Five Great Television Spin-Offs

What is television without spin-offs? Many fans look at spin-offs in different. By many they are viewed as an homage to the parent series; they keep alive the traditions of the original shows while bringing something new to the airwaves. Fans reference series like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit or Criminal Intent and Laverne & Shirley among this category. There have been many popular spin-offs to some of television's most popular series: Angel to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mork & Mindy to Happy Days, and so on. Here's a look at five of the top television spin-offs; they may not be the cream of the crop (as an avid Trekkie, you'll note I didn't include the treasured Star Trek: The Next Generation series) . . . but they are certainly among the contenders!

The Jeffersons (1975)

The Jeffersons spun-off of the popular All in the Family series. While All in the Family featured a Caucasian biased, loud-mouth central character (Archie Bunker), The Jeffersons featured a Black biased, loud-mouth central character named George Jefferson. The show began after a tearful farewell between Edith Bunker and Louise Jefferson. From that point on, the Jeffersons "moved on up" to become one of the great sitcoms of its time. Though the show focused mainly on humor, the series also sometimes tackled more serious issues. It was also the first show to feature an interracial couple, which the show took on both seriously and humorously (George Jefferson rudely referred to the couple's children as "zebras"). The show ran for eleven seasons, compared to its parent show's nine.

The Muppet Show (1976)

The Muppet Show took a running leap from the popularity of Sesame Street. While Sesame Street focused primarily on educating young children, The Muppet Show served as a forum of sorts for popular Muppet characters to showcase their talents. The show stars Kermit the Frog, who was also a popular character on Sesame Street. However, where Kermit was formerly merely a cast-member (albeit a popular one) on Sesame Street, he took on the role of a manager to the rowdy cast of characters that made up the Muppet's variety theater. This new Muppet series opened the door for the Muppets to be seen as an entertainment source for all ages, rather than merely children's entertainment. Though dwarfed in comparison to the still-popular Sesame Street's term on the air waves, the series' fifteen year run is nothing to cough at.

A Different World (1987)

A Different World began as a spin-off of The CosbyShow, focusing on the story of Denise Huxtable and her years as a college student. The show addressed several issues The CosbyShow stayed a little distant from, namely race relations and issues considered more particular to the Black experience. While A Different World originally focused on Denise's college years, it soon began to focus on the stories of other characters, including Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert (whose romantic tensions came to serve as a central aspect of the show's plot). Whereas The Cosby Show served as more of a family-oriented show, A Different World shifted the focus primarily to social issues. The show also served as driving force to higher enrollment numbers in historically Black colleges, as the series was set at the fictional Hillman College, an historically Black college in Virginia. The show aired for six seasons, compared to The Cosby Show's eight.

Frasier (1993)

If Cheers was the place where everybody knew your name, Frasier was the place where everybody knew your problems! The show focused on the life of Cheers' regular Frasier Crane after the break-up of his marriage on Cheers led him to return to Seattle. The series featured several cameos by characters from Cheers, and engaged many of the earlier show's plot devices. For example, on Cheers, Norm's wife Vera was often mentioned but never seen; on Frasier, the same is done in regard to Maris, Niles Crane's wife and Frasier's sister-in-law. Both Frasier and Cheers ran for eleven years; Frasier, outdid Cheers with 37 Emmy Awards (compared to Cheers' 28).

The Colbert Report (2005)

Like its predecessor, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report takes a humorously skewed-view look at major political news. The host, Stephen Colbert, started as an anchor on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; Colbert's character was known for stating terribly and hilariously misrepresented facts concerning major news events. As on The Daily Show, the Colbert Report presents audiences with major news stories and offers humorous analyses of those stories; it differs from its parent show in that while Stewart typically poked fun at the media's representation or the political response to such stories, Colbert mocks the traditional political media personalities' analysis of these stories. In particular, Colbert is said to represent a humorous caricature of Fox's Bill O'Reilly. The series has been nominated for several Emmy's, and has aired for a mere four seasons (its parent series will enter its fourteenth season next year). In those four seasons, however, it has quickly become one of the most popular series on television.