American fans of the wildly popular “Friends” sitcom can finally finish watching its spinoff, “Joey,” nearly two decades after the sequel was abruptly canceled.
In recent weeks, the “Friends” YouTube channel finished releasing the final eight episodes of the two-season series, which were never broadcast in the United States after NBC canceled “Joey” in 2006 due to low ratings.
The channel made the show available online for the first time earlier this year when it began regularly releasing full episodes, starting with the pilot of Season 1, 19 years after the show’s cancellation. All episodes have been uploaded as of this week.
“Joey” premiered in 2004, just months after “Friends” finished its epic 10-season run on NBC. Matt LeBlanc reprised his role as Joey Tribbiani, the goofy and simpleminded struggling actor who lived in New York City with his friends: Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), Ross Geller (David Schwimmer), Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston).
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The spinoff sequel follows Joey as he moves to Los Angeles to further pursue his acting dreams. There, he reunites with his sister Gina Tribbiani (Drea de Matteo) and his nephew Michael (Paulo Costanzo), and forms a complicated romance with Alex Garrett (Andrea Anders). The series also stars Jennifer Coolidge as Joey’s talent agent, Bobbie.
Its pilot episode kicks off with Joey’s own fictional TV sitcom getting canceled, leaving him in search of work once more.
The show, created by “Friends” producers Scott Silveri and Shana Goldberg-Meehan, debuted to 18.6 million American viewers when it aired in 2004. But ratings declined throughout the series’ brief run, averaging 10.2 million viewers in the first season before dipping to 7.1 million in the second.
“Joey” was officially canceled in May 2006, leaving its last eight episodes unaired in the U.S. Executive producer Kevin Bright expressed his thoughts on the show’s decline in a December 2006 interview with The Age.
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“On ‘Friends,’ Joey was a womanizer, but we enjoyed his exploits. He was a solid friend, a guy you knew you could count on,” Bright said. “Joey was deconstructed to be a guy who couldn’t get a job, couldn’t ask a girl out. He became a pathetic, mopey character. I felt he was moving in the wrong direction, but I was not heard.”
It’s unclear why the show was made available on YouTube this year.
Representatives for Bright, Silveri, Goldberg-Meehan and LeBlanc did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the show’s return.
The show’s arrival on YouTube has been welcomed by “Friends” fans, many of whom have come together in the last two years since the death of Perry, who played Joey’s beloved roommate and best friend in the original series.
“To you who decided to upload the entire series on YouTube and actually execute it — thank you,” one fan wrote. “Farewell Joey, you have made an impact in my life and I will cherish it.”
“I hope Matt Le Blanc and the rest of the cast read the comments on this channel some day and realise that, contrary to public opinion, there was a community that absolutely adored this TV Show,” read another top comment.
Others bid their final farewell to Joey’s storyline. As one fan put it: “Saying goodbye to Joey again hurts. He gave so much love and got so little closure.”
