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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Grant Jennings" data-source="post: 262794" data-attributes="member: 746">Network executives like spin-offs because they believe it gives a new show a built-in audience which is why we also have backdoor pilots* (if you've seen the gawdawful Rita Moreno episode of The Golden Girls  or the Ken Berry episode of The Brady Bunch you know what a backdoor pilot is). Knots Landing  didn't have to be a Dallas  spin-off, David Jacobs created it before he created the Ewing family,  but the Lorimar and CBS executives wanted a Dallas  spin-off so that's what it became. I find it ironic that Jeff and Fallon are the spin-off characters on The Colbys , as such they were expected to be the characters with the strongest initial appeal to the audience yet, to me at least, they were often the least interesting characters on the show. It may have worked better if Pamela Sue Martin had returned but I'm not so sure of that as the writers on both Dynasty  and The Colbys were writing Fallon as the resident victim. On The Colbys  Fallon was Kirby 2.0. As John James noted, spinning the characters off to the domain of the Colby family changed the dynamic of their relationship making Jeff the "alpha" when it had been Fallon when they were on Dynasty.Spinning Dominique over from time to time made sense both plot-wise (of course her record company would be based in Los Angeles) and ratings-wise (wouldn't you want one of your "name" stars to appear in the new show?). In hindsight, I think a spin-off that focused more on Dominique (perhaps without Jeff and Fallon) makes more sense. The Dynasty  writers didn't seem to know what to do with the character (though one could argue that could easily be said of almost any character) and Diahann Carroll as the star would have strong appeal for African American viewers. I think if instead of Garrett, they had introduced Nick/Richard Lawson and had the Dominique & Nick love story as one of the new show's initial plots it would have been "appointment television" for many African American viewers.* "Backdoor pilot" is one of those phrases, like "pulled pork" that isn't dirty but makes me blush because it sure sounds like it is.</blockquote>

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