Nearly 30 years since its premiere, Friends remains one of the most beloved TV shows of all time, continuing to draw in new fans through syndication and streaming. The sitcom wasn’t without its controversies and behind-the-scenes drama though. Friends has been widely criticized for its lack of diversity, and some of the cast members’ personal struggles during those years — divorce, infertility, addiction — are well-documented. It turns out the crew may have been dealing with their own issues surrounding the production, as one of the former writers has detailed her time on Friends in a new book, and her experience sounds absolutely miserable.
There’s been a lot of focus in recent months on the working conditions and fair treatment of writers, thanks to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. Patty Lin painted a pretty demoralizing picture of her time on Friends in her upcoming book End Credits, where she talks about the stresses of the 14-person staff producing more than 20 episodes per season. It sounds like the six main cast members didn’t necessarily make things any easier, as Lin opened up about their negative reactions to the scripts and how they’d get things changed during the table reads they had over breakfast. In an excerpt from the book (via Time), Lin wrote:
