During the start of work on the series “Friends”, Jennifer Aniston has already starred in the comedy channel CBS Muddling Through, which eventually did not go on the air. The actress was originally wanted to see in the role of Rachel Green and did not want to miss her.
If CBS were to be accepted, Friends would lose Aniston in the middle of their first season. Muddling Through had already shot half a dozen episodes, none of which were aired, and CBS, after some deliberation, decided to include the show in its summer schedule, in the relative dead zone of Saturday evenings.
Having heard this news, the bosses of the NBC channel, on which the Friends went out, decided to eliminate the competitor in order to save the actress. To do this, at the same time, they decided to broadcast a series of original television films based on the novels of Danielle Steel. They would almost certainly attract a significant female audience. A show about a former motel manager and her stupid family would have no chance.
In another broadcasting time, these pictures would have gathered more viewers, but this was a necessary measure to “kill” Muddling Through.