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NBC Sticking With 'Joey' As Ratings Slide
Fri Jan 21, 9:02 PM ET

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

LOS ANGELES - NBC is sticking with "Joey" — and several other new series — despite modest ratings. "We knew we were going to be in for a tough year this year in the post-`Friends' era," Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal Television Group president, said Friday. "It turned out to be tougher than we expected."

NBC is third behind CBS and resurgent ABC among viewers aged 18 to 49. It may also be tough to hold off fourth-place Fox, which has the immensely popular "American Idol" back and will get huge ratings with the Super Bowl.

NBC hoped Matt LeBlanc's "Friends" spinoff "Joey" would hold 70 percent of the old show's audience on Thursday nights. Instead, it has kept only 60 percent and the network acknowledged creative problems with the show. Citing the charismatic star and cast chemistry, NBC said it will almost certainly be back next year.

Four other new NBC shows that have been modest successes — "Medium," "Committed," "The Biggest Loser" and "Medical Investigation" — will also likely be back next season, Zucker said.

"Quite frankly, among the networks, only ABC has had a better development season," Zucker said.

Still, Zucker declined to predict whether NBC would be able to retain its longtime lead in a more important measurement: how much money the networks rake in each spring in advertising commitments for the fall season.

"It's never been so close," Zucker said. "There's never been so much parity between the four networks."

The struggling network is placing its bets on a fourth "Law & Order" spinoff, the boxing series "The Contender" and a remake of the British hit "The Office," which will all premiere in March, NBC's top executives said Friday.

No Old 'Friends' for 'Joey'

Given that Joey Tribbiani has just moved into a sunny, airy apartment complex in Los Angeles, it wouldn't be unexpected for Ross and Rachel or Chandler and Monica to come out to California and visit. He could show them the La Brea tar pits and they could get hot dogs at Pink's. If that reunion just happened to come at a key point during the November sweeps period, what could be more convenient?

Not so fast.

Speaking with reporters at the semiannual TV Critics Association press tour, executive producer Kevin S. Bright promises that there are no immediate plans for cameos by any of the other cast members from "Friends." Not that there's anything wrong with old friends visiting a successful spinoff ("Frasier" was constantly drawing on "Cheers" characters), but for now Bright and star Matt LeBlanc are eager to establish Joey in his new home and help "Joey" settle into NBC's lineup.

"In the near future, I think the chances are small, because I think our first goal is to get 'Joey' working on its own and not be dependent on bringing in stunt casting, even though it's stunt casting that's obviously familiar to the audience," Bright explains. "I think it's about the new show and getting that to stand on its feet. And then I'm sure we will have some fun."

Although none of the other "Friends" characters have been scheduled to visit the show, David Schwimmer will spend some time behind the camera on "Joey." Schwimmer, who directed a number of "Friends" episodes, will helm season's sixth episode.

Although eager to let the show find its own identity, LeBlanc admits that he misses being part of the ensemble.

"You know, when we first got to the stage, I kept waiting for the door to open and Chandler to walk in," he admits.

LeBlanc still gets emotional discussing the end of the 10-season run of "Friends."

"My reaction to it was it was like getting a divorce from someone you're still in love with," he says, recalling shooting the finale. "It was very sad. It was tough, you know, it sucks."

The people entrusted with making sure that LeBlanc's next step doesn't suck are a team of "Friends" veterans including Bright and "Joey" creators Shana Goldberg-Meehan and Scott Silveri.

"He's still Joey, but he's going to grow," promises Goldberg-Meehan. "You're going to see him hopefully achieve some career success, hopefully fall in love at some point down the line. And the goal is to keep him Joey, but more."

'Joey’ spins out of sitcom favor

LeBlanc’s follow-up to ‘Friends’ not doin’ so good with audiences

By Scott Collins

Los Angeles Times

HOLLYWOOD – On the NBC comedy “Joey,” star Matt LeBlanc plays a struggling actor who lives in constant fear of unemployment. Last week, for instance, Joey got his hands on an advance script for his latest project, a “Baywatch”-type series set in a ski resort, and became frantic that the writers were about to ax his character.

Joey might not be the only one whose job is on the line. A spinoff of “Friends,” one of the biggest comedy hits ever, “Joey” is on a downhill slide. The show has been shedding viewers fairly consistently since its premiere Sept. 9, particularly among its target audience of young adults.

The producers are scrambling this month to improve scripts and beef up the cast with special guests, such as “Charlie’s Angels” star Lucy Liu, who’s shot three episodes and might do more. But “Joey” suffers a problem common to many spinoffs – the inevitable comparison to the show that preceded it.

It’s also struggling for traction during one of the worst seasons ever for scripted comedy.

NBC likes to point out that “Joey” is the top-rated new comedy this year, but that’s not saying much. The competition includes marginal shows such as ABC’s “Rodney,” CBS’ “Listen Up” and “Center of the Universe” and NBC’s already-canceled “Father of the Pride.” Fox’s decision to move its hot youth soap, “The O.C.,” to Thursday is likely pulling away viewers as well.

Whatever the cause, “Joey’s” weakness is creating new headaches at NBC. It was counting on the sitcom to stay competitive on Thursday nights, when movie studios and other advertisers shell out top dollar for airtime. The show’s low ratings were one of the main reasons NBC lost its dominance among young adults – with CBS taking the lead – in last month’s sweeps, which helps set ad rates for local stations.

Kevin Reilly, president of NBC Entertainment, downplayed the show’s problems but noted that its creative pedigree gives “Joey” an extra hurdle to clear in terms of perception. “Were ‘Joey’ not a ‘Friends’ spinoff, it would be called an unequivocal hit,” he said. “But being held to the standard of a ‘Friends’ spinoff, it somehow seems as if it’s underperforming.”

More than 18 million viewers watched the premiere, but recent episodes have lured fewer than 12 million viewers, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research. The series’ main rival, CBS’ “Survivor: Vanuatu,” averaged 19.6 million viewers.

Among adults ages 18 to 49, “Joey” is down 43 percent compared with the viewership “Friends” drew last year during the same 8 p.m. Thursday slot.

Still, NBC has ordered a full season’s worth of 24 episodes (11 have aired so far). So “Joey” has plenty of time to improve before executives decide which shows to renew in the spring.

But some TV analysts are skeptical that “Joey” will ever find its way. “It’s not an engaging show,” said Stacey Lynn Koerner of Initiative Media, a New York-based ad company. He predicted “Joey” is doomed to be a one-season series.

On paper, it had everything going for it. And NBC had reason to be optimistic. During the phenomenal 10-year run of “Friends,” about six young Manhattanites navigating friendship and romance at the fictional Central Perk coffee shop, fans had grown to love LeBlanc’s portrayal of Joey Tribbiani – a none-too-bright but good-natured lug known for luring women with his guileless greeting: “How you doin’?”

By the time “Friends” ended its run in May, NBC had already locked down the spinoff with LeBlanc, the only cast member seriously interested in continuing with his character. (LeBlanc was said to be busy with rehearsals and unavailable for comment.)

Warner Bros. Television, which produces “Joey,” picked two “Friends” writers to run the show – Shana Goldberg-Meehan (the daughter of “Family Ties” creator Gary David Goldberg) and Scott Silveri. Kevin Bright, who with partners Marta Kauffman and David Crane supervised “Friends,” signed on as an executive producer and is directing some episodes.

NBC isn’t giving up, though.

Reilly said “Joey” viewers could expect more appearances by stars, such as Liu’s, as well as an expanded ensemble in the coming weeks.