Joey (TV series)

Lore & Background

After the events of Friends, Joey Tribbiani moves from New York to Los Angeles to make it as an actor. He reunites with his older sister Gina, a hairdresser, and moves in with his genius twenty-year-old nephew Michael, a rocket scientist. Joey begins a tentative romance with his superintendent Alexis Garrett and becomes close friends with fellow actor Zach Miller. The series features a cast including Drea de Matteo as Gina, Andrea Anders as Alex, Paulo Costanzo as Michael, and Jennifer Coolidge as Bobbie, Joey's agent.

Reader's Guide

Joey was heavily promoted by NBC and given Friends' Thursday 8:00 pm timeslot. The pilot was watched by 18.6 million viewers, but ratings declined steadily, averaging 10.2 million in the first season and 7.1 million in the second. The show was pulled from its Thursday slot in December 2005 and returned on Tuesdays at 8 pm on March 7, 2006, where it faced competition from American Idol and became NBC's lowest-rated prime time program. The series was canceled on May 15, 2006, after two seasons. The final eight episodes were released internationally and later on the Friends YouTube channel in 2025. The series is notable as a direct spin-off of one of television's most successful sitcoms, though it failed to replicate that success.

Did You Know?

• David Schwimmer, who played Ross Geller on Friends, directed two episodes of Joey.
• The unaired pilot featured Ashley Scott as Allison, who was replaced by Andrea Anders as Alex for the broadcast version.
• Robert Costanzo is the only actor besides Matt LeBlanc to play the same character in both Friends and Joey, reprising his role as Joey Tribbiani Sr.
• The final broadcast episode on March 7, 2006, was watched by 4.1 million viewers.