Matt LeBlanc, Joey, and Philly boy David Crane: Together again after 'Friends'

How you doin', Matt LeBlanc?

Just fine, thanks. Working in a new show with my old buddy David Crane from Friends, you know, son of Gene Crane, the legendary Philly TV guy. I play "Matt LeBlanc."

Showtime's Episodes has a lot in common with another show in which a successful NBC sitcom guy from the '90s plays a slightly skewed version of himself. Only in the case of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David is the writer, producer and the star. On Episodes, Crane and his writing and life partner, Jeffrey Klarik, do the behind-the-scenes.

The show, which premieres in January, tells the story of the adaptation of a British sitcom, Lyman's Boys, about a boarding school headmaster and starring a noted Shakespearean actor, into Pucks, the story of hockey coach starring Joey Tribbiani, the guy from Friends. The American TV execs who mangle the show don't really get that LeBlanc only played Joey, but, needing work, is willing to Joey-ize his real self for their (and our) pleasure.

Like Larry David, Crane and Klarik have enough money that they don't need to work, and they've found contentment on a premium cable channel (and the BBC, which shares in the production). They say they're through with network TV ("I felt like a puppy in a dryer on my last show," Klarik said.), and will work only in what Crane called "boutique television." All seven episodes of Episodes were written before one scene was shot, and, if the show is picked up, things will continue that way each season. "This is what you assumed it was going to be like when you were watching The Dick Van Dyke Show," Klarik said.

The duo's last series was The Class, which started splendidly but got mangled by CBS. Jesse Tyler Ferguson had a breakout role and is now well-settled on ABC's Modern Family, playing the more tightly wound partner in a gay relationship. "We e-mail him," said Crane. "He doesn't e-mail us back," joked Klarik.

As for LeBlanc, he can never escape people asking him Joey's trademark, "How you doin'?"

"I've gotten it a couple of times already today," he told the TV critics at a news conference. "My job is to make you believe what I'm saying. If people really believe I'm Joey, I've done my job. It happens a lot, and I take it as a compliment."