Friends question - Ross's first marriage ending before series start

Cafe Society
1

The other day I saw what I took to be the first episode of Friends, and was surprised to see that Ross and Carol had already broken up. I checked an episode guide and sure enough, that’s the first episode, and they did break up before the series started.

So: Have I hallucinated the episodes I remember where they’re still together? Specifically, I remember Ross telling Joey about a threesome he had with Carol and another woman. He said that his part was over really quickly and then he just watched, got bored, and made a sandwich. Was this some kind of “alternate reality” episode?

2

There were flashback episodes. There were also “what-if” episodes, and I think that’s where it came from. What if Ross never realized Carol was gay (lots of karate), what if Monica never lost the weight, what if Phoebe was a stockbroker, etc.

3

That was a “what if” episode.

In the same one, Rachel got married to Barry, Phoebe was a stock broker, Joey was a successful soap actor, Chandler was a comedy writer, and Monica was still fat.

-Joe

4

I seem to recall that while Chandler was writing, he didn’t do it very well. He was writing for Archie comic books, and was largely being supported by Joey.

5

if memory serves he hadn’t sold any of his writing and was struggling. Joey hired him as his assistant and abused him. Chandler sold a story to Archie comics based on the situation. Joey was too dumb to see it.

6

This was back before he hooked up with Bradley Whitford, who at the time was still working on Jimmy Smits’ presidential campaign.

7

They had broken up before the first ever episode. I was surpised at how good the writing was for the first few episodes. The characters are realistic and have back-stories.