FRIENDS Spinoff Series JOEY Finally Releases Its Long Lost Final Eight Episodes 20 Years Later
Fans of Friends have been waiting nearly two decades for this moment. The missing final eight episodes of the short lived spinoff series, Joey, have finally been released and the complete series is now streaming for free on the official Friends YouTube channel.
For longtime viewers who always wondered how Joey Tribbiani’s solo adventure wrapped up, this is a pretty awesome surprise.
Joey premiered in 2004 with Matt LeBlanc returning as the lovable struggling actor. NBC hoped the spinoff would carry on the sitcom magic but its second season was cut short in 2006 leaving eight episodes unaired in the United States.
Those installments have been sitting in a vault ever since but they are now available to watch alongside the other 38 episodes making the full 46 episode run easy to revisit for the first time.
The series brought Joey to Los Angeles where he tried to level up his acting career and reconnect with his family. The official description says he “leaves New York for Hollywood in order to take his acting career to the next level.”
His new life meant reuniting with “his high strung sister Gina (Matteo)” and “Michael (Costanzo), his 20 year old genius nephew.” The cast also featured Drea de Matteo, Paulo Costanzo, Jennifer Coolidge and Andrea Anders who all helped shape Joey’s West Coast world.
Created by longtime Friends producers Shana Goldberg Meehan and Scott Silveri the spinoff launched with a massive audience of 18.6 million viewers for its pilot. Interest cooled quickly though and ratings dipped through the rest of Season 1 and into Season 2 which ultimately led to the cancellation that left those eight episodes unseen.
After the series ended Kevin S. Bright shared why he thought the show struggled. He said, “On Friends Joey was a womanizer but we enjoyed his exploits. He was a solid friend, a guy you knew you could count on.
“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.”
Whether you enjoy Joey or felt it never found its footing these long delayed episodes offer a rare chance to close the loop on a piece of Friends history.