Posted in: NBC, TV, YouTube | Tagged: friends, joey, Matt LeBlanc

Friends Spinoff "Joey" Finds New Life on YouTube: Eps. 1 & 2 Released

The Friends YouTube channel surprised a lot of us by posting the first two episodes of the Matt LeBlanc-starring NBC spinoff series Joey.

While Friends seems to live forever on in syndication and streaming, its first and only attempt at a spinoff in Joey that continued the adventures of Matt LeBlanc's Joey Tribbiani for two seasons on the same network, NBC, lasted only two, not exactly reaching the enduring threshold of its predecessor for a syndicated run, which is generally 100 episodes. Friends surpassed that and then some at 235, while Joey had 43. As fans can currently stream all 10 seasons of the David Crane and Marta Kauffman sitcom on Max, there's no streaming home for Joey, and physical copies of the Shana Goldberg-Meehan and Scott Silveri-created series are scarce. Fans can at least rejoice that the Friends YouTube channel has released the first two episodes of the LaBlanc-starred series, which ran from 2004-2006.

The Legacy of Friends Spinoff Joey and Why It Failed

The episodes featured are the pilot and "Joey and the Student". The series follows Joy, who moves to Hollywood to further pursue his acting career after his time in New York, the setting of Friends. After reuniting with his high-strung hairdresser sister, Gina (Drea de Matteo), Joey moves in with his 20-year-old prodigy and rocket scientist Michael (Paulo Costanzo), who's socially awkward and envious of his uncle's confidence, particularly toward women.

Throughout the series, Joey develops feelings for the building superintendent, Alexis "Alex" Garrett (Andrea Anders), and works with his agent, Roberta "Bobbie" Morganstern (Jennifer Coolidge), who tries to book him on new opportunities. Also appearing on the show was Ben Falcone, who played Howard Peckman, Joey's friend and neighbor, and Miguel A. Núñez Jr., who joined in season two as Zach Miller, an actor and amateur play director who bonds with the title character.

Several actors who guest starred on Friends appeared as different characters on Joey. Robert Constanzo, who played Joey's father, Joey Tribbiani Sr, was the only other actor outside of LaBlanc to reprise his Friends role for the spinoff. LaBlanc's Friends co-star David Schwimmer, who played Ross Geller, returned to only direct two episodes of the spinoff series.

Director Kevin J Bright, who also served as executive producer on both shows, blamed NBC executives' meddling on Joey's cancellation after two seasons. "On 'Friends,' Joey was a womanizer, but we enjoyed his exploits. He was a solid friend, a guy you knew you could count on," he told The Age. "Joey was deconstructed to be a guy who couldn't get a job, couldn't ask a girl out. He became a pathetic, mopey character. I felt he was moving in the wrong direction, but I was not heard."

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