The Friends spinoff series Joey, which premiered on NBC in 2004 and ran for two seasons, is available for streaming for the first time ever.
The official Friends YouTube channel posted the first two episodes of the sitcom, making it the first time the show has been available to stream online since its debut over twenty years ago.
Joey premiered on September 9, 2004, months after Friends concluded its 10-season run on NBC. The spinoff followed Matt LeBlanc‘s Joey Tribbiani moving from New York City to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career further.
Joey reunites with his sister Gina, played by Drea de Mattea and his nephew Michael, played by Paolo Costanzo. The ensemble also included Andrea Anders, playing Joey’s love interest Alex, and Jennifer Coolidge in the role of Bobby, Joey’s talent agent.
Scott Silveri and Shana Goldberg-Meehan created Joey, which premiered to solid ratings, scoring 18.6M viewers for the pilot, inheriting the Friends Thursday-night timeslot. However, viewership declined as the series progressed, averaging 10.2M viewers in its first season and 7.1M in its second.
NBC pulled the show from its Thursday night programming block in December 2005. The show returned to the network on Tuesdays in March 2006 but was once again pulled after one airing.
The network officially canceled the show in May 2006 after two seasons. About eight episodes remained unaired by NBC, although the episodes were broadcast through other networks internationally.
Friends co-creator Kevin S. Bright commented on Joey’s demise, telling The Age, “On Friends Joey was a womaniser but we enjoyed his exploits. He was a solid friend, a guy you knew you could count on. 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.”
No word if more episodes will be released on YouTube or if this will open up the show to be made available on Max, where Friends streams exclusively.
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