# most generations of spin-offs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 9, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919 "2016-06-09T14:48:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/61 "2016-06-10T21:18:54Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Plus, I see above, _ **Checking In** _. Quite an impressive list! Trivia: Marla Gibbs was 44 years old and working a reservation desk for Delta Airlines when she got the role on _The Jeffersons_ and she was so unsure of the success of the show and so terrified of being without an income when it folded that she kept the Delta job for the first year. When she was offered _Checking In_ as a spinoff she said “No!”- she wanted the sure thing that was _The Jeffersons_. _The Ropers_ and _Flo_, both featuring supporting characters at least as popular as Florence, had flopped, and McLean Stevenson and Harvey Korman and numerous other actors had left major success on one sitcom for shows nobody remembers (Larry Linville was a co-star on _Checking In_ and had never matched the success of _M_A_S_H\*, and she didn’t want to be another career fatality, but the network was insistent and of course there was a substantial raise for going to the new show. She had the foresight to agree but only under the following condition: IF the show lasted less than three full seasons she could come back to _The Jeffersons_ as a full time character and retain her _Checking In_ salary. (She figured if it lasted for more than three seasons the difference in paycheck would offset.) The network hemmed and hawed, but ultimately allowed it. Gibbs made a very wise decision: the show flopped after a few episodes. (Bad news for Roseanna Christiansen, who played the Jeffersons new maid, Carmen, BUT she was hired with the understanding Marla Gibbs might come back at anytime- though she was probably surprised how fast she came back.) ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/62 "2016-06-10T22:14:34Z")
Golden Girls had two spin offs, Golden Palace and Empty Nest. Empty Nest had a spinoff to Nurses. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/63 "2016-06-11T16:04:01Z")
M_A_S\*H had AfterMash (shudder) and Trapper John MD ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/64 "2016-06-11T16:55:24Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Trivia: Marla Gibbs was 44 years old and working a reservation desk for Delta Airlines when she got the role on _The Jeffersons_ and she was so unsure of the success of the show and so terrified of being without an income when it folded that she kept the Delta job for the first year. When she was offered _Checking In_ as a spinoff she said “No!”- she wanted the sure thing that was _The Jeffersons_. _The Ropers_ and _Flo_, both featuring supporting characters at least as popular as Florence, had flopped, and McLean Stevenson and Harvey Korman and numerous other actors had left major success on one sitcom for shows nobody remembers (Larry Linville was a co-star on _Checking In_ and had never matched the success of _M_A_S_H\*, and she didn’t want to be another career fatality, but the network was insistent and of course there was a substantial raise for going to the new show. Henry Winkler was another actor who refused a spin off. When his Fonzie character became a hit on _Happy Days_, the network wanted him to star in his own series. Winkler said he’d rather stay on _Happy Days_. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/65 "2016-06-11T18:52:42Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > _Dragnet –\> Adam-12 –\> Emergency_ > > _The D.A._ was linked to _Adam-12_, but was not technically a spinoff. \*Dragnet –\> Adam-12 –\> Emergency -\> **Emergency +4 (the animated spinoff)** \* ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/66 "2016-06-11T18:54:59Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > M_A_S\*H had AfterMash (shudder) and Trapper John MD And don’t forget the one and only episode of\*\*\* W_A_L_T_E\*R \*\*\*(yes, that was the logo) the spinoff featuring Radar (which took place in St.Louis in 1954) If you’ve never seen it and have 24 minutes to kill… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/OS8Vd1vVqXc/hqdefault.jpg "WALTER - Pilot") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS8Vd1vVqXc) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/67 "2016-06-11T18:58:50Z")
Well, that was only a pilot that didn’t get up. And I didn’t need to know about it. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/68 "2016-06-11T19:01:58Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Well, that was only a pilot that didn’t get up. And I didn’t need to know about it. Yeah, but it was a spinoff. At least they didn’t spinoff an animated M_A_S\*H series. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/69 "2016-06-11T20:43:06Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > Yeah, but it was a spinoff. > At least they didn’t spinoff an animated M_A_S\*H series. Not a spin-off, but [M_U_S\*H](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Croc%27s_Block#Cartoon_segments). > [@](#): > > M_U_S_H (short for Mangy Unwanted Shabby Heroes): Sled dogs (voiced by Kenneth Mars and Robert Ridgely) work at a medical outpost in the frozen wasteland of upper Saboonia. This cartoon is a lampoon of M_A_S_H. Also, Norman Fell was reluctant to leave _Three’s Company_ for _The Ropers_ and only accepted the spin-off if he and Audra Linley could return to _Three’s Company_ if _The Ropers_ lasted less than a year. Unfortunately, it ran for over a year and by that time, Don Knotts had become established as Mr. Furley on 3’sC as well. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/70 "2016-06-12T03:48:54Z")
> [@TGWATY](#): > > I did not know about Good Times. Good one! _Good Times_ was the most tenuous of spin-offs. Esther Role was supposed to be the same woman as in _Maude_ but how she went from being a domestic servant in an upper class New England home to suddenly having a husband and three kids living in the Chicago projects was never explained. Neither show ever once mentioned anything about the other (this was easy to do back in the 70s). Similarly I wouldn’t really consider _Lou Grant_ to be a true spin-off of _Mary Tyler Moore_ the way _Rhoda_ and _Phyllis_ were because it started after the original had ended, and mostly because it was a completely different kind of show. Ed Asner was playing the character Lou Grant 90% in name only. > [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > “Love, American Style” was a graveyard for passed over pilots after a bit of editing, and they broadcast “Love and the Television Set”. Sometime after that, Ron Howard got cast in “American Graffiti”, which did pretty well. Between the success of AG and the Broadway musical “Grease”, a network decided to take another look at that pilot that Garry Marshall made with Ron Howard that nobody was interested in the first time around. > > How about Wallace & Gromit’s “A Close Shave”\>“Shaun the Sheep”\>“Timmy Time”? > > FTR, I don’t consider a program that started out as a “backdoor pilot” to be a spin off. Or a sequel either. _Love, American Style_ was a special case because it was a type of series that went extinct a long time ago, the anthology, a series with only a common general theme but no recurring characters or settings of any kind. Another similar example is making a series around a popular skit from a variety show (_The Jackie Gleason Show_ and _The Honeymooners_, _The Carol Burnett Show_ and _Mama’s Family_ etc.) I wouldn’t consider either of those spin-offs. > [@cochrane](#): > > Also, Norman Fell was reluctant to leave _Three’s Company_ for _The Ropers_ and only accepted the spin-off if he and Audra Linley could return to _Three’s Company_ if _The Ropers_ lasted less than a year. Unfortunately, it ran for over a year and by that time, Don Knotts had become established as Mr. Furley on 3’sC as well. Norman Fell felt that ABC cheated him on this, from Wiki: The cancellation of _The Ropers_ came just one month after the one-year contractual deadline had passed. Fell would later state that he always believed the decision to pull the plug on the show had been made much earlier, but that the network deliberately postponed making the cancellation official until after the one-year mark specifically to be relieved of the obligation to allow Fell and Lindley to return to Three’s Company. The term ‘spin-off’ itself has sort of fallen out of favor as being too simplistic. And as being something of a ‘jinx’ because far, far more spin-offs have failed than have ever succeeded. I’m sure that when _Law & Order: SVU_ premiered back in '99 it was routinely referred to as a ‘spin-off’, but nowadays shows like it and _CSI_ and _NCIS_ etc. are all referred to as ‘franchises’ instead. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/71 "2016-06-12T06:05:54Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > _Good Times_ was the most tenuous of spin-offs. Esther Role was supposed to be the same woman as in _Maude_ but how she went from being a domestic servant in an upper class New England home to suddenly having a husband and three kids living in the Chicago projects was never explained. Neither show ever once mentioned anything about the other (this was easy to do back in the 70s). Not to be a nit pick (oh, hell, I’m taking time to write this so I guess I am) the series _Maude_ took place in suburban Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York. But you’re right, I don’t believe they ever explained how Florida, James and their family suddenly were living in Chicago on _Good Times_. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/72 "2016-06-12T06:16:47Z")
After reading through these posts it looks as if the 1970’s could be called the decade of the spin off since so many seemed to be born then and the two series with the most from that decade: **All In The Family** - which begat: _Maude_ (which in turn, begat _Good Times)_, _The Jeffersons_ (which in turn begat _Checking In_), _Gloria_ and then finally _Archie Bunkers Place_ (and I guess to a lesser extent) _704 Houser_. **Happy Days** - which begat: _Laverne & Shirley_, _Mork & Mindy_, _Joanie Loves Chachi_, \*Blansky’s Beauties \*(even though it took a leap into the future) and to a lesser extent _Out of the Blue_ ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/73 "2016-06-12T06:45:54Z")
Has anyone mentioned _Happy Days_ yet? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/74 "2016-06-12T07:43:42Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Has anyone mentioned _Happy Days_ yet? Happy Days ==\> Joanie Loves Chachi ==\> Masterpiece Theater. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/75 "2016-06-12T17:06:22Z")
Andy Griffith Show \> Gomer Pyle \> Fish Boyle\* _in which Corporal Boyle retires from the USMC and gets a job as a fishmonger_\* \*\*(or maybe I just dreamt that?) mmm ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/76 "2016-06-12T17:20:07Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Not a spin-off, but Also, Norman Fell was reluctant to leave _Three’s Company_ for _The Ropers_ and only accepted the spin-off if he and Audra Linley could return to _Three’s Company_ if _The Ropers_ lasted less than a year. Unfortunately, it ran for over a year and by that time, Don Knotts had become established as Mr. Furley on 3’sC as well. Three’s Company also spun off Three’s a Crowd, one of the worse spin offs ever. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/77 "2016-06-12T18:03:23Z")
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was renamed to Forever Fernwood after the Louise Lasser left the show, and then spun off from there was Fernwood Tonight with Martin Mull, a local talk show which spun itself off as national talkshow America 2Night. America 2Night was really a sequel though. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/78 "2016-06-12T18:21:20Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Has anyone mentioned _Happy Days_ yet? Um, yeah. I laid it all out 20 minutes before you posted. Right above your post. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/79 "2016-06-12T18:27:37Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Three’s Company also spun off Three’s a Crowd, one of the worse spin offs ever. Well, since _Three’s Company_, a single man living with two single women, was an American version of the British series _Man About The House_, a single man living with two single women, that when in England, they decided to spinoff from _Man About The House_ with the series _Robin’s Nest_, where the male character from the original opens up his own bistro, it’s not surprising that the spin off from the American version, _Three’s Company_ was the series _Three’s A Crowd_, where the male character from the original opens up his own bistro. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919/80 "2016-06-13T00:14:01Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > Um, yeah. I laid it all out 20 minutes before you posted. Right above your post. I’m pretty sure he knew that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-generations-of-spin-offs/756919.md?page=5)