# Spin off TV shows. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 16, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339 "2005-08-16T22:30:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/41 "2005-08-17T15:05:45Z")
The character of Munch from L&O: SVU first appeared in Homicide. Does that make L&O a spinoff from homicide, or is Munch a different category altogether? ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/42 "2005-08-17T15:06:25Z")
\*Hill Street Blues \* begat _Beverly Hills Buntz_. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/43 "2005-08-17T15:57:17Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > This [massive site](http://www.poobala.com/crossoverlist.html) probably lists every spinoff and show crossover. If you follow the chains, a rather large percentage of TV turns out to be inside the head of the autistic kid from the _St. Elsewhere_ finale… ---
**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:** [August 17, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/44 "2005-08-17T16:46:23Z")
> [@Genghis Bob](#): > > The character of Munch from L&O: SVU first appeared in Homicide. Does that make L&O a spinoff from homicide, or is Munch a different category altogether? Much also appeared in the orignal L&O before joining SVU. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/45 "2005-08-17T17:46:56Z")
> [@Barrytown](#): > > _Knots Landing_, I’m pretty sure, was a spin-off of _Dallas_, with the uniting character being Gary Ewing. Knots Landing was actually created first but the creators couldn’t get it on the air. Dallas went on the air and became a monster hit, so KL got the green light. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/46 "2005-08-17T18:14:44Z")
**SOAP** began **Benson** which was nowhere near as good as its parent but lasted much longer (and even semi-wrapped up a plot thread when SOAP ended with a cliffhanger). Some Spin-Offs that Never Were: **Who’s the Boss?** was going to spin Katherine Helmond into her own series and had the set-up episode (Mona and her brother buy a run-down hotel [how the hell many times has that been done= this, Whoopi, Golden Palace, etc.- and it’s never worked]) and replace her in the series with James Coco as Tony’s ex-con father-in-law. Unfortunately James Coco died and Helmond couldn’t be spared (probably for the best as far as her career is concerned). **One Day at a Time** at one point planned to spin off Mackenzie Phillips’s character and her on-screen-husband (Michael Lembeck) into a sitcom about the difficulties of a young married couple. Unfortunately Mack couldn’t stay sober, so it was scrapped, then dusted off again when she cleaned up and came back onto the show, and permanently scrapped when she relapsed. **Facts of Life** planned a spin-off centered around Blair’s CP affected cousin Jeri and shot a pilot, but it never got the greenlight. (Source: Jeri on an interview show many years later.) They also centered an episode around Tootie’s aunt, a newlywed with a white husband, who were to be TV’s first mixed-marriage main-characters (the Willis’s were supporting characters), but it was deemed too controversial. (Tootie did later refer to her aunt and uncle’s break up, but the characters were only seen in that one episode.) There was also a plan to star Jo in a posthumous series when Facts wrapped, but Nancy McKeon decided she wanted to make a break with the character (and didn’t even do the much later TV reunion movie). ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/47 "2005-08-17T19:22:23Z")
A couple of obscure but interesting failures: **W.A.L.T.E.R.** was a spin-off of **M_A_S_H_** featuring Radar O’Reilly as a cop in St. Louis in the 1950s. It vanished pretty quickly. **Hello, Larry** , spinoff of **Diffr’nt Strokes** , is often brought up as a truly terrible TV show. I don’t understand this. I mean, it was drek and I thought it was bad, but it wasn’t much worse than a lot of the other crap that’s appeared on TV. It lasted for two episodes, I think. **Tabitha** was a short-lived spinoff of **Bewitched**. I remember seeing one episode of this on Halloween night when I was maybe eight or nine; soon after, it disappeared into thin air. It was about Samantha’s daughter all grown up, of course. I think there was a horrid mother-in-law involved in this one, too, but I really don’t remember. Of course, **Daria** was a successful spinoff of **Beavis & Butt-Head**. That’s the only animated spinoff that I know of, though. (But wasn’t there a show featuring Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm?) In the comics pages, **Popeye** was sort of a spin-off of **Thimble Theater** , though it had more to do with his having taken over the strip. **Snuffy Smith** is a spinoff of **Barney Google** (and I wonder if the holders of the copyright of that strip have ever considered a lawsuit against the search engine?) **Funky Winkerbean** has begotten **John Darling** , **Crankshaft** , and… it seems there was another one, wasn’t there? ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_Eboshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@Lady\_Eboshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Eboshi)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/48 "2005-08-17T19:31:56Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Oops, I forgot. Quickly. Not as quickly as you forgot W_A_L_T_E\*R, apparently 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_Eboshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@Lady\_Eboshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Eboshi)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/49 "2005-08-17T19:38:25Z")
> [@Lady Eboshi](#): > > Not as quickly as you forgot W_A_L_T_E\*R, apparently 😉 And not half as quickly as I forgot to check Chance’s post, Blake. D’oh! is me.:smack: Slightly off topic: Did anyone catch the Carol Burnett Show episode that aired around the time that the “Death of Lt. Blake” ep did? It had a short sketch that featured MacLean Stevenson on the ocean in a liferaft shouting “I’m still alive!” ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/50 "2005-08-17T21:03:08Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > They also centered an episode around Tootie’s aunt, a newlywed with a white husband, who were to be TV’s first mixed-marriage main-characters… Actually, AFAIK, _I Love Lucy_ featured the first mixed-race marriage. I guess it didn’t stand out so much because the marriage wasn’t a black-white mix. In fact, until they mentioned it on some biographical program, I’d never thought about it at all! Not trying to be nitpicky–just thought it was interesting! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/51 "2005-08-17T21:15:01Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#): > > Actually, AFAIK, _I Love Lucy_ featured the first mixed-race marriage. I guess it didn’t stand out so much because the marriage wasn’t a black-white mix. In fact, until they mentioned it on some biographical program, I’d never thought about it at all! > > Not trying to be nitpicky–just thought it was interesting! 🙂 Eh. I don’t know that I’d even consider that so. By today’s standards, with “hispanic” encompassing pretty much anyone with a Spanish surname, sure. But light-skinned Cubans were, at the time, pretty much considered (and considered themselves) European in ethnicity. If Desi Arnaz spoke with a French accent and looked exactly the same, he wouldn’t even be considered of another race. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/52 "2005-08-17T21:24:08Z")
> [@Chance the Gardener](#): > > A couple of obscure but interesting failures: > > **W.A.L.T.E.R.** was a spin-off of **M_A_S_H_** featuring Radar O’Reilly as a cop in St. Louis in the 1950s. It vanished pretty quickly. > > **Hello, Larry** , spinoff of **Diffr’nt Strokes** , is often brought up as a truly terrible TV show. I don’t understand this. I mean, it was drek and I thought it was bad, but it wasn’t much worse than a lot of the other crap that’s appeared on TV. It lasted for two episodes, I think. “Hello, Larry” ran for 33 episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/53 "2005-08-17T21:49:25Z")
No one remembers that **The Simpsons** was a spinoff of **The Tracey Ullman Show**? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/54 "2005-08-17T23:21:25Z")
Nope. You’re the only one who remembers. Thank god you were here to serve as the repository of this knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/55 "2005-08-17T23:26:45Z")
No need to be such an ass about it, **Otto**. I’m just surprised to see one of the most popular shows on this board, if not the most popular, not mentioned within the first 50 posts. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/56 "2005-08-17T23:42:37Z")
Don’t be so thin-skinned. Pretend there’s a smilie or something if it makes you feel better. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/57 "2005-08-17T23:58:41Z")
How about **Fernwood 2-Night** (later **America 2-Night** )–spun off from **Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman**? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/58 "2005-08-18T04:22:37Z")
A previous thread on the subject. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=256109&highlight=spinoff+spin-off](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=256109&highlight=spinoff+spin-off) ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/59 "2005-08-18T14:02:36Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > “Hello, Larry” ran for 33 episodes. Gah! Really? I’m probably just counting the ones that I actually watched. That’s just the tunnel vision of time, I guess. For a while I was under the impression that _The Dukes of Hazzard_ ran for only a couple of years because I only watched that show for a couple of years. It started much sooner than I first saw it and was canceled much later than I lost interest. 33 episodes? Yoy… ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339/60 "2005-08-18T14:16:33Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > _Flo_, surely? I don’t remember one with Vera at all. Well kiss my grits. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-off-tv-shows/317339.md?page=2)