Outside the Beltway

FRIENDS SPINOFF

James Joyner · Friday, July 25, 2003 · 1 comment

WaPo has a story on a rather implausible spinoff:

NBC has promised the Thursday night “Friends” slot to a spinoff in which Matt LeBlanc reprises his role as intellectually challenged thespian Joey Tribbiani, network entertainment chief Jeff Zucker announced today.

Warner Bros., which produces “Friends,” paid a high price to get LeBlanc back for the spinoff: The studio has agreed to star him in two feature films. None of the “Friends” cast has emerged as a film star, but LeBlanc’s big-screen career since becoming a household name on “Friends” has been particularly unspectacular, including that monkey baseball thing and “Lost in Space” — both box office bombs. LeBlanc also had a bit part playing Lucy Liu’s dim boyfriend in the film “Charlie’s Angels” and the sequel.

Ah, yes. One can scarcely imagine anything more enjoyable than watching a guy in his mid-30s who lives like he’s in his mid-20s, who has the approximate IQ of a carrot, saying “How YOU doin’?” for half an hour.

And, no kidding:

“I cannot think of a bigger announcement this summer,” Zucker bragged at Summer TV Press Tour 2003, 48 hours after Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez announced that U.S. forces had killed the sons of Saddam Hussein. Which just goes to show you that even a former news exec like Zucker loses all perspective after drinking the Hollywood Kool-Aid.