Joey (TV series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

they meant joey

Joey was an American sitcom, starring Matt LeBlanc reprising his role as Joey Tribbiani from the popular sitcom Friends. It ran on the NBC television network, in the former time slot of its parent series, Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. One episode shown on a Tuesday at 8:00 p.m.

[edit] Overview

Rumors of Joey, a spin-off show from Friends and produced by Bright-San Productions, Silver & Gold Productions and Warner Bros. Television, began to surface towards the end of the final season of Friends. First aired on September 9, 2004 on American television network NBC, Joey continues the story of character Joey Tribbiani, moving to Los Angeles in an attempt to boost his acting career.

Joey, with Matt LeBlanc reprising the role, meets his sister Gina and her son Michael, who help him acclimate to the differences between New York and L.A. In the apartment complex where he lives, they all become acquainted with Alex, a slightly ditsy blonde lawyer in a troubled marriage where her musician husband is frequently out of town, who is immediately intimidated by but at the same time intrigued by Joey's sister Gina. By the end of season one, the two women are good friends. Alex also develops a close bond with Joey, and the two talk frequently when she is lonely.

Joey falls right in with the active lifestyle, dating many women, which amazes his nephew Michael, and makes neighbor Alex slightly jealous, but she hides it. Joey and Michael convince Gina to allow Michael to move in with his Uncle Joey. Joey and Gina both find it hard to believe that Michael is family, because he is the only member of their family who has trouble "picking up" the opposite sex! They both give Michael advice, and try to help him along. When Michael announces he finally has a girlfriend, they are both ecstatic. However, Gina finally meets Michael's new girlfriend, finding out she is older than herself. While Gina is trying to work out how to break them up, Michael catches his new girlfriend in bed with one of his teachers, thus solving the problem.

After many often comical auditions, Joey hits it big with a popular new TV series, Deep Powder. Immediately after shooting begins, he becomes involved with an actress on set, and the female producer convinces him to stop the affair. Shortly thereafter, Joey becomes involved with the producer also. By the end of season one, he has broken things off with a potential long-term girlfriend, Sara, and in the final episode of that season he sleeps with Alex.

[edit] Main characters

• Paulo Costanzo as Joey's nephew Michael who idolizes his Uncle Joey's ability to date an enormous amount of women, and who himself is sheltered, nervous around girls, self conscious that he has been so sheltered and that his mother Gina breast fed him until he was seven, and he's a huge Star Trek: The Next Generation fan. He is extremely intelligent, a master of math, attends Caltech, works with his rival Seth frequently on rocket inventions, and is an obvious direct opposite from his more street-wise mother and uncle. Turns to Joey as a big brother and substitute father figure, even after his biological father Jimmy has re-entered mother Gina's lovelife.
• Andrea Anders as Alex Garrett, the next door neighbor, sometimes landlord, and friend. She is an educated and very pretty, but slightly ditsy blonde lawyer who graduated from Pepperdine. Initially intimidated, but also intrigued by Joey's tough street-wise older sister Gina, the two women eventually become friends, and she becomes more bold in the way she dresses and acts, thanks to Gina's influence. She is puzzled but impressed by Joey's gift at being able to know when she is wearing thong panties, and spends most of her time hanging out at Joey and Michael's apartment. She and Joey bond and become close friends, and she confides in him her problems with her marriage. Her husband is a professional orchestra musician, and is away from home most of the time. By the end of season one, she and Joey become romantically involved during her separation from her husband.
• Drea de Matteo as Joey's older sister Gina Tribbiani, who is sexy, beautiful, tempermental, a little slutty in the way she dresses, promiscuous, not particularly bright but very street-wise, and a very caring but over-protective and domineering mother. For years she convinced her genius son Michael he was born when she was 22, instead of 16 and always says he is the one thing she has done really well. She and Joey are friends in addition to being siblings, both having in common the gift of being extremely appealing to the opposite sex, with numerous lovers. Initially working as a hair dresser, by season two she works as a secretary for Joey's agent Bobbie, having impressed Bobbie with her brash unintimidated manners with her.
• Jennifer Coolidge as Joey's oversexed agent Bobbie Morganstern, and reportedly the 12th most powerful agent in Hollywood. She is pretty, buxom, and stylish, and has an enormous and flirting crush on Joey's nephew Michael. She often entertains herself by making her office assistant do funny tricks, or shocking herself with a stun-gun. She is brash, forward, aggressive, highly entertaining and slightly ditsy, laughing at everything and at anyone's expense, including her client Joey's.

[edit] Recurring characters

• Ben Falcone as Howard J. Peckerman, Joey's banker neighbor who idolizes Joey, and wants to be his buddy.
• Richard Ruccolo as Glen, Joey's assistant who briefly dated Joey's sister Gina.
• Mädchen Amick as Sara, Joey's former girlfriend, who is a professional photographer and who convinces Joey to say goodbye to dating many different girls, and to be with her only. During this time, Joey turns down a chance to sleep with Carmen Electra and another girl, just to stay faithful to Sara. However, thanks to a request to his agent Bobbie to help Sara get work, she is offered a job in Washington DC, which she takes. The night after she leaves is the first night Joey sleeps with Alex.
• Adam Goldberg as Jimmy, one of Gina's lovers who turns out to be Michael's father and may be ready for marriage now
• Danneel Harris as Katie Harper, Joey's daughter in his new show Deep Powder, and short term girlfriend.
• Simon Helberg as Seth Tobin, Michael's rival at Caltech.
• Matt Letscher as Eric Garrett, Alex's (ex)husband.
• Lucy Liu as Lauren Beck, the obsessive-compulsive executive producer of Deep Powder, who talks Joey into breaking up with Katie Harper because onset love isn't good for morale, then she becomes involved romantically with Joey.
• Alex Ball as Todd/Producer on the set of Deep Powder.
• Miguel A. Núñez Jr. as Zach, Joey's somewhat smarter 'personal agent'. He officially joins the cast as of the first episode of season 2 and his name appears second-to-last in the opening credits next to Drea De Matteo's.

[edit] List of guest stars

The show has had the following celebrities as guest stars:

• Peter Stormare (Joey and the Husband) — as Viktor
• Kelly Preston (Joey and the Dream Girl Part 1-Joey and the Dream Girl Part 2) — as Donna Di Gregorio
• Danny Nucci (Joey and the Dream Girl Part 2) — as Ron
• Bob Saget (Joey and the Road Trip) — as Himself
• Lucy Liu (Joey and the Plot Twist , Joey and the Taste Test, Joey and the Premiere) — as Lauren Beck
• Brent Spiner (Joey and the Premiere) — as Himself
• Jay Leno (Joey and the Tonight Show) — as Himself
• Christina Ricci (Joey and the Fancy Sister) — as Mary Teresa Tribbiani
• Carmen Electra (Joey and the Temptation, Joey and the Dad) — as Herself
• Kevin Smith (Joey and the Big Break) — as Himself
• John Larroquette (Joey and the Spanking,Joey and the ESL) — as Benjamin Lockwood
• George Hamilton (Joey and the Bachelor Thanksgiving)- as Himself
• Robert Costanzo (Joey and the Dad) — as Joseph 'Joey' Tribbiani Sr.
• Dave Foley (Joey and the Poker) - as Himself

[edit] Development of the show

Despite middling ratings in its first season (2004-2005), the sitcom was renewed for a second season (2005-2006). During its second season, ratings fell 82%. In the second season, Joey became a bigger star. Miguel A. Núñez Jr. was also added to the show as a series regular. He played Joey's best friend. Also, Jennifer Coolidge had a more prominent role.

The show was pulled from its Thursday-night timeslot in December 2005, and NBC returned the show in a new timeslot (Tuesdays at 8pm) on March 7, 2006. Now in competition with American Idol, the ratings were even poorer, with Joey one of the lowest rating programs of the week for NBC [1]. The network pulled the series after the first Tuesday airing and its cancellation was announced on May 15, 2006. The remaining episodes have never been aired by NBC, but have been shown on various other networks around the world.

[edit] Episode list

Further information: List of Joey episodes

[edit] Awards

Joey won the People's Choice Award of Favorite New Television Comedy and Favorite Male Television Star for Matt LeBlanc, LeBlanc was also nominated for the Golden Globe of Best Actor in a Television Comedy or Musical.

[edit] DVD releases

Season Releases

[edit] Trivia

• The pilot episode was released in screener form for test audiences and members of the entertainment industry to preview the show and drum up business. The screener was subsequently leaked onto the Internet and thus has received a much wider critical review process than initially conceived.
• The theme song for the show is "Sunny Hours" by Long Beach Dub Allstars featuring will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas.
• The fifth and the thirteenth episodes were directed by David Schwimmer (who played Ross Geller on Friends and also directed some Friends episodes).
• The sixteenth episode, aired on February 3, makes reference to Johnny Carson, who died on January 23, 2005.
• Drea de Matteo and Paulo Costanzo, who play mother and son, were born six years apart. Costanzo's character is twenty years old, while de Matteo's is in her mid-thirties. This is probably referenced by Joey's role on Deep Powder, where he plays the father of a woman just five years his junior.
• The Chick and The Duck, Joey's house-warming gift to Chandler and Monica which he was asked to keep on the last episode of Friends, never appeared.
• There is a picture of Joey and Chandler in a green picture frame on the cabinet next to the door into the apartment.
• Joey's classic pick-up line of "How you doin'?" was first spoken in the show by Gina.
• The boxes of ordered Chinese food from which the characters of the show can be seen eating, have the Chinese character for friends (or friend, as Chinese lacks plural forms of nouns) printed on them.
• Joey's high-school friend, who shows up in the second season, is played by Adam Goldberg, the same actor who, on Friends, played Chandler's crazy new roommate, Eddie, when Joey temporarily moved out.
• Jennifer Coolidge, who plays Joey's agent Bobbie, was a previous guest star on Friends as Monica's and Phoebe's annoying friend Amanda.
• In response to an Entertainment Weekly review as to why he chose to reprise his character for a sitcom spinoff, Matt LeBlanc did it because he wanted to stick with a winning formula.
• None of the main or recurring characters from Friends appeared on Joey during its run, although Chandler, Ross and Rachel were mentioned.
• Chandler was referenced in the first episode when Gina says that 'Hollywood has a very vibrant gay scene' and that he and Joey should have moved there a long time ago. Joey makes a joke saying that Michael would be great friends with Ross. Joey also brings up Rachel, saying that she was the only girl he ever fell in love with.
• Rachel was referenced many times by Joey as the only woman he ever loved and the reason for steering away from serious relationships with friends.
• In the episode "Joey and the Dad", Joey's father, Joseph Tribbiani Sr. (played by Robert Costanzo), was the only character (other than Matt LeBlanc) to appear in both Friends and Joey and be played by the same actor.
• In the first episode of Season 2, Zak is on the table in a hospital and he makes a reference to Hugh Laurie who plays Dr. House in FOX's House who, humourously, is also the passenger on the plane who sat next to Jennifer Aniston's character Rachel Green in the episode "The One With Ross's Wedding: Part One".

[edit] Broadcasters

[edit] First-run

• NBC (United States)
• Five Currently Showing Season 1 on Five US, Season 2 start in November on Five US (United Kingdom)
• Nova Television (Bulgaria)
• CH Television (Canada)
• Global (Canada) (formerly, not carrying as of March 2006)
• HRT 2 (Croatia)
• TV2 (Hungary) (only season one up to now)
• Rai Due (Italy)
• TV 2 (Norway)
• Warner Channel (Latin America)
• MTV3 (Finland)
• RTÉ (Ireland) (has not purchased the rights to Season 2)
• Canal+ (Poland)
• Xtra HOT (Israel)
• Nine Network (Australia)
• TV2 (New Zealand) (Finished airing Season 2)
• Stöð 2 (Iceland)
• Veronica (The Netherlands)
• Kanaal Twee (Belgium)
• Kanal 5 (Sweden)
• TV 2 (Denmark)
• HBO (Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania)
• Channel 5 (Singapore)
• Jak TV (Jakarta, Indonesia)
• 8TV (Malaysia)
• CNBC-e (Turkey)
• RTV Pink (Serbia)
• FOX (Spain)
• Cuatro TV (Spain)
• TPS Star (France)
• Filmnet (Greece)
• НТВ (Russia)
• WOWOW (Japan)
• Pro 7 (Germany) (has bought the rights, but hasn't aired it yet)
• Zee Cafe (India)
• On Style (South Korea)
• TSR (Switzerland) (is airing Season 2)
• ATV (Austria) (Aired the first 24 episodes)
• SBT (Brazil)

[edit] External links

• Joey at the Internet Movie Database
• Joey at TV.com