spin-off

 

Main article: Spin-off

Media spin-off is the process of deriving new radio or television programs from existing ones (see list of television spin-offs). Spin-offs work with varying degrees of success. Some become very popular and last for a number of seasons, whereas others exceed the popularity of the forebearing show and others are poorly received and have considerably shorter life spans.

This phenomenon was already established in radio before the advent of commercial broadcast television, for example The Great Gildersleeve was a spin-off from Fibber McGee and Molly. The Great Guildersleeve might even have been the very first spin-off, when the popular character from Fibber McGee and Molly was given his own show.

Jack Benny's popular radio program spawned at least two spin-offs when blustery bandleader Phil Harris and naif Dennis Day launched their own programs after their success on Benny's show.

In genre fiction, the term parallels the usage in television; it is usually meant to indicate a substantial change in narrative viewpoint and activity from that (previous) storyline based around the activities of the series' principal protagonist(s) and so is a shift to that action and overall narrative thread of some other protagonist(s), which now becomes the central or main thread (storyline) of the new sub-series. The new protagonist generally appears first as a minor or supporting character in the main story line within a given milieu, and it is very common for the previous protagonist to have a supporting or cameo role, at the least as a historical mention, in the new sub-series.

Variants of spin-offs

Television spin-offs come in several variations, including:

• A supporting character or characters in an existing series is given their own show in which they become the main focus. The original series continues without them and there may be some crossover of characters between the shows on occasion (e.g. Angel from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Flo from Alice, The Ropers from Three's Company, Daria from Beavis and Butt-head, Torchwood from Doctor Who, Softly, Softly which features the characters of Barlow and Watt from Z-Cars).

• New characters are specially incorporated into an existing series for the sole purpose of being launched into their own show that will feature no regular characters from the original series, except possibly as guest appearances (e.g. Empty Nest from The Golden Girls, Melrose Place from Beverly Hills, 90210, or Boston Legal from The Practice).
• Regular characters from a series continue in their own series after the original series ends (e.g. George and Mildred and Robin's Nest from Man About the House; Frasier from Cheers; Joey from Friends). This is usually done with the same actors, though not always.
• A new series is started with the same theme and existing in the same universe as the original series, but may not necessarily have the same characters. Examples of this type are the Star Trek, Stargate, Law & Order, and CSI series. These are sometimes called franchises.
• A series that begins in one medium is branched out into other media with material that may or may not be canonically related to the primary production. Examples of this include Tokimeki Memorial, which began as a video game and later branched out into anime and CD audio dramas, and Star Wars, which includes the six feature films, numerous novels, and video games set within the same universe.

Examples of notable spin-offs

Name changes/retoolings

• The main character from All in the Family, Archie Bunker, continued in a retooled version of the series called Archie Bunker's Place.

• The main cast of Golden Girls, minus character Dorothy Zbornak, continued in a retooled version of the series called The Golden Palace.

• After the seventh year of Da Vinci's Inquest, most of the main characters returned the next season for Da Vinci's City Hall. The new series carries over some of the same plots threads, the difference being a slight shift in themes that began in the last season of the original series. City Hall is sometimes even referred to as the eighth season of Inquest.

• Before the final season of M*A*S*H the main cast voted as to whether or not to continue the series. The final vote was 4–3 against. William Christopher, Jamie Farr, and Harry Morgan wanted to continue work on M*A*S*H, and, after the eleventh season, they began work on AfterMASH. It lasted just two seasons and 30 episodes, with one unaired (the final one).

• The popular cartoon Batman: The Animated Series was brought back after cancellation with a new name and a new smoother animation style. The New Batman Adventures only lasted 24 episodes.

Support character getting own show (during run)

• Angel was a popular spin-off, based on the character of Angel (the vampire with a soul) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series ran for five seasons.

• Private Practice is a current spin-off of the popular Grey's Anatomy, based around the life of Dr. Addison Montgomery. The spin-off itself, introducing the show's cast, was set up during a season three episode of "Grey's Anatomy."

• All in the Family is responsible for several spin-offs. Maude and The Jeffersons both featured characters that began on All in the Family.
  • Maude is notable in that it spun-off Good Times.

• The Mary Tyler Moore Show spun-off Lou Grant, Rhoda and Phyllis, as well as several unsuccessful series pilots and one TV movie.

• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys spun-off sister show, Xena: Warrior Princess and also Young Hercules, which relates the adventures of Hercules during his teenage years.

• The Dukes of Hazzard spun-off TV series Enos starring Deputy Enos Strate. He was invited to Los Angeles to join a special police team after he had caught two infamous criminals in Hazzard. The series was canceled after one season and the character returned to The Dukes of Hazzard.

• The only daytime soap opera to spin-off a primetime soap is As the World Turns. In 1965, the producers capitalized on the popularity of the character Lisa Miller Hughes and created a limited-run show around her character, called Our Private World. A year after the nighttime show ended, Eileen Fulton, Lisa's portrayer, returned to ATWT, where she remains today.

• Trapper John M.D. was another spin-off from the movie M*A*S*H. (When sued by the makers of the series M*A*S*H, the makers of Trapper John, MD proved in court that it was instead a spin-off of the movie.)

• By 2007, the long-running BBC series Doctor Who with 9 in total, is the show with the most amount of spun off media. The first was a one episode spin off made in the 1980s based on the character of Sarah Jane Smith called K-9 and Company. The film Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans features one of the race of Dr Who Villains, but for licensing reasons not the Doctor himself. In 1989 the spin off wartime was made, about the adventures of some of the UNIT personnel. In the 1990s, Reeltime distributed PROBE a series of five made-for-video movies featuring Caroline John as her Pertwee-era character, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw. BBV, on their part, produced and released a series of movies based on one of Dr Who's Villains: Auton, Auton 2: Sentinel and Auton 3. In 2006 the BBC launched another spin-off, Torchwood, aimed at a more adult audience and featuring Captain Jack Harkness from the newer series. The Sarah Jane Adventures is currently airing, however is more child-oriented than Dr Who. K-9 is currently in production, and there is also an animated serial The Infinite Quest.

• Even reality shows can have spin-offs. Trauma: Life in the E.R. spawned two additional reality shows in the early 2000's from a set of Trauma episodes shot at New Orleans, Louisiana's Charity Hospital, Paramedics and Code Blue New Orleans.

• Kinnikuman spun-off Tatakae!! Ramenman, which depicts Ramenman in his native country of China. However it's not the same Ramenman as in the series and is instead an ancestor of the main Ramenman.

• The Daily Show correspondent Stephen Colbert received his own show The Colbert Report, a parody of shows like The O'Reilly Factor.

Support character getting own show (after original series ended)

• Frasier is one of the most critically acclaimed and popular spin-off series of all time, based on the character Dr. Frasier Crane from the American sitcom Cheers. The series ran for eleven seasons (which is how long Cheers ran).
• Mary Tyler Moore spin-off Lou Grant. Unusually, Lou Grant is of a different genre (drama) than its parent show, which was a situation comedy.
• Trapper John M.D., while being a drama and using a character from the TV M*A*S*H, was actually not a spin-off from the TV comedy-drama M*A*S*H, but was spunoff from the more dramatic film (which the TV M*A*S*H was also sourced from).
• Joey was spun-off from long-running show Friends after the show's final season. Focusing on the character Joey Tribiani, Joey ran for two seasons but was taken off the schedule before airing its final episodes.
• Cory in the House was spun off after the series That's So Raven ended. It involves Cory and Victor moving to the White House.
• Highlander: The Raven was spun off from Highlander: The Series, featuring the reoccurring character of Amanda. Highlander: The Series was itself a spin off from the Highlander film franchise, featuring a relative of the film's protagonist.

Shows from segments/episodes of anthology series

• The longest running spin-off is The Simpsons, which was created as a series of animated segments for the sketch series The Tracey Ullman Show, and featured the voices of four cast-members. In one episode of The Simpsons, secondary-characters are given their own segments in a so-called "spin-off showcase", parodying classic TV series.

• Happy Days, a spin-off from Love, American Style, also spun off multiple shows: Laverne & Shirley, Blansky's Beauties, Mork & Mindy, Out of the Blue and Joanie Loves Chachi. These shows resulted in spin-offs of their own, the animated series Laverne & Shirley in the Army, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, and The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour.

TV Franchises

• Private Practice is a spin-off of the popular award winning series Grey's Anatomy.

• The Practice was a TV series that ran for nine seasons on ABC and then was canceled. New characters who were introduced during the ninth season (including two who won Emmys) appeared in a spin-off, Boston Legal. Boston Legal is in its fourth season.

• Star Trek: The Next Generation is an example of a popular spin-off. It was a spin-off from the original Star Trek television series and movies. The Next Generation earned its own spinoffs - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise. Contrary to popular belief, Star Trek: The Animated Series is not considered to be spinoff to the original Star Trek, because it is a direct sequel.

• Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe and Stargate Infinity are spin-offs from the Stargate SG-1 television series and the original movie.

• Crusade is a spin-off of the original Babylon 5 series.

• The Law & Order series has spawned a total of five spin-offs: Special Victims Unit, Criminal Intent, Crime & Punishment (a documentary series as opposed to scripted drama), the short-lived Trial by Jury, and Conviction.

• CSI, the popular series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, has produced two spin-offs: CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. Both connected to the original series by a cross-over episode.

• Sabrina's Secret Life is a spinoff of Sabrina the Animated Series, which itself was a spinoff of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch which was a spinoff of Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies which was a spinoff of The Archie Comedy Hour which was a spinoff of The Archie Show.

• The VH1 celebreality shows Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School and I Love New York are spinoffs of Flavor of Love, which was a spinoff of Strange Love, which was a spinoff of The Surreal Life.

• The Lone Gunmen was a spin-off of the popular science fiction series The X-Files.

In film

• The producers of the film U.S. Marshals stated that it was a spin-off from, rather than a sequel to, The Fugitive.
• Several Superhero films have had spin-off films, many focusing on female heroines. Examples include Supergirl being a spin-off of the older Superman film franchise & Elektra being a spin off of Daredevil.
• The X-Men film series is set to have two spin-off films about the origins of two popular characters; Wolverine and Magneto.

In video games

• Spin-offs also occur in video games. For example, the Wario Land series began as a spin-off from the Super Mario Land series (Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3), which was itself a spin-off of the Super Mario Bros. video game series, which in turn was a spin-off from Donkey Kong.
• Viper Phase 1 began as a spin-off from the Raiden series.

The Nina Williams game "Death by Degrees was a spinoff from the Tekken series.

In comics

Some notable examples of comic book characters who at first were supporting characters in one comic but then got their own titles include the Smurfs who originated in Johan and Peewit, Marsupilami who at first was the pet animal of Spirou et Fantasio, and the Legion of Super-Heroes who first appeared in Superboy which in turn was a spin-off from Superman.

For more examples, see the List of comics spin-offs.

Related phenomena

Remakes

Main article: Remake

One notable case which is not a spin-off is when the same series is later remade. Examples include Battlestar Galactica (1978, 2003), He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983, 2002), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987, 2003)).

Cross-overs

Main article: Fictional crossovers

Sometimes even where a show is not a spin-off from the other, there will nevertheless be cross-overs, where a character from one show makes an appearance on another. A notable example of this are Ursula and Phoebe Buffay, twin sisters played by Lisa Kudrow who normally are on different shows, Mad About You and Friends respectively, but sometimes meet. This is also done by Ray Romano and Kevin James with Everybody Loves Raymond and King of Queens. Steve Urkel from Family Matters was also shown to be the cousin of one of D.J.'s friends on Full House. The title character from Ally McBeal appeared on episodes of The Practice, both David E. Kelley shows.

Sometimes crossovers are created in an attempt to provide closure to fans of another failed series. For example, Millennium’s characters Frank & Jordan Black (played by Lance Henriksen and Brittany Tiplady) appeared alongside Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in the X-Files 1999 episode "Millennium" (episode #7.05). This allowed the fans to have some closure, as none was given when Millennium was abruptly canceled prior to the 1999 season.

Sometimes show producers will re-introduce a character from an older series into a later one as a way of providing a connectivity of that particular producer's television "universe". TV producer Glen Larson is particularly known for this; for example, the character of Jonathan Chase (played by Simon MacCorkindale) from Glen Larson's failed 80's show Manimal appeared in an episode of Larson's syndicated 90's series Night Man.

See also

• List of comics spin-offs
• List of television spin-offs

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