We all know spinoffs retain characters from the primary show. And almost ways, they retain the genre as well. Cheers, a half hour sitcom, produced Frasier, a half hour sitcom. All in the Family’s vast brood of progeny were all sitcoms.
I can only think of one exception: a spinoff character from a half hour sitcom went on to be the title character in an hour drama.
Any others?
Is the exception you’re thinking of “Trapper John, MD”, or “Lou Grant”? Because they were both dramas that spun off of sitcoms.
Those were the ones I was going to mention.
…please?
Baywatch’s spin-off, Baywatch Nights eventually evolved into a third-rate X-Files clone.
Lou Grant ftw.
In a sense The Honeymooners, Mama’s Family and The Simpsons might fit. They were sitcoms that were spun off from sketch variety shows (The Jackie Gleason Show, The Carol Burnett Show and The Tracey Ullman Show)
Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 are history plays, and basically serious dramas (with some “comic relief”). The Merry Wives of Windsor, a spinoff featuring Sir John Falstaff (the major source of “comic relief” in the Henry IV plays) is a comedy.
I was thinking of Lou Grant, but I see it’s not alone!
Star Trek spun off a half-hour cartoon.
But it was still a science fiction show.
A character from the drama NYPD Blue (Upstairs John) ended up in the sitcom Public Morals. I’m not sure how much of a spin off that is/was, though. And it only lasted one episode.
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman a soap opera had the spin off Fernwood 2 Night a parody talk show.
I remember seeing a few episodes of that. It was pretty bizarre.
You can add to this list the britcom Absolutely Fabulous - it began originally as a skit on the French & Saunders Show (with Dawn French playing the Saffy role, and no Patsy.)
Love: American Style – an anthology show – spun off Happy Days – a sitcom.
Amazing Stories (another anthology show that concentrated on fantasy, usually with no sense of humor whatever) briefly spun off Family Dog – an animated comedy.
Speaking of The X-Files it, like Angel, was a drama with a handful of comedic episodes. The Lone Gunmen was meant to be funny every episode. It wasn’t, but it was meant to be.
Not sure if this counts, but The Muppet Show and the various Muppet movies were aimed at least as much at adults as children. The animated Muppet Babies, which was inspired by a fantasy sequence in The Muppets Take Manhatten, aired on Saturday mornings and was plainly meant for children.
And the Benson sitcom was a spin off of the soap opera parody Soap.
I didn’t watch it so maybe not, but wasn’t Daria a very different type of cartoon than Beavis and Butt-head was?
Speaking of MTV, didn’t Real World have spin offs that were competition type reality shows as opposed to “bunch of yahoos in a house” type reality show of the original?