What are your all-time favourite TV show Spin-Offs ever?



Here's ones that I watch(ed) all the time ...

Mama's Family
Family Feud
Frasier
Degrassi (Junior) High
Happy Days
Laverne and Shirley
Mork and Mindy
Benson
CSI: Miami
Disney's Darkwing Duck (cartoon)
Empty Nest
Saved By the Bell: The New Class
The Jeffersons
Tiny Toon Adventures (cartoon)
Nurses
Jim Henson's Muppet Babies (cartoon)
Just the Ten of Us
The Simpsons

I used to watch, along with the ones previous mentioned:

The Jeffersons
Archie Bunker's Place
Rhoda
Maude

Also The Facts Of Life, Good Times, & Knot's Landing were spin offs too.

Also The Facts Of Life, Good Times, & Knot's Landing were spin offs too.


I totally forgot about Facts of Life.  I LOVED that show 8)

The Simpsons
Definitely. Possibly the greatest "spin-off" in my opinion. What started off as a crappy 3 minute sketch on some terrible 80s variety show is now the longest running cartoon ever.  8)

I forgot to mention:

Green Acres

Forgot another one:

The Red Green Show

Forgot another one:

The Red Green Show



That was a spin-off? From what? Yeah, I LOVE Red Green. Too funny. Haven't seen it in years.



Cat

That was a spin-off? From what? Yeah, I LOVE Red Green. Too funny. Haven't seen it in years.



Cat


Steve Smith created Red Green as a recurring character on his sketch comedy series "Smith and Smith" (1979-1985) and also used him in the spin-off series "Smith and Smith's Comedy Mill" (1986-1991)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_%26_Smith

The character of Red Green proved so popular, that it became it's own series and ran for a near historic 15 seasons (1991-2006)

Steve Smith created Red Green as a recurring character on his sketch comedy series "Smith and Smith" (1979-1985) and also used him in the spin-off series "Smith and Smith's Comedy Mill" (1986-1991)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_%26_Smith

The character of Red Green proved so popular, that it became it's own series and ran for a near historic 15 seasons (1991-2006)



I have never heard of Smith and Smith. I guess we didn't get it here in the States.



Cat

All in the Family: Maude, The Jeffersons

Maude: Good Times

Different Strokes: The Facts of Life

The Cosby Show: A Different World

The Carol Burnett Show: Mama's Family

Golden Girls: Empty Nest and Nurses (not long on air, but it was still good)

Beavis and Butthead: Daria

Mary Tyler Moore: Rhoda (which I liked much better than MTM)

Soap: Benson

How come nobody mentioned these shows?

Three's A Crowd
The Ropers
Flo
Fish
Mr. T and Tina
After M*A*S*H*
R*A*D*A*R
Joanie Loves Chachi
Galactica 1980
Black Bart
Get Smart Again!
Dark Shadows (1991)

8)

How come nobody mentioned these shows?

Three's A Crowd
The Ropers
Flo
Fish
Mr. T and Tina
After M*A*S*H*
R*A*D*A*R
Joanie Loves Chachi
Galactica 1980
Black Bart
Get Smart Again!
Dark Shadows (1991)

8)


Cause they are so forgettable ;D

I actually did enjoy some of those.  I used to watch "The Ropers" (via re-runs in the mid 80s) and "Three's A Crowd" (when it was on the air), and I enjoyed them

Happy Days

Mork and Mindy



What shows did these come from?

What shows did these come from?


Mork and Mindy was spun off of Happy Days, and Happy Days was spun off of an episode of Love American Style.

Mork and Mindy was spun off of Happy Days, and Happy Days was spun off of an episode of Love American Style.


Thanks.  I'd forgotten the Mork and Mindy/Happy Days link.

I'm not sure that Love American Style was ever shown in Britain so that's probably why I though Happy Days was an original.

How come nobody mentioned these shows?

Three's A Crowd
The Ropers
Flo
Fish
Mr. T and Tina
After M*A*S*H*
R*A*D*A*R
Joanie Loves Chachi
Galactica 1980
Black Bart
Get Smart Again!
Dark Shadows (1991)

8)


Beacause, they were all bad?  ;D

Fraiser
Buffy, The Vampire Slayer
The Jeffersons
Red Green Show
Pinky and The Brain
Angel

All get my votes...

i'm a go with "hello larry." of course.

was buffy really a spinoff? if the original was a movie, does that make it an adaptation? i need a ref over here!

i'm a go with "hello larry." of course.

was buffy really a spinoff? if the original was a movie, does that make it an adaptation? i need a ref over here!


Buffy counts as a spin-off yes, the same would go for M*A*S*H
Speaking of M*A*S*H, the long running "Trapper John, M.D." is credited as a spin-off to the movie M*A*S*H, not the TV series

How come nobody mentioned these shows?

Three's A Crowd
The Ropers
Flo
Fish
Mr. T and Tina
After M*A*S*H*
R*A*D*A*R
Joanie Loves Chachi
Galactica 1980
Black Bart
Get Smart Again!
Dark Shadows (1991)

8)


I like The Ropers and Fish, but they aren't my faves.

Thanks.  I'd forgotten the Mork and Mindy/Happy Days link.

I'm not sure that Love American Style was ever shown in Britain so that's probably why I though Happy Days was an original.

Glad I could help. Love American Style was a showcase of different dramatic, and comical skits that were aired weekly in the early 70's in the USA. I don't remember it personally, as I don't think it was aired in Canada either at the time, but a few of my American friends clued me in on the show.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OPhpYjjsF5E

oh hell yes.

from back in the day when they KNEW how to make a decent theme song.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OPhpYjjsF5E

oh hell yes.

from back in the day when they KNEW how to make a decent theme song.


I bet that most people do not know the name of the group that sang the theme song.

It was The Cowsills.  The same group that was the inspiration for The Partridge Family.

"CSI Miami", "Law & Order SUV" and "Its A Different World".

i'm a go with "hello larry." of course.


Hello Larry was not really a "spin-off".

The show suffered from poor ratings during it's entire run.  About half way through, they moved it to start after Different Strokes.  At the same time, they "ret-conned" it, and tried to make it into a spin off.  However, this did not happen until shortly before it was cancelled.

My favorites (all of these I like much better than the original shows they were spun off of. ):

The Jeffersons
Daria
Lou Grant
Port Charles (was a spin-off from General Hospital but they cancelled it.  :\'( :\'( :\'( )


Honorable mention goes to Trapper John-never really watched the show but I heard it was good show.




Cat

Hello Larry was not really a "spin-off".

The show suffered from poor ratings during it's entire run.  About half way through, they moved it to start after Different Strokes.  At the same time, they "ret-conned" it, and tried to make it into a spin off.  However, this did not happen until shortly before it was cancelled.
wait. how was it not? strokes started in 78, hello larry in 79, and the characters in hello larry were in diff'rent strokes. so how ya figure bro? what's your definition of a spinoff?

hello larry was a much better show than diff'rent strokes. it was like beta and VHS all over again.

oh, wait. i reread what you were saying about spinoffs. hmm, i see. interesting.

wait. how was it not? strokes started in 78, hello larry in 79, and the characters in hello larry were in diff'rent strokes. so how ya figure bro? what's your definition of a spinoff?


Hello Larry was a case of "Ret-Con", or "Retroactive continuity".

The show was originally not a spin-off, but a totally seperate show.  This is when something is changed after the fact, to better conform to a new direction.  Sometimes something is added, sometimes something is subtracted.  Sometimes things are changed totally.

For "Hello Larry", it was ret-conned to bring in the idea that Mr. Drummond and Larry were college roommates.  This then opened up "cross-overs", to try and increase ratings.

There are other well-known ret-cons out there.  In Happy Days, "Chuck" was ret-conned totally out of the show.  Among the most famous, the entire 10th season of Dallas was passed off as a dream (while it's spin-off Knott's Landing ignored the ret-con, and acted like he really died).

Star Wars was heavily ret-conned, as was Star Trek.  In the original episode, Captain Kirk's name was shown as "James R. Kirk".  Later on, we are told his middle name is "Tiberius".  Zefram Cochran moved from being from Alpha Centari, to being born in a post-apocolyptic Earth.  The "Wonder Woman" TV show moved from 1940's in the first season, to 1970's in the second with the same characters, same actors, and no explanation.

So it was not originally a spin-off, but became one half way through the show's run, in an attempt to raise ratings.  Needless to say, it did not work.  I also liked the show, but it was a sad embarasement McLean Stevenson.

that was mclean stevenson's fault! his performance was so uneven. i really liked it when he did his befuddled, loving dad schtick, but when he tried to do physical humor it was usually just kinda embarrassing. i think they were trying to play off of how he was tall and awkward and whatnot, but they really just... shouldn't have.

joanna gleason was quite good, i thought. and i liked the "big-boned" engineer guy, name escapes me. i thought it was funny much of the time.

i was always of the opinion that this whole nine-episode thing with star wars came after the first movie was such a big hit, they made it up after the fact.

(As Mushroom reminded me)


Star Trek TNG  Great show.




Cat