When a show reaches certain levels of popularity, it makes sense to create spin-offs telling parallel stories, but some spin-offs fall flat when trying to replicate the original. Not every spin-off can be a success. While they do what they can to bring beloved characters into a new setting or repeat the formula that made the original special, they don’t always manage to live up to the hype and popularity of their predecessors.
While some spin-offs manage to outshine the original shows, like The Flash or Star Trek: The Next Generation, others struggle to find their own distinct format. The thing is, even when the spin-offs don’t manage to perform as well as the original, it doesn’t always mean they are inherently bad shows, but because they will undoubtedly be compared against the original, it can contribute to a lack of success. For shows like How I Met Your Father and That 80’s Show, it wasn’t enough to just take the format and change the cast, the shows needed to become unique.
10 The Winchesters (2022 – 2023)
Supernatural (2005 – 2020)
Supernatural was one of the most widely loved shows on The CW, and it managed to keep going for 15 years. But when the show ended and the new spin-off series, The Winchesters, launched, it failed to reach the same heights as its predecessor. Jenson Ackles returned as the narrator, and later in the first season, but even this couldn’t save the prequel show. Unfortunately, the networks agreed and decided to cancel the show after just one season.
9 Joey (2004 – 2006)
Friends (1994 – 2004)
Friends is iconic and became the go-to sitcom for a generation, but when the series wrapped in 2004, a short-lived spin-off starring Matt LeBlanc’s Joey was brought in to fill the gap. Joey left his friends and his life in New York behind to follow more acting opportunities in Los Angeles. He moves in with one of his sisters and his nephew, and the show delivers some funny and heartwarming moments. Unfortunately, following the mega-hit that was Friends, doomed the show, and it only ran for two seasons before being axed.
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10 Popular Sitcoms That Continued With Spinoffs
Spin-offs are very common, especially when there is an existent fanbase, and many popular sitcoms continued the story via one or more spin-offs.
8 Katy Keene (2020)
Riverdale (2017 – 2023)
A spin-off from the incredibly popular mystery teen drama series, Riverdale, Katy Keene is a musical dramedy. The change in tone and genre is just one of the things that potentially made this spin-off too different to succeed instead of too similar. The lead character, Katy Keene, played by Lucy Hale, appears briefly in the main series in a cameo crossover, but the spin-off is set five years after the main show, despite being released concurrently with the original. The series is connected, but more obviously through the Archie comics, which already have a very loose relationship to the series.
7 The Golden Palace (1992 – 1993)
The Golden Girls (1985 – 1992)
The Golden Girls was a classic sitcom starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty from the 80s and 90s. Four older women living together and navigating their golden years. When the series wrapped up, CBS wanted to find a way to continue the story and popularity of the original, so The Golden Palace was launched, starring three of the women as they embark on a new business venture running a hotel. It failed to capture the magic of the original and was canceled after its first season.
6 Joanie Loves Chachi (1982 – 1983)
Happy Days (1974 – 1984)
Joanie Loves Chachi is a notoriously bad spin-off of the series Happy Days. The original series launched several spin-offs with shows like Mork and Mindy, and Laverne and Shirley taking off, but Joanie Loves Chachi didn’t connect with audiences and was canceled shortly after it was released. The show followed two of the teenagers from the original series as they moved to Chicago to pursue dreams of becoming musicians and frequently featured musical numbers, but the series failed to hold the interest of the audience and was soon canceled.
5 Baywatch Nights (1995 – 1997)
Baywatch (1989 – 2001)
Baywatch was a highly popular series that ran throughout all of the 90s, but there was an ill-conceived spin-off that was launched halfway through. Baywatch Nights saw the central character of the main series, Mitch Buchannon (David Hasselhoff) moonlight as a crime-busting detective. When the first season struggled to gain traction, the series was retooled to include science fiction elements and mystery similar to The X-Files, but the series flopped and was canceled.
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Some shows are so engaging with brilliant characters that they demand a spin-off to expand the narrative, other spin-offs aren’t quite as necessary.
4 That ’80s Show (2002)
That ’70s Show (1998 – 2006)
Technically, That ’80s Show doesn’t call itself a spin-off and the show has no solid connections or crossovers with characters from the original. However, the format, style, concept, and premise are all directly inspired by That ’70s Show. The series even carried over some of the behind-the-scenes talent from That ’70s Show with the show’s creators and staff. That ’70s Show follows a group of teenagers growing up in rural Wisconsin. That ’80s Show is set in the following decade, with a completely new cast in San Diego, California. The show received overwhelmingly negative reviews and was canceled before airing the season 1 finale.
3 The Brady Brides (1981)
The Brady Bunch (1969 – 1974)
The Brady Bunch is a heartwarming and enduring sitcom that tells the story of two families becoming one. The Brady Brides was released, perhaps too long after the original series ended, and focused on two of the Brady girls deciding to buy a home together with their husbands. The husbands clash and the balance in the home is tenuous as neither couple has particularly good chemistry and the show revolves around the two girls. Ultimately, it was canceled after a single season.
2 Mrs. Columbo (1979 – 1980)
Columbo (1971 – 1978)
Columbo was a long-running crime drama TV series following the brilliant, but frequently disheveled detective, Columbo. The original show frequently referenced Columbo’s wife, but it was an ongoing joke that she was never on-screen and little was revealed about the character. In 1979, a spin-off was created that focused on his wife, played by Kate Mulgrew, as she solved crimes, but the show wasn’t endorsed by the stars of the original. The series received negative feedback and tried to alter its course by having the character divorce and revert to her maiden name, but it didn’t save the show, and it ran for just 13 episodes before being canceled.
1 How I Met Your Father (2022 – 2023)
How I Met Your Mother (2005 – 2014)
How I Met Your Mother was an innovative approach to the boy meets girl narrative, with Ted Mosby telling his kids a story about meeting their mother and the story playing out over nine seasons before Ted finally meets his wife. Despite the show’s divisive ending, it was extremely popular throughout its entire run. How I Met Your Father was developed to build on the same concept and modernize it, while flipping the narrative to center on a mother telling the story of how she found her husband. The show failed to attract a decent audience and was canceled after just two seasons.
