Jennifer Aniston Played Jon Cryer’s Girlfriend In This Forgotten ’90s Sitcom

Jennifer Aniston was obviously busy during the 1990s, since she was one of the stars of the biggest sitcom of the decade, “Friends.” But she found time during the middle of the hit NBC show’s run to make a guest appearance in a different half-hour comedy on a rival network when she played Jon Cryer’s girlfriend in “Partners,” a forgotten one-season series on Fox.

“Partners,” which premiered on September 11, 1995 and ran for 22 episodes until it ended on April 1 of the following year, starred Cryer and Tate Donovan as best friends who work as architects in San Francisco. Owen (Donovan), is engaged to Alicia (Maria Pitillo), and his buddy Bob (Cryer) feels like he’s got to compete with her for Owen’s attention while also trying to find a girlfriend himself.

Aniston, who had already played Rachel Green for a season and a half on “Friends,” appears in the 17th episode of “Partners,” “Follow the Clams?” She plays Suzanne, a CPA who starts dating Bob. He’s so enamored that he’s considering shaving his goatee off for her, but the romance doesn’t last. Aniston only appeared in this one episode of “Partners.” Aniston and Cryer could’ve been co-stars for much longer, though; Cryer was up for the role of Chandler in “Friends” before Matthew Perry got the part.

It’s a bit unusual that Jennifer Aniston, the star of one of the biggest sitcoms of the era, appeared in a rival show. “Friends” and “Partners” were indeed rivals, though it was somewhat one-sided. In November 1995, “Friends” was the No. 3 show in America while “Partners,” which admittedly had a worse timeslot on another network, was No. 98. Even so, it was a bit of a coup that “Partners” was able to borrow the “Friends” actress for an episode, but there were a couple of factors that made it possible. The creators of “Partners,” Jeff Greenstein and Jeff Strauss, had previously worked as producers on “Friends.” The director of Aniston’s “Partners” episode, James Burrows, had also directed “Friends.”

But the biggest factor was probably that Aniston was dating one of the stars, Tate Donovan. The pair had begun seeing each other in the fall of ’95, and while the two shows normally shot at the same time, a hiatus in the “Friends” production schedule allowed Aniston to film the “Partners” guest spot. “If I was on a show that she didn’t like, she wouldn’t have done it,” Donovan told TV Guide (via IMDb). “It was just icing on the cake that we could have such a good time together.”

“Partners” was cancelled after one season while “Friends” went on to enjoy a 10-season run. Donovan later appeared in season 4 of “Friends” as Rachel’s love interest Joshua. Awkwardly, Aniston and Donovan had broken up in real life shortly beforehand.