Monica Geller Rachel's because it remained "healthy and strong until the series ended", while the other couple was relentlessly on-and-off. "Encyclopedia of Television" author Horace Newcomb believes that Monica's feelings for Chandler are responsible for curing the latter's fear of commitment. Similarly, "Slate" writer Ruth Graham observed that "Chandler is painted as a self-loathing loser with women, until he finally snags Monica at the end of Season 4." Meanwhile, Silveri believes that "Friends" ultimately ran as long as it did due in part to Monica and Chandler's romance, explaining, "if the center of "Friends" had remained Ross and Rachel, you would've seen
Monica Geller "can't simply rest on this one [Ross and Rachel] relationship", while believing that Monica and Chandler's would ultimately provide a fun opportunity for the writers to explore brand new storylines. Silveri and Goldberg-Meehan deliberately intended to keep Monica and Chandler's union "low-key" in order to further differentiate it from Ross and Rachel's, which had been very public. In order to get an idea how audiences would react to Monica and Chandler hooking up at Ross and Emily's wedding in London, the scene in which a clearly nude Monica suddenly emerges from under the sheets of Chandler's hotel bed was filmed