What Spin-Off Would You Do?

[ClassyCo]

I think the title pretty much says it all. Of all the TV shows out there that you love and have watched a million times over, which one of them would you give a spin-off?

Sure, spin-offs aren't always everyone's cup-of-tea, and yeah, they don't always work out too well, but television has made a habit of spinning-off certain TV shows during its long history in hopes of duplicating the success of the parent show and therefore having another hit on their schedule. When thinking of spin-offs, I often think about how Norman Lear and his group did that a lot in the '70s: ALL IN THE FAMILY spun-off MAUDE and THE JEFFERSONS, while MAUDE spun-off GOOD TIMES and THE JEFFERSONS spun-off CHECKING IN. Oh, and ALL IN THE FAMILY had other spin-offs like GLORIA and ARCHIE BUNKER'S PLACE. No matter where you looked on TV back then it appeared as if there was a Norman Lear show on somewhere, and somehow or another all these shows would be connected in some form or fashion.

But getting back to the point. Several of us here like to toss around our varying ideas for different TV shows that only exist in our heads. While some of us might think the idea of our favorite shows getting their own spin-offs is preposterous, many of us just might have an idea or two of how we'd take our favorite characters from said shows and give them their own place in the sun to shine even brighter.

Anyone got any ideas floating out there?​

 

[Emelee]

After Succession ends, I wouldn't mind a Kendall Roy spin-off. Many Succession characters would make guest appearances here and there. The main cast would be him and his ex-wife Rava plus their two kids plus new people.

 

[rayray]

Three come to mind, that I've held since the 70s-80s:

1. (1979) I would take the Toni's Boys episode of Charlie's Angels (with Barbara Stanwyck as the head of a hunk-filled detective agency) and recast the boys.
2. (1987) I would have Dominique Deveraux spun off into her own nighttime saga, with good writers and a "Colbys" level production budget. Bring Brady back as her love/hate ex-husband, focus on her balancing her singing career with running her many businesses, dealing with complications from her family of origin versus her high-living current circle, and basically provide an 80s maship of Mahogany, Empire and Dynasty.
3. (1989) Give Joan Collins a half-hour comedy series, depicting the comedic life of Alexis after she loses everything and tries to present herself as "still Alexis Colby" without any dough and with a resentful staff (basically The Pruitts of Southampton, but with Alexis and more bite.)

 

[Daniel Avery]

About a year ago there was a story circulating about a spin-off of All My Children being developed called Pine Valley. The concept was that they would take several characters from the original daytime soap and place them in a primetime (once-weekly) drama that would be more like Twin Peaks. I've heard nothing about it since, but the idea of taking aspects of a show from one genre and incorporating them into a show that fits another genre really interests me. It's not a reboot, per se, since the tone, stories and pacing would be different. It's not a continuation in the classic sense, since they would be changing some of the relationships and back-story to fit the new format. AMC was never on my favorite soap list, but I'd be willing to sample Pine Valley just to see how such a spin-off could be done, and whether it could be done better with another soap. I think The Edge of Night would be a much better fit, but I doubt the owners of the series (Procter and Gamble) would ever license the characters or intellectual property.

If they did, however I would also hit them up to allow me to do a spin-off of their soap Another World centering on Matthew Cory, who inherited Cory Publishing and turned it into Cory.com , a Facebook-type online publisher/social media empire.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I wonder if PAPER DOLLS would have been more successful if it had been introduced from the perspective of FALCON CREST character Vicky Gioberti.
If needed, she could still become the hooker who masters the art of playing "dead".

Similarly, I would have transported KNOTS LANDING's Vanessa Hunt and Alex Barth to the 1994 erotic sleaze classic VALLEY OF THE DOLLS.

As a "goodbye and good riddance" present Alexis gives Caress the Chicago Mirror, part of the US Mirror Group, subsidiary of ColbyCo (subsidiary of Colby Enterprises).
Unbeknownst to sister dearest, Caress takes Gordon Wales with her and because every newspaper tycoon needs a handsome good lawyer we'd see the return of Chris Deegan.
The first big storyline is about a woman on death row: Susan Farragut.
Not sure what the title should be....SOAPY HEADLINES?

The Schusters from PEYTON PLACE in a 1960s soap version of EXECUTIVE SUITE (it would happen 10 years later, but without the Schusters)

 

[colbyco]

instead of "The Colbys" in 1985
Fallon and Jeff get a "Hotel" spin-off in 1983 with all the cast (minus the female owner) from the original "Hotel" tv show and 1 or 2 guest stars every episode ...
Fallon starts an affair with Peter (James Brolin). Shea Farrell becomes the sexsymbol of the show ... Jeff learns his evil mother (Lana Turner, she lives in the owner suite and is married with Peter) is the co-owner of the hotel ...

in 1985 "The Fallmonts" starts as a "Dynasty" spin-off instead of "The Colbys"
more different from the mother show with a lot of policital drama and Dominique and Caress as rival bitches
the Colbys family gets invited to Moldavia where Jason, Monica and Bliss get shot durring the royal wedding
Sable and Miles move to Denver to get revenge - both think Alexis had a deal with the terrorists ...

instead of "Golden Palace" Dorothy moves out but the other 3 stay and a new woman moves in ... maybe some kind of Roseanne or the orginal Mary Tyler Moore or maybe a man ... John Ritter

after the success of "Melrose Place" a "Dynasty" spin-off starts ...
Amanda & Clay starts a model business in California with (in every episode) special guest star Joan Collins as Alexis

 

[ClassyCo]

instead of "Golden Palace" Dorothy moves out but the other 3 stay and a new woman moves in ... maybe some kind of Roseanne or the orginal Mary Tyler Moore or maybe a man ... John Ritter

Being the GOLDEN GIRLS fan that I am, I've naturally tossed around many different ideas to keep the show going without morphing it into GOLDEN PALACE after Bea Arthur made the decision to move on. One of my favorite notions I've entertained was the idea of Debbie Reynolds (who had guest-starred during Dorothy's "wedding" to Stan in Season 6) entering the series as her saucy character Truvy. But one wonders if Truvy and Blanche would've been too close characteristically, therefore tossing the quartet off-balance. Likewise, I've thought about the idea of Dena Dietrich (who had played Dorothy's sister Gloria in the Season 7 two-part episode called "The Monkey Show") coming aboard as a replacement for Arthur.

But, alas, none of those ideas probably would've worked out well. And the producers knew that. They probably felt the best idea was to move away from the established home and setting and push the girls out into the world so they could face it without Dorothy and Bea Arthur. And yet GOLDEN PALACE might've worked had CBS not placed it on a dreadful Friday night slot, which effectively killed it, along with other previously top-rated sitcoms DESIGNING WOMEN and MAJOR DAD and newcomer to the lot, the Bob Newhart comedy called BOB (which eventually went one more abbreviated season).​

 

[tommie]

Models Inc really should've lasted at least ten seasons