Monica Geller would eventually become popular staples of the show. Several months before "Friends" premiered, NBC had conducted a research report, the results of which determined that Monica was the only character to have been remotely well received by test audiences. When "Friends" first aired, critics initially perceived Monica – who was immediately established as the show's "mother hen" – and Cox as the series' main character and star, respectively. Critics have been largely receptive towards both Cox and her character; the "Los Angeles Times" holds Cox's acting responsible for disproving the stigma that attractive women are incapable of delivering comedic performances.
Monica Geller several cooking-related jobs throughout the series, having worked at five different restaurants, a trend that nearly coincides with her constant rotation of boyfriends in an ongoing search for the "perfect match". Michael Hogan of "The Guardian" believes that the character's "competitive, perfectionist, obsessive-compulsive nature made her ideally suited to a career as a chef." However, her love of cooking and food is also responsible for her having been extremely overweight as a child, throughout high school and college. The running gag of an overweight Monica is often used as a recurring backstory for the character throughout the series, first explored