42 TV spinoffs we loved, hated and actually never had a clue about
Rex Features1989-2001
Who knew that a TV series based on the lifeguards on an LA beach would be so popular? Well maybe the cast of insanely hot men and women running around in red swimsuits may have had something to do with it. Starring Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff, we can now enjoy the re-boot Baywatch movie starring The Rock.
Rex FeaturesBaywatch Nights
1995-1997
Saving helpless beautiful women (and occasionally men, children, pets) from the sea wasn’t enough for Mitch Buchannan so he hooked up with his cop pal and moved onto bigger, drier crimes on land.
Rex FeaturesAlly McBeal
1997-2002
Calista Flockhart played Ally McBeal, a young lawyer in the Boston law firm Cage & Fish. A much loved, quirky show about Ally’s love and work life that gave us the now infamous dancing baby.
Rex FeaturesAlly
1999
The spinoff show was intended to be more of an insight into Ally’s personal life (did we need more?). Clearly not. 13 episodes of Ally were made but only 10 were aired before it was cancelled.
Rex FeaturesBeavis & Butthead
1993-1997
For Generation X this was a key social activity. The MTV animated series featured two idiot teens Beavis and Butthead who the creators of South Park Matt Stone and Trey Parker cite as their inspiration for the show. South Park was better. Just saying.
AlamyDaria
1997-2002
Daria Morgendorffer is a class mate of Beavis and Butthead but her spinoff show sees her move to a new town where we follow her downbeat but interesting take on life.
Rex FeaturesThe Cosby Show
1984-1992America’s first family once upon a time (before we knew what we do about Bill Cosby) were a middle-class family from New York. As comforting as milk and cookies after school we followed the ups and downs of the large family as they grew up. Daughter Denise was played by Lisa Bonet (mother of Zoe Kravitz FYI) and when it was time for her to head to college, we went with her in…
Rex FeaturesA Different World
1987-1993
Where Denise and her group of friends (including Marisa Tomei) took on student life at Hillman College.
Alamy1987-2007
The original TV sketch show from GLAMOUR’s two favourite ladies Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders remains just about the funniest thing you’ll ever see on television. Two of the characters Edie and Patsy became so popular that in 1992 they got their own show…
Alamy1992 – present
Imagine a life without Pats and Edie – horrible, right? The magazine editor and PR guru who drink Champers for breakfast and fall out of cars on a regular basis got their own MOVIE last year.
Rex FeaturesBoy Meets World
1993-2000
This coming of age drama followed Cory Matthews as he ploughed through school and into manhood over seven seasons. The character (played by Ben Savage) returned in 2014….
Rex FeaturesIn Girl Meets World
2014-2017
...as a grown up and the popular new show follows his daughter in a similar set-up. Ahhhhh....
Alamy2008-2013
The best TV show ever? We think so. Walter White is a chemistry teacher who finds himself turning to crime to pay for his cancer treatment. When we say crime we mean, drug dealing, drug barons, cartels, gang warfare – it’s epic. And awesome and we miss it. So when we heard about….
...in 2015 featuring Walter’s lawyer Saul Goodman we kind of lost it. The series is a prequel to Breaking Bad so a few characters have and continue to pop up.
Rex FeaturesHome Improvement
1991-1999
A huge hit during the entirety of its run, the show about a family whose patriarch stars in his own TV DIY show. It launched the career of comedian Tim Allen into the mainstream and gave us some early Pamela Anderson action.
AlamyBuddies
1996
Comedians Dave Chapelle and Jim Breuer appeared in an episode of Home Improvement and caused such a buzz, producers gave them their own spin-off. It wasn’t great and was canned after 5 episodes.
Rex Features1997-2003
Sarah Michelle Gellar’s role as Buffy Summers is now legendary and the show had us glued to our TV for seven whole glorious years. Buffy and her Scooby gang – Willow, Spike, Xander, Oz and Giles took on the demons of Sunnydale, but once Buffy split from heartthrob vamp Angel, he had no choice but to jump ship to LA and carry on the good fight in…
Rex FeaturesAngel
1999-2004
...Angel where (David Boreanaz) creates his own Scooby Gang including Cordelia, Gunn and Quinn. A darker and moodier series some folk were even known to prefer it to Buffy. Please don’t make us choose. It was hard enough with the whole Spike/Angel thing. Goddam sexy vampires.
Rex FeaturesCheers
1982-1993
Ever heard of the bar in Boston, USA where everyone knows your name? Sam, Diane, Woody and Carla claim they did and every week we tuned in to hear the trials and tribulations of Cliff, Norm, Fraser and the gang as they ate nuts and drank beer. But things got a little more exciting when…
Rex FeaturesFrasier
1993-2004
Fraser got off his bar stool and played spinoff to the Boston show moving the action to Seattle. Fraser (Kelsey Grammer) is a popular radio talk show psychologist who finds himself living with his retired cop father. Thus comedy gold ensued and the show went on to be one of the biggest TV hits in TV history. BONUS spin-off fact! We all know that Fraser was a spinoff off from Cheers but did you know that in 1987 Torlellis was, in fact, the first official spinoff. Starring Carla’s ex-husband as the main character – the show didn’t really take off. At all.
AlamyDegrassi Junior High
1987-1989
Teen drama, Canadian style, was insanely good in the form of the kids from Degrassi High. Especially if you were an English school girl who could not literally BELIEVE some of the stuff these guys got up to. Drugs and sex – they were all present and correct, but the show handled sensitive and heavy going subjects such as abuse, racism and homophobia with strong storylines.
AlamyDegrassi Junior High: The Next Generation
2001 – 2015
Pretty much more of the same but with new faces and going strong all the way to 2015!
Rex FeaturesKnot’s Landing
1979-1993
But just a year after airing a spinoff was born on the shape of Gary Ewing, estranged brother to J.R and Bobby who went to live in California and spawn a dynasty of his own. Knot’s Landingactually survived a further 2 years than Dallas. J.R would have hated that.
AlamyDallas
2012-2014
Dreams came true when Dallas was rebooted in 2012. But, they were short-lived. While it was interesting to see how the characters had changed over the years, it just simply wasn’t the same and died a TV death 2 years later. I blame the change in the credits…
Dr Who
1963 – present
A British institution – Dr Who is a time traveller who moves around space and time in his TARDIS (don’t ask). He regenerates every few years – and currently he’s in the form of Peter Capaldi but guess what? The he is now a she - Jodie Whittaker is the new Who. FINALLY! The best thing about Dr Who is discussing who your favourite Dr Who is. Mine’s Tom Baker. Just so you know.
Rex FeaturesTorchwood
2006-2011
Captain Jack Harkness is an immortal time traveller who was a regular in Dr Who until he got his own, very awesome spinoff. Setting up an agency in current times to monitor alien activity – Torchwood was a more grown-up, edgier version of Dr Who.
Rex FeaturesDynasty
1981-1989
Colorado’s answer to Dallas, Dynasty followed the fortunes of the Carrington family as divorced parents Blake and Alexis fight over money, their children and their new partners. It was insanely glamourous and Joan Collins’s Alexis was possibly the biggest bitch TV viewers had ever seen.
Rex FeaturesThe Colbys
1985-1987
This big budget spinoff only lasted a couple of seasons but oh my goodness they didn’t hold back on BONKERS plot points. We thought it was pushing the boundaries when a Dynasty wedding ended with everyone begin gunned down by Moldavian terrorists but when the Colby’s character Fallon was abducted by aliens oh how we laughed.
Rex FeaturesJoey
2004
Following the actor’s endeavours to pursue his career in LA – the show lasted only 2 seasons despite giving it the prime 8pm slot left open by *Friends’*departure. “How you doin?” Not very well to be honest.
Rex Features2009-2015
Glee was an American TV show that followed a group of friends – misfits in one way or another – who join the school ‘glee’ club – singing, dancing that kind of thing. The show gave us plenty of LOLS, songs and new faces to embrace including Lea Michele and Cory Monteith – who tragically died before the show’s demise. They also gave us…
Rex FeaturesThe Glee Project
2011 – 2013
Not a continuation of the plot but a reality TV show where the winner would be given a part in the TV series.
Rex Features2005 – present
The medical drama based in Seattle that just keeps on going follows the medical staff of a busy hospital as they work, play and jump into each other’s beds.
AlamyPrivate Practise
2007-2013
A spin-off that follows the fortunes of Dr Montgomery who sets up a private practice in LA.
AlamyHeartbeat
1992-2010
Sunday evening prime viewing for the majority of Britain, former EastEnders star Nick Berry plays a policeman in Yorkshire in the 1960s.
Rex FeaturesThe Royal
2003 - 2011
You loved the police force, so ITV splashed out and gave you the hospital.
Casualty
1986 – present
The longest running medical drama in the world, Casualty follows the emergency staff of Holby City Hospital as they have tended to the wounded (and out of work actors) relentlessly every Saturday over the last 30 years.
Holby City
1999
Same hospital – different department and the occasional overlapping characters. No wonder the NHS is struggling for cash – why don’t they just combine the two and make Casualty City?
Rex FeaturesInspector Morse
1987-2000
Bip, bip, bip, bip (that’s the famous opening credit to Morse FYI). As British as dipping your digestive into your tea, John Thaw’s Inspector Morse was a cornerstone show of 80s TV drama. Not as dark as Taggart and not as silly asHeartbeat Morse was the perfect balance of smart, gripping and entertaining police thriller. His loyal sidekick Lewis was there for the last episode of Morse where the much-loved detective dies, and Lewis took on the mantle of Detective Inspector.
Rex FeaturesLewis
2006-2015
Which means – he got his own show! Very much retaining the atmosphere and tone of its predecessor, Lewis had his own side-kick in the shape of Laurence Fox.
Rex FeaturesEndeavor
2012-present
Starring Shaun Evans as a young Morse this prequel toMorse has been popular in its own right.
Rex FeaturesKnight Rider
1982-1986
David Hasselhoff rocketed to fame in the role of crime fighter Michael Knight – a former police officer who was shot but reconstructed with a new face, new identity and AWESOME NEW CAR called KITT – that could talk, drive itself and even make crap jokes.
Rex FeaturesKnight Rider – various spin-offs
Michael’s estranged son Mike Traceur also has a cool, indestructible car, but his is called... wait for it…KITT Knight Industries Three Thousand – KITT is voiced by Val Kilmer (possible career low).
Rex FeaturesLaw & Order
1990-2010
This legal drama is the mother of all spin-offs with four to its name…
Rex FeaturesLaw & Order: Criminal Intent
2001-2011
New York’s legal team lasted 10 years on the Law & Order circuit.
Rex FeaturesLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999-present
Perhaps the most successful franchise of the series – it’s the last man standing.
Rex FeaturesLife on Mars
2006 - 2007
Ground breaking BBC drama that sees police man Sam launched back in time to the 1970s and the worst kind of office and partner – Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). Sexiest, homophobic and racist, Sam tries to make sense of his new life – as do we the viewers.
AlamyAshes to Ashes
2008 – 2010
More time travel, this seeing Keeley Hawes slide back to the 1980s and join Gene Hunt’s police force – only mildly improved in their behaviour. The series ran for three seasons and launched Keeley into the spotlight.
Rex FeaturesMarried With Children
1987-1997
If you were a teenager in the late 80s/early 90s, this show was the bread and butter of weekend late night TV. A truly vile family from dad Al Bundy, a shoe salesman, his chain-smoking wife and their two hideous kids. Oh how we loved them! Who’d of thought we’d see a spin-off?
Rex FeaturesTop of the Heap
1991
Minor characters from the above got a crack at their own show as a father and son team. And guess who played the son? Matt Le Blanc no less. It was a flop.
Rex FeaturesBeverly Hills 90210
1990-2000
Brendon and Bradley Walsh move to an affluent Beverly Hills suburb and make friends with a group of kids from the local school and community in this cult TV series that made essential 90s viewing and household names of Tori Spelling, Jason Priestly, Shannon Doherty, Jeni Garth and featured a young Brian Green Austin as the class nerd (he got the last laugh AKA Mr Megan Fox).
The spin-off’s kept on spinning for the series with both….
Rex FeaturesMelrose Place
1992-1999
Set in Hollywood starring 80s heartthrob Heather Locklear and….
Rex FeaturesModels Inc
1994-1995
Which was based around an LA modelling agency...
Alamy90210
2008-2013
The fourth spin-off returns to the homeland of West Beverly Hills high school but we a new set of shiny faces including Shenae Grimes.
Rex FeaturesParty of Five
1994-2000
Honestly just one of the best TV shows ever. The five Salinger children are left orphaned as in an attempt to keep the family together the eldest children must grow up fast to take care of the younger ones. Heartbreaking and moving, it was must-see TV.
Rex FeaturesTime of Your Life
1999
But did you know Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character Sarah (Bailey’s girlfriend) got her own spin-off show when she moved to New York. She didn’t have the time of her life though and the show got cancelled after one season.
Rex FeaturesPretty Little Liars
2010-2017
Teen drama-thriller about a group of girls who whilst mourning their close friend Alison, start receiving text messages from her from beyond the grave. This long-running TV show kept its secret right to the very end.
Rex FeaturesRavenswood
2013
A town under a curse becomes the focus for five strangers who try and solve the mystery. Loosely connected to Pretty Little Liars, the show came and went in a flash…
Rex FeaturesVictorious
2010-2013
Tori Vega (Victoria Justice) attends Hollywood High School with a group of talented, precocious arts buddies (including Ariana Grande).
Rex FeaturesSam & Cat
Nickelodeon obviously saw merit in the character of Cat (Ariana Grande) and took her character and Sam from iCarly and gave them their own spin-off…
Getty ImagesSaved by the Bell
1989-1993
Classic TV sitcom comedy about a group of school friends that earnt itself, quite rightfully, cult status. Zack, Screech, Jesse, Kelly and co endure each other’s company in the final days of high-school. But it wasn’t enough!
Rex FeaturesSaved by the Bell The College Years
1993-1994
Same characters, new setting – university. Sadly not the same LOLS.
Rex FeaturesStargate SG-1
1997-2007
Began life as the movieStargate in 1994, and in 1997 Stargate SG-1 the TV series was created as a sequel. The sci-fi series was based on a group of special forces agents are sent through an alien devise to explore alien territories and protect earth.
Rex FeaturesStargate Atlantis
2004-2009
A spinoff from two episodes of Stargate SG-1, here a crew discover the location of…Atlantis!
Rex FeaturesStargate Universe
2010-2011
Spinoff number two saw the crew of the ship Destiny lost in space billions of light years from home. It didn’t take off.
AlamyThe Tracey Ullman Show
1987-1990
British comedienne (one of the original French & Saunders crew) Tracy hit the big time in the US and got her very own sketch show. One of the segments was an animation and starring a family called…
Rex FeaturesThe Simpsons
1987 – present
Only America’s real FIRST family! Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie have been in our lives for ever, and we could not love them more.
Rex Features2009 – 2017
In the spooky town of Mystic Falls, vampires fall in love with humans and battle it out with werewolves, monsters and the like.
AlamyThe Originals
2013 - present
Moving the vampire action to New Orleans, this popular series follows the Mikaelson siblings as they trace back their roots to the turn of the century.
Rex FeaturesThe X-Files
1993-present
This was the talked about TV show in the 90s. The truth was out there – at least that’s what FBI special agents Mulder and Scully were determined to discover. The truth in this case was alien life outside of our planet and the lengths the government went to, to keep their existence covered-up.
Rex FeaturesMillennium
1996-1999
The gang behind theX Filesspun off a new series about an ex-FBI agent who could read minds. It had a strong start but was cancelled after series 3.
AlamyGrange Hill
1978-2008
30 years of gum-chewing, playground fights, detentions, snogging and spots. This was the British answer to Degrassi Highand man it was good (if you were allowed to watch it). The antitheses to Blue Peter the original main character Tucker was given his own show following his travails after leaving school.
Rex FeaturesTucker’s Luck
1983-1985
Not remotely as good as
Grange Hill
– watching Tucker and his girlfriend Jackie mope about looking for work lasted two years.
Rex FeaturesGossip Girl
2007-2011
The hugely popular teen drama adapted from a best-selling novel was narrated by a blogger voiced by Kirsten Bell. The show spawned a generation of actors from BlakeBlake Lively Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badley, Chance Crawford, Taylor Momsen and Ed Westwick.
WENNValley Girls
2011
Was effectively the ‘24th’ episode of Gossip Girls but never went further than it’s pilot episode.
Rex FeaturesHercules
1995-1999
Kevin Sorbo took on the mantle of Hercules in this cult 90s show. Probably about as far away as you could get to Ancient Greece, the world of Hercules and his best buddy Lolaus is filled with swash buckling, japes and monsters. Xena Warrior Princess was a re-occurring character who was given her own show…
Rex FeaturesXena Warrior Princess
1995-2001
Played by Lucy Lawless, Xena was a hit as fans revelled in her journey to cleanse her former sins by protecting the innocent.
Rex FeaturesDawson’s Creek
1998 – 2003
One of the first teen dramas to really embed itself into the collective psyche of young minds globally – the town of Capeside was home to friends Dawson (James Van Der Beek), Joey (Katie Holmes), Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and Jen (Michelle Williams). Each week we’d follow the dramas (there were many) that Dawson encountered in love, school, friendship, work, parents… But while we laugh now the meme of Dawson crying the show was incredibly moving and let’s face it we were all hooked. It launched the careers of pretty much everyone in it too.
AlamyYoung Americans
2000
The protagonist of this spin-off was Will Krudski who made a brief appearance in Dawson’s Creek but left to attend boarding school where we follow his journey coming to terms with a troubled childhood. Kate Bosworth co-starred as well as Ian Somerhalder.
Rex FeaturesSmallville
2001-2011
Basically Superman – The Early Years. Everyone is good looking, sincere and more or less has a couple of super powers. Hugely popular appeal to fans of sci-fi and teen drama the show ran for an impressive ten years. But did you know about its spin-off?
Rex FeaturesAquaman
2006
After the episode of Smallville titled ‘Aqua’ appeared to have the potential for a spin-off a pilot was produced, but never got picked up. Which is a shame because it was good – so good it became the number one download on iTunes when it was eventually released.
Rex FeaturesFull House
1987-1995
Danny Tanner is a father of three who finds himself widowed while the children are all still small. He invites his brother in law and best friend to help him raise the kids. Guess who played the baby? The Olsen twins…
Fuller House
2016
…who didn’t want to return for the spin-off series because they were too fashion babes.
Rex FeaturesStar Trek
1966-1969
The original series of Captain Kirk and his crew on the starship Enterprise is perhaps the most legendary of all the Star Trek spin-offs but it only in fact ran for 3 seasons…
Rex FeaturesStar Trek: The Next Generation
1987-1994 (7 seasons)
Fast forward a century and the Enterprise is back on the road again but this time with the immensely popular Jean Luc Picard in the Captain’s seat. TNG gave us so many beloved characters including Data the android.
Rex FeaturesStar Trek: Voyager
1995 – 2001 (7 seasons)
While the crew of DPN were keeping the peace, the crew of Voyager were lost in space and had to find a way of shortening the 75-year journey home…
Rex FeaturesStar Trek: Deep Space Nine
1993 – 1999 (7 seasons)
Picking up where TNG left off, Deep Space Nine was a space station that was created to establish peace between waring races.
Rex FeaturesStar Trek: Enterprise
2001 – 2005 (4 seasons)
A prequel to all the Star Trek series – it wasn’t very popular. However the re-boot of the Star Trek franchise in film has meant we are very, very excited for the next Star Trek spin-off…
AlamyStar Trek Discovery
Coming in 2017!
AlamyCSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000-2015
The original crime drama was set in Las Vegas and lasted a whopping 15 seasons. This particular branch of CSI used scientific based evidence for solving crimes.
AlamyCSI:NY
2004-2013
Spinoff number two sees the action move to New York where the team are equally scientists and detectives and make use criminal profiling to solve cases. It lasted nine seasons.
AlamyCSI:Miami
2002-2012
Set in Miami David Caruso and Emily Proctor plays the leads in this 10-season long show where the detective used theories rather than evidence to solve crimes.
