HI! And welcome to TV Tuesday. Today I’m going to be talking about that failed Friends spin-off, Joey.

Yes I say failed because well it lasted only 2 seasons and half of season 2 (the last eight episodes) never saw the light of day (or well it was never aired on television).

So this is the spin-off takes on Joey Tribbiani’s life.

There was nothing original about any of the plots, they were all used plots, but at times were entertaining.

So the premise of the show is Joey moves out to L.A. to try his hand at being an actor out on the West coast. He has a close group of “friends” (I use the term friends loosely).

We meet his first friend at the airport, who we find out is his sister Gina. I had no idea she was his sister for a good half of the first episode, I don’t know why they buried that lead. So his sister has found him an apartment. She’s supposed to be this tough girl who gets what she wants with her looks, and doesn’t want to do much; she acts like the world owes her something, and for the most part I don’t care for her character, but she has her moments when she helps out her family, oh her new favourite friend “Blondie” a.k.a Alex, Joey’s neighbour.

Then there’s her son Michael who is twenty and wants to move out, so he asks his uncle Joey if he can live with him. Joey says yes but of course his mother thinks he’s trying to abandon her, this just means she’s around all the time. I don’t even know why she has her own apartment.

So Michael is supposed to be the smart one. He’s portrayed as this genius, and he’s a rock scientist. I’m passive about his character because he’s not really funny, but he’s just constantly there. You can tell how much I love this cast of characters.
Then we have his neighbour Alex, who is the hot girl next door. She’s married, but we never see her husband, we see him a few times, but the rest of the time he’s away somewhere. They’ve given her this weird chemistry with Joey, and I really, really, REALLY hope they don’t end up together somehow. I like them as friends. I also like how afraid of Gina she is, that is stupid comedy.

So they made everyone around Joey dumber so that Joey actually looks smarter, because he is not the same character from Friends. I do like how they’ve added some props from Friends. The Magna Doodle is in his new apartment, and he brought his stuffed penguin and the burka lounger.

Bobbie is his new agent, and she’s just weird. She’s supposed to be funny, but she comes off as annoying and a stupid horn dog. I don’t like her. She has a thing for Michael and that is just weird.

It takes Joey almost half the season to find himself a steady acting job on a show called Deep Powder. Lucy Liu guest stars as his producer, Lauren, who is a germophobe and OCD. The two become each other’s pet peeves. She can’t stand that he’s dating his co-star, London (who happens to play his daughter) so she wants them to break up, only London thinks Lauren and Joey are dating.
I do have to agree I like Joey and Lauren’s chemistry, I’m just sad it doesn’t last long. At the premiere of the show they make out and well, that’s the end of that. We never see Lauren again, but Joey is still on the show, although they do like to threaten his job a lot, not really sure why.

When Joey gets an assistant, Greg, things start to change. Greg gets along super well with Joey, and he likes Gina. So Gina starts to date him, but she gets bored of him fast and she wants to break up with him, but that could ruin Greg and Joey’s relationship. In the end we don’t really get a resolution. We know that Gina and Greg are through, but is he still Joey’s assistant? He’s barely in the show.

So we never see Alex’s husband, but when we do, she isn’t happy. We also learn that he’s a musician so that’s why he’s always away. So when he returns all he does is complain. This obviously irritates Alex. They talk and now they are separating. This not only makes her and Joey closer as friends, but her and Gina’s friendship gets stronger and I like the two of them together.

Alex and her husband have only been apart for a day and her husband is already kissing other people, so that ends in them officially getting divorced.

They throw in this weird plot where Michael dates someone years (and I’m talking years) older than him. It’s supposed to be this comic relief, but it was just weird. Then they add in weirder Bobbie plot with Michael, and I just can’t stand it. Then Gina goes to tell off Bobbie, it obviously ends where I didn’t see it coming. Bobbie offers Gina job, who knew that was where it was going.

Joey starts to see his new neighbour Sara. He gets jealous when he sees her with other men. He tries to sleep with other women, but he can’t do it, so they start dating exclusively. Right when that happens he has to turn down sleeping with Carmen Electra, and he thinks the world hates him, but he likes Sara too much.

Sara hates her job so Joey asks Bobbie to get her a better job; well she does that, but the job is in Washington D.C. Because Joey can’t stand to be without her he tells her he loves her and asks her to move in with him, she says yes.The season ends with everyone sad. Alex is alone; she tried dating but got scared when she asked the guy to come home with her, she had to get Joey to make him leave.

Joey is also sad, although it didn’t start off that way. So he asked Sara to move him with him, but they are both so nervous about it; neither of them have been in long relationships, so neither know what they are doing. Instead of telling Joey that she can’t do it, she leaves him and takes the job in D.C. leaving Joey with an empty apartment and a note. Both of these stories lead to the slow burn when Joey and Alex start to make out. I knew it was coming, and I hated it. I love them as friends they are so cute, ugh as a couple I don’t know. I guess we’ll see next season.

Season two starts with Joey and Alex sleeping together, and now there is a weird thing between them. They decide to do romantic things for each other, but that just leads to Alex falling for Joey, but Joey doesn’t feel the same way, or so we’re led to believe he doesn’t; I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s decided to go down that road.Gina is now Bobbie’s assistant. She wants to do well, but realizes that, that might not work out, so she is herself. What she ends up doing is telling actors the bad news when they don’t get a part, since she loves confrontation. Gina doesn’t know how to do it, so she tries it out on Joey first, asking him what he would want someone to say to him, and she uses it.

So Joey’s career has taken a turn for the worst. He gets killed off Deep Powder, and now he is trying everything to get the best roles. Because everything is going crazy around him, he gains a little voice in his head, and it ruins all his auditions.

It takes a little while, but he finally gets some really good movie roles show up. They even bring back the blue lipstick commercial he did in Friends, I died because that was one of things that the show did that I couldn’t help but laugh; it felt so good to see it again.

Michael is really boring this season. He’s just used as comic relief, and has no real plot lines for himself. He’s just there trying to get laid, and he gets himself a date, but then they just kind of leave it. We don’t get to see if things went well or not. It feels like we’re supposed to assume that they all go bad, which is getting a little tiresome to watch, and hear about. Like what happens to the girl who thinks he’s Joey, or the script director from Joey’s movie? They all just disappear. Also the fact that he thinks a “wing man” is called a “sex buddy” is very odd, but suits his character.

We get a new character added to the cast, an actor named Zach. He helps Joey get back in the game, and now he has to find his own big break, at the moment he’s just working the crafts table trying to get his way in. He’s an interesting guy, he makes Joey feel better; he’s not as dumb as Joey, but he’s close by. For one thing, it felt like the show didn’t really need another dumb character, but at the same time it’s good to see Joey with another male friend.

As Joey earns more money he keeps buying ridiculous things. He buys a truck that looks like a school bus, Segway’s, and now he’s looking to buy a house. Turns out the house was where they used to film pornos.  This makes Joey want it even more, Gina thinks he should stop spending money, so she ruins his chances, until the opportunity comes up again. The home owner wants to sell it to a young couple, thinking Gina and Joey are married they try to get the house back, and win.

Now that Joey has the house, he needs help decorating it, so he hires a young model named Candace, to do it. Of course he starts to date her and that make Alex super jealous.

But when he helps her grandmother put on a musical at her retirement home, things take a turn. Long story short, he ends up playing a part in the musical, he kisses one of the ladies and that turns off Candace, and she can’t see him again. This just means Alex’s feelings are back in full string.

As I was watching these episodes, Alex reminds me of me back when I was in high school; I don’t know what that says about her character, but I know that I acted that way towards a boy in high school because I thought I was in love with him. Let’s see if Alex can either 1) get the guy or 2) move on, so far neither have been working for her.

She even writes an angry letter that Joey ends up finding because of Michael, and Joey thinks the letter is about Eric, her ex-husband, so he tries to set them up.

Alex goes along with it because she can’t face her feelings, but ends up throwing Eric out again. She even goes to the trouble of making up a pretend game of poker so Joey will stay, that back-fires quick.

Michael, we have a little bit of a plot, I was a little surprised. I thought they would keep him a virgin throughout and then in the finale either reveal that he finally isn’t one, or claim he never was one for the entire show, that would have made for an interesting ending.

Anyways he sleeps with Abby, who knew they were even still together; I feel like they won’t be for much longer. If he takes after his uncle, he won’t.

Gina’s job is in trouble. Bobbie is having issues with her clients, and needs to let Gina go because she’s not really doing anything. Bobbie gives her an ultimatum, sign a really good client, or she’s fired. She tries to get Lockhart, but that conflicts with Joey, as the two hate each other, and it would be bad if they both had the same agent, plus Gina started to give all if Joey’s stuff to Lockhart which makes Joey mad.

When Joey finds out Gina’s job is on the line, he goes with it because he doesn’t want to take away her job. In the end, the contract between Bobbie and Lockhart is void because they sleep together, but I love the dynamic between Joey and Gina, showing he’d do anything for her.

As we hit the middle of the season, things really start to pick up, and plots are actually intriguing.

So first off, we find out who Michael’s father is! Jimmy is Joey’s childhood friend, they lost touch and Joey has no idea why. When he finds out the reason is because Jimmy slept with Gina, Joey is devastated, but then he puts it together that Jimmy is the father. I thought it was funny that Joey figured it out before Michael or Jimmy.

When Michael and Abby break up, they take a trip to Mexico. Things get wild. Joey warns Michael about getting too serious with a girl. When they wake up in the morning with a wedding tape, they think Michael and the girl he slept with got married. In the end it was Joey and Zach who got married. As much as it was a dumb plot, I have to admit it was very funny. It doesn’t do a lot for content, but it makes for some good laughs.

Joey’s new neighbour, Dean, is an old bachelor that Joey aspires to be. When Dean meets Alex, I swear he has a thing for her. So when he kisses her I wasn’t surprised. He tells her that she is boring and has no fun, this makes her change her ways.

So what does she do, she kisses Joey. They are about to sleep together, but Gina spills the beans that Alex is in love with him. This makes joey act weird, he tries to tell her no, but he’s so confused as to how he feels. I won’t be surprised if they end up together; I’m not going to lie they are cue together.

Alex gives Joey snow for Christmas, and that’s when he goes over to tell her how he feels, when he finds her kissing Dean. WHAT! NO! It was such a beautiful scene that got ruined by that. I get where she’s coming from to feel that way. Joey was kinda rude to her, that I get where she’s coming from. I swear it wasn’t until that moment that I wanted them to be together. But I think that’s how it was planned to be.

So Dean actually cares for Alex, and they begin to date. Now the tables have turned because now it’s Joey’s turn to pine after her. He can’t seem to do it for long, as Alex turns 30 (which I swear at the beginning of this series she was in her 30’s, now they made her younger) Dean throws her a huge party, a party that she doesn’t even like. At this party Michael fake DJs, Dean proposes, but not before Joey kisses her and tells her he wants to be more than just her buddy.

Well now Alex isn’t dating anyone, but Joey is still going after her.

Jimmy has become a more permanent character as he and Gina are dating again. Everyone knows he’s Michael’s father, but him. Joey accidently spills the beans and tells him. Jimmy doesn’t believe him and asks for a DNA test… which comes back as him as Michael’s father. It’s also really weird how they brought him into the show as being really smart, but now he’s really dumb. I don’t understand the point of that; is it because they needed to make him dumb for Gina because that is stupid.

The two of them decide to move in together, but fight too much and decide not to. It’s Joey who brings them together, and hopefully they stay together this time.

Joey is all ready to move in, when his house catches fire; the whole thing is ruined and needs to be remodeled. Obviously devastated, he learns that Gina and Jimmy are the reason for the fire. They decided to go sleep together with candles burning, and that is the cause. Joey can’t believe it, but Gina tries to make it up to him by throwing out Michael’s friends who turned Joey’s apartment into a Star Trek shrine in the two seconds that he’d moved out.

The episode they have with Joey and his father is nice. His father never cared about his career, and thinks Joey never cared about his, but it isn’t until a big blow out, and Joey actually shows some appreciation towards the pluming industry that his father comes around. It was a sweet plot in the middle of all the weird, crazy plots; this one comes out human and real.

Now that Alex is single, Joey tries to make his move, but she’s not sure if she’s ready to date again. Joey does everything to be her friend until he can’t deal with it anymore. When they decide to define the relationship, they turn out just having sex, which surprisingly Joey wants to take them to the next level; Alex isn’t sure.

Jimmy feels like he needs to take his relationship with Gina to the next level, so he asks her to marry him, well she finds the ring and he has to ask her. That’s when the truth comes out that he’s already married. Turns out he’s married to this rich, sweet lady who is in prison, maybe not so sweet. He tries to get a divorce, but she won’t budge, that is until Joey talks to her. Jimmy then asks Joey to be his best man.

Michael has yet another stupid plot, he meets someone online, and Joey thinks it’s a man. Michael isn’t convinced, until it’s confirmed she is in fact a man. Then she shows up, and this proves Joey wrong until Michael finds out he’s a transgender.

The series closes out with a wedding. Alex helps to plan Gina’s wedding, but she gets too excited and starts to plan her and Joey’s wedding.

Gina and Jimmy both run away from each other; they go looking for them and find them at the bus station, but they run away again. That’s when Joey talks to Alex about getting married. Alex doesn’t believe he really wants to, so he dares her to marry him, they almost go through with it, until Gina and Jimmy storm in and get married for real.

The show just kind of ends with them all toasting to the wedding. It’s sweet, and it really feels like it’s an ending (because I think they knew it was not coming back.)

As much as this show was funny, and it had it sweet moments I think there was so much wrong with this show. It was nothing like Friends where there were life moments and really great bits of dialogue, because boy was Joey filled with some crap dialogue. I also think this show has a problem with women, there are so many sexist moments. Not only that but they feel the need to degrade women. They try to add a smart, empowering girl, Alex, but all she wants is to become like the popular, hot girl, like Gina. You can see it throughout the series how each and every time they talk to a woman, they don’t think she’s any more than a walking sex object. Sure they get Joey to be sweet to Alex, but he’s also crude to her too. They don’t even try to make the women on the show smart or want to be anything but an airhead.

It’s really easy to watch this show and ignore it all, and watch it be masked by the comedy that isn’t the greatest, but if you see through it, you can see this show was not created for women, simple as that.

I only watched this because the Friends podcast I’m listening to will be watching and discussing this, and I can’t wait to hear their thoughts, because I have to admit I thought things were funny, but for the most part it was just mediocre.