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| NBC banks on 'Joey' spinoff By Kevin D. Thompson, Palm Beach Post Television Writer Saturday, July 26, 2003 HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Friends lives... well, sort of. Although the upcoming 10th season will definitely be the show's last, NBC announced that Matt LeBlanc, who plays dim-bulb Joey Tribbiani, will star in a spinoff series scheduled to debut in September 2004. Joey follows the lunkhead soap actor's move to L.A. as he pursues his career. Though none of the other Friends cast members will be in the series, NBC hasn't ruled out possible guest appearances. The decision to produce a Friends spinoff is hardly surprising. Conversations involving LeBlanc, recently nominated for his second consecutive Emmy, the network and Warner Bros., the studio that produces the show, have been ongoing for more than a year. Those conversations, however, were put on the back burner when NBC decided last year at the 11th hour to bring back the top-rated sitcom for another season. The network can hardly afford to lose Friends. With such popular shows as Survivor, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Without a Trace, CBS has chipped away at NBC's once formidable lead on Thursday nights. With no major comedy anchor on Thursday at 8 p.m. next season, NBC could see its lead shrink even further. Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Entertainment, says LeBlanc's character was the most logical choice for a spinoff. "I think it's clear that in the nine years that this show has been on the air... Joey has emerged as the character that America roots for and loves," he says. "I think people will want to see what happens to him as his life moves on." And how did the producers come up with the title? "We debated what to call the show, and the two finalists were Joey or Hey, Where'd Everybody Go?" Zucker cracks. When viewers last saw Joey, he was rekindling his romance with Rachel (Jennifer Aniston). Now that we already know Joey will move away, doesn't that ruin the suspense this season? Zucker, of course, doesn't think so. "Let's just say we're aware of what the producers are planning in this final season and, without giving anything away, I think that there are still quite a few surprises in store," Zucker says. • All eyes will be on The West Wing when the show's fifth term starts in September. Last season was dismal for the once-riveting political drama. Ratings were down significantly, the show's plots dragged and creator Aaron Sorkin left. After Sorkin bailed, John Wells (ER, Third Watch) was tapped to run the show and right what had become an off-course ship. Zucker says he has already written the first two scripts. That feat certainly made NBC's bean counters happy, because Sorkin's notoriously late scripts led to costly production overruns. "We actually got to read the season premiere before they shot it," Zucker says. Was there any change in tone? "Obviously, I don't think there's a huge change in the show," he says. "Nobody was better at the small banter and the small talk than Aaron Sorkin. But what John has brought to these first two scripts is some incredible, emotional moments and some incredible character development. Where you may miss a little of the small talk in the hallway, you're going to be quite taken with how gut-wrenching and emotional (the episodes) are." On the casting front, John Goodman will return as the new president. "For a while," Zucker points out. Annabeth Gish will appear as the Bartlets' eldest daughter, and Steven Eckholdt will join the show as her husband. • Rob Lowe wants to battle -- The West Wing. Lowe is now starring in NBC's upcoming The Lyon's Den, one of the fall's best new shows about a do-right lawyer working at a sinister law firm. The actor may have left The West Wing after a highly publicized dispute over money, screen time and his character's development, but it's clear he hasn't put the show behind him. "I'd like to do a (expletive) Battle of the Network Stars," he says. "We can do it acting. (To costar Matt Craven): You can do a soliloquy against Richard Schiff. (To costar Elizabeth Mitchell): You can take Allison Janney down with arm-wrestling. It's all good. Game on." It's obvious that Lowe remains bitter about his celebrated departure. Although The West Wing was originally pitched as a star vehicle for him, it was Martin Sheen's President Bartlet who got the meaty stories. Meanwhile, a fuming Lowe watched idealistic speechwriter Sam Seaborn doing less and less each week. "I had a story line once where I was trying to get people to wear seat belts," he says. "It was hilarious and really, really funny, but I wanted Sam to have the president's ear. I wanted Sam to be involved in the big story lines, not just shuffled in and out for relief." Lowe swears that won't happen on The Lyon's Den. He is, after all, one of the show's executive producers. "The West Wing wasn't mine," he says. "I was a working stiff there. This is my show." • In NBC casting news, Nia Long (Love Jones) will join Third Watch as a young police officer. Tiffani Thiessen (Fastlane) will guest-star in three episodes of Good Morning, Miami. She'll play an abrasive corporate manager whose style wreaks havoc with the station and leads Jake (Mark Feuerstein) to consider a network job in New York. Thiessen will appear in the season premiere and in the second and fourth episodes. Scott Foley (Felicity) has also been signed for the first six episodes of Scrubs. |