Unwanted Advice

Everyone in Hollywood thinks they know how to fix a failed show. I would never be so presumptious. However, I think I can tell them what won't work.

Joey, now going into its second season, is a spinoff of Friends. This is already a bad idea. Spinoffs have the advantage of a protagonist you already know and like, but they have the bigger deficit of using that character outside the magical situation that made the previous show a hit.

Friends, more than most shows, was an ensemble piece, with six equal characterers. Most of the fun was the interplay. Stripping any single member away was not a great recipe for a show; and using either of their two most extreme characters--Joey or Phoebe--was especially bad.

Joey started with great ratings, but as the audience realized the magic wasn't there, the numbers fell. The show was lucky to be picked up. So to goose the ratings, the ads are saying Joey, the actor, who's been struggling so far, will become a movie star. I don't think this will save the show.

What drove the audiences away last season was they were watching a cliched sitcom. The old Joey occasionally enjoyed success as an actor, but just as often was a lovable loser. Making him popular within his series will have nothing to do with fixing what has made his series unpopular.