# Spin Offs that are a different Genre **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2018, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435 "2018-10-24T15:14:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/21 "2018-10-24T19:14:33Z")
I don’t know if this really counts as a spin-off, as it was just a retooling of the first show, but the hour-long drama _Tattinger’s_ became the half-hour sitcom _Nick & Hillary_. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/22 "2018-10-24T19:23:39Z")
_ALF_, the half hour sitcom, spun off _ALF, the Animated Series_ which as well as being animated, was also pseudo-science fiction. It also spun off _Alf’s Hit Talk Show_, which was a talk show with ALF as the host and Ed McMahon as his sidekick. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/23 "2018-10-24T19:30:40Z")
If we categorize _Doctor Who_ as a children’s show, _Torchwood_ isn’t. If we don’t consider _Doctor Who_ to be a children’s show, _The Sarah Jane Adventures_ is. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/24 "2018-10-24T20:17:25Z")
The encyclopedic knowledge of the collective Dope is always impressive. Just think if we could harness this for good. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/25 "2018-10-24T20:27:06Z")
In the mid 1990s the Cartoon Network aired \*Space Ghost Coast to Coast \*, which was a talk show hosted by the the 1960s Hanna Barbara cartoon character Space Ghost. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/26 "2018-10-24T20:31:50Z")
_Star Wars_ was a space fantasy adventure. _The Star Wars Christmas Special_… wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/27 "2018-10-24T20:34:54Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > _Star Wars_ was a space fantasy adventure. _The Star Wars Christmas Special_… wasn’t. There is no Star Wars Christmas Special. Keep telling yourself that. ---
**Author:** ![Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reindeer_flotilla/32/3024_2.png) [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reindeer_Flotilla)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/28 "2018-10-24T21:21:39Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > There is no Star Wars Christmas Special. Keep telling yourself that. If we’re making a course change towards movies, I’ll add Alien, a haunted house movie in space, and Aliens, a sci-fi action movie. In space. And relating to the above, there was Highlander, a fun cult-classic, and Highlander 2, a movie which doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/29 "2018-10-24T21:38:37Z")
1977’s _Fernwood2Night_ was a farcical “talk show” that sprang from the semi-serious/semi-absurd send-up of soap operas, _Mary Hartman Mary Hartman_. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/30 "2018-10-24T22:47:36Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > If we categorize _Doctor Who_ as a children’s show, _Torchwood_ isn’t. > > If we don’t consider _Doctor Who_ to be a children’s show, _The Sarah Jane Adventures_ is. Also, if _Doctor Who_ is a children’s show, _The Class_ isn’t. If _Doctor Who_ isn’t a children’s show, _K-9_ is. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/31 "2018-10-24T22:54:34Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Wasn’t _The Lone Gunmen_ a largely comedic spin-off of _The X-Files_? It was, but it wasn’t a different genre, just a different emphasis. _The Lone Gunmen_ was on average more comedic than _The X-Files_, but elements of _The X-Files_, and even a few entire episodes, were at least as intentionally comedic as _The Lone Gunmen_. And _The Lone Gunmen_ wasn’t really a comedy - it was a conspiracy thriller with a lot of intentionally comedic elements. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/32 "2018-10-24T23:08:15Z")
Could _Sesame Street_ be considered a spinoff of _The Muppet Show_ (or vice-versa; I’m not sure of the starting dates)? I’d say that a comedy variety show and a pre-school educational show are different genres. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/33 "2018-10-24T23:25:10Z")
Sesame Street seriously predates the Muppet Show - 1969 vs 1976. **But!** Neither of them is the ‘original’ show - that would be [Sam and Friends](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_and_Friends), from 1955, which is where Henson first started using the Muppets - including Kermit (though, not a frog, yet). Sam and Friends was, as I understand it (I’ve only seen a couple sketches), more like the Muppets’ various variety show appearances (most of which also predated Sesame Street) and the Muppet Show, than it was like Sesame Street. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/34 "2018-10-24T23:29:27Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Also, if _Doctor Who_ is a children’s show, _The Class_ isn’t. If _Doctor Who_ isn’t a children’s show, _K-9_ is. Nitpick - it’s just Class\*. But your point stands. (IMO, Doctor Who, in its current incarnation, is a family show, not a kids’ show, so all 4 spinoffs - the adult Torchwood and Class, and the definitely kiddy Sarah Jane and K-9 - count, if you’re going to count demographic as part of ‘genre’.) - IMO, it was the best of the spinoffs (though I haven’t seen any of K-9, so I can only say it’s the best of the three I’ve seen), and it’s a huge injustice it didn’t get a second series. (Not that I thought Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures were bad, on the whole (though Torchwood had some episodes that were), just not as good as Class.) ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/35 "2018-10-24T23:48:26Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > In the mid 1990s the Cartoon Network aired \*Space Ghost Coast to Coast \*, which was a talk show hosted by the the 1960s Hanna Barbara cartoon character Space Ghost. Then there was the less-remembered, but just as insanely brilliant, _Cartoon Planet_, which featured Space Ghost, Zorak, and Brak performing songs and sketches and other weird stuff. It made zero sense, but was hilarious. Also from Adult Swim came _Sealab 2021_, a very funny, silly, and sometimes surreal animated comedy that was a… Spinoff? Reboot? Continuation? Parody?.. of the earnest and decidedly _un_funny Saturday morning cartoon _Sealab 2020_. ---
**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:** [October 25, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/36 "2018-10-25T00:48:04Z")
_Max Headroom_ started out as a short TV movie, then was spun off into a DJ for a music video show, then returned back to an ongoing series based on the original short film, some roles partially recast. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/37 "2018-10-25T01:37:27Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Also from Adult Swim came _Sealab 2021_, a very funny, silly, and sometimes surreal animated comedy that was a… Spinoff? And the best theme song, ever, all 27 seconds of it! ---
**Author:** ![UCBearcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/77aa72/32.png) [@UCBearcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UCBearcats)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/38 "2018-10-25T01:50:17Z")
Muppet Babies was an animated version of The Muppets as toddlers . ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/39 "2018-10-25T03:42:14Z")
I seem to recall a drama, Trapper John, which I took to be a spin-off of MASH. ---
**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:** [October 25, 2018, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435/40 "2018-10-25T04:47:58Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Then there was the less-remembered, but just as insanely brilliant, _Cartoon Planet_, which featured Space Ghost, Zorak, and Brak performing songs and sketches and other weird stuff. It made zero sense, but was hilarious. > > Also from Adult Swim came _Sealab 2021_, a very funny, silly, and sometimes surreal animated comedy that was a… Spinoff? Reboot? Continuation? Parody?.. of the earnest and decidedly _un_funny Saturday morning cartoon _Sealab 2020_. There was also _Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law_ which was a comedic remake of the “serious” cartoon _Birdman and the Galaxy Trio_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spin-offs-that-are-a-different-genre/823435.md?page=3)