Last week, fastidious Netflix viewers found a scene from Friends in which Rachel is played by a stand-in actress instead of Jennifer Aniston. People were weirded out, to say the least, to see such an iconic character being portrayed — even if just for a split second — by someone other than the famous actress who was paid millions to do so. Now, another eagle-eyed fan of the beloved show has discovered a similar occurrence with Monica (usually played by Courteney Cox).
Friends is one of the most popular shows of all time and was being re-watched by fans plenty before it came to Instant Netflix. Plus, it was a hit when it was on the air, with high-profile stars and tons of viewers. We've had a couple of decades to spot these gaffes. So why hasn't anyone noticed these randos until now? Is it witchcraft? A mass conspiracy? Is Netflix just messing with us? Well, mystery solved — and it's a lot more math than magic. A smartypants over at HelloGiggles has figured it out: Friends was filmed back in the '90s, before the ubiquity of the wide-screen, and the standard aspect ratio for TV and film was 4:3. Nowadays, the wider aspect ratio of 16:9 has become standardized. When the series was put on Netflix, that original aspect ratio was changed to wide-screen. So viewers are now seeing a wider angle of the show for the first time, which is how these errors are becoming revealed. We're sure people are going to be combing all 200-plus episodes of Friends for more examples of mix-ups; at least now you can be the intelligent friend and tell everybody why. "Duh, guys! Aspect ratios!"
Friends is one of the most popular shows of all time and was being re-watched by fans plenty before it came to Instant Netflix. Plus, it was a hit when it was on the air, with high-profile stars and tons of viewers. We've had a couple of decades to spot these gaffes. So why hasn't anyone noticed these randos until now? Is it witchcraft? A mass conspiracy? Is Netflix just messing with us? Well, mystery solved — and it's a lot more math than magic. A smartypants over at HelloGiggles has figured it out: Friends was filmed back in the '90s, before the ubiquity of the wide-screen, and the standard aspect ratio for TV and film was 4:3. Nowadays, the wider aspect ratio of 16:9 has become standardized. When the series was put on Netflix, that original aspect ratio was changed to wide-screen. So viewers are now seeing a wider angle of the show for the first time, which is how these errors are becoming revealed. We're sure people are going to be combing all 200-plus episodes of Friends for more examples of mix-ups; at least now you can be the intelligent friend and tell everybody why. "Duh, guys! Aspect ratios!"