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"Pilot" is the first episode of Joey, the spin-off of Friends. It premiered on the NBC television network on September 9, 2004, in the former time slot of its parent series.

Plot[]

After erroneously getting out at his Dallas lay-over from New York, Joey Tribbiani (whose friends stay in the Big Apple) arrives in L.A., where his sassy sister, Gina has found him an ideal apartment.

Joey soon meets his attractive neighbor, corporate lawyer Alex Garrett. He gets a warm welcome too from his charming, but nerdy nephew Michael, an actual rocket scientist, who is desperate at age 20 to move out from his mother's and in with cool uncle Joe. Joey is reluctant, partially because of fear of Gina's reaction, however a demonstration of Michael's cooking makes it worth braving a dragon-mother for Joey's eyes and watering mouth.

At the same time, Joey tragically believes that a new TV show "Nurses" isn't worth accepting a part in, but it becomes a hit, while the show he chose over it is canceled. He desperately turns to his new agent Bobby Morganstern, who can only get him an audition for TV news show presenter, which he fails, proving unable to face the red light-indicated cameras at the right time.

Cast and Crew[]

Main Cast[]

Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Andrea Anders - Alex Garrett
Paulo Costanzo - Michael Tribbiani
Jennifer Coolidge - Bobbie Morganstern
Drea de Matteo - Gina Tribbiani

Supporting Cast[]

Wayne Wilderson - Director #2
Jason Huber - Taxi Driver
Matthew Mullany - The Director
Lawrence Mandley - The Slate Guy
Nancy O'Dell - Herself
Ethan Erickson - Sam
Tommy Perna - Criminal
Wyatt Smith - Boy in Airplane Terminal

Crew[]

Directed By:
Kevin S. Bright

Written By:
Shana Goldberg-Meehan & Scott Silveri

Trivia[]

  • This is the second spin off that Matt LeBlanc has starred in. The first spin-off he starred in was one of Fox's popular show "Married With Children".
  • This episode was nominated for an Excellence in Production Design Award for Television - Multi-Camera Television Series.
  • Joey lives in "Monroe Manor".
  • Joey implies that Ross and Rachel got married after Friends and Phoebe and Mike had at least one child[1].
    • However, if Mike and Phoebe had at least one child, that would mean that Phoebe was pregnant in the finale due to this episode being set in September. Joey possibly meant that Phoebe was pregnant when he left New York. (Ross and Rachel already had Emma while Monica and Chandler brought home twins in The Last One, Part 1).
  • Bobbie, Joey's agent is portrayed by Jennifer Coolidge, who also played Monica and Phoebe's old roommate Amanda on Friends S10 E3 "The One With Ross' Tan".
  • Sam, the hunk from Nurses, is portrayed by Ethan Erickson. He also played Dirk in Friends S9 E20 in "The One With The Soap Opera Party".
  • Joey tells Gina "Nobody likes change and I was happy in New York but all of my friends got married and started families". This is similar to his comment in the Friends episode "The One With The Vows" when he complained that "everything is changing. I wanted everything to stay the same but now Monica and Chandler are getting married and soon they'll be having kids."

Quotes[]

Gina: This is the best part. Sit here and lean back.
Joey: Is that the middle of the HOLLYWOOD sign?
Gina: That's the OLLYWOO sign.
Joey: I can see the OLLYWOO sign! And into that woman's bathroom. And now she sees me. Hi, neighbor!

Michael: [just discovered Gina was 16 when she had him] How did I not figure THAT out! I took calculus when I was eight!

Joey: Gina, I know he's your baby, but it's time to move on. Change can be good!
Gina: Oh, it's easy for you to say.
Joey: No it's not! No! Look... Nobody understands wantin' things to stay the same like I do. I was HAPPY in New York! Okay, and I tried really hard to keep things from changing. But everyone else got married, and had kids, and moved on. They all changed! So I'm givin' change a shot. And it has been *hard*. But... just hoping things stay the same... it doesn't work.

Episode Navigation[]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Preceded by
""
Joey Series One Episodes Followed by
"Joey and the Student"

References[]

  1. In the first episode of Joey, Joey says "I was HAPPY in New York! Okay, and I tried really hard to keep things from changing. But everyone else got married, and had kids, and moved on." to his sister. As he says "everyone else", this includes Phoebe and Mike and implies they had a child between the two series and also includes Ross and Rachel and implies they re-married. This does not include Chandler or Monica, as they were already married and had adopted children by the end of Friends.
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