One of the creators and producers of âFriendsâ, Kevin Bright, has revealed that Joey was not the first choice for a âFriendsâ spin-off. In fact, he wasnât even the second choice.
Bright told Metro that Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachel on the show, was actually who they wanted to take the reins and have their own show â hardly a surprise given the superstar the actress had become.
Bright said: âAt first it was the obvious choices of who they wanted to do a series with and Jennifer was up there first, but she wanted to do movies and she wasnât interested in television.â
Joey wasnât their second preference either.
âThen we liked the idea of a Monica and Chandler series, but everyone at the end, strangely enough, while they were grateful for doing the show, they didnât want to play those parts anymore,â he explained.
There was only one cast member who had any interest in continuing to play his âFriendsâ character.
âMatt loved Joey and he didnât mind playing Joey,â Kevin continued.
âFriendsâ dominated ratings but the same couldnât be said for the ill-fated series âJoeyâ. Both fans and critics disliked the show, and it was cancelled after just two seasons, compared to âFriendsââ ten.
Regarding why the show was such a flop, Bright, who produced âJoeyâ as well, considered: âI think we tried to present to the audience a Joey they didnât know.
âTrying to develop a relationship and hang out with nerds. Even I donât know what Joey was doing in that show, but it wasnât what the fans were familiar with so it was not successful. âWe had hopes it was going to be Frasier but it didnât turn out that way.â
Kevin was recently in London where Friendsfest has just landed in the UK capital.
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