On Friends, Ross and Chandler were portrayed as two guys who were losers in love, while Joey was the friend who got all the women due to his impressive skills in wooing love interests. However, Joey ended up being the one alone when the series finished, and, while he had a long list of romances, he had only a few women with whom he formed a true connection.
Unfortunately, the Joey Tribbiani girlfriends list includes some romances that weren't completely compatible, whilst others were a little more so. From personality differences to hurtful breakups, all Joey's girlfriends' compatibility ranks differently.
Ursula Buffay
Here’s someone who was all kinds of awful as a human being, as Phoebe’s twin was known to always use men for her own needs. She only hooked up with Joey because it would infuriate Phoebe, and then promptly dumped him when he got too clingy.
It wasn’t fun seeing Joey - a guy who’s always so cool when it comes to women - be reduced to a pathetic, needy lover boy who took to stalking Ursula. It’s a good thing this relationship got cut off as soon as it started because the pair were in no way compatible.
Erika Ford
Perhaps Joey would have benefited from How I Met Your Mother’s Barney and his “Hot/Crazy Scale”, as he bit off more than he could chew with Erika, who was one of the worst characters to only appear in one episode of Friends and was even convinced Joey was actually Drake Ramoray from Days of Our Lives.
It’s a surprise this relationship lasted as long as it did, as Joey was shown to be scared of Erika and her seemingly violent tendencies; anyone would be scared if their girlfriend licked their hands and thought she could see them perform surgery on TV. The only reason Erika ranks a little higher than Ursula is because she liked (albeit obsessively) his TV show.
Katie
Like Lauren, Katie deserves a higher spot despite having a one-time appearance, since it appears she liked being with Joey. It was only because she liked to punch him all the time that Joey had a problem, and even that was done because she was fond of him.
Of course, it turned out she liked to punch anyone for no real reason, even after it crossed the point of being inappropriate, so it was for the best that Joey had Rachel beat her up to make Katie break up with him. Although she was unaware of her strength, the physicality just was not ok.
Kathy
What's to be said about someone who seems perpetually unfaithful? At first, it seemed as if Kathy’s relationship with Joey was just to introduce the love of Chandler’s life, only for her to cheat on Chandler as well.
With Joey, it appeared as if Kathy was just one of many women to fall for his looks and magnetism, and Joey kept her around simply because he had no other girl to pursue. Even after she cheated on him and although they had one of the best TV bromances, Joey was angry at Chandler, not Kathy. The two did seem to get on really well, but Kathy's unfaithfulness was very unfair to Joey, who had been great to her.
Lauren
She wasn't the most memorable of characters, but at least Lauren was a nice girl who genuinely liked Joey. For this reason, she gets a mid-ranking, as Joey did her wrong by breaking her heart to pursue Kate.
From what the audience can make of Lauren, she liked Joey quite a lot and was one of the few who actually thought of him as a good actor. Unfortunately, she was never treated as someone important and was dumped quite soon.
Angela Delveccio
It was a nice change of pace to see Joey use some tactics to gain a woman’s favor, and he employed Monica to pose as his girlfriend to make Angela jealous. The reason she ranks in the middle is that, apparently, she and Joey were together for three years before the show’s events.
That’s an unprecedented time for Joey to have a girlfriend, who was never shown to be in a relationship longer than a couple of weeks. There must have been something special about Angela, although viewers weren't able to actually see what made them last so long.
Janine Lecroix
If the show had wanted, it could have made Janine the final girl for Joey, as she shared a deep friendship with him before they became a couple. The only problem was her dislike for Chandler (one of the funniest TV characters of all time) and Monica, barring which there were no issues with Joey.
Janine also made Joey appreciate his feminine qualities, along with making him more of an understanding person who was able to adapt to change and compromise. Plus, these two looked like such an attractive couple that it's a shame that Monica and Chandler got between them. But, knowing Joey's loyalty is one of his best traits, it's no surprise the two didn't last.
Charlie Wheeler
Joey could have done with some smarts in his life, and he made such an attempt when he was dating Charlie, who also turned out to be something of a Kathy situation as she jumped from Joey to Ross to her former love interest.
The good thing with Charlie and Joey, though, was that audiences had some funny moments where Joey tried to fit in with a woman who was so much smarter than him. Maybe if Ross wasn’t around, Charlie might have liked Joey better, but ultimately they weren't the best-suited couple, although they shared some good times.
Rachel Green
While audiences love Rachel as a character on her own, her only true love interest was Ross, in one of the best relationships on Friends. Joey and Rachel were kind of an out-the-blue pairing, but once they were together, viewers could see they had a good connection, which was built through years of friendship.
Unfortunately for Joey, the few times they were together had Rachel been exasperated by Joey’s stupidity, making it look more like two siblings rather than a romantic couple. While Rachel was a good person, her mismatched coupling with Joey doesn't make them the most compatible.
Cecilia Monroe
Cecilia was the only love interest who understood Joey’s love for acting, along with how he tried to reconcile his career opportunities with his feelings of guilt for stealing someone else’s role, that being Cecilia’s own.
They had an intense connection where the attraction was concerned, and she became a sort of mentor for him in the acting department. It went further than that too, as Joey was the first person who got Cecilia to open up emotionally and encouraged her to follow her opportunities rather than settle for more of the same. Also, considering how many times Joey got dumped badly, this was a clean parting that makes audiences wish Cecilia had reunited with Joey in the future.
Kate Miller
Sure, Kate came across as a very selfish person who liked to be with men in a position of power to influence her career, but she was the first true love interest Joey had. Due to his interest in her, viewers finally saw Joey get a real storyline and evolve into the mindset of a lover.
He did his best to have Kate see how genuinely he liked her, and she in turn finally tried to be more pleasant when she and Joey got together. Unfortunately, her career still mattered more to her by the end, but had that not been the case, they could have possibly ranked as the most compatible couple.
Erin
The problem with Erin was that she was basically Joey in female form, as she was a fun person who shared his interests...and his habit of dumping lovers quickly. Disregarding that, though Erin was a breezy character who liked to make others laugh, and Joey certainly came to see that.
Had the actress not been there just for a guest appearance, then this character could’ve lasted longer and not been given a rather lame exit; there was easily a good connection between Erin and Joey.
Melanie
In terms of wife material for Joey, Melanie is right on top of the list. Like the character of Bernadette on The Big Bang Theory, Melanie was nice, caring, and nurturing toward Joey, to the point it seemed like she was quite motherly towards him.
Since Joey couldn’t go all the way with her at the time, Melanie stuck around long enough for him to have a comfy relationship, where the two looked cute together as a couple. It’s a shame she was there just for the one appearance, but she had a big impact, with evidence that they really suited each other.