15 worse TV Spin Offs

[DRW50]

I thought Mork and Mindy and Laverne and Shirley both started because the episodes got huge response from viewers. Or was that only spin?

I tend to dislike backdoor pilots and forced spinoffs. I prefer the more natural type. That's one of the reasons I don't even consider stuff like NCIS LA a spinoff, technically.

[Chris B]

I remember enjoying The Brady Brides and I do wish that had gone on for a couple seasons. The good thing about that show is that it did live on (with the original cast) in several different ways. I felt it ended too soon. The Bradys is an interesting take, but I didn't like the new Marsha and it was too 7th Heaven for my taste.

Time of Your Life was a huge disappointment, but I'll never understand why Party of Five got a spin-off when it was always ratings challenged itself. I know eventually they got it together, but it was just barely. Sarah's exit hurt that show and I hated that she didn't come back for the finale.

[JackPeyton]

M&M and L&S i think were because of fan response, but a lot of the others were backdoor pilots and there were several other episodes that were made to be a backdoor pilot that never added up to anything.

I do not think of NCISLA or the new Criminal Minds or really the law and orders/csi type shows spin offs, they are more companion pieces,

[Paul Raven]

Man About The House was the original Three's Company and the spinoffs were George and Mildred (The Ropers) and Robin's Nest (Three's A Crowd)-Robin being the name of the Jack character.

[All My Shadows]

Yeah, the Man About the House spin-offs were just as popular as the original show, if not more popular. I still think it sucks that the producers of TC forced Audra Lindley and Norman Fell off to do The Ropers. It was a hit as a midseason replacement but once they moved it to Saturdays, it was dead. It was a funny show, though, so I'm all geeked out to see it again.

The Betty White Show, I think they consider that sort of a behind the scenes spin-off. They didn't spin Sue Ann off, but they spun Betty off. The one episode I saw was just...I can't even. The premise of the show was okay, but it didn't fit Betty at all, and then it was done on tape (and I LOVE taped sitcoms, but it just didn't work).

I haven't seen Saved by the Bell: The College Years since I was in high school, but I liked it. I loathed Alex (and still couldn't stand the actress when she was on DH), and I wish they'd written her out when Kelly came back instead of Essence Atkins's character, whose name I don't even remember. I could have done without Screech, too.

I'm shocked they didn't put one of the sh!tty Sanford & Son spin-offs. Sanford wasn't bad, and I've never really watched The Sanford Arms, but Grady was pretty hideous.

[alwaysAMC]

Um - I absolutely LOVED Saved by the Bell: College Years!

Probably because I grew up with Saved by the Bell, and while I was in high school, I so wanted my college experience to end up like that. Zach was even hotter and more manly - which got me hot and bothered

I really liked the Professor too, and the more mature storylines (it was soapy). I remember being completely crushed when they cancelled it.

[SFK]

Nick at Nite showed The Betty White Show, oh God, over 15 (?) years ago? Yeah, not so good. And Georgia Engel was in it too, her best bud sidekick. Betty was supposed to be an Angie Dickinson Police Woman type actress, and Betty aiming that gun in the opening titles, it's just so wrong, lol.

Good call AMS, those Sanford spinoffs would surely rate high among disasters. I think Haywood Nelson got What's Happening!! coming off of Grady. Teddy Wilson was the star of Sanford Arms, but I have a hunch that Teddy always worked best in a guest star capacity, one of the brightest personalities of the golden era of black sitcoms.

[All My Shadows]

I think I might have posted this before, but I think it would have been cool if they'd spun Sue Ann off onto a show kinda like "Newhart," where she could take over ownership of a small New England or Midwestern inn (or maybe just manage the kitchen) and have her deal with people in that type of setting. The "Undercover Woman" thing was just too weird, even the theme song was strange because it was this fast, exciting song set to slow-as-hell footage of Betty, Georgia, and Higgins from "Magnum PI" sitting on a couch. Never mind the honey-baked ham who played Betty's stunt double. They did Betty WRONG.

I totally agree about Teddy Wilson. I just went glance at the Sanford Arms opening credits to see who else were regulars, and they had a good cast...Esther, Bubba, and Grady were there, but none of them had what Redd had. Whitman Mayo wasn't sharp enough to star in his own show, which is funny considering Redd was way older than him. And the actress who played his daughter was horrible.

Another crap spin-off they could have put on there is That 80's Show. Whereas That 70s Show knew how to use the decade/era well while also developing the characters and giving us some hilarious episodes/scenes/lines, T8S was obsessed with being set in the 80s and it seemed like every other line was some obscure "Hey, hey, we live in 1984, dude! The 80s are AWESOME!" sh!t. The only thing I liked about it was when they did the Dynasty drinking game

What about the Designing Women spin-off Women of the House? It's so easy to forget that thing even happened. I very very vaguely remember watching it when I was like in kindergarten.

[DRW50]

I think Sue Ann was best off as a supporting character and had kind of run her course, although I did love her (my all time favorite Betty White character is Ellen on Mama's Family).

I always sort of wanted to see a spinoff of Murray and his wife and kids.

[Sylph]

Yaay! Models Inc. was listed! It was atrocious, but superfun. Too bad it hadn't lasted a bit more.

[Sylph]

And there's Baywatch Nights, but no Baywatch Hawaii? All of those shows, including the original one, were horrid. How they became so popular world-wide is... a mystery. Even with naked people running around a Californian beach.

[Paul Raven]

Spin off of a spin off- All in The Family/The Jeffersons/Checking In

The Alice spin off Flo had a good first ep but fast went downhill. I wonder why Flo didn't just go back to the mother show. Who replaced Flo on Alice?

[DRW50]

Bell replaced her (Diane Ladd, who was initially Flo in the movie).

[Bright Eyes]

I don't think THAT 80'S SHOW was a spin-off in any way. Did it even have the same creators/writers/producers?

[SFK]

And Diane Ladd (who I believe got a BSA nom for Alice, maybe even the win?) was like a total bomb on the sitcom, she only lasted a season in typical sitcom third time's the charm recasting. Jolene was the better fit.

Woman of the House, yes, that was a turkey too. That was pretty much a peace offering to Delta after all the DW drama. I remember the first ep, she'd adopted a little asian girl which was a clear borrow from a DW episode where Suzanne molded a little asian foster child in her image. And at the end, they lipsynceded to And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going from Dreamgirls, Lawwwwd... But I seem to remember it being yanked and retooled and brougt back again, some recasting blah blah. It was pretty much DOA as excited as everyone was to see Suzanne again. Lifetime ran it in their DW package a few years back but I didn't even bother. They should have showed Filthy Rich instead! Though someone's been cool enough to upload a few of those to YouTube. Delta's eponymous sitcom Delta where she was a blonde, we never watched even one episode curiously enough.

I've never seen Checking In other than the backdoor pilot eps on The Jeffersons, and of course the eps where Maria from Dallas is the Jeffersons' new maid. On a similar note, Jackee got her own self-titled sitcom from 227 which is also shown as part of the 227 syndication package. We watched 227 every week and I do not remember Jackee at ALL, not sure if it even lasted beyond that first ep, but she was off the show and replaced (if you can even call it that) by Toukie Smith on 227. I *think* she eventually returned but I'm not even sure about that, maybe she didn't...