TV's 25 Best Spinoffs Ever
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A DIFFERENT WORLD
Devised as a vehicle for Cosby Show daughter Denise, the historically-black-college-set comedy didn't truly find its groove until Lisa Bonet left the series. Then, a focus on Dwayne and Whitley's budding romance, as well as frank discussions of race, made for the most entertaining type of higher learning.
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ANGEL
When Buffy the Vampire Slayer's brooding vampire ex-boyfriend left Sunnydale to help the helpless in Los Angeles, he set in motion a series that featured heartbreak and humor in equal doses, delivered by one of the best genre ensembles ever.
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BENSON
Soap's Powers That Be chose wisely in centering an offshoot series on the grounded yet wickedly funny Benson DuBois, whose post in Governor Gatling's chaotic household — which often involved sparring with the gov's snooty chief of staff Clayton Endicott III — was a comedic landslide.
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BETTER CALL SAUL
Who could've predicted, while watching Saul Goodman commit any manner of ethical infractions for Breaking Bad's Walt and Jesse, that we'd be even more engrossed by the shady lawyer's origin story?
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DARIA
Few TV characters have embodied teenage ennui as well as Daria Morgendorffer. Originally a classmate of Beavis and Butt-Head, Daria was intelligent, self-assured and delightfully cynical. (In other words, everything we could want from a female character.)
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ELENA OF AVALOR
Freed from a magical amulet worn by Sophia the First, the whip-smart Latina princess rules over the kingdom of Avalor, rides a mystical beast that's half jaguar/half macaw, wears pants (!) when the situation calls for it and still has time to help her little sister with her science homework. What's not to love? (Plus, her dark-even-for-Disney backstory is very intriguing.)
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THE FACTS OF LIFE
Mrs. Garrett left Diff'rent Strokes to become housemother to a gaggle of teenage girls at an all-female boarding school — and it's testament to the warmth of those relationships that we didn't even mind when the action moved to a gourmet eatery (Edna's Edibles) and then a pop-culture gift shop (Over Our Heads).
FAMILY MATTERS
FAMILY MATTERS
After appearing on Perfect Strangers, the Winslow family scored its own sitcom, which deftly balanced heart, humor and social commentary throughout its nine-season run. It also introduced us to the geeky, bespectacled, flood pants-wearing Steve Urkel, and pop culture was never the same.
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THE FLASH
With a joyful spirit and tug-on-your-heartstrings emotion, Arrow's speedster pal quickly proved to be a worthy addition to The CW's superhero team.
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FRASIER
The psychiatrist gave up his seat at Cheers' bar to start a radio advice show in Seattle, and the result — multiple Emmys over a creatively strong, consistently funny 11-year-run — was what any mental health expert would deem a "good life choice."
THE GOOD FIGHT
THE GOOD FIGHT
Sad as we were to see The Good Wife end, watching Diane Lockhart swear, lead and just generally rule CBS All Access' offshoot takes the sting out of it a little bit. (OK, a lot bit.)
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GOOD TIMES
Underneath all the "Dy-no-mite!" shenanigans, the Maude spinoff took a loving, realistic look at how an African-American family in a Chicago housing project made things work.
MAIA MITCHELL, SHERRY COLA, CIERRA RAMIREZ
GOOD TROUBLE
Although it's only one season into its run, the Fosters spinoff has already made an impression by taking what made the original series so great — topical storylines tackled with heart — and putting a more adult, of-the-moment spin on them.
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THE JEFFERSONS
We've got a confession: We've always loved George and Weezy's saga more than All in the Family, aka the show where we first met the upwardly mobile dry cleaner and his family. Can you blame us? A whole lot of good stuff — including bitingly hilarious takes on race and class — unfolded in that "deee-luxe apartment in the sky-high-high."
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LAVERNE & SHIRLEY
It's always a good time to raise a bottle of Shotz to the Happy Days offshoot, which featured Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as roommates, factory workers and galpals hilariously making their dreams come true in working-class Milwaukee.
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MAUDE
From her first appearance on All in the Family, Bea Arthur's Maude was too big, too exciting, too engrossing a personality to be contained in someone else's show. Her eponymous 1970s sitcom championed women's lib and civil rights — and carved itself a polarizing perch in TV history when Maude decided to have an abortion at the end of a 1972 episode.
MELROSE PLACE CAST
MELROSE PLACE
Two years after Beverly Hills, 90210 premiered, this California-set spinoff made its debut, introducing us to a new group of young adults with highly dramatic personal lives. The best soap operas are the ones that embrace their crazy plot twists — and Melrose Place welcomed the insanity with open arms.
NCIS
NCIS
Taking a cue from its protagonist, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, this JAG offshoot followed all the rules of successful spinoff creation. Still narratively compelling (and well-rated) after 16 seasons, NCIS has mastered the art of the network procedural, even spawning two spinoffs of its own.
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THE ORIGINALS
This Vampire Diaries spinoff traded soapy love triangles for familial conflict, mining hundreds of years of drama for five satisfying seasons — not to mention birthing a spinoff of its own, which still airs on The CW to this very day.
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THE SIMPSONS
No one could have predicted that this off-color family — which was first introduced via a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show — would live on for more than 650 episodes (and counting). Needless to say, creator Matt Groening is rolling in the "D'oh!"
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STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
Only a space drama this well written (Trek creator Gene Roddenberry himself, Battlestar Galactica's Ronald D. Moore and Outlander's Ira Steven Behr were among the scribes) and this well acted (whoever cast Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard deserves a week of R&R on the holodeck) could've lived up to the warp drive-sized legacy of the original.
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XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS
Outlast its parent show, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys? Make a household name of Lucy Lawless? Rock a leather-studded skirt? Dance the line between affecting drama and good ol' fantasy fun? Continue to have fan conventions more than a decade after the last episode aired? Your fave could never.
Rockets, Communists, and the Dewey Decimal System
YOUNG SHELDON
The Big Bang Theory's prickliest Ph.D. didn't spring, fully formed, from the pocket protector of Stephen Hawking, as proven by this warm, funny prequel, which allows us to witness Sheldon navigating the vagaries of growing up a child genius in suburban Texas.
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THE COLBERT REPORT
Originally a member of Jon Stewart's Best F—king News Team Ever, The Daily Show correspondent Stephen Colbert (or, rather, "Stephen Colbert") went on to provide some of the millennium's sharpest political commentary. A biting sendup of conservative punditry, The Colbert Report offered pitch-perfect satire — and many shows have since tried, but failed, to duplicate its appeal.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Season 20
LAW & ORDER: SVU
Yes, we did recently point out that the first Law & Order spinoff — now heading into a history-making Season 21 — may have run its course.But in its earlier years, the elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit had crackling chemistry, chilling cases and courtroom scenes that were every bit as gripping as the original L&O's.