** OFFICIAL *** Crappy TV spinoffs thread

[Dan Druff]

I'll start out.

"All in the Family" had some pretty good spinoffs -- most notably "The Jeffersons", "Maude", and even "Good Times" which spun off from Maude. You could even say "Archie Bunker's Place" was a spinoff, though it was more a continuation.

But then there was this abomination:



"Gloria" was a lame attempt to give Sally Struthers a starring role via her fairly uninteresting Gloria character. It was hard to notice during All in the Family that Gloria was uninteresting, because she had a well-defined and specific role. She was a good supporting character, and Struthers did a good job playing her, but centering a show around that character had fail written all over it.

It was like a depressing, uninteresting version of "One Day at a Time".

Also, it bothered me how the show was built around Mike/Meathead leaving her for a younger woman. Mike was a loudmouth jerk and an ungrateful freeloader, but he was portrayed throughout the series as being a dedicated husband. (Later, when the couple split up on "Archie Bunker's Place", it was revealed that Gloria cheated on him -- a plot which was ignored when the "Gloria" series started).

Anyway, no surprise that this thing flopped.

[Dan Druff]

"The Ropers" was an ill-advised attempt to give the landlords from "Three's Company" their own series.

The premise was a tacky older couple (The Ropers) moving into the wealthy Cheviot Hills area of Los Angeles, and not fitting in well.



The pilot episode was fairly amusing, and would have been a nice send-off for The Ropers, but they really ran out of material at that point.

Audra Lindley and Norman Fell didn't want to leave Three's Company, and were pressured into doing this series by snake-in-the-grass TV execs who promised that their spot on Three's Company would be waiting for them if the spinoff failed.

They were promised contractually that they could return if the show if their spinoff failed within a year. ABC purposely held it for 13 months, despite knowing they wanted to kill it months before that, allowing them to avoid that obligation. They were happy with Don Knotts playing new landlord Mr. Furley, and they also liked saving money by only having to pay one actor for the role instead of two (seriously, that was the main reason).

Somehow Fell and Lindley got over their bitterness and appeared in one later episode of Three's Company as guest stars. I would have told the producers to eat shit.

[DonaldTrumpsHairPiece]

Frasier (from Cheers) was pretty good, still stop and watch a rerun now and again.

Just realized the title said crappy, oh well.

[Dan Druff]

"Joanie Loves Chachi" was yet another attempt to create a spinoff around uninteresting side characters.

Scott Baio and Erin Moran starred in what was a weird musical "Happy Days" spinoff in 1982.



To be fair, "Happy Days" had also turned to shit by that point, giving way to the infamous 10th season, where they stopped even trying to make it look like the 1950s.




"Joanie Loves Chachi" failed after one season, despite finishing in the top 20 for most of its run. This was because they realized almost all of its audience was from the "lead in" show, and correctly determined that the show would fail if moved to a less popular time slot. This was a strange reason to cancel a show in the early 1980s, but became much more standard in years to come.

[Dan Druff]

Also shout out to Tom Hanks the karate kid trying to beat up the Fonz, and wrecking Mr. Miyagi's restaurant, who stands and watches it happen and does nothing about it.




Amazing how scared everyone was of The Fonz given that he was 5'6" and 110 pounds.

[Daly]

Also shout out to Tom Hanks the karate kid trying to beat up the Fonz, and wrecking Mr. Miyagi's restaurant, who stands and watches it happen and does nothing about it.




Amazing how scared everyone was of The Fonz given that he was 5'6" and 110 pounds.

I've never seen this clip before or at least never noticed it.

Funny that at the time if you said some folks on set would grow into Hollywood elites you would try to guess how the Fonz did it but it ended up being the stupid Karate Kid and Richie.

[Dan Druff]

"Saved By the Bell The College Years" took a charming, albeit juvenile show and turned it into garbage with no redeeming value.




Even the theme song sucked compared to the original:




Also, Kirsten Warren's character was one of the worst I've seen on TV. Super annoying and unlikable. Too bad Jessie had to become a stripper.

[Flipper_Fair]

Enos

who gives the deputy from Dukes of Hazard a show of his own?


FYI Happy Days was itself a spinoff of Love, American Style and HD also gave us Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy

[PLOL]

“The Farm”, which was the 17th episode in season 9 of The Office was a pilot for a spinoff where they gave Dwight his own show. The episode was very poorly received and thus the show was never picked up.

Druff, The Office was a show that took place in the 2000’s. The 2000’s were a time period that took place about two decades after you stopped processing new information.



Edit: Todd can you just embed this video for me. I’ve tried three times now. Never works. We don’t all have a CS degree

[John Stamos]

I have always had a certain nostalgia for the past, especially in regards to having a deep interest in the period from 1920-1980.

This leads me to 2 'gem' scenes, both from shows that were already off the air many years before I was even born.

Clip 1 is from the TV show Taxi. The show only aired for 5 years but boasted arguably the strongest cast ever seen on TV. The cast included Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conway, Marilu Henner, Andy Kaufman, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, and of course Danny Devito. While Judd Hirsch was the 'marquee' name for the show, it was actually Danny Devito, Christopher Lloyd, and to a smaller extent Andy Kaufman that really stole the limelight in this show. It's a shame with such a powerful lineup of actors that none of those acting chops rubbed off on Tony Danza. I loved this show for the powerful cast and also for the writing, they had great writers. I would later enjoy reading stories about the show from the actors, producers, extras, etc... and it really is a story worth diving into if you want to really learn about a great TV show. From the fact Marilu Henner and Andy Kaufman both (apparently) had eidetic memories and could memorize the script with little practice, to Andy Kaufmans exploits of bringing hookers onto the set, Marilu Henner having sex with most of the male actors, and the introduction of Christopher Lloyd and Danny Devito into the mainstream makes it a terrific show.

This clip also shows a young Tom Hanks in a very goofy role, much like the karate kid from his Happy Days appearance. This scene also shows the hilarious and visible facial transformation of Christopher Lloyds character, from a straight laced Harvard student to a burnt out drug addict.

starts 2 minutes in, facial transformation at 8:50





Clip 2 is from All in the Family. I was never a big All in the Family fan so I can't go into a diatribe like I did about Taxi but I chose this clip because a clip like this could never be in a television show today and if you watch the entire thing you will see why. It is Edith avoiding being raped...with a laugh track in the background. In fact, they make this attempted rape seem so casual they almost make the rapist seem likeable at times.

[Jayjami]

“Better Call Saul” sucked compared to Breaking Bad. Too much relationship shit and not enough sleazy lawyer antics for my taste. Now a Jesse Pinkman spinoff would be epic.

[HoodedN]

Fuller House on Netflix and Girl Meets World. Both shows completely retroactively ruined my childhood.

[Deal]

Can we do poker forums next?

[PLOL]

Fuller House on Netflix and Girl Meets World. Both shows completely retroactively ruined my childhood.

Fuller House is the most watched show on Netflix. People wouldn’t watch it unless it was good.

[hongkonger]

Fuller House on Netflix and Girl Meets World. Both shows completely retroactively ruined my childhood.

Fuller House is the most watched show on Netflix. People wouldn’t watch it unless it was good.

Have you met many Americans?

[Kilgore Trout]

Any iteration of Law & Order.
Daria.
Joey.
AfterMASH.

[MumblesBadly]

“Better Call Saul” sucked compared to Breaking Bad. Too much relationship shit and not enough sleazy lawyer antics for my taste. Now a Jesse Pinkman spinoff would be epic.

BCS, IMO, is better than BB. The character development and plot line is awesome. I binge watched each seasom as they became available on Netflix.

[DonaldTrumpsHairPiece]

Can we do poker forums next?

evil but in a good way.

[HoodedN]

“Better Call Saul” sucked compared to Breaking Bad. Too much relationship shit and not enough sleazy lawyer antics for my taste. Now a Jesse Pinkman spinoff would be epic.

BCS, IMO, is better than BB. The character development and plot line is awesome. I binge watched each seasom as they became available on Netflix.

Just when I started to think you were no longer a shitposter

[BetCheckBet]

Really these are the best you can come up with? And multiple people saying Better Call Saul? Terrible...

Here I'll help you out. This is easily top 5 if not the biggest fail of them all. and yes technically not spin off but its the same character pretty much,



I'd also include "Joey from friends" but I'm one of the rare people who didnt like friends to begin with,.