Trivia / Joey

• Creator Backlash: Kevin S. Bright's feelings are highlighted nicely in the page quote. He was reportedly not terribly upset when the series was canceled.
  • It even went as far as the show getting zero mentions in the Friends Reunion special. When asked about what Matt thinks Joey would be doing in 2021, Matt just mentions that he's probably running a sandwich shop down on Venice Beach, and then looks over to David Crane who's in the front row seats with the audience, who promptly looks and shrugs back in Matt's direction.
• I Am Not Spock: Lampshaded in one episode with Brent Spiner, who is known for playing the android Data in Star Trek.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Season 2 specifically. Odds are you can still find a Region 2 DVD set, but it's noticeably costlier than the more readily available Season 1.
• Missing Episode: Eight episodes from season 2 were unaired due to the show being prematurely canceled, though they are available on DVD.
• Money, Dear Boy: In an interview, Matt Le Blanc has admitted that this was the reason why he agreed to do the spin-off.
  "I made 30 million dollars, I'd like another one of those failures!"
• No Export for You: Season 1's DVD set was released pretty much everywhere the show was aired. The DVD set for Season 2 was only ever released in Canada, while they will play on most Region 1 DVD players, they're long out of print, not to mention very pricey.
• The Other Darrin: Gina was originally played by a different actress on a 1997 episode of Friends. Ditto for Mary Theresa in her one shot appearance. Then again the same thing happened to another of Joey's sisters on Friends.
• Role Reprise: Robert Costanzo appeared in the second season (albeit in an episode that didn't air in the USA) reprising his role as Joey's father eleven years after his single appearance on Friends as Joseph Senior. Costanzo is the only actor aside from Matt LeBlanc to appear on Friends and Joey as the same character.
• Romance on the Set: Along with playing the main love interests in the show, Matt Le Blanc and Andrea Anders went on to become a real-life couple.
• Screwed by the Network: NBC made the boneheaded decision to put Joey opposite American Idol and predictably its ratings soon declined—to the point that the show then got canceled midway through season 2, leaving eight episodes unaired.
  • Added bonus. As the trope header says, Kevin Bright had none too kind an opinion of NBC reconstructing the Joey character, coming out and blaming them for the show's failure on more than one occasion.
• Star-Derailing Role: This show was damaging enough that Matt LeBlanc went into semi-retirement for several years and focused on spending time with his family and on his hobbies before coming back to critical acclaim in Episodes.
• What Could Have Been: Plans to have the cast of Friends guest star were never fulfilled.
  • Before Joey began, Jennifer Aniston was approached for a spinoff sitcom about Rachel, and Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry were approached for one about Monica and Chandler. All declined, then another idea was considered (though there is no information about that) before Matt Le Blanc was approached for a Joey series.
  • Once the writers knew that the last set of episodes were never going to air, one of them supposedly tossed around the idea of Joey offhandedly mentioning that Ross and Rachel had died off-screen.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Jennifer Coolidge, who plays Joey's new agent Bobbi, appeared in Friends as the obnoxious Amanda.
  • Brent Spiner appeared as himself in one episode, and was previously one of Rachel's bosses on Friends.
  • Adam Goldberg, who plays Joey's highschool friend Jimmy (who is also Gina's ex/Michael's father), previously appeared on Friends as Eddie, Chandler's crazy roommate.