I think you have it right. Sir John Falstaff appears originally in “Henry IV (Part 2?)”, then reprises his role in “The Merry Wives of Windsor”. (By request of Queen Elizabeth herself, if I remember right.) He finally dies at the beginning of “Henry V”.
I think Danny Thomas helped launch TAGS by appearing in the pilot, or maybe by having Griffith appear once on his show. IMHO, that doesn’t really make it a spinoff.
This thread reminds me of a question that I’ve been planning to ask the regulars of the SDMB. The question is: What’s the largest TV universe?
Call two TV series part of the same TV universe if there is a chain of character connections between them. A character connection between two series exists if any actor has appeared on the two series playing the same character. To eliminate famous actors appearing as themselves, we don’t count an actor playing himself as a character connection.
People have already named some of the larger TV universes (the Star Trek universe, the Danny Thomas universe, the Happy Days universe). There was also quite a large All in the Family universe, and I believe many of the series created by David E. Kelley form a universe. Let me suggest a large one that hasn’t been mentioned yet: the John Munch universe. John Munch is the character played by Richard Beltzer which originated on Homicide. He’s also played that character on Law and Order, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, The X Files, and The Beat. I suspect that this universe can be enlarged with other character connections.
O.K., now we have to define what measure to put on a TV universe to tell how large it is. One way would be to just count the number of different series in the universe. The Happy Days universe would probably win this, but I don’t think this is the best way to measure the universe. Most of the spin-offs in that universe didn’t last very long. I propose that the measure be the total length of all the episodes of all the series in the universes. I suspect that the John Munch universe will be the largest because Law and Order, when it reaches its fifteen season (which it’s already contracted for), will be the second longest series in U.S. TV history after Gunsmoke, and Homicide and The X Files also have long runs. And these are hour-long shows, not half-hour ones.
“Happy Days” had its genesis as an episode of “Love American Style” entitled “Love and the Happy Day.” So while not a spin off per se, it did have it’s origins on “LAS.”
But “Love American Style” was not a show with recurring characters, but rather a collection of short unconnected comedy pieces. The only thing they had in common is that the title of each piece started with the word “Love”.
Reeder:
I admit I make mistakes, but you’ve associated my name with one I didn’t – if you look back in the thread you’ll find that someone else proposed that ** Love American Style** had the most spinoffs.
FWIW, if you interpret “spoinoffs” liberally as “shows that tried out on the initial show”, then there were at least three direct “spinoffs” from LAS – the aforementioned Happy Days, the prime-time cartoon series ** Wait 'til Your Father Gets Home**, and Barefoot in the Park, based on the Neil Simon play. You could tell these were pilots, because they were better written and acted than the usual run of LAS shows.
I see that I’m wrong about No Time for Sergeants – Sha-Zayam! I could have sworn NTFS was on the tube much earlier than Gomer Pyle.
Calmeacham…my apologies. I guees I looked up at the post and just caught your name in bold. Forgive me.
I’d just like to say that “The John Munch Universe” would be a fantastic name for a band.
<hijack>
Unless the Simpsons is still on the air, because it started before L&O.
As for it being second to Gunsmoke, if you go by seasons, it would be. If you go by the number of episodes, there are several shows ahead (TV shows used to have many more episodes per season than they do now). Check out this guy’s site for a list of shows with the most number of episodes.
</hijack>
Eric
Reeder: What is a spinoff? If we call it a show that uses characters and/or situations that originated on another show (seems reasonable to me), then Happy Days is clearly a spinoff of Love, American Style. An episode of the latter show was set in the Cunningham household of the 1950s and was about Richie going on a date.
You could quibble about me taking it to another generation, crediting Love, American Style with other spinoffs of Happy Days, but I don’t see a fair way to deny the first connection.
Wendell Wagner:
Good question, and Thom Holbrook has done most of the work for you: Thom Holbrook’s Crossovers and Spinoffs Master Page. If you scroll to the bottom to the “Shared Reality” lists, you’ll find what you need.