# \*\*\*\*\*Obscure Sitcom Spin-Offs\*\*\*\*\* **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2001, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715 "2001-10-01T03:43:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/41 "2001-10-02T17:35:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*\*Originally posted by Fiver \* > Also, alongside your (very useful, I think) concept of “concocted” spinoffs we should consider “retooled premises,” where a successful show changes its title and some of its characters (usually in a futile attempt to recover lost ratings). They’re not true spinoffs, they’re just continuations of the original show. > > Thus: > > _All in the Family_ became _Archie Bunker’s Place_ > _The Andy Griffith Show_ became _Mayberry RFD_ > _Valerie_ became _The Hogan Family_ > \*\* **Valerie** takes the cake with this. **Valerie** became **Valerie’s Family** became **The Hogan Family** became **The Hogans**. Couldn’t they just agree on one damn title?! also, don’t forget: **These Friends of Mine** became **Ellen**. ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/42 "2001-10-02T17:43:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by watsonwil \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Cliffy \* > > Happy Days also begat Mork & Mindy, which itself begat its own cartoon show. I’m sure I’m missing some. > > Out of the Blue was the angel show. Like Mork, it was a concocted spin off. > > \*\* Don’t forget the short-lived **Blanskie’s Beauties** , another failed concocted spin-off from **Happy Days**. Neither **Mork & Mindy** or **Laverne & Shirley** were actually concocted spin-offs. (I worked on the A&E Biography of **Happy Days**.) The Mork episode actually existed before they had found Robin Williams and everyone like dhim so much, that they gave him his own show the next season and he reappeared on **Happy Days**. And cartoon spin-offs is opening a whole other can of worms… **Alf** becomes **Alf** (the cartoon) and **Alf Tales** … **Gilligan’s Planet** , **The Brady Kids** … oy vey. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/43 "2001-10-02T18:04:06Z")
Still can’t think of a 4-show chain, but here’s another triple: The Danny Thomas Show gave us The Andy Griffith Show which gave us Gomer Pyle, USMC. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/44 "2001-10-02T18:12:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\*Sorry **Tiburon** , that’s not a spinoff. _Friends_ had nothing to do with _Mad About You_ to begin with, beyond the fact that Lisa Kudrow’s exposure on the latter show landed her the part on the former. > > It wasn’t until _Friends_ had been on the air for some time that the producers decided to tie the two shows together by establishing Kudrow’s characters on the two shows as identical twins.\*\* These writers had an urge somewhere along the line to create a shared reality without spinoffs. There was an episode of Mad About You in which Paul gives up his old batchelor apartment which he sublet after moving in with Jaime, but is still keeping the lease after marrying her. The sublettor (is that a word?) turns out to be Kramer, and they mention the stand-up comedian that lives across the hall. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/45 "2001-10-02T18:23:00Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Fiver \* \*\ ***Tiburon** : > [@](#): > > Mad About You …Friends. > > But then Bonet had some kind of breakdown or falling-out with Cosby or something like that, so she was written out of her own show and then it became about all the other characters instead. \*\* Actually, she made the movie ANGEL HEART. ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/46 "2001-10-02T18:32:51Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by watsonwil \* \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\ ***Tiburon** : > > > [@](#): > > > > Mad About You …Friends. > > > > But then Bonet had some kind of breakdown or falling-out with Cosby or something like that, so she was written out of her own show and then it became about all the other characters instead. \*\* > > Actually, she made the movie ANGEL HEART. \*\* And 'cause she posed in Playboy against Bill Cosby’s wishes. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/47 "2001-10-02T18:46:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Valerie became Valerie’s Family became The Hogan Family became The Hogans. Couldn’t they just agree on one damn title?! Part of this was because of the legal issues with Valerie Harper. I believe one consequence of her contract dispute was that they had to take her name off the show. On grandparent series, there aren’t many. But All in the Family begat The Jeffersons which begat Florence (Florence leaves to manage a hotel, gets cancelled and scurries back to the dee-luxe apartment in the sky), and it also begat Maude which begat Good Times. I think AIIF is the only double three-generation grandparent show. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/48 "2001-10-02T19:02:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Cliffy \* > > \*\*I’m pretty sure I saw an episode where [The Jeffersons] went back to visit. \*\* > > **Good Times** started airing in '74; **The Jeffersons** in '75. And at no time did any member of one cast appear in the other show. \*\* Huh. Must have dreamed it. –Cliffy P.S. Re: ALF Tales: Man that show rocked! ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/49 "2001-10-02T21:32:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Saltire \* > These writers had an urge somewhere along the line to create a shared reality without spinoffs. > > There was an episode of Mad About You in which Paul gives up his old batchelor apartment which he sublet after moving in with Jaime, but is still keeping the lease after marrying her. The sublettor (is that a word?) turns out to be Kramer, and they mention the stand-up comedian that lives across the hall. Yeah, it’s called sweeps! It’s when networks asks shows to perform stunts in order to boost ratings! ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/50 "2001-10-02T22:53:46Z")
If you really want to push it you could call all the Star Treks spinoffs, which would give TOS a three series succession if you did it linearly(and if they bring in some assinine time traveling plot again it could be five) but Voyager as a spinoff off DS9 seems like a huuuuggggggee strech. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/51 "2001-10-03T03:11:50Z")
Didn’t Gloria Stivic have her own TV show called _Gloria_? What about _Sanford and Son_? I remember that being related to _All in The Family_ somehow. **Otto** , I didn’t think anyone else heard of Florence’s TV show. I have never seen it, but I have heard of it and the pilot episode was an episode of _The Jeffersons._ Didn’t the _Golden Girls_ and _Empty Nest_ both have Sophia? I get all of this from reruns, I’m too young to be born when all of this happened. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/52 "2001-10-03T11:51:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mudshark \* > \*\*Didn’t the _Golden Girls_ and _Empty Nest_ both have Sophia? \*\* That was a cross-over sweeps gimmick. There was a short-lived show called _Nurses_ that also took place in Miami, and all three would have cross-overs. Kinsey [sub]who obviously watches waaaaay too much TV[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/53 "2001-10-03T14:36:50Z")
Harry (the Doctor from empty nest) was next door neighbor to the Golden Girls. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/54 "2001-10-03T16:08:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mudshark \* > \*\*Didn’t Gloria Stivic have her own TV show called _Gloria_? > > What about _Sanford and Son_? I remember that being related to _All in The Family_ somehow. > > **Otto** , I didn’t think anyone else heard of Florence’s TV show. I have never seen it, but I have heard of it and the pilot episode was an episode of _The Jeffersons._ > Didn’t the _Golden Girls_ and _Empty Nest_ both have Sophia? > > I get all of this from reruns, I’m too young to be born when all of this happened. \*\* According to the IMDb: [li] **Gloria** was indeed spun off from **All in the Family**.[/li][li]The only connection between **Sanford and Son** and **The Jeffersons** is their creator, Norman Lear. Castmembers from both **Good Times** and **The Jeffersons** did appear in **Sanford and Son** but as different characters.[/li][li] **Golden Girls** was spun off from **Empty Nest** , which itself was spun off from **Nurses** [/li] I remember that crossover plot, it was a hurricane. ---
**Author:** ![Hekcorps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/87869e/32.png) [@Hekcorps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hekcorps)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715/55 "2001-10-03T16:47:03Z")
What about FAILED attempted spinoffs? I can think of two. There was a “Force 7” failed pilot which aired on “CHiPS”, and there was an “Assignment Earth” failed pilot which aired on “ST:TOS” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-sitcom-spin-offs/84715.md?page=2)