Monday, February 24, 2014

Top 10 Spin-offs


Note: For the purposes of this blog post, a "spin-off" will constitute anything featuring a secondary character from a series. Also, there may be better spin-offs. These are the ones I could think of. :P



10. "Empty Nest"
Spin-off of: "The Golden Girls"

9. "Angel"
Spin-off of: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

8. "The Jeffersons"
Spin-off of: "All in the Family"

7. "Laverne & Shirley"
Spin-off of: "Happy Days"

6. "The Facts of Life"
Spin-off of: "Diff'rent Strokes"

5. "Family Matters"
Spin-off of: "Perfect Strangers"

4. "The Fall of Sam Axe"
Spin-off/Made for TV Movie of: "Burn Notice"

3. "Saved By The Bell"
Spin-off/Retool of: "Good Morning, Miss Bliss"

2. "Frasier"
Spin-off of: "Cheers"

Here comes the bias... ;)

1. "Honesty"

Spin-off/Side story of: Courage (Mark of Nexus #2)

That's right.The next installment in the Mark of Nexus series features a secondary character—Wallace's morally ambiguous brother, Cole! I wasn't planning on this book, but readers demanded more of him. And you know what? I'm so glad they did. It allowed me to give his character a whole new dimension, and his POV was all kinds of (warped) fun. Look for Honesty (Mark of Nexus #2.5) to release next month. :)



Question of the Week:
What's your favorite spin-off?

37 comments:

Natalie Aguirre said...

Sadly I don't watch much TV anymore so I recognized some of the earlier shows from when I did watch TV, but not the spin offs. I bet some of the series like Malcom in the Middle are spin offs from Wonder Years.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations! Funny how fans can become attached to secondary characters.

Donna K. Weaver said...

Nice! But I still like that Cole's figuring out some things. :D

Stina said...

I didn't realize some of those were spin offs to other shows.

I love it when authors decide to write a spin off book for a secondary character. And yay that Cole gets a story!!!! He must be happy.

Kyra Lennon said...

I had no idea Saved By The Bell was a spinoff!

I really like Frasier a lot. :D

Carrie Butler said...

Oo, they do have some similarities, don't they?

Carrie Butler said...

Thank you, Alex! It really is. He's that character people love to hate and hate to love. ;)

Carrie Butler said...

He definitely learns some life lessons in this one! :)

Carrie Butler said...

The '90s were full of spin-offs. :D

Oh, you bet. I'll probably have trouble keeping him from taking over the Book 3 storyline, too. LOL

Carrie Butler said...

Yep! The original show (which had some of the same characters in 8th grade) was cancelled after 13 episodes. Then NBC bought the rights and reformatted the show into Saved by the Bell. :)

I like Frasier, too!

Loni Townsend said...

A bit of a guilty pleasure: The Originals.

I happened to be home on maternity leave and saw The Originals pop up on Hulu. I was familiar with bits and pieces of the Vampire Diaries after discussions with friends, so I watched the Originals. Between deadly noble Elijah and homicidal Klaus, I was hooked. Much like Cole, I love the creepy guys with questionable morals.

*sigh* Too bad I only got to see the first 8 episodes. Being back to work means no more TV for me.

Natasha Hanova said...

I enjoyed Adventures of Christine (Seinfeld spin off). :) Congrats on upcoming release.

Angela Brown said...

A Different World was a spin off of The Cosby Show. I really enjoyed both of the shows. And Congrats on your spin-off you'll be releasing :-)

Sheena-kay Graham said...

Congrats on your upcoming release. My mind is blank on spin-offs for some reason.

JeffO said...

Funny, I always felt like Malcom in the Middle (absolutely fantastic show in it's first few years) felt like a mash-up of The Wonder Years and The Simpsons.

In terms of most successful spin-off, I'd have to go with Lou Grant--not only was it a good, long-running show, it was so very different from Mary Tyler Moore.

Tammy Theriault said...

hmmm...my favorite spin off? SOA - spinoff: my life with Carrizle, Chibs and Jax. I LOVE the spinoff, it's steamy and award winning by far!! :)~~

Elizabeth Seckman said...

Ooh, I loved that morally ambiguous Cole. Hot, hot, hot.

Laverne and Shirley. LOVED that show. Betty please pick up...still say that way too much and people have no clue what I am talking about.

Oh and Mork...he was a spin off of Happy Days too. That was pretty good too, until it got cheesy.

cleemckenzie said...

The Frasier series was one of my favorites and loved those spin-offs!

Tara Tyler said...

love this list and esp how you snuck in a plug for Honesty! creative! love all the spin offs! frazier is my fave!

Melissa said...

Lots of goodies on that list. And forget the spin-off; I LOVE Burn Notice.

The best one, though, is Honesty. I can honestly say that. :)

Crystal Collier said...

You know, I haven't actually seen most of those TV shows, but if it's written by you, Carrie, I'm sold. =)

Carrie Butler said...

I've never heard of that one! I'll definitely have to look it up some time. :)

That's a bummer about having to stop, though! I think you would be far more productive if they let you take TV breaks...

Carrie Butler said...

I didn't think about that one! Thanks, Natasha. :)

Carrie Butler said...

Oo, another good one! :) Thank you, Angela!

Mason T. Matchak said...

I loved 'Frasier', used to watch that all the time with my dad. I think it's where my love of comedy based around intelligent wordplay came from. ^_^

My absolute favorite spin-off right now, though, is "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." It's just so incredibly good. Like, worth watching in crappy quality after waiting a week and having to sit through commercials good. (I don't have cable, so I have to wait a week to watch it for free.) I've become ridiculously careful about avoiding spoilers. O_o

Shah Wharton said...

I used to love Laverne and Shirley. Never knew it was a spin off of Happy Days (which I also liked)? I also loved Cheers and Frasier. Congrats to you on Courage! :)

shahwharton.com

Jennifer Hillier said...

I think Friends is my favorite - wasn't it kind of a spin-off from Mad About You? (Phoebe's twin sister Ursula was the ditzy waitress in Mad About You).

Carrie Butler said...

That's okay, Sheena-kay. I have more and more of those blank moments, these days. ;)

Thank you!

Carrie Butler said...

Now THAT would be a show worth watching!! ;)

Carrie Butler said...

And he's about to get hotter! (Or crazier.)

Hah! Yeah, I used to have a Nick at Night obsession when I was younger. I'm well-versed in classic TV reruns. ;)

Carrie Butler said...

Mine too! :)

Carrie Butler said...

Thanks, Tara! :D

Carrie Butler said...

Heck yes! Burn Notice is right under Firefly as my favorite series of all time. :D

And thank you.

Carrie Butler said...

Woohoo! Thanks, Crystal. :D

Carrie Butler said...

I loved Frasier, too! They had a great cast for that one. :)

I haven't watched Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. yet, but I've heard great things about it!

Carrie Butler said...

Thank you, Shah! :D

Carrie Butler said...

I never thought about that, but you're right! I used to love Mad About You. Sometimes the theme song still gets stuck in my head. Haha :)