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"'Spinoff!' Is there any word more thrilling to the human soul?" —Troy McClure, The Simpsons, "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"
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Spinoffs are when part of a successful show, usually characters, but sometimes a general concept (first you have the Law, then you have the Order), are taken and given a second show of their own.
From a producer's perspective, it's a chance to explore other aspects of a concept. Actors can find opportunities to grow in their craft, as well as rise in importance by moving from just being part of an ensemble to having a show built around them. For the networks, it's a chance to establish a show with a built-in audience, making it that much easier for them to sell advertising.
Lots of spinoffs go on to be successful shows in their own right, sometimes even surpassing the parent series in popularity. Others crash and burn (Joanie Loves Chachi, anyone?), suggesting that there is no such thing as a sure thing. Nevertheless, networks keep trying them.
There are several main types of spinoffs:
- Where a character leaves a show and the two run concurrently. Characters Crossover from time to time.
- Where a show comes to an end and a character from it is given his or her own new show. Provides an opportunity to Retool the character as well.
- Where a character is brought on to an existing show simply in order to be spunoff, hopefully making some of the original audience into viewers of the new show (See Poorly-Disguised Pilot).
- The main character is revisited elsewhere in his narrative.
- Reimaginings — the concept is carried into a new show with the same basic premise but other factors and characters are completely new.
- Segment spin-offs — a recurring segment from the show becomes the main attraction.
- A type of Defictionalization — a Show Within a Show gets made into a real show of its own.
- The storyline on one show comes to an end, only to be continued in a new show with a different name.
- Official Fanzine Show — a trope usually applying to Reality TV, usually offering Behind The Scenes info or coverage that wouldn't fit into the main programme, often (but not always) broadcast immediately after the main show, on a sister channel.
- Online Spin-Off — A spin-off that's only shown online, sometimes overlaps with Segment Spin-Off, sometimes a spin-off In Name Only. Generally only an advert for the broadcast programme.
- Shared Continuity — more common nowadays, this spinoff generally carries no characters over from the show that spawned it, though both are in the same continuity that allows for Crossovers from the original.
Spinoffs are Older Than You Think. Plantagenet Palliser was a minor character in The Small House at Allington, one of the novels in the Barchester series by Anthony Trollope. Plantagenet Palliser became one of the main characters of Trollope's Palliser series, written in the 1860's and 1870's. And earlier than that, the character of Falstaff, from Henry IV parts 1 and 2, was given his own play, at Royal request, by Shakespeare.
See also Distaff Counterpart. When a TV series is successful enough to produce a film Spin-Off, this is The Movie. When the same principle is applied to Video Games, the result is a Gaiden Game.
Examples of Spin-Off include:
Cases where a character leaves a show and the two run concurrently[]
Anime and Manga[]
- Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken) has a series of spinoff works known as the Hokuto no Ken Gaiden series, which centers around side-characters from the original manga, depicting what happened to them prior to the events of Hokuto no Ken, although they do deviate from canon a bit. Almost all of them, with the exception of Yuria Gaiden, were published in Weekly Comic Bunch (the manga anthology that serializes Souten no Ken) at the time the Legends of the True Savior movies were released.
Comic Books[]
Literature[]
- Private --> Privilege
- Virgin New Adventures --> Bernice Summerfield
- Eighth Doctor Adventures --> Faction Paradox
- Telos Doctor Who novellas --> Time Hunter
Live-Action TV[]
- Dallas --> Knots Landing
- Interestingly enough, Knots Landing was actually shopped first to CBS, but rejected. When Dallas took off, they inserted one of the Ewing brothers and re-shopped KL as a spin-off.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer --> Angel
- Doctor Who --> K-9 and Company, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and K9
- Note that K9 does not fulfill the "crossover" aspect of this type of spin-off, as it was not produced by the BBC.
- Hercules: The Legendary Journeys --> Xena: Warrior Princess
- Grey's Anatomy --> Private Practice
- All in The Family, was the king of this trope and spun off no fewer than three shows some of which had their own spinoffs!: The Jeffersons, Maude, and Maude's housekeeper Florida, was spun off into Good Times. It also was an example of #8 below, as All In The Family became Archie Bunker's Place. Similarly, but less successfully, the Jeffersons' housekeeper Florence received her own spin-off Checking In which was cancelled after one season.
- Archie Bunker's Place itself had a one season spin-off Gloria that featured Archie's daughter Gloria , having divorced Mike, starting a new life in New York.
- The Daily Show --> The Colbert Report
- Sort of; even though Stephen Colbert was on The Daily Show for eight years, his persona on that show was different from the character he plays on The Colbert Report. This is also a Defictionalization, since it started as a series of fake promos on The Daily Show.
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show --> Rhoda and Phylis.
- Happy Days--> Joanie Loves Chachi
- Family Ties--> The Art of Being Nick
- Perfect Strangers--> Family Matters
- Upstairs, Downstairs --> Thomas and Sarah
- Star Trek: The Next Generation --> Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- The Dukes of Hazzard --> Enos
Radio[]
- Doctor Who / Big Finish Doctor Who --> Sarah Jane Smith, I Davros, UNIT, Counter-Measures, Cyberman, Gallifrey, Jago And Litefoot, Kaldor City, Dalek Empire
Video Games[]
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney--> Ace Attorney Investigations, featuring the prosecutor from the first game as the main character.
Web Comics[]
- Eerie Cuties got two spin-offs — the first, Magick Chicks, was created when Melissa and her coven were transferred out of Charybdis Heights (to Artemis Academy), and second, Dangerously Chloe, when Chloe was transferred (to Tarterus Academy).
Web Original[]
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series --> Marik Plays Bloodlines
- The Annoying Orange --> Liam the Leprechaun [1]
Western Animation[]
- Family Guy --> The Cleveland Show
- Beavis and Butthead --> Daria
- Wacky Races --> Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
- Dora the Explorer --> Go, Diego, Go!
- Arthur --> Postcards From Buster
Cases where a show comes to an end and a character from it is given his or her own new show[]
Anime and Manga[]
- Triangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～ --> Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (see From the Ashes)
- Fate/stay night --> Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya
- After Fist of the North Star ended, subsequent gaiden animes set in the verse focused on characters such as Raoh, Yuria, Jagi and others.
- A Certain Magical Index --> A Certain Scientific Railgun, starring the Unknown Rival. It also shares continuity as the two series happen in parallel.
- A Certain Magical Index --> A Certain Magical Index: New Testament, a sequel to the original novels with side character Shiage Hamazura becoming a primary cast member.
Film[]
- The fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie starts a completely new plotline which goes completely unmentioned and contains only three characters from the first three.
Literature[]
- The Iliad --> The Odyssey
- Gotrek and Felix --> Thanquol and Boneripper
- Gotrek and Felix --> Ulrika the Vampire
Live-Action TV[]
- Cheers --> Frasier
- Friends --> Joey
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show --> Lou Grant.
- Homicide: Life on the Street --> Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Homicide and Law & Order were already a Shared Continuity before John Munch and Captain Cragen transferred to SVU from those respective shows.)
- Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights --> Max & Paddy's Road To Nowhere
- Inspector Morse --> Lewis (A minor Time Skip, with the series picking up in 2007 after Inspector Morse ended in 2000.)
- That's So Raven --> Cory in The House (A small Time Skip. CITH takes place some time after TSR, after Raven goes to college.)
- Caerdydd --> Gwaith Cartref. (Neither Emyr nor Sara mentions Lea, Peter, or any of the other characters from the earlier show – which is strange, given how it ended.)
Web Comics[]
Western Animation[]
- The Flintstones --> The Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm Show
- The finale of Hong Kong Phooey featured three inept cowboys who were unofficially named "Posse Impossible". Three years later they would get a cartoon of their own as a segment of the 1977 show CB Bears.
- The Archie Comedy Hour --> Sabrina and The Groovie Goolies
- The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron --> Planet Sheen
- Shrek --> Puss in Boots (a variation since its a prequel)
Cases where a character is brought on to an existing show simply in order to be spun-off[]
Anime and Manga[]
- Betterman --> Betterman Legends
Live-Action TV[]
- Golden Girls --> Empty Nest
- JAG --> NCIS --> NCIS: Los Angeles
- Happy Days --> Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy
- Criminal Minds --> Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
- The Andy Griffith Show --> Mayberry RFD (Storylines also carry over from Andy Griffith into Mayberry RFD)
Western Animation[]
- Tijuana Toads --> The Blue Racer and Crazylegs Crane
- Danger Mouse --> Count Duckula
Cases where the main character is revisited elsewhere in his narrative[]
Anime and Manga[]
- Naruto --> Naruto Shippuuden
- Dragon Ball --> Dragonball Z/Dragonball Z Kai --> Dragonball GT
- * Ojamajo Doremi --> Ojamajo Doremi # --> Motto! Ojamajo Doremi --> Ojamajo Doremi Dokkan!"
- Yes! Pretty Cure 5 --> Yes! Pretty Cure 5
Western Animation[]
Reimaginings[]
Anime and Manga[]
Live-Action TV[]
- Knight Rider --> Team Knight Rider
- Bionic Woman --> Bionic Woman (2007)
- Life On Mars --> Ashes to Ashes
- Additionally, characters and their associated storylines from Mars jumped to Ashes when the former ended.
- V --> V-2009
- The Real World --> Road Rules
- Name That Tune --> Face the Music
Web Original[]
- Survival of the Fittest --> SOTF Mini
Segment spin-offs[]
Anime and Manga[]
- There was a Manga called Ten, which was about mahjong being serious business, there was a character called Akagi which was an awesome old man who the characters feared and respected, the character was so popular the author made an spinoff prequel series focused on Akagi's early life, at one point he meets his match in an old man called Washizu, who was so popular the author made a spinoff series focused on Washizu's early life (yes, Fukumoto made a spinoff of a spinoff).
- Naruto --> Rock Lee's Springtime Of Youth
- One Piece --> Chopperman
Live-Action TV[]
- The Tracey Ullman Show --> The Simpsons
- Kamen Rider Den-O --> Imagin Anime
- The Carol Burnett Show --> Mama's Family
- Love, American Style --> Happy Days
Radio[]
- I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue --> You'll Have Had Your Tea: The Doings of Hamish And Dougal
Western Animation[]
- Animaniacs --> Pinky and The Brain
- Cow and Chicken --> I Am Weasel
- Grim And Evil --> Evil Con Carne and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
- Liquid Television --> Aeon Flux and Beavis and Butthead
- Huckleberry Hound --> Yogi Bear
- KaBlam!! --> Action League Now
Cases where a Show Within a Show is defictionalized[]
Anime and Manga[]
- Genshiken --> Kujibiki Unbalance
- Neon Genesis Evangelion --> Shinji Ikari Raising Project
- Martian Successor Nadesico --> Gekiganger 3
Film[]
- Grindhouse --> Machete
Live-Action TV[]
- The Daily Show --> The Colbert Report
- Sonny With a Chance --> So Random
- Community --> The Comumunity College Chronicle
- Childrens Hospital --> NTSF:SD:SUV::
Western Animation[]
Cases where the storyline ends on one show and continues under a different name[]
Anime and Manga[]
- To LOVE-Ru --> To Love Ru Darkness
- Motto! Ojamajo Doremi --> Ojamajo Doremi Naisho
Live-Action TV[]
- M*A*S*H --> AfterMASH
- The Golden Girls --> The Golden Palace
- Three's Company --> Three's a Crowd
- The Suite Life of Zack and Cody --> The Suite Life On Deck
- The Andy Griffith Show --> Mayberry RFD (Mixed with Poorly-Disguised Pilot)
- All in The Family --> Archie Bunker's Place --> 704 Hauser a long forgotten 90s show that featured a new (and black) family living in the Bunkers' house, with a role reversal of the original series' dynamic, that last only 6 episodes.
- Da Vinci's Inquest --> Da Vinci's City Hall
Web Comics[]
Western Animation[]
- Sabrina the Animated Series --> Sabrina's Secret Life
- Ben 10: Alien Force --> Ben 10: Ultimate Alien
Official Fanzine Shows[]
Live Action TV[]
- Big Brother (UK) --> Big Brother's Little Brother, Big Brother's Big Mouth etc
- The Apprentice --> The Apprentice: You're Fired
- Doctor Who --> Doctor Who Confidential
- Heroes --> The Post Show
- The Walking Dead --> Talking Dead
Online Spin-Offs[]
Live-Action TV[]
- Five Fwd is this for Channel Five's The Gadget Show and Fifth Gear — the former features a formalised news segment which has never been part of the main programme with a different presenter and games reviews and interviews with one of the regular presenters- something that rarely appears in the show proper.
- Monk --> Little Monk
- Ugly Betty --> Mode After Dark
- Offspring --> The Nurses
- 30 Rock --> Frank vs Lutz and Jack Donaghy: Executive Superhero.
[]
Anime and Manga[]
- A concrete anime example is To Heart 2, which takes place in the same school as the original To Heart, only that it is set three years after. Some nods and cameos reinforce this.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica has Puella Magi Kazumi Magica. Its other spin-off, Puella Magi Oriko Magica is either a Prequel or an Interquel.
- Onegai Twins is set one year after the events of Onegai Teacher, it shares most locations and many of the first anime characters come back either as cameo or secondary characters.
Comic Books[]
- The Mighty Thor: Has a interesting relationship with Journey into Mystery. Thor debuted in Journey into Mystery and headlined it for a while before taking over the title completely and later getting another series. 49 years after his debut, Journey into Mystery is introduced as a spin-off taking over Thor's numbering and Thor gets another series.
- Fantastic Four: After the death of a prominent member of the book, the book ended at issue 588 and was revamped as FF ("FF" in the title standing for Future Foundation). After 11 issues of FF, Marvel revived the Fantastic Four for issue 600 (the previous issues being FF) and it will continue forward with FF also being released concurrently focusing on the non-Fantastic Four members of the Future Foundation.
Literature[]
- Mercy Thompson Series and Alpha and Omega, along with a few short stories set in the same unvierse.
Film[]
- The Graveyard (notable for featuring Mark Salling, pre-Glee) exists in the same universe as the Bloody Murder duology.
Live-Action TV[]
- Most Star Trek series.
- Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe
- When spin-offs share a setting, there's also often a temptation to eventually include characters from the earlier series. eg. O'Brien and Worf ending up on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Samantha Carter ending up on Stargate Atlantis.
- The various CSI and Law & Order spinoffs.
- The first seven seasons of Power Rangers used the few characters variant, starting with Lightspeed Rescue, they used the no character variant, all set in the same universe, with characters only returning for team-up episodes (except for Power Rangers Dino Thunder and Power Rangers Samurai, where Tommy and Bulk returned as main characters, respectively).
- Eureka and Warehouse 13 are established as a shared canon during an episode on each show in which each had a character visiting from the other.
Video Games[]
Western Animation[]
- The Amazing Spiez, spinoff to Totally Spies!.
- Planes, spinoff from Disney/Pixar Cars.
- ↑ Liam actually predates the orange but the series is considered a spinoff anyway