As did the rest of the episode. In
reality, Monica and Chandler were not supposed to arrive at their honeymoon
destination in the original version of the episode.

Deleted scenes
from the October 11, 2001 episode show Chandler and Monica being detained at
the airport after Chandler made a joke about bombs. “You don’t have to worry
about me, ma’am. I take bombs very seriously,” says Chandler after spotting a
sign that states federal law prohibits any joking about aircraft hijacking or
bombings.

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Further, one they
are allowed to board the flight, Monica gets a call from Joey and Phoebe about
the “smelling gas” from Monica and Chandler’s apartment. Joey asks if he should
break down the door and if Monica will be mad if he does, to which Monica says,
“No, I want you to stand there and wait for the entire place to blow up!”

This attracts the
attention of the flight crew and the two are removed. Funny in hindsight, the
fact that the show’s producers decided to change the episode following 9/11
shows the kind of impact and trauma the terror attack caused in the United
States and the ways in which such trauma made way into popular culture and more
critically into self-censorship within popular culture.