they did a crossover episode with, or were a backdoor pilot on, a more successful show.
Examples: Hello, Larry would be long forgotten if not for a crossover episode with Different Strokes. Matt LeBlanc’s sitcom Top of the Heap was cancelled after only 7 episodes, so the only episode that still exists is the backdoor pilot from Married with Children.
Does Blansky’s Beauties count? It was a spin-off from Happy Days, but I don’t remember if it actually had a backdoor pilot on that series.
Just the Ten of Us was a fairly forgettable spin-off of Growing Pains, and had a few cameos by Kirk Cameron as Mike.
The Tortellis, the (mercifully) forgettable first spin-off of Cheers, had character leakage.
The Green Hornet, which only ran one season, had a couple for crossovers in Batman. Thought it was a flop, it’s still remembered for Bruce Lee.
The Critic will probably be remembered primarily for its crossover with The Simpsons
Actually, I don’t know it because it had a crossover ep. I didn’t even remember that it had a crossover ep. I remember it as Maclean Stevenson’s other show…
No it did. Mr. Drummond was old friends with Larry and they had this thing where one of them would “Son of a gun” to which the other guy would go “Big lug.” It was bad.
No, no…I believe it had a crossover. I just don’t remember it because of that, because I wasn’t aware that there was one.
Maybe “forgotten” is the wrong term. Substitute “shows that will never be seen again but had the good luck to have its characters make a guest appearance on a more successful show.”
Dirty Sally is long-forgotten, even though it had a back door pilot on Gunsmoke.