Except neither of them are really spin-offs. They’re not taking an established character from a successful show and building a different show around that character.
If you consider Beavis and Butthead a spin-off, you’d have to consider The Simpsons one, too.
As far as King of the Hill goes, it’s true that Hank Hill shares a voice with Mr. Anderson from Beavis and Butthead, but that’s about all he shares; they’re two completely different characters.
Also, I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you on the inclusion of KOTH on the list. I was pleasantly surprised to see it there. It’s the second-longest running animated show in the history of prime time television, and the quality has remained remarkably consistent over the course of eleven seasons.
I looked briefly at the list and before reading the rest of the thread, I, too, was surprised that Frazier was not on the list. It was one of the wittiest, funniest shows on the air and a lot better than many of the shows listed.
And The Golden Girls was funnier than many that made the list - and it too is missing.
The list often doesn’t reflect my taste, but my taste is often suspect. Lots of shows on there I’d rather pluck my own nosehairs than watch (All in the Family annoys the everliving hell out of me). Other shows are what I consider among the absolute best of all time (The Dick Van Dyke show, MTM).
I note that **Barney Miller ** and *Northern Exposure ** are missing.
I don’t understand the dislike of Lucy. Some of those shows were amazingly funny. I did love the chocolate factory, the wine stomping, Vegimitamidimikstlurrrrr and many others.
There are many shows listed that I think are crap. So I am surprised by I Love Lucy getting so much heat.
Shows I loved as a kid that have aged terribly: Has anyone bothered to go back and watch the Monkeys lately? I have, it is not good.
I am happy and surprised to see **Soap ** made it. I thought I was in a minority thinking this was a top show.
I will accept the missing Futurama, but I don’t like it.
Was **Gunsmoke ** actually good? I know it was on forever, but why was it on forever?
There really are a lot of shows that I thought were unwatchable on this list. The biggest WTF has to be **Leave It to Beaver ** however. This show has always been a joke, hasn’t it?
Jim
Sarahfeena, I cannot believe that this series was overlooked.
Like everyone else, I agree with most and disagree with a few. I always find these lists to be biased toward the more recent, which might explain why a piece of crap like King of the Hill gets on but Andy Griffith does not.
Andy was the most glaring omission, in my opinion.
Regarding Lucy, she has to be on the list. Just like in any list of great video games, Space Invaders has to be on the list. They may be quite dated now but they were groundbreaking at the time.
I wouldn’t call King of the Hill crap. I always thought of it as a mediocre show until I actually watched it–it’s witty and amusing, without being over the top the way so many cartoons today are (ahem, I’m looking at you, “Family Guy.”)
While I would have like to see Danger Man/Secret Agent on the list (at least The Prisoner was) leaving off Laugh-In is a travesty. It was both funny and influential.
However, I can give someone who put MST3K on a lot of slack.
That is the first show I looked for as well. I have been watching Northern Exposure through NetFlix the past few days and what a fantastic show it was. It has aged (almost none) incredibly well too.