The Spin Off Thread

[Khan]

Scott Baio: "If I had to do it all over again, I would’ve waited ’til Happy Days was over until I did anything else."

Too bad "Happy Days" isn't still on the air.  We could have been spared so many OTHER bad performances from Scotty.

[kalbir]

Would we count M*A*S*H and Trapper John, M.D., or is that more sequel than spin off?

[Khan]

I would count it more as a sequel since "Trapper John" took place after "M*A*S*H" and the character was played by a different actor.  Just as I would count the new "Perry Mason" series on HBO as a prequel to the Raymond Burr series since it's supposed to take place in the years BEFORE he became an attorney.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Khan

[Paul Raven]

Speaking of MASH, we have AfterMASH which debuted at #1 but slowly dropped in the ratings in its first season, to the point that CBS replaced it with Kate & Allie which luckily for them drew viewers back to Mon @9.

For season 2 there were some changes but the show was moved to Tues @8 (traditionally a flopzone for CBS) where it was pummelled by The A Team.

What went wrong? Was the format the problem-w/o the war background and Hawkeye/Margaret/Charle

The pilot 'Walter' which in contention for the 84/85 season. It dis air at some point.

Radar is a spinoff from M *A *S *H with Gary Burghoff in a reprise of his Radar O'Reilly character, now working as a police officer in Kansas City. 20th Century-Fox Television is producing and the team of Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf are scripting.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Paul Raven

[Wendy]

Also, from what I recall reading, Trapper John, M.D. was said to be a continuation of Trapper from the M*A*S*H movie, with Elliott Gould's version, not Wayne Rogers', so that makes it a bit more complicated there.

I think - in an episode snippet I recall seeing on YT - Parnell Roberts' version of Trapper had fallen asleep at the hospital, and grainy images of the film were used as he dreamed of his past in the war, so...

Edited March 18, 2022 by Wendy

[cct]

I am really shocked no one has mentioned Laverne & Shirley yet. I think it was probably the most successful spin-off as it ranked #3 in its first half-season, then #2 the next season and then #1 for the two seasons after.

It seriously dropped when it was moved from its slot after its parent, Happy Days on Tuesdays, to a Thursday time slot. It failed miserably and it was shunted to Mondays at 8 for a while before back to Tuesdays for the rest of its run where it stayed in the 20s. That next season, they moved to California, and in the last season, Shirley left the show, leaving Laverne to finish out the rest of the season. It was actually going to be renewed, but Penny Marshall wanted to move production to New York. Ultimately, this was going to be too costly, and the show ended after eight seasons.

On Happy Days, the characters were more promiscuous than they ended up being on their own show. The scripts weren't always the greatest (especially after the move to California), but Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams created some of the best physical comedy on television this side of Lucille Ball!

 

I would've been down for that.

 

We had that book in our library! Their copy stopped with the 1979-80 season, but I loved poring over that book! Years later, I saw they had updated it through the mid-80s in a bookstore, but I was too poor to purchase it at the time. That would be a great book to update every five years or so! I wish I could remember the name.

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by cct
typos

[Dr Neil Curtis]

Though not a spin-off, when Alfonso Ribero joined the cast of In The House he should have played Carlton vs. Maxwell Stanton

[Paul Raven]

Laverne and Shirley's collapse was interesting. The show outrated Happy Days at times and it was moved  to Mork & Mindy's timeslot so inherited a strong spot, yet immediately softened in the numbers.

Maybe creatively it was not the best time to move? Was the show becoming a little tired and viewers were watching it because of the timeslot?

ABC was big on spinoffs in the Silverman years.

Bionic Woman and Fish were 2 more examples.

[Wendy]

Also, well before the second failed spinoff of Three's A Crowd in 1984, Three's Company also introduced the first failed spinoff, The Ropers around 1979 or so (which airs on the Three's Company channel on Pluto TV, as does Three's A Crowd!).

Of course, it is well known that Norman Fell and Audra Lindley got screwed by this spinoff. I read Norman Fell did not even want to do it, but ABC had promised him that if the spinoff failed, that he and Audra Lindley could return to Three's Company. But then TPTB hired Don Knotts as Ralph Furley, who was a hit, and the producers basically kicked Fell and Lindley to the curb following the cancellation of The Ropers.

[Paul Raven]

Like Benson would do later, Fish spun off from Barney Miller but was more of a family sitcom than the more adult cerebral Barney Miller. Yep that is Todd Bridges, pre Diff'rent Strokes

[Khan]

Yup.  In fact, Fell theorized that ABC deliberately held off on cancelling "The Ropers" officially until the year-long clause had lapsed.  Otherwise, according to Fell, NRW would have been obligated to return him and Lindley to "Three's Company."

(I don't know whether that's all true, but I have heard Fell express that belief.)

[BetterForgotten]

Granted, TC was never the most thoughtful show, lol, but I can’t say the show suffered creatively with the exit of the Ropers.

[Soapsuds]

Three's a crowd was so dull. Vicky was boring as hell. Who thought of pairing John Ritter with her?

54th place..where it belonged

I know John Ritter was crushed it failed.

 

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[Khan]

Agree.  As I've said in the past, the Ropers were a one-joke couple, and that one joke was old the first time they told it.

Agree.  The writers gave her no personality whatsoever.  And while they gave E.Z. a personality, unfortunately, it was the wrong one.

[Soapsuds]

Ewwww I had forgotten about EZ...what an annoying character.

Both actors were wrong for the show. The writing was bad but so were the actors.