Official ‘Friends’ YouTube Channel Posts Two Episodes of ‘Joey’ Spinoff Series

The official “Friends” YouTube channel Tuesday posted the first two episodes of “Joey,” a spinoff series centering around Matt LeBlanc‘s wisecracking womanizer Joey Tribbiani.

This is the first time”Joey” has been made available since its 2004 debut. Starring LeBlanc alongside Drea de Matteo, Paulo Costanzo, Jennifer Coolidge and Andrea Anders, the series follows the titular Joey as he “leaves New York for Hollywood in order to take his acting career to the next level” and reunites with “his high-strung sister Gina (Matteo) and “Michael (Costanzo), his 20-year-old genius nephew,” per the official logline.

“Joey” ran for 46 episodes across two seasons from 2004-2006. Created by Shana Goldberg-Meehan and Scott Silveri, the show’s pilot pulled in an impressive 18.6 million viewers. However, the buzz didn’t last long, and viewership declined significantly through the remainder of Season 1 and Season 2.

During its first season, NBC initially slated “Joey” in its Thursday night programming slot, which the show inherited from “Friends.” In 2006, however, the show was moved to Tuesday nights before being pulled off the air altogether. Eight episodes never saw the light of day in the U.S., although they debuted on other international networks.

After NBC canceled “Joey,” Friends co-creator Kevin S. Bright shared his thoughts about why the show didn’t take off. He told The Age, “On ‘Friends’ Joey was a womaniser 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.”