The 20 Greatest TV Spin-Offs Of All Time
#7: Better Call Saul. #6: Daria.
10. Degrassi Junior High (1987 — 1989)
This was the second show in the Degrassi franchise, which started with The Kids of Degrassi Street. The show follows the kids from the previous show as they start high school and deal with the harsh realities of growing up. Degrassi Junior High was a rite of passage for anyone who watched ABC after school in the ‘90s because it combined melodrama with the reality of teenage life.
Nothing was off-limits as the show featured storylines about drugs, child abuse, teen pregnancy, sexuality, suicide, racism and divorce. A whole generation of Australian kids learnt about AIDS when the school bully, Dwayne Myers, became HIV-positive. There were fun times, too, like when Joey Jeremiah streaked in the cafeteria. Degrassi Junior High was homework… for life!
9. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999 — ongoing)
Any excuse for more *THUNK THUNK*. Originally titled Law & Order: Sex Crimes (the network asked for a title change), the show is the first spin-off of Law & Order that is based on the real SVU unit in New York City responsible for investigating heinous sex crimes. The show was just renewed for its 19th season and has managed to outlive its predecessor, which was cancelled in 2010. It’s currently the longest-running non-animated scripted TV series in the US and still has rapper turned actor, Ice-T, dropping the best cop zingers on TV.
8. Laverne and Shirley (1976 — 1983)
One of the many Happy Days spin-offs! Fonzie’s buddies, Laverne (Penny Marshall) and Shirley (Cindy Williams), brewery workers from Milwaukee, also got their own show. It’s one of the first significant hit sitcoms to feature two female leads, and most often remembered for its iconic show opener. This has been replicated a bunch of times in popular culture, most notably in Wayne’s World. The show launched the career of Penny Marshall who would go on to direct the films Awakenings and A League of their Own.
7. Better Call Saul (2015 — ongoing)
Collective gulps could be heard around the world when Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad, announced there would be a spin-off prequel series focusing on the backstory of dodgy lawyer, Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk). Audiences were still recovering from the Breaking Bad finale, which ended in 2013; it didn’t feel right to go back so soon. Oh, how wrong we were.
The story focuses on how a middle-aged lawyer, Jimmy McGill (Odenkirk) becomes his alter-ego, Saul Goodman. Along for the ride from Breaking Bad is standover man, Mike (Jonathan Banks) who begins the series working as a parking lot attendant before his wider set of skills are put to use, and that’s when characters from Breaking Bad start showing up. Better Call Saul is proving to be just as good as Breaking Bad.
6. Daria (1997 — 2001)
Daria Morgendorffer (voiced by Tracy Grandstaff) first appeared on Beavis and Butthead and was written into the show so a smart female character could outwit its idiotic main characters. As Beavis and Butthead was ending, MTV asked if there was a way of keeping it going with a spin-off. The show’s writers came back with Daria and it debuted in 1997, spawning five seasons and creating a new sarcastic hero for the MTV generation.
5. Colbert Report (2005 — 2015)
America’s brave defender of “truthiness”, Stephen Colbert, began reporting for The Daily Show in 1997 and became a popular character on the show. Colbert satirised right-wing political pundits like Bill O’Reilly and The Daily Show began making commercials promoting Colbert’s own show as a running gag. Then Jon Stewart encouraged the real Colbert to pitch his own show to Comedy Central and The Colbert Report was born. The spin-off ran for 10 seasons, won six Emmys, two Grammys and the prestigious Peabody Award (the TV equivalent of a Pulitzer prize).
4. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 — 1994)
Okay, there are lots of Star Trek spin-offs — nerds don’t @ me — but TNG was the first significant attempt at getting more Star Trek on TV. Set 100 years after the original series, it introduced a new crew aboard the starship Enterprise led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). At first it was met with rage from purist Star Trek fans but most came around, eventually, while the series amassed a whole new “generation” of fans … I’ll beam myself out.
3. Mork and Mindy (1978 — 1982)
The series that turned Robin Williams into a household name playing the alien, Mork, is a spin-off of Happy Days. Following Williams’ appearance in the Happy Days episode ‘My Favourite Orkan’, the show’s producer, Gray Marshall, offered Williams his own series. The show lasted four seasons and set the stage for Williams to become a megastar.
2. Frasier (1993 — 2004)
Psychiatrist Dr Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) was a regular on Cheers and, behind-the-scenes, Grammer made a deal with the show’s producers to develop a series together once the hit show about a bar ended. After several failed attempts, Grammer agreed to revive Crane in a show that saw him moving from Boston (where Cheers was set) to his hometown of Seattle to care for his father, Martin (John Mahoney), while dealing with his neurotic brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce).
Frasier became such a huge hit many forgot about its spin-off origins while it bathed in 37 Emmys, ratings of over 30 million viewers an episode, and entered the words “tossed salad and scrambled eggs” into pop culture vernacular forever.
1. The Simpsons (1989 — ongoing)
From little things, big things grow. Though it’s often forgotten, The Simpsons began as animated shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987. During three seasons of the show, 48 one-minute shorts aired featuring Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. In 1989, the cartoon family went from one-minute shorts to their own 30-minute show that debuted on Fox. The Simpsons is currently the longest-running American sitcom of all time with more than 600 episodes to its name.
The Simpsons filled the animated world of Springfield with hilarious pop culture references, kooky characters and a family who loved each other despite their flaws, which endeared them to families all around the world. It became such a pop cultural phenomenon that entire conversations can be had using only quotes from the show. Oxford Dictionaries have even claimed the show has altered the English language. There’s only one thing left to do in a moment like this: strut.
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Cameron Williams is a writer and film critic based in Melbourne who occasionally blabs about movies on ABC radio. Co-founder of Graffiti With Punctuation and The Popcorn Junkee. He has a slight Twitter addiction: @MrCamW.
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