"Friends Forever: 25 Years Of Laughter" Airs Tonight At 9 ET.
WHITFIELD: All right, 25 years after the sitcom "Friends" debut and became must see T.V., the show continues to be one of the most popular and highest grossing television shows of all time.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: Matthew Perry --</s>MARTA KAUFFMAN, CO-CREATOR, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: -- you really wanted him?</s>KAUFFMAN: He was the first person and we offered Chandler too. And he was doing another show called</s>LAX 21 -- CAMEROTA: LAX 2194.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the sci-fi sitcom LAX 2194.</s>MATTHEW PERRY, ACTOR: It's about baggage handlers in the year 2194. I sorted out alien's luggage.</s>CAMEROTA: That is not a winning title.</s>KAUFFMAN: No, it's not. It's not. But that was in first position.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That happens when you find the talent that you think is perfect for a role and you'll take the chance the other show will fail and they'll become b available.</s>KAUFFMAN: We were a little nervous about it, but we saw a million people even made an offer to someone else.</s>CAMEROTA: Who?</s>KAUFFMAN: No.</s>CAMEROTA: It's the 25th anniversary, now the truth can be told.</s>KAUFFMAN: He's a lovely actor named Craig Bierko.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>KAUFFMAN: And he didn't want to do an ensemble show.</s>CAMEROTA: I'm going to go with not Craig's best decision.</s>WHITFIELD: OK. My colleague, Alisyn Camerota, is hosting the one hour special "Friends Forever: 25 Years of Laughter" tonight on CNN. And I spoke with her about the fame of "Friends."</s>WHITFIELD: Good to see you, Alisyn. And oh my gosh, I mean, so many folks watch this forever for so long and feel like they know all of these characters. Is that what you felt like, too, when you get a chance to sit and meet and chat and reminisce with all of them?</s>CAMEROTA: Oh, completely. I mean, I was a "Friends" fan when it happened the first time around and then as you say, it has had basically a renaissance. There is an entire new crop of kids because of Netflix, who now love and watch "Friends," including my 14-year-old daughter and her best friends who have seen every single episode multiple times. And so I'm reliving it through this next generation and I think it's a real testament, obviously, to the show that it has that kind of staying power, that it is still -- you know, it doesn't feel dated when you watch it. It's still good.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow. I mean, so what is it about the show that allows it to do that, you know, to not feel dated? I mean, you talked to the creators, you talked to some of the stars, did they ever imagine that it would have that kind of staying power when they first embarked?</s>CAMEROTA: No one could ever have imagined it.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: Because sitcoms don't usually have the longevity of 25 years. And so we really wanted to, in this special, kind of crack the code of what their secret sauce is. Who doesn't want to figure that out? I mean, in terms of the future of television, what is it that has given it that kind of staying power? And so we talked to the creators, the writers, the guest stars, and what everybody said was that there are something about how the issues. You know, at first you think that "Friends" is sort of a confection, that is it cotton candy. In fact, some of the original critics said, oh, it's inane, it's superficial. But then, when you dig a little deeper, you find out that they actually are exploring all of the issues that everybody can relate to, being 20 or something, not knowing what the future holds, dealing with relationships, the hits and misses of relationships, getting your first job. You know, the time in your life when your friends are really your family and somehow that still resonates today.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow. But with that, you know, underlying theme of comedy, you know, making it funny, making it palatable and it really is a global sensation. We're not just talking about, you know, American, you know, kids, you know, growing up or identifying with, but -- I mean, globally, folks of all corners can feel a connection with "Friends."</s>CAMEROTA: Because, again, there is something universal about it. There's some sort of universal -- I mean, what the creators told us was that, yes, sure, they could have done a sitcom. Again, at first blush, you think its rapid fire jokes, just one after another, rat-a- tat-tat. But what they did, even in the pilot from the very opening episode, is it had this underlying tone of pathos, really, about emotions. And they're -- in fact, what we learned was that the network at first when they first watched the pilot said this show is too sad. This show is too sad, because you see Rachel looking forlorn. You know, Ross looking forlorn at the end. They're struggling with relationships. And so what they did, as you'll learned in the special, is they added that opening sequence where they're, you know, joking around at the fountain and there's a happy music, peppy music --</s>WHITFIELD: Yes, like that is great.</s>CAMEROTA: -- and that changed the whole tone.</s>WHITFIELD: Oh, interesting. So now, what about all these stars? Because, I mean, of course, you know, I think forever, you know, Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, you know, Matt LeBlanc, they will really always be associated with this show. Many of them have gone on, you know, and done other things. But, I think viewers kind of think they were perfectly put together because there was this chemistry. But what was it about, what's the story behind how they were cast and how they, you know, came together as this amazing ensemble?</s>CAMEROTA: We've got a lot of juicy behind the scenes, tidbits, about that. And what's so interesting is that at some point for every one of those characters, there was going to be a different person basically. This cast is who the creators wanted. They always wanted them. But every single one of them was somehow committed to something else or had some sort of conflict. And so they didn't -- the creators did not believe that they were going to get this cast, although from the first moment that this cast read together, you'll hear the creators say something magical happened. That the first very table read, there was an alchemy that these six people had that nobody else have, but they didn't think they were going to get them because they were already committed to other projects and then the stars aligned and somehow all their other projects were canceled, or they failed somehow, or they got out of them, or the studio let them out of them and then it came together like this.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow, it really came together. All right, Alisyn Camerota, we're going to all have a lot of fun. Thank you so much.</s>WHITFIELD: See how fun the story behind this great show. Don't miss our CNN Special Report, "Friends Forever: 25 Years of Laughter." It's tonight, 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.