People are just realising Friends had a spin-off and fans are desperate to watch it

With recent news of Matthew Perry's passing, many fans have been going back to the last episode of Friends.

The tearjerker ending was widely hailed to be the perfect way to wrap things up with Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe.

It saw Ross and Rachel finally get back together after years of uncertainty (not to mention a Vegas wedding and an unplanned pregnancy).

Chandler and Monica finally had the family they wanted, and Phoebe had found her soulmate by marrying Mike.

But where did that leave Joey?

Well, his story didn't end when the show wrapped up in 2004 - and he went on to have his very own spin-off.

What's that you say?

You've never heard of a spin-off to Friends before?

Don't feel out of the loop, because you're certainly not the only one who has a hard time recalling this show.

Joey ran for two seasons between 2004 and 2006, and followed dimwitted womaniser Joey Tribbiani, played again by Matt LeBlanc, as he headed out to Los Angeles to try and make it big in Hollywood.

I guess being an actor on Days Of Our Lives wasn't cutting it anymore.

Admittedly, with Monica and Chandler moving out from the apartment across the hall, maybe he didn't have much reason to stay in the Big Apple.

NBC

Along for the ride in Joey's solo show is his older sister Gina (played by Drea de Matteo), who is just as promiscuous as he is.

She's the mother to Michael (Paulo Costanzo), who is the total opposite of his uncle and struggles to attract the opposite sex.

There's also Joey's ditzy landlady Alex (Andrea Anders), his agent Roberta (Jennifer Coolidge) and fellow actor Zach (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.), with whom Joey becomes pals.

Over the course of two seasons, Joey gets into various shenanigans on the West Coast.

It's worth noting the writers behind Joey were not the same writers from Friends, therefore the humour between the two shows was quite different.

And ultimately, the show's ratings suffered and it was pulled after only 46 episodes.

Since then, it has virtually vanished from public memory.

NBC

When a clip of the show recently resurfaced on TikTok, fans of Friends were left understandably confused.

One person wrote: "Joey had a spin off?! When did this happen?"

Another commenter tried to come to the show's defence, writing: "Joey was fine, it was only bad if you compared it to Friends."

Elsewhere, someone poked a hole in the show's premise, saying: "It didn't make sense for him to leave New York. Monica and Chandler have an extra room in the house and the rest stayed in New York so he wasn't alone."

Let's just say, if there's a reason nobody remembers this show, it might be for the best.

Topics: Friends, Matt LeBlanc, TV and Film

Ben Thompson