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Matt LeBlanc Friends Spinoff (1 Viewer)

Daniel Kikin

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What does everyone think about the Joey spinoff that's being negotiated? It seemed to work with Kelsey Grammer and Frasier, but is there enough material left to explore to do a series on Joey?

Frasier also got lucky with a great supporting cast and any Friends spinoff would need that too, or they may be calling in some of Joey's old "Friends" in time for sweeps (which I'm sure would happen eventually anyways). :)

If it does happen, they'd have to be really about what info gets released to the public too, so they don't spoil the end of Friends.
 

Jason Seaver

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It's not a bad idea, although I think they'd have to make Joey a little smarter in order for it to work. Which is fine - the Frasier Crane of Frasier is somewhat different character than the Frasier Crane of Cheers (although Frasier became more obtuse).

Like all TV shows, it depends on the writers and supporting cast. "Joey In Hollywood" could be pretty entertaining.
 

Mikel_Cooperman

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So often Popular Supporting charcters are spun of into their own show and they shouldnt be. Remember After Mash? Flo from Alice? Florence from the Jefferson? The Roepers from Threes Company? Gloria from All in the Family.Three's a Crowd from Three's company? Golden Palace from the Golden Girls, Lone Gunmen from X-Files.....

Often these characters work well as supporting characters but not as Main Characters.

I dont think Joey on his own show is anything but greed by the producers of Friends and NBC who has little to offer us in the future.
 

Scott L

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Although I'm not a fan of Friends at all I have to say Joey is my favorite character. I think it will work as long as he buddies up with someone else funny too.
 

MickeS

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I think Monica might have the best shot at a spin-off, being that she works in a restaurant. It's so easy to come up with funny restaurant-stuff. :)

Joey might work too though, but they need to get him some new "friends" for that.
 

Juan Castillo

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I can't see this working. I mean, most of his life (I'm guessing that the show would be about his acting career and family) after , say 6 P.M. involves the rest of the friends cast. Either he would have to move, or everyone else would. If he moves, the Italian Family theme would not play into it, and if everyone else moves... well, lets face it.. I don't think they can write that into any Friends Finale.

I guess we will have to see what happens.
 

Patrick Sun

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They might have to move Joey to the west coast (say that he got an acting gig that needed him to be in Hollywood).
 

Daniel Kikin

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That's the plan that's been talked about the most Patrick, "Joey Goes To Hollywood".

Monica would be tough to do a spinoff with, especially since she's married to Chandler. It would really be impossible to a spinoff with any character while they are still in NYC, since all the Friends spend so much of their time together.
 

Malcolm R

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But occasionally you can hit the jackpot:

Maude from All in the Family
Good Times from Maude
The Jeffersons from All in the Family
Frasier from Cheers
Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Gomer Pyle from The Andy Griffith Show
The Facts of Life from Diffrent Strokes
Rhoda from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Phyllis from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Lou Grant from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Happy Days from Love, American Style
Laverne & Shirley from Happy Days
Mork & Mindy from Happy Days
Empty Nest from The Golden Girls
Benson from Soap
Trapper John, M.D. from M*A*S*H
The Simpsons from The Tracey Ullman Show
Green Acres from Petticoat Junction (both of which also shared crossovers with The Beverly Hillbillies)

...to name a few. :)
 

Jordan_E

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Joey is basically the ONLY reason I've stayed with Friends the past couple of seasons and I will give the spinoff a fair chance.
 

BradG

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I think the spin-off could work. But if I were doing it, I would have Joey moving to California - perhaps to work on another soap or a sitcom. I would then base the series on his work environment instead of the way friends focuses on their home lives.

This would allow it to be different enough from Friends that it wouldn't be tired before it begins. His co-workers would obviously be the supporting cast in this case, instead of his "friends" - although I guess they would be both eventually.
 

Christopher P

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Thanks Malcolm for reminding me about "Soap" I forgot about that hilarious show. A big reason the spin-offs on his list worked is because it wasn't like watching the original show - part 2. Frasier never felt like Cheers for example, it had a completely different (and unique) structure, wit, and style. I've always been sort of tepin on Joey, but if they set him up well, on the West Coast, for example, and see if they can explore and expand on his character beyond the hard-up actor, who eats pizza, has dates alot, and loves Baywatch, this could work.

Watch the first episodes of Friends and it's almost funny how one dimentional his character is.

Chris
 

andrew markworthy

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I personally can't see it. I think the only one with potential is the Rachel character - all the others really only work with the rest of the cast as foils. However, I can't see Jennifer Aniston giving up her movie work for a speculative spin-off show.
 

MickeS

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With the "reality TV" craze still in full swing, they should just make a spin-off where we get to follow the 6 cast members in their real lives, showing us their desperate struggles to find work after "Friends" only to be forgotten, sit in their mansions whining, and subsequently doing a "re-union" show a few years down the line. :)
 

MatthewLouwrens

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Mork & Mindy from Happy Days
Does this count as a spin-off? I mean, Mork was only in one episode, and at the end of it, Orson said "I am now going to send you 20 years into the future", and so Mork goes from 1950's Happy Days to 1970's M&M. Basically, I always thought the Happy Days episode was intended solely to introduce Mork in a popular show in order to increase viewership for the new show. It is completely different from a true spin-off, where characters who were created and established for one show are then used to start a new show.

EDIT: OK, perhaps it was a real spin-off. According to this crossover page and Happy Days and Mork & Mindy, the final scene was added after the episode first aired, to tie into Mork & Mindy. So it was a real spinoff.

As for the Joey show, I don' know, it could work. Friends has frankly been awful lately, and I am not going to miss it. But the character of Joey really has grown, to the point where he could probably work as the central character.

I guess this means Rachel will not end up with Joey then.
 

MickeS

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They just updated and expanded that article, by the way. It's a 22-episode commitment that will run in the same timeslot as "Friends", as of now. Wow, didn't expect that much of a push for it!

Well, good luck... :)
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Although I'm not a fan of Friends at all I have to say Joey is my favorite character. I think it will work as long as he buddies up with someone else funny too.
I agree. He (and occasionally Chandler) were the only characters that every gave me a chuckle on the dozen or so times I've tuned in. The only thing that could make this work is if they ditched the writer's from Friends and hired a group with talent. I really can't stand Friends, but if the Joey character was placed with a cast of diversity (I'm talking character-wise, not neccessarily demographically) it could work.
 

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