5 franchise reboots or spinoffs of popular shows (and why they didn't work)

Friends: Joey Was Not Strong Enough To Stand On His Own

Friends was one of the most successful sitcoms ever made. The show worked so well because of the mixed chemistry of its six main cast members. This was a series that needed all of them in order to work properly. But, that was also exactly why its spinoff Joey failed.

Only running for two seasons, Joey followed its title character's move from New York to Los Angeles in an attempt to take his acting career more seriously. While Joey did have some storylines on Friends where he was mostly alone in his own storyline in comparison to the rest of the group, the rest of the episode still had the other main five to rely on. That was not the case with Joey, who was forced to carry the show on his own, even with the introduction of new supporting characters.

While the concept of Joey aiming for a more successful acting career may have been interesting, none of the characters on Friends were strong enough to carry a series alone. While Joey's dim-witted behavior may have worked as comic relief when surrounded by others who were more academically intelligent, it did not work as the leading protagonist.

Friends had not developed Joey enough beyond his interests in sex and food to be able to balance an entire show on his shoulders, and so when the time came for him to take the reigns, there was not a lot to work off of.

If Joey was the reason that he was not given a strong ending on Friends, it was not good enough, and the character deserved better from the original show's conclusion than the open ending he receives in order to justify the failed spinoff.