Spin-off: Encyclopedia II - Spin-off - Media

Spin-off - Media

The process of deriving new radio or television programs from existing ones is also referred to as spinning off (see list of television spin-offs). Spin-offs work with varying degrees of success. Some become very popular and last for a number of seasons, others are not well received and have considerably shorter life spans.

This phenomenon was already established in radio before the advent of commercial broadcast television, for example The Great Gildersleeve was a spin-off of Fibber McGee and Molly. The Great Guildersleeve might even have been the very first spin-off, when the popular character from Fibber McGee and Molly was given his own show.

Spin-off - Variants of spin-offs

Television spin-offs come in several variations, including:

• A supporting character or characters in an existing series is given their own show in which they become the main focus. The original series continues without them and there may be some crossover of characters between the shows on occasion (e.g. Angel from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Flo from Alice, The Ropers from Three's Company, Daria from Beavis and Butt-head)

• New characters are specially incorporated into an existing series for the sole purpose of being launched into their own show that will feature no regular characters from the original series, except possibly as guest appearances (e.g. Empty Nest from The Golden Girls, or Boston Legal from The Practice).
• Regular characters from a series continue in their own series after the original series ends (e.g. George and Mildred and Robin's Nest from Man About the House; Frasier from Cheers; Joey from Friends). This is usually done with the same actors, though not always (e.g. Trapper John, M.D.).
• A new series is started with the same theme and existing in the same universe as the original series, but may not necessarily have the same characters. Examples of this type are the Star Trek, Law & Order, and CSI series. These are sometimes called franchises. The reality shows Survivor, Big Brother and The Amazing Race also operate in this manner.

Spin-off - Notable Spin-Offs

• All in the Family is responsible for several spin-offs. Maude and The Jeffersons both featured characters that began on All in the Family. Maude is notable in that it spun-off Good Times. After the showns initially run it was retooled and called Archie Bunker's Place. All in all, AitF has about ten spin-off "descendents."

• The Mary Tyler Moore Show spun-off Rhoda and Phyllis as well as Lou Grant.

• Happy Days, itself a spin-off of Love, American Style, also spun-off multiple shows: Laverne & Shirley, Joanie Loves Chachi, and Mork & Mindy.

• Before the final season of M*A*S*H the main cast voted as to whether or not to continue the series. The final vote was 4-3 against. William Christopher, Jamie Farr, and Harry Morgan wanted to continue work on M*A*S*H, and after the 11th season, they began work on AfterMASH. It lasted just two seasons and 30 episodes, with one unaired. Without those cast members and writers who made the original TV show successful, AfterMASH would never be as popular as the original. Another less well known M*A*S*H spin-off was W*A*L*T*E*R, the premise for this show follwed Walter "Radar" O'Reilly as he signed up for the police force after the war.

• Star Trek: The Next Generation is an example of a popular spin-off. It was a spin-off from the original Star Trek television series and movies. Many fans consider The Next Generation to be the pinnacle of the franchise. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise are also spinoffs of the original series.

• Frasier is one of most popular spin-off series of all time, based on the character Dr. Frasier Crane from the American sitcom Cheers. The series ran for eleven seasons.

• Some consider The Simpsons to be a spin-off, as it features characters that originally appeared in brief comic sketches on The Tracey Ullman Show. The Simpsons, launched in 1989, remains on the air and is the longest-running primetime television animated cartoon series of all time. An episode of the series features a "spin-off showcase", in which secondary-characters have their own shows, parodying classic TV series. The duration of each segment is typically 8-10 minutes.

• The Law & Order series has spawned a total of four spin-offs: Special Victims Unit, Criminal Intent, Crime & Punishment (a documentary series as opposed to scripted drama) and Trial by Jury.

• CSI the popular series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer has produced two spin-off CSI: Miami and CSI: NY, both connected by the series before it by a cross-over episode.

• The producers of the film U.S. Marshals stated that it was a spin-off from, rather than a sequel to, The Fugitive.

• Spin-offs can even occur in video games. For example, Wario Land and successive games are spin-offs of the Super Mario video game series.

For more examples of spin-off shows on TV, see the List of television spin-offs.

Spin-off - Related Phenomenons

One notable case which is not a spin-off is when the same series is later remade. Examples include "Battlestar Galactica", He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983, 2002) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987, 2003).

When two TV series are set in the same fictuous universe, but one is not a spin-off from the other, this can usually be made obvious by cross-overs, i.e. when a character from one show makes an appearence on another show. A notable example of this are Ursula and Phoebe Buffay, twin sisters played by Lisa Kudrow who normally are on different shows, Mad About You and Friends respectively, but sometimes meet. This is also done by Ray Ramano and Kevin James with Everybody Loves Raymond and King of Queens.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Media", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki