Spawn a Spinoff!

[DavidEvanSmith]

Another thread about a potential OLTL spinoff got me thinking and I think I came up with some good ideas!

Why don't we take this thread to come up with a spinoff concept for a soap of your choice...

The rule of the thread is that this show needs to be a COMPANION to the mother soap, meaning it has to function on its own but not taking the stars off the mother soap, so the continuity must be protected. So pick some actors to do "double duty" and a way that it won't screw with the original show.

Here's my examples, using OLTL as the "mother soap".

My two best ideas:

LIFE BEYOND LLANVIEW

Regular Cast: Tina, Cain, David Vickers the Dog

Semi-Regular Cast: Sarah, CJ

Financial Angle: Cheap to produce, using little studio time as most scenes shot on location as Tina and Cain travel the country seeking money and power. Small regular cast, minimal need for continuity with OLTL.

Premise: Spin Tina and Cain into their own series, where it follows their adventures and exploits in their efforts to strike it rich. Along the way, they run into people they've wronged in the past who keep foiling their plans in the present (this dethroning by Carlo Hesser being the first in a trend for the hapless duo). Other past enemies who come into play: True love Cord Roberts, Pamela Stuart (Tina convinced Pamela to con Asa into marriage), Con man ex-husband David Vickers, Evangelist ex-wife of Cain's -- Angela Holliday (now running the Tabernacle of Hope), Jill Larson back as Ursula Blackwell, an embittered Kate Sanders played by Marcia Cross (!) working with Jamie Sanders (another Tina arch-enemy), Tonja Walker as Alex Olanov, James DePaiva as Max Holden (friend or foe?), Kassie DePaiva's Blair, Robert S. Woods as Patrick London ("Faux Bo") not-so-dead after all!, perhaps Karen Witter or Krista Tesreau in new supporting roles...

Of course Justis Bolding could hold a supporting role as Sarah keeps getting sucked into her mother's schemes, willingly or unwillingly, and they could cast a hunky young actor as a grown CJ, kicked out of the military because they discovered he was gay. Guest appearances by Erika Slezak, Jerry verDorn, Melissa Archer, Bree Williamson, Robin Strasser.

Future Potential: Could return any of the guest stars to the regular OLTL series, and could establish CJ Roberts to be absorbed into the regular OLTL. CJ could have served in battle with Brody Lovett as well. The series could lead Tina and Cain back to Llanview by the finale, or leave it open-ended to do a second season on location if the show proved popular.

LLANVIEW PD

Regular Cast: Bo, Rex, John, Talia, Antonio, Michael, Marcie, Sophia, Carlo

Financial Angle: Costs kept down because of using the same LPD sets and going on location for crime scenes and investigations. Minimal need for continuity with main OLTL because this would focus on the characters' work lives, and only needs casual mention of the personal issues taking place on OLTL. Spotlights OLTL "stars" like Bo, Rex, John, and Antonio, much like GH: Night Shift spotlighted Robin, Patrick, and Jason.

Premise: In this crime melodrama, Bo resumes his job as Police Commissioner (Ramsey IS dead, after all), and the series follows the exploits of the Llanview Police Department, featuring Antonio, John, and Talia. Carlo Hesser could lead as the main villain that most crimes and criminals will lead back to, culminating in a tense standoff between Carlo and daughter Talia. Other opportunities would be a case that takes Antonio to another city, where he runs into ex-wife Andy Harrison (Max's sister), who is working the case in her current hometown. Charissa Cree Chamorro could return as Sophia Pellegrino, who returned to active duty on the force after recovering from her back injury (that took her off OLTL years ago). Michael McBain can consult on autopsies as Medical Examiner. Maybe Marcie can return to her work as receptionist at the police station. John and Michael are stunned when a nightclub in Atlantic City links their mother Eve McBain (who dated Bo, didn't she?) to murder. We learn Eve had an affair with Carlo Hesser at one point during her marriage and Michael may be a Hesser. (John and Talia would share a brother!) Rex also featured working as a private investigator independent from the LPD, but getting wrapped up in all the same cases, and keeping the Bo/Rex friendship alive.

Guest appearances by Erika Slezak, Catherine Hickland, Hillary B. Smith, Ilene Kristen, Farah Fath, Trevor St. John, Susan Haskell, Wendee Pratt.

Future Potential: Could bring Sophia back to the regular OLTL series, since she was fairly popular. Crime dramas are pretty popular, and it capitalizes and expands on generally popular characters and actors from OLTL. With GH: Night Shift capitalizing on the medical drama feel of ER/Grey's Anatomy/House, this spinoff series would capitalize on the crime drama feel of Law & Order/CSI.

[EricMontreal22]

All My Children Retirement Resort!

All the over 60... hell over 55 characters live in a fancy retirement estate and interact in typical soap fashion

[Sylph]

The Young and the Restless relocate in an affluent Miami neighbourhood.

[All My Shadows]

I always thought that after the baby switch drama on AMC, Krystal and Babe should have went back to their hometown, wherever it was, and that could be a spin-off show. It'd be much more middle class/rural and more real life-ish.

[Khan]

A spin-off idea for GL:

"Cross Creek"

Premise: Happily reunited couple JOSH and REVA LEWIS (Robert Newman and Kim Zimmer, respectively) return to their native Tulsa, OK, where Josh has accepted a job as associate pastor at his family's former church; and where Reva can keep an eye on her family: her father, HAWK (Gil Rogers), a bait-and-tackle shop owner, who also provides guided tours of the area's lakes; her brother, RUSTY (Terrell Anthony), chief of detectives with the Tulsa Police Department; and her sister, ROXIE (Cady McClain), now working as a barmaid at the Red Dog, Tulsa's sleaziest honky-tonk, after being released from the Brookhaven Sanitarium. Once back in Tulsa, however, old wounds are re-opened in the form of Reva's high-school rival, MAVIS (played by OLTL's Catherine Hickland), now married to JEFF McCURDY, Josh's own rival on the baseball diamond at their alma mater, Glencoe Hills High; and general manager of his family's automobile dealership. At the same time, Josh, with the help and guidance of Grace Church's long-standing pastor, REV. ROGER MEADE, must attend constantly to the needs of his parishioners and the community; and Josh and Reva's son, SHAYNE, returns from serving in the Peace Corps with a surprise: his pregnant, Bosnian bride, ANYA, who is definitely Eastern Europe's answer to Shayne's flamboyant mother.

[Greg's GL]

^^^ Khan, that's an absolutely fuckin BRILLIANT idea. I love it. They should cancel GL and start over with "Cross Creek".

[UKBoi]

This reminds me of a great post from Daytime Confidential:

[GladGirl]

God, just reading this thread is better than anything on daytime right now!

And each post probably contains more long-story projection than any soap has seen in 10 years!