Newsgroup: it.fan.tv.friends
Titolo: [JOEY] [SPOILER] IGNFF Exclusive: First Look at Joey

The history of television is littered with the carcasses of highly
anticipated spinoffs from top rated sitcoms. For every success like
Frasier, there are three bombs like After M*A*S*H, Flo and The Art of
Being Nick. The odds aside, it's a rare thing when a studio decides
not to attempt a spinoff, especially when the original series was one
of the most successful sitcoms of all time, Friends. 
Joey slides into the coveted Thursday night time slot vacated by
Friends, ready to help fans of that series who just can't live on 8
hours per day of Friends repeats alone. As set up at the end of
Friends, Joey Tribbiani, as played by Matt LeBlanc, has gotten offers
to do a couple of television series in Hollywood. Choosing a new cop
show for cable over a network series about male nurses, Joey is on top
of the world. After meeting up with his sister, Gina (Drea de Matteo,
the recently whacked Adriana on HBO's The Sopranos) and her
20-year-old genius son, Michael (Paulo Costanzo, Road Trip), the pilot
quickly sets up Joey's living situation in an apartment that, like the
one he moved out of in New York, most people wouldn't be able to
afford. Like most series set in L.A., there's a pool right outside
Joey's door and fake palm trees all over the set. It couldn't look
more like a soundstage if it tried. 
Joey's life quickly hits the skids as the series he decides to take
gets cancelled while the series he passed on becomes a huge hit. His
agent, played by Jennifer Coolidge (American Wedding), tries to keep
his spirits up but just can't seem to bring herself to be positive.
"You're living in a dream world," she tells Joey when he tries to look
on the bright side of the situation. "Everyone involved in that show
is going to become rich and it'll haunt you for the rest of your
life." Even so, she manages to get Joey an audition hosting an
entertainment news show, which he blows in a spectacular fashion. 
Meanwhile, Joey finds himself between Gina and Michael as Michael begs
his Uncle to help him move out from his mother's house. "They're
making jokes at school," Michael pleads. "These aren't the cool kids –
these are engineers!" Joey relents, thus re-establishing something
close to the Joey / Chandler situation from Friends. Michael cooks
Italian food from their grandmother's recipes and shows some neat
freak tendencies, which should clash with Joey's natural ability to
make a mess anywhere he goes in good comedic fashion.
Living next door is a hot neighbor, played Ashley Scott (Birds of
Prey). As Joey tells Gina, "She may be the future 'Mrs. Joey
Tribbiani,' or at least the future awkward situation." So much for the
future – Scott got bumped from the series in early June because the
producers wanted to re-work her character. Which means they saw the
same thing I did while viewing the pilot – she didn't bring anything
to the production and drew attention away from the core characters.
If this pilot proves anything, it proves that the cast of Friends may
have been one of the most under-appreciated ensemble casts in
television. The combination of those actors playing those characters
helped to propel Friends to the level it finally achieved. LeBlanc
certainly gets the most from his years as Joey and brings everything
he can to the table for this pilot. His supporting cast will need some
time to get used to their roles in order for the series to really take
off. De Matteo and LeBlanc seem to be able to play off one another as
brother and sister but time will tell if she will even be a necessary
character to have around, now that Michael has moved in with his Uncle
Joey. I could easily see her pushed out as a redundant character once
Michael is established as a primary character. 
Joey the series has great potential to follow in the footsteps of
successful spinoffs like Frasier but in order to do that, the quality
of the writing will have to improve. I did find myself laughing during
this pilot but not as much as I'd expect to. The door is definitely
open for guest appearances from his former Friends cast members,
something I'd expect to see at least a couple of times during the
first season, one during November sweeps and the other during May
sweeps. If NBC doesn't get an itchy trigger finger, it's just possible
that Joey could be in our living rooms for years to come. 
-- 
j./Niente di nuovo sul fronte occipitale.
  Post Powered by NGQ™ [Next Generation Quoting (ver 1.2.2)]
Quite (far from) alive on Sunday at 21.40.17 - 
http://www.iftf.it

 this pilot but not as much as I'd expect to.
Sento un'affinità elettiva con questa persona, chiunque sia :)
MM