Spin offs are not so common as they once were, thankfully. Back in the seventies and eighties it was pretty common for a popular show to take some of the supporting characters that made it so popular and spin them off into their own series while the main show was still on the air.
A classic example would be The Ropers. Never heard of it? That’s probably just as well. The Ropers were the very funny landlords and downstairs neighbors of the gang on Three’s Company. As supporting characters, they were terrific. As the anchors of their own show, not so much. At least their departure didn’t do any harm to the main show, because they were replaced by Don Knotts as Mr. Furley.
Three’s Company actually spawned one more show. After the series ended, Jack was sent off to live with his girlfriend and her father in Three’s a Crowd. As I recall, the show was cancelled somewhere around the time the credits rolled on the first episode.
Two shows share the distinction of launching both some of the best and worst spin offs M.A.S.H. and All in the Family. Trapper John, MD was a solid show that performed well in the ratings for years. So different was the format and the casting that many people didn’t even recognize that Trapper John was the very same character (considerable aged) from M.A.S.H. AfterM.A.S.H., however, was an atrocious mistake that should never have seen the light of day.
All in the Family may hold the record for most spin offs ever launched from a single mother ship. All in the Family spawned Maude and The Jeffersons, two respectable shows for the time period. Archie’s Place and Gloria were both unwatchable and short lived.
Frasier was maybe the best spin off of all time and a case study in the right way to do it. The producers waited until Cheers was gone, then took a secondary character, transported him across the country to a new locale with an entirely new supporting cast. Frasier worked because it was its own show, not an attempt to recreate Cheers.
Then again, that’s exactly the same formula the creators of Friends used for Joey, and that was just awful.
