The problem with "Joey" so far? The minds behind the show seem to have forgotten why we, as viewers, were so taken by Joey Tribbiani on "Friends."
As an idiotic buffoon, he was primarily a great comedic foil for the other characters, especially Chandler, and occasionally would have a solid storyline showcasing that side of him.
But it was the episodes showing that his heart was bigger than his brain -- like the one where he took Rachel out on a dinner date -- that gave Joey real depth and gave viewers a real reason to love the character.
In either case, though, Joey was just 1/6th of the equation, and the character was only asked to carry 6-10 minutes of any given episode, at the most.
Here, they're trying to make Joey carry the entire 24 minutes because, as it stands now, the supporting characters aren't compelling enough to warrant strong independent story lines of their own. And we haven't seen enough of the scenes that show Joey's heart.
It's not a problem that can't be fixed. I think they need to lay off some of the more stereotypical character jokes (Joey dumb, nephew smart, sister tough and oversexed) and put them in situations that are funny, but also make us care more about them. As it stands now, you could almost write the script with adjectives instead of character names, because the characters' natures so rarely change.
Personally, I'd love to see an episode where the supporting cast gets together to plan a surprise birthday party for Joey, with everybody having their own ideas of what to do, but ultimately we find out that none of them really knows Joey as well as they think they do. Something like that would be a great learning and growing experience for the show, its writers, and its characters.
But hey, that's just my opinion.
