Joey

I started watching "Friends" several years into the series, so when the show ended and "Joey" was announced, I thought I would give it a try. I was glad I did.

California is the perfect setting for Matt LeBlanc's clueless Joey, and Paolo Costanzo plays his nerdy nephew, trying to learn to be the suave ladies man from his Uncle Joey, to a T. I look forward to seeing how this show develops.

The weakest link is Drea de Matteo's character, Gina Tribbiani. Although Ms. de Matteo does an admirable job, her character is too abrasive and annoying to become endearing. She almost makes me long for Janice. Hopefully, Gina will mellow a little bit, or better yet, take a few steps back and allow Joey and Michael to shine.

OK, if your like me, and your a fan of Friends, you might be expecting something similar in Joey. When the Pilot was released I was lucky to find a copy of it some time before the series started, and to be honest, I was not to happy. The jokes in the first few episodes about Joey tended to be a bit unfunny, with most of the jokes being aimed at Joey's sexual habits or his stupidity or Drea De Matteo's Breats.

Many of the jokes are similar to Friends, yet these just didn't feel right. However, having seen the first 10/11 Episodes now, the show seems to be finding its feet. In fairness to the show, the casting is great, with each of the actors being well placed in who they are.

It seems quite strange that none of the Friends cast has made cameos yet, although I have noticed that a number of episodes have been directed by David Schwimmer.

Despite being about its title character, Joey, I cant help but feel that some of the episodes should have some emphasis should be on the other characters similar to how 'Frasier' does this with their characters, with sub plots that happen over the episodes.

All in all, its been a rocky start to Joey, and although its getting better, I still feel as if it should get funnier, as compared to other sitcoms, the jokes do not come so thick and fast. Whether this series will last as long as friends is yet to be seen, but on the whole, this is turning out to be an enjoyable series, if not as great as others.........Yet.

The problem with "Joey" so far? The minds behind the show seem to have forgotten why we, as viewers, were so taken by Joey Tribbiani on "Friends."

As an idiotic buffoon, he was primarily a great comedic foil for the other characters, especially Chandler, and occasionally would have a solid storyline showcasing that side of him.

But it was the episodes showing that his heart was bigger than his brain -- like the one where he took Rachel out on a dinner date -- that gave Joey real depth and gave viewers a real reason to love the character.

In either case, though, Joey was just 1/6th of the equation, and the character was only asked to carry 6-10 minutes of any given episode, at the most.

Here, they're trying to make Joey carry the entire 24 minutes because, as it stands now, the supporting characters aren't compelling enough to warrant strong independent story lines of their own. And we haven't seen enough of the scenes that show Joey's heart.

It's not a problem that can't be fixed. I think they need to lay off some of the more stereotypical character jokes (Joey dumb, nephew smart, sister tough and oversexed) and put them in situations that are funny, but also make us care more about them. As it stands now, you could almost write the script with adjectives instead of character names, because the characters' natures so rarely change.

Personally, I'd love to see an episode where the supporting cast gets together to plan a surprise birthday party for Joey, with everybody having their own ideas of what to do, but ultimately we find out that none of them really knows Joey as well as they think they do. Something like that would be a great learning and growing experience for the show, its writers, and its characters.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

What the guys at NBC have done is take the most laugh-out-loud character from friends and tried to give him his own character. Lets not forget that in Friends he had 5 other main characters to fall back on and countless others. A lot of whats happened in Joey has been a reflection to what happened in the earlier seasons of Frasier. 1) A big move to a new city 2) Previously unseen family members crawl out of the woodwork 3) A new unavailable love interest.

It is obvious to me that the writers have looked to Seattles finest for inspiration, but i don't think so far that they've looked hard enough. When Frasier left Boston he had a change of direction in career which gave us the often hilarious radio phone-ins, the double act with Ros and a score of other brilliant minor characters (Bulldog, Kenny etc.)

Joey on the other hand has the same life more or less just without Chandler and the others. Sequences of Joey on set which once took about 5 minutes of a Friends episodes these now are the basis for whole episodes. His contemporaries extend to his sister, nephew and neighbour and occasionally his agent(played by a horrifically over-the-top Jennifer Coolidge) this means he is continually conversing with the same few characters which can draw repetition.

I only refer to Frasier so much as it it the benchmark for all spin-offs as it became arguably better than the original show Cheers. And for Joey to carry on it needs to flesh out its characters and its story.

However i find no fault in the enthusiastic acting from the regular cast. Joey is the same lovable fool and Drea Di Matteo is brilliant in her role as Gina. Although i criticised the show quite heavily i enjoy every episode and really wish that Joey will be around for a long while. I just know how fickle audiences are and don't want joey to fall into the category of shows that could have done great but got cancelled.

Sean

Yeah, it's not a masterpiece. I don't really know who would expect it to be. Joey has turned into a bit of a caricature compared to Friends, where he had shown some growth ,but it's still mildly amusing. The supporting cast are decent, particularly the women. Joey's sister is pretty funny and Jennifer Coolidge. I like Alex too. I enjoyed it for some light viewing and a few laughs. Some of it is a bit cringy since times have changed in the last 15 years, but I personally couldn't take it too seriously. It's Joey. Friends was obviously far superior and funnier, but this is okay and doesn't outstay it's welcome being only 2 seasons long. I'm glad I had a chance to see it.