‘Friends’ Spinoff ‘Joey’ Streaming for the First Time

Even though Friends spinoff Joey didn’t get the same love as its predecessor, people are finally able to enjoy it. The Matt Leblanc-led series is now available to stream.

The first two episodes of Joey have been uploaded to the official Friends YouTube channel. The series takes place after the events of the Friends finale and sees LeBlanc’s titular Friends character moving out to Hollywood in the hopes of truly making it as an actor.

Joey ran for just two seasons from 2004 to 2006. It also starred Drea de Matteo, Andrea Anders, Paulo Costanzo, Jennifer Coolidge, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., and Ben Falcone. The series started off strong, with 18.6 million viewers watching the premiere, according to TVLine. While it was renewed for a second season pretty quickly, which premiered in September 2005. Ratings decreased and NBC moved the show to Tuesdays from Thursdays going up against American Idol during midseason which basically killed Joey.

The series was pulled from NBC’s lineup and canceled in May 2006, and eight episodes of Season 2 never aired in the United States, even though they aired overseas. Whether or not more episodes of Joey will be made available on YouTube is unknown, but it’s possible that if that does happen, it could take some time for every episode to upload.

Joey was previously released on DVD, but it went out of print a while ago. TVLine had also reached out to Warner Bros. Television about the spinoff, with a source confirming they still had streaming rights, and while the show was available to license, it had not been “cleared” or sold to any streaming service. What this means for the future of Joey is unknown, but it’s possible if it brings in enough viewers on YouTube with just the first two episodes, that could convince a streamer, such as Max, where all 10 seasons of Friends are streaming, to make a deal.

It’s unknown what prompted Warner Bros. to release Joey on YouTube, but it’s certainly better than nothing, especially since it isn’t streaming anywhere. Even if it is only just a couple of episodes. For now, fans can watch the first episode, “Pilot,” and the second episode, “Joey and the Student,” now on YouTube and hope that more will be on the way. All 10 seasons of Friends, along with the reunion special, are streaming on Max.