We Love a Classic TV Spinoff: here Are 12 Worth Rewatching
The first television spin-off is considered to be The Adventures of Champion, the 1955 to 1956 series focusing on the famous horse from The Gene Autry Show. Since then, there have been countless series spun out of hit shows, but for every success like The Jeffersons from All in the Family or Frasier from Cheers, there have been dozens of others that have lasted only a season or two, and what follows is a look back at 12 classic TV spin-offs that you may have forgotten, spanning from the 1950s to the 1990s.
1. The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957-1960)
ORIGINAL SERIES: I Love Lucy
CAST: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley, "Little Ricky," various guest stars
PREMISE: A series of 13 one-hour episodes aired over the course of three years that featured the regulars as well as a heavy reliance on guest stars inspired by the success of the "Hollywood" episodes of I Love Lucy.
2. Fish (1977 to 1978): Spinoff
ORIGINAL SERIES: Barney Miller
CAST: Abe Vigoda (Fish), Florence Stanley (Bernice Fish), Barry Gordon (Charlie), John Cassisi (Victor), Denise Miller (Jilly), Lenny Bari (Mike), Todd Bridges (Loomis), Sarah Natoli (Diana)
PREMISE: Detective Phil Fish from Barney Miller and his wife, Bernice, get their own show serving as foster parents to five "persons in need of supervision." Anyone who knows Fish, would suspect he's not up to the challenge, but you might be surprised.
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3. Tabitha (1976 to 1978)
ORIGINAL SERIES: Bewitched
CAST: Lisa Hartman (Tabitha Stephens), David Ankrum (Adam Stephens), Karen Morrow (Aunt Minerva), Robert Urich (Paul Thurston), Marvin Decker (Mel Stewart)
PREMISE: Darrin and Samantha Stephens' little girl is all grown up and works as a production assistant at a Los Angeles television station. Like mom, she's got magical abilities, though her brother, Adam, does not, as he disapproves of her using them — much as dad did their mother.
4. Mrs. Columbo (1979): Spinoff
ORIGINAL SERIES: Columbo
CAST: Kate Mulgrew (Kate Columbo/Kate Callahan), Lili Haydn (Jenny Columbo/Henny Callahan), Henry Jones (Josh Alden), Don Stroud (Sergeant Mike Varrick)
PREMISE: This was definitely an odd one — taking the wife of Lt. Columbo, often mentioned by the character as played by Peter Falk, and turning her into a new reporter raising their daughter and solving crimes. Pretty much everyone hated the idea, so Kate Columbo became Kate Callahan and Mrs. Columbo was retitled Kate Loves a Mystery, but it didn't help: the show was canceled after 13 episodes.
5. The Ropers (1979 to 1980)
ORIGINAL SERIES: Three's Company
CAST: Norman Fell (Stanley Roper), Audra Lindley (Helen Roper), Jeffrey Tambor (Jeffrey P. Brookes III), Patricia McCormack (Anne Brookes), Evan Cohen (David Brookes)
PREMISE: Due to the popularity of Three's Company, Stanley and Helen Roper sold their apartment building and moved to an upscale neighborhood, where the former continued to embarrass the latter.
The show initially did great until it was moved to Saturday night and ratings plummeted and was canceled after its second season.
6. Flo (1980 to 1981): Spinoff
ORIGINAL SERIES: Alice
CAST: Polly Holiday (Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry), Geoffrey Lewis (Earl Tucker), Jim B. Baker (Farley Waters). Sudie Bond (Mama Velma Castleberry), Joyce Bulifant (Miriam Wiloughby)
PREMISE: Flo "Kiss My Grits" Castleberry heads back home to Fort Worth Texas, where she becomes the owner of what becomes "Flo's Yellow Rose," a rundown roadhouse she's trying to bring back to life with the help of old and new friends.
7. Gloria (1982 to 1983)
ORIGINAL SERIES: All in the Family
CAST: Sally Struthers (Gloria Bunker Stivic), Burgess Meredith (Dr. Willard Adams), Jo de Winter (Dr. Maggie Lawrence), Christian Jacobs (Joey Stivic), Lou Richards (Clark V. Uhley, Jr.)
PREMISE: After her husband Mike leaves her for one of his students and decides to live at a nudist commune, Gloria Bunker Stivic and her son Joey move back to New York from California, where she tries to get her life back on track. Part of that involves taking a job at as a veterinarian's assistant, working for doctors Willard Adams and Maggie Lawrence.
8. AfterMASH (1983 to 1985): Spinoff
ORIGINAL SERIES: M*A*S*H
CAST: Harry Morgan (Colonel Sherman T. Potter), Jamie Farr (Sergeant Maxwell Klinger), William Christopher (Father John Mulcahy), Rosalind Chao (Soon-Lee Klinger)
PREMISE: Following the Korean War, Colonel Sherman T. Potter, Sergeant Maxwell Klinger and Father John Mulchahy find themselves reunited at General Pershin Veterans' Hospital located in River Bend, Missouri.
9. A Man Called Hawk (1989)
ORIGINAL SERIES: Spenser: For Hire
CAST: Avery Brooks (Hawk), Moses Gunn ("Old Man")
PREMISE: Hawk leaves Spenser and Boston behind as he relocates to Washington, D.C. where he helps those in need and utilizes his particular skill set to settle old debts and scores.
10. Three's a Crowd (1984 to 1985): Spinoff
ORIGINAL SERIES: Three's Company
CAST: John Ritter (Jack Tripper), Mary Cadorette (Victoria "Vicky" Bradford), Robert Mandan (James Bradford), Alan Campbell (E.Z. Taylor)
PREMISE: Picking up where Three's Company ends, Jack Tripper and lady love Vicky Bradford move into the apartment above his restaurant, where he tries to convince her to marry him — made more difficult when her father buys the building and does everything he can to interfere with their relationship.
11. 704 Hauser (1994)
ORIGINAL SERIES: All in the Family
CAST: John Amos (Ernie Cumberbatch), Lynnie Godfrey (Rose Cumberbatch), T.E. Russell (Thurgood Marshall "Goodie" Cumberbatch), Maura Tierney (Cherlyn Markowitz)
PREMISE: In this final spin-off from All in the Family, there's a certain irony in the fact (which anyone who watched the original series will get) that the Cumberbatch family — a black family — moves into the home that had previously been owned by Archie and Edith Bunker at the address 704 Hauser Street.
Also created by Norman Lear, it was an attempt to explore current issues the way the original show had 20 years earlier.
12. Baywatch Nights (1995 to 1997): Spinoff
ORIGINAL SERIES: Baywatch
CAST: David Hasselhoff (Mitch Buchannon), Angie Harmon (Ryan McBride)
PREMISE: Because he apparently doesn't need to sleep, Mitch Bucahannon, who works as a lifeguard during the day, moonlights as a private detective in season 1, while pursuing threats of the supernatural kind in season 2 ala The X-Files.
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