Before Friends, Jennifer Aniston Starred In NBC's Ferris Bueller's Day Off Sitcom
Four years before Jennifer Aniston was sipping coffee at Central Perk in "Friends," she starred in a primetime adaptation of an '80s box office smash — and it was arguably one of the worst TV shows based on a movie.
In 1990, NBC adapted John Hughes' 1986 teen comedy "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" for the small screen. The series, simply titled "Ferris Bueller," took a meta approach to its source material. Instead of acting as a direct sequel to the film, the pilot established that the sitcom was about the "real" Ferris, who had previously inspired the movie. To drive the point home, the show's version of Ferris (Charlie Schlatter) actually slices up a cardboard cutout of Matthew Broderick with a chainsaw in the first episode. Moving the action from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, the weekly episodes followed the titular teen's fourth-wall-breaking antics at Ocean Park High.
Aniston was cast as Jeannie Bueller, Ferris' perpetually annoyed older sister — a role played by "Dirty Dancing" star Jennifer Grey on the big screen. In the show, Jeannie's resentment of her brother is fueled by the fact that, despite his constant rule breaking, Ferris is always seen as the golden child.
Ferris Bueller flunked with critics, and the show was canceled after one season
The rest of the "Ferris Bueller" ensemble included Brandon Douglas as his neurotic best friend, Cameron Frye (played by Alan Ruck in the movie), and Ami Dolenz as Ferris' girlfriend, Sloane Peterson (originally played by Mia Sara). Richard Riehle stepped into the late Jeffrey Jones' shoes as the obsessed, easily thwarted Principal Ed Rooney.
Unfortunately, the series never reached anywhere near the popularity of its film counterpart. Upon its release, "Ferris Bueller" faced comparisons to Fox's similarly themed (and much more successful) "Parker Lewis Can't Lose." Even though its sneak preview ranked in the top 10 for its week, ratings quickly took a nosedive, and critics were less than kind: The show has an abysmal 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and Entertainment Weekly gave the show a C-, calling its lead character an "insufferable little twerp" who lacked the charm of Broderick's version. The show also took the No. 5 spot in The Washington Post's "10 Worst Shows of the Year" list.
NBC pulled the plug on "Ferris Bueller" after just 13 episodes. The cancellation was only a minor setback for Aniston, though. In the two years that followed, she made appearances in shows like "Quantum Leap" and "Herman's head," and by 1994, she had landed a starring role in "Friends" — and we know how that turned out.