Joey
Who'd've figured ten years ago when Friends first hit the airwaves that of the six cast members it would be Matt LeBlanc as Joey who'd be anchoring a spin-off? After a summer of hype surrounding this spin-off, I went in with pretty modest expectatios. Also, I figured I'd seen about 90% of the pilot in the trailers that ran during the Olympics.
So, I have to admit, I was fairly impressed with the pilot for
Joey. It wasn't horrible along the lines of
Joanie Loves Ciachi, but it also wasn't brilliant along the lines of
Frasier. But, then again
Frasier wasn't necessarily
Frasier right out of the gate. Like the
Frasier pilot,
Joey had the burden of taking an established character, setting him up in a new envirornment and providing a supporting cast. And it did establish all of that, all while having a few nice chuckles along the way. So far, mission accomplished. The real test is to keep that momentum going and either have a great first season like
Frasier or fade away quickly like so many other spin-offs. Right now, I am hoping for a great first season. Of course, the real lion's share of the work went to establshing Drea DeMateo as Joey's sister and setting it up so his nephew, Michael could live with him. Due to behind the scenes actress changes, the scenes with Joey's new female, married neighbor were kept to a minimum, but I hope to see more of her as the series progresses. Overall, DeMateo showed some real comic timing and skills here, which was nice to see and LeBlanc is great as Joey. Having Joey as a mentor to his nephew who is nothing like Joey could be comedy gold.
Patriots 27, Colts 24
Well, a victory by the Pats helps the Titans a bit, but honestly, I wanted to see the Colts win this one. First of all, I'm sick of hearing about the Patriots and want someone to knock them off their high horse. (Has there been an overhyped team going into a season since the 2000 St. Louis Rams?!?) Second of all, I am a Peyton Manning fan and will pull for him anytime he's not playing the Titans or the Redskins. And the Colts almost did it. But three turnovers inside the 20 pretty much doomed this effort. Despite that, the Colts had a chance to tie the game at the end, with Mike Vanderjact missing a field-goal for the first time since Nixon was president. As a football fan, this was a great game that went back and forth between two good teams. I just wish the results had been different.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 9/10/2004 07:57:00 AM |
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