Chris Rock missed two of NBC’s biggest sitcoms

What could have been is always entertaining food for thought in retrospect, especially when looking back at two of television’s pop culture diamonds from the distance of several decades. I mean, “Seinfeld” and “Friends” ended over 20 years ago, but here we are still talking about them in 2025 like no time has passed at all. Well, to be fair, this is kind of old news that came out during the coronavirus lockdowns when “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert decided to call up his old friend Chris Rock on TV for a casual chat. Aside from discussing how they missed having audiences of humans, flesh and bone to entertain and interact with, Rock also mentioned (after being brought up by Colbert) that he could have starred in two of the most popular and celebrated sitcoms on the planet.

Rock began addressing rumors that he was once in talks to film Seinfeld’s grumpy best friend George Constanzaplayed by Jason Alexander in the finale. As the comedian explained (trans Fox News):

“I just heard that. I mean there was a lot of talk on NBC. There was talk about ‘Seinfeld’. Let’s just say the good people at ‘Seinfeld’ made the right choice. He (Jason Alexander) is good. He’s amazing.”

But perhaps the most interesting revelation, if you ask me, is that Rock was also in talks to become a major player at NBC. The 90s TV juggernaut, “Friends.” To quote Rock directly:

“There was talk of me being one of ‘Friends’ at one point. Yes, I was going to be the black Friend. That’s what I am to America anyway at this point.”

From the beginning, Friends has always been a predominantly white show. If Rock had played Chandler (Matthew Perry), Joey (Matt LeBlanc), or even Ross (David Schwimmer), it would certainly have changed the dynamic of the show. On the one hand, it would have been interesting to see how the show’s writers would have incorporated a non-white character (in terms of his roots and cultural background) and how he would have coped with being the “black friend” in the group (in Rock’s words). On the other hand, the show was quintessentially ’90s in its tone and humor, and that may have made for a lot of jokes related to Rock’s character’s race that would have been too stimulating to look back on.

Frankly, I highly doubt that the creators of Friends could have written a black character without resorting to the usual (and often condescending) stereotypes we’ve often seen in Other network shows throughout the 1990s. It’s also difficult to say if Rock will fit in with the rest of the main cast. Not because he wasn’t up to the task (comedically, he was top-notch and already had some acting credits to his name at that point in his career, such as “New Jack City” and “Boomerang”), but again, because times were very different socially and culturally. In an alternate universe, I would definitely review the “Friends with Chris Rock” version of the sitcom, but in this version, it might be a good thing that didn’t happen.

Likewise, although being on Friends would have undoubtedly skyrocketed the comedian’s acting career, we wouldn’t necessarily have ended up with the same Chris Rock we have today, and that would certainly have been a shame. As far as “Seinfeld” goes, there’s no way it could have worked out for the better. I just don’t see it. Either way, Rock has become a comedy legend in his own right — even without starring in two popular sitcoms — and that’s ultimately what matters most.