Vanhalen 0 Report post Posted June 25, 2004 ITV has joined the battle for Friends spin-off Joey, lining up with three other UK broadcasters in a buying war where opening bids of more than £2m are expected for the first series of the US sitcom. The biggest UK commercial network joins Channel 4, Channel Five and BSkyB in the bidding war for Joey, which is shaping up to be the fiercest among British broadcasters for a new American comedy or drama for many years. ITV's bid for Joey, which features Friends star Matt Le Blanc, is part of a new aggressive strategy towards competing for the best US TV shows, films and sports rights. As part of the same strategy, the broadcaster has nipped in ahead of BSkyB to snatch the rights to Liverpool and Manchester United's Champions League qualifying matches, which will be broadcast on ITV1 and ITV2 in August. Bidding for the UK rights to Joey is expected to begin at around £100,000 per episode - or £2.2m for the 22-part first series US network NBC has ordered from Hollywood studio Warner Bros. Warner Bros is understood to be looking for around $1m (£550,000) per episode for Joey, but the sitcom would not be commercially viable above $350,000 (£190,000) per half hour, according to a source at one of the UK bidders. Channel 4, which already broadcasts Warner Bros shows including Friends and ER, had an exclusive negotiating period for Joey, which ended yesterday without a deal being concluded. However, rival broadcasters believe Channel 4 has an arrangement with Warner Bros, giving it 24 hours to match any bid for Joey from other UK buyers. ITV's bid for Joey marks its first serious foray into the UK acquisitions market for the best American comedy and drama for nearly a decade, since X Files spin-off Millennium proved an expensive flop. The success of digital channel ITV2, which targets 16- to 34-year-olds, and the imminent launch of complementary service ITV3 - which will aimed at an older, more upmarket audience - are the main factors in ITV's decision to increase its acquisitions budget. As well as competing with the BBC, Channel 4, Five and Sky for the best American dramas and sitcoms, ITV will be more aggressive in bidding for movie and sports rights. If ITV is successful in winning UK rights to Joey, one possible scheduling scenario would be to broadcast the first episode in the 10pm comedy and entertainment slot on ITV1 and then use cross-promotion to entice viewers to ITV2 for the next episode at 10.30pm. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Art Sandusky 0 Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Man, I used to respect British culture too... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
razazteca 0 Report post Posted June 25, 2004 What if Joey is as successful in UK as Coupling was in US? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Could Joey become the most hyped flop ever? I wouldn't be surprised. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Smell the ratings!!! Report post Posted June 25, 2004 England is gonna be PISSED when it gets cancelled. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
starvenger 0 Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Could Joey become the most hyped flop ever? I wouldn't be surprised. I'd say there's a possibility, but given that NBC knows that they can't afford to fuck up with this, it's not likely. That being said, the show isn't going to live up to the hype. It'll probably be a decent show, but they're hyping it as the Next Big Sitcom, and you can't possibly live up to that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest MikeSC Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Could Joey become the most hyped flop ever? I wouldn't be surprised. I'd say there's a possibility, but given that NBC knows that they can't afford to fuck up with this, it's not likely. That being said, the show isn't going to live up to the hype. It'll probably be a decent show, but they're hyping it as the Next Big Sitcom, and you can't possibly live up to that. Well, the cast of "Seinfeld" came off a bigger show and were considerably better performers --- and their shows TANKED. -=Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Choken One Report post Posted June 25, 2004 but isn't Joe made by the same writers and producers? So realisticaly, you have to assume it's going to be the same forumula that worked for Friends... The three post seinfeld sitcoms were completely horrible written shows... Richards never should have his lead role...Alexdander picked a bad role and Dreyfus had a good show but the premise was horrible...give her a standard MTM type show...she can be a independent success. Joey will be a modest hit...and It'll do good enough to justify those numbers it's getting... Speaking of which...How is the rest of the Thursday line up? Is it going to be Joey, Scrubs, Will and Grace and meaningless crappy sitcom #1934? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Retro Rob Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Joey, Will and Grace, The Apprentice, ER. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
starvenger 0 Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Well, the cast of "Seinfeld" came off a bigger show and were considerably better performers --- and their shows TANKED. -=Mike Here's the key thing though - they're taking an ESTABLISHED character and building on that. Now sometimes this doesn't work ("The Art of Being Nick" starring Scott Valentine, anyone? Exactly) but history is littered with successful spinoffs ("The Facts of Life", "Frasier" and "Angel", to name a few) with an established character so there's a good chance that it WILL succeed. Look, I realize that the majority of you don't like Friends but don't let your dislike of it translate to an automatic "this is gonna suck". Give it a shot before you condemn it... or don't watch it at all and STFU... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Choken One Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Joey, Will and Grace, The Apprentice, ER. Nice to see NBC gave up on trying to make a successful 930 show... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest MikeSC Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Well, the cast of "Seinfeld" came off a bigger show and were considerably better performers --- and their shows TANKED. -=Mike Here's the key thing though - they're taking an ESTABLISHED character and building on that. Now sometimes this doesn't work ("The Art of Being Nick" starring Scott Valentine, anyone? Exactly) but history is littered with successful spinoffs ("The Facts of Life", "Frasier" and "Angel", to name a few) with an established character so there's a good chance that it WILL succeed. Look, I realize that the majority of you don't like Friends but don't let your dislike of it translate to an automatic "this is gonna suck". Give it a shot before you condemn it... or don't watch it at all and STFU... I just don't see Matt LeBlanc as being capable of carrying a show. Joey just isn't a fascinating enough character to really work well as the focus of a show for season after season. -=Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Choken One Report post Posted June 25, 2004 yet he was always the favorite character on the show with the exception of Rachel. The show will be just fine as you keep the same character and his exploits in a new town will serve to keep the naive cute confused innocence of his character alive and I'm sure the sibling banter will be about the same as it was with Chandler Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
starvenger 0 Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Joey, Will and Grace, The Apprentice, ER. Nice to see NBC gave up on trying to make a successful 930 show... They hadn't had one since Friends, anyways... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Anglesault Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Am I the only one who thought Joey was the least bearable of the Friends? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1234-5678 0 Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Not at all, I hate the untalented bastard. Cancelled within the first season. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vyce 0 Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Here's what I'm still trying to figure out - if Britain's adopting this new strategy of aggressively going after the "best U.S. shows" - why the hell are they trying so hard to pick up "Joey"??? Oh, and AS: For my money, no one on that show was more unbearable than Ross. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Retro Rob Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Joey, Will and Grace, The Apprentice, ER. Nice to see NBC gave up on trying to make a successful 930 show... Instead they made a HIGHLY successful 9:00-10:00 show... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Anglesault Report post Posted June 25, 2004 (edited) Oh, and AS: For my money, no one on that show was more unbearable than Ross. Ross is a close, close second. The other four were fine, but those two were just brutal. Joey gets the nod because his sole character trait was "idiot" and I can't stand characters that are strictly idiots. Edited June 25, 2004 by Anglesault Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheZsaszHorsemen Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Well, the cast of "Seinfeld" came off a bigger show and were considerably better performers --- and their shows TANKED. -=Mike Here's the key thing though - they're taking an ESTABLISHED character and building on that. Now sometimes this doesn't work ("The Art of Being Nick" starring Scott Valentine, anyone? Exactly) but history is littered with successful spinoffs ("The Facts of Life", "Frasier" and "Angel", to name a few) with an established character so there's a good chance that it WILL succeed. Look, I realize that the majority of you don't like Friends but don't let your dislike of it translate to an automatic "this is gonna suck". Give it a shot before you condemn it... or don't watch it at all and STFU... I just don't see Matt LeBlanc as being capable of carrying a show. Joey just isn't a fascinating enough character to really work well as the focus of a show for season after season. -=Mike He has a new ensamble to work with if early reviews are correct. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Smell the ratings!!! Report post Posted June 25, 2004 the question is not if the show will suck, but if the show will be successful. I think we all know how the first question will turn out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Joey, Will and Grace, The Apprentice, ER. Nice to see NBC gave up on trying to make a successful 930 show... Instead they made a HIGHLY successful 9:00-10:00 show... made...pffft...they threw shit at the wall. That shit just happened to consist of stuff that will more often than not will result in a hit. Pisses me off that NBC isn't giving Scrubs the Thursday push. Scrubs would benefit from it a lot more than Will & Grace. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
starvenger 0 Report post Posted June 25, 2004 made...pffft...they threw shit at the wall. That shit just happened to consist of stuff that will more often than not will result in a hit. Pisses me off that NBC isn't giving Scrubs the Thursday push. Scrubs would benefit from it a lot more than Will & Grace. Yeah. Instead they inherit the Frasier slot which, while not bad, isn't the greatest spot in the world... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Retro Rob Report post Posted June 25, 2004 Instead they made a HIGHLY successful 9:00-10:00 show... made...pffft...they threw shit at the wall. That shit just happened to consist of stuff that will more often than not will result in a hit. Isn't that how basically every new program seems to come about? I was just saying that rather than trying to start another successful sitcom, they did something even better and plugged in a top 5 caliber show. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
