NBC has yet to officially cancel floundering "Friends" spin-off "Joey," but one of its stars is already making alternate plans for the fall season:

"Joey" co-star Andrea Anders is not waiting for the ax to fall on the NBC sitcom, which is on hiatus and not expected to return for a third season.

Instead, she has joined the cast of CBS' comedy series "The Class."

Smart move. Anders, who played Joey's next-door neighbor and sometimes love interest, was the one consistently good thing about "Joey."

[Yahoo! News] "Joey" co-star jumps ship to CBS comedy

I've been a lot friendlier than most people when it comes to NBC's "Joey." Hell, I even gave it a positive review several months ago (an opinion I still hold, by the way). But the show did pretty poorly in the ratings last season, so a major overhaul is in the works. Are they finally going to ditch the annoying character of Joey's sister? Nope. NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly has something else in mind:

Significant changes will be made to "Joey," with Matt LeBlanc's character finally making it in Hollywood, Reilly said.

I've been arguing for this move for several years because, let's face it, there's only so much you can do with the character of a failed actor, and "Friends" had 10 years to cover that ground. If Joey had become a star a year or two ago, this spinoff series could have been a smart, insider Hollywood comedy, with an excellent opportunity for the guest casting that "Friends" excelled at.

Problem is, in the time between when NBC's execs should have made this change and when they actually made it, another show has emerged as the smart, insider Hollywood comedy: "Entourage." Between the sibling hanger-on, the romances with leading ladies, the dope dealing Sherpas, the egotistical indie filmmakers, the has-been neighbors, and (of course) the pompous agent, "Entourage" is already poking fun at all of the things "Joey" should have been poking fun at from the start. And I think it's a fair assumption that "Entourage" is doing it in a much smarter and much funnier way than "Joey" will this fall. By making this change a year too late, "Joey" is doomed to become nothing more than a dumb knockoff of "Entourage." And with no Jeremy Piven.

NBC, you blew your chance on this one. If you wonder where I am this fall, I'm probably watching HBO (which will be a much nicer place with "Six Feet Under" finally gone; but that's a story for another day).

[CNN.com] NBC exec vows season of rebuilding