The Master Guide to Television: Sitcom Spinoffs

There is an unfortunate stigma to spin-offs; a regrettable notion that spin-offs are some kind of reheated leftovers - bland, uninspired, never as good as the original. This assertion carries some degree of validity but no more than the scores of bland, uninspired original programs that find their way on the air. One difference between a spin-off and an original show is that spin-offs are compared to the shows that spawned them. If the comparison is favorable, the spin-off has a chance to succeed. If not, the spin-off is often a loud, embarrassing failure. In contrast, if an original show fails to win an audience, it goes largely unnoticed and dies a quick, quiet death. Simply put, unsuccessful spin-offs draw more attention to themselves because of the very success of the spin-off strategy - increased exposure as a result of the connection to a successful parent series. I believe this is one of the reasons spin-offs carry such negative connotations - more people have been disappointed by them. However, to dismiss spin-offs is to dismiss some of the most beloved and popular sitcoms in television history. The Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days, Frasier and The Simpsons all began as spin-offs. To ignore spin-offs is to ignore the business of television entertainment -- how and why any show is brought to the air. To understand spin-offs is to understand the very processes that created the sitcom itself.

To explore the relationship between sitcoms and sitcom spin-offs requires a categorical examination of spin-offs, their origins and history. Spin-offs are the construction of new television programs built around characters appearing in programs already being broadcast. The new program, a spin-off, contains a major change in narrative viewpoint from the program that spawned it.