 Joey (NBC) Maybe everyone still needs their lives explained by facts, following the WTC collapse. Even passive entertainment has morphed into a dark exploration into the harshest realities of human existence … catch the murderer by finding a drop of their blood at the crime scene; eat a scorpion for $10,000. Joey illustrates the fact that TV sitcoms, launched in the 1950s, are not too different in the 2000s. Though noticeably better than Still Standing or any of the numerous, faceless bullshit sitcoms still standing, Joey is nonetheless draped in human blackface, reducing everyone to a couple of simple, stereotypical qualities and plotting everything in so far as a punchline might be delivered. Spun off from Friends, Joey does its best to keep you reminded of why you liked Friends … there's an attractive apartment, a David Schwimmer-esque "sexy dweeb" (Paulo Costanzo of Road Trip as the son of Matt Le Blanc's sister Drea de Mattreo), a Lisa Kudrow-esque "wacko" (Jennifer Coolidge as Le Blanc's crazy agent), a Jennifer Aniston-esque "unattainable sweet girl" (Andrea Anders as married complex-mate "Alex"), and a preposterously incongruous apartment (have you seen LA housing prices? Joey would not be living in the place he's living in). The "Chandler" and "Joey" roles are combined into Matt Le Blanc's title character, with Le Blanc alternating between "dumb Guido" and "witty white boy" on a dime. The setup entails Joey (Le Blanc) moving to an LA apartment secured by his sister (Da Matteo, from "The Sopranos", and De Matteo's literal rocket-scientest of a son moving in with Joey shortly thereafter. Of course, Joey is struggling to find high-profile parts, while mentoring his nephew in the ways of women, and fending off his "emotional" sister's reality-checks. The flow is smooth enough, though a reliance on "fake boob" jokes (numbering at least four) is troublesome. Most of all, Joey just seemed like it was being beamed from the 1990s, before people started watching other shit. That said, it's heads and tails above the remaining sitcoms on the air. Not at all unpredictable or in the least bit witty, Joey may be the last high-profile bastion for sitcoms as a credible art form. I won't watch it regularly, if at all, but I can acknowledge it as best-in-class of a dying breed. Review by Prez, First Teen President © 2004 |
