Best & Worst TV Spin-offs: Worst: CSI: Miami (2002-present)

From the same website that gave us the Top 20 TV Cartoons from the 80s (plug plug ), here's another list. With a few exceptions most of you will have heard of these ones.

Here we go ...

Best: The Simpsons (1989-present)
Spun-off from: The Tracey Ullman Show (1987 to 1990), a variety hour that included one-minute animated segments starring a crudely drawn, yellow-skinned family.
Hit or Miss? Hit obviously. The Simpsons has run on television for two decades, influenced popular culture, and spawned a big-screen adaptation.
Factoid: It wasn't Simpsons creator Matt Groening who made his creations yellow their distinctive skin tone was decided by colourist Georgie Peluse, who reasoned that the family would look even more bizarre with flesh-coloured skin.



I keep forgetting that The Simpsons didn't start off on their own.

 

I'd forgotten it, too; but the early reruns do look exceedingly strange.

 

I find it impossible to watch the first season at this point without cringing. It evolved a lot over the years and it's not something you immediately notice unless you go back and watch those older eps.

 

I prefer Chief Wiggum P.I.

 

[image=http://www.3click.tv/mp4//The%20Simpsons/season7/metadata/55590.jpg]
[Troy]Ha.ha.ha - they haven't changed a bit![/Troy]

Onto our next one ...

Worst: The Lone Gunmen (2001)
Spun-off from: The X-Files (1992-2002), a spooky drama about the unusual cases of FBI Agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson).
Hit or Miss? Miss. The spin-off revolved around three conspiracy-investigating weirdos: Richard "Ringo" Langly (Dean Haglund), Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood) and John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Hardwood). Low ratings and a weirdly comedic tone quickly led to the show's demise.
Factoid: X-Files mastermind Chris Carter also created the short-lived TV series Millennium, which was set in the same universe though was not a spin-off proper.



Never watched this, but based on the description I can imagine why it failed.

 

The problem was: they were supporting actors (though they did try to turn Braidwood into the lead--not successfully.) I loved them in "The X-Files", but believe me, this did not work, at all, at all.

 

Best: Torchwood (2006-present)
Spun-off from: The new incarnation of Doctor Who (2005-present), which follows time-travelling alien who saves the universe on a weekly basis.
Hit or Miss? Hit. Torchwood was born out of Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies' desire to produce a sexed-up version of the sci-fi classic. Though the lusty adventures of bisexual leading man Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) have been scorned by some, the series has earned award nods and a cult following.
Factoid: Torchwood claims a number of firsts for the Doctor Who franchise, such as sex scenes, same-sex kisses and colourful language.

I've seen the Dr Who episode that established the organisation of Torchwood, but I've never actually watched an episode of this series. Heard it's good though - and that it's getting a US version (hope they don't screw it up).

Another factoid: 'Torchwood' in an anagram of 'Doctor Who'.

 

This one I haven't seen or even heard of.

 

The first two series of Torchwood were mostly meh, IMHO, with the exception of a few pretty good episodes.

The third series, Children of Earth, was simply phenomenal, and left me yelling at my laptop "Damn you, RTD, why can't you write this well for Doctor Who, too???"

 

Got to see this, obviously.

 

Best: NCIS (2003-present)
Spun-off from: JAG (1995-2005), a legal drama chronicling the cases of US navy lawyers.
Hit or Miss? Hit. NCIS has never been a critical favourite, but that hasn't stopped viewers from tuning in in droves to watch a team of wise-cracking navy agents solve crimes. Now in its sixth season the show is stronger than ever, recently scoring series-high ratings.
Factoid: In its first season the show was titled Navy NCIS. "NCIS" stands for "Naval Criminal Investigative Service", so the first "Navy" was quickly dropped for being redundant.

I don't watch this - my mum does however and loves it. I never knew it was a spin-off from JAG either (and it started 15 years ago??? I still remember the 1st season with the blond chick - I feel old ).

 

My mother watches it too. I've seen parts of a number of episodes, and have never once felt compelled to watch a full episode.

 

NCIS isn't a great show, but it's (mostly) fun. I probably prefer JAG over NCIS, but I still like NCIS. The backdoor pilot of NCIS was pretty good - JAG's main character, Harman Rabb, was accused of murder, and Gibbs and crew came in and investigated.

 

NCIS bugs hell out of me. It's got this weird tongue in cheek vibe that just doesn't work. It's like it can't decide if it wants to be a thriller or a spoof of thrillers. I loathe it. The only thing worse than the lame comedy is the labored drama. Mark Harmon deserves better than this.

 

Worst: Young Americans (2000)
Spun-off from: Dawson's Creek (1998-2003). Both series were melodramatic, angst-ridden teen dramas about young folks living in seemingly idyllic towns.
Hit or Miss? Miss. The opening episode of this terrible teen drama, about life at a small-town boarding school, included incest plots, obnoxious product placement, and gems such as "Oh, my God I think I'm a gay".
Factoid: The career-launching series featured early appearances from actors including Ian Somerhalder and Kate Bosworth.

The ties with Dawson's Creek were last-minute - the network thought it'd be a smart idea to promote their new teen series by having a character (Will) feature in a couple of episodes of their (then) flagship series' 3rd season. It didn't work.

 

Not heard of this one, either; but then, I never watched "Dawson's Creek"

 

Wow! Never heard of this one. Too bad; sounds very entertainingly awful.

 

I agree. I've seen bits and pieces of NCIS, but never felt compelled to watch an entire episode. JAG was a much better series as they occasionally allowed very subtle elements of science fiction to creep into the story.

 

Some other factoids concerning Young Americans:
* The incest plot - one of the male students (Sean) hooks up with a local girl (Bella - Bosworth's character), it was revealed in the 2nd(?) episode that Sean's father had a fling with Bella's mother years earlier and ... well you can figure it out. Funniest moment was when Sean has discovered the truth and meets Bella to tell her, only for her to immediately start making out with him.
* "Oh my god I'm gay!" - another student (Hamilton) finds himself attracted to a fellow student (Jake) - turns out Jake is actually a female who is masquerading as a male to attend the school . So it's ok, Hamilton was not gay.

The girl who played Jake was also in the running to play Brandon in the film Boys Don't Cry - she was beaten out in the end by Hilary Swank.

 

Best: Daria (1997-2002)
Spun-off from: Beavis and Butt-head (1993-1998), a crude 'toon about two constantly sniggering teenage losers.
Hit or Miss? Hit. The monotone, bespectacled Daria Morgendorffer left Beavis and Butt-head behind and won fans with her dry brand of sarcastic, disaffected teenage wit. A straight-to-DVD Daria movie has long been rumoured.
Factoid: Daria finally hit DVD in 2010 - complicated legal issues surrounding the music used in the series held it up for years.

I saw a few episodes way back in the 90s**, it seemed ok.

**(specifically, one was an episode where Daria is teamed with the school jock for an assignment, resulting in Daria becoming 'popular' with all the boys due to the jock hanging around with her all the time and her sister getting ticked off at not getting any attention)

 

::looks at title::

That was the fastest title edit I've ever seen (it took only like 30 secs).

(though I see my constant attempts to get the 2 ':' out of the title continue to fail )

 

Ah, Twelfth Night...

 

Worst: Baywatch Nights (1995-1997)
Spun-off from: Baywatch (1989-2001), the TV show that depicted big-breasted women in tight swimsuits running in slow-motion. Oh, and lifesaving was somehow involved, too.
Hit or Miss? Miss. Who on earth thought it would be a good idea for head lifeguard Mitch (David Hasselhoff) to leave the beach behind and start up his own crime-solving private investigation agency?
Factoid: The show's second season took on a supernatural twist when Mitch began looking into X-Files-esque mysteries. Just when you thought things couldn't get worse...

Never seen it, but c'mon - the Hoff investigating the supernatural? What were they thinking???

 

I know not.