Fans of the popular NBC comedy The Office will have even more to love in 2009. The network has just greenlit a spinoff series which will have its debut in February in the highly coveted post Super Bowl XLIII timeslot (sounds like another party to me). Little has been revealed about the series, but one possible plot seems to be giving Dwight his own series to head. Hey, it worked for Frasier.
Spinoff series are either hit or miss. The earliest example I can think of would be The Danny Thomas Show giving birth to The Andy Griffith Show. Happy Days (which was a spinoff of Love, American Style) begat Laverne & Shirley, and Mork and Mindy. Today, it seems nearly impossible to find a show whose title does not include Law & Order or CSI. So, there are times when spinoff series are a good thing.
However, there have been failures to the genre. Although Happy Days did give way to two very popular shows, there was also the dreadful attempt to give Joanie and Chachi their own timeslot. While Cheers gave Kelsey Grammer’s character Frasier Crane his own series, there was also the show known as The Tortellis.
So whatever path the new series based upon the successful show takes, here’s hoping that it is another Frasier and not Joanie Loves Chachi.
Anyone have a favorite spinoff series?
I think it’s a little early to be doing Office spinoffs, but of course I’d give it a try. I can think of a bunch of spinoffs I hated, namely Joey, the spinoff of Friends. As for ones I liked, there are a bunch… My 2 Dads (spinoff of Night Court), Day by Day (Family Ties), Different World (Cosby Show)… There are others I know, but I can’t think of them right now.
Oh, and by the way, if you want to catch up on the Office – TBS has reruns – check tvguide.com
and by the way, the April Fool’s TPIR is up on youtube now: http://youtube.com/watch?v=PkWMH6CuV1w
hilarious. Can’t believe I missed it. I think I would have gotten the joke – they made it pretty obvious.
yep… tuesday nights…. did not know My 2 Dads was a spin-off…. updated the post for TPIR, thanks
I’m a fan of Stargate. I enjoyed SG1 with MacGyver, excuse me, Richard Dean Anderson as O’Neill (“Two L’s, not like that [i]other[/i] O’Neil…” [from the movie]) and now enjoy Atlantis.
Funny AFJ aside (yes I enjoyed it), is *that* Carey’s best as host? It seems I haven’t missed much on TPiR. Is he really comfortable in such a non-comedic role anyway?
He still seems off a bit to me from what i am able to see, but he tries.
I like Drew Carey. He’s really good at improv comedy, so some of his quips and the way he reacts sometimes to weird prizes is hilarious. Bob was great of course just because he knew everything about anything that ever happened on the show. But he always seemed kind of snotty. Drew seems more real, and he always makes sure to say a personal hi to everyone who gets chosen to bid. Besides, he sent me an autographed picture, so I can’t complain about him 😉
D – what’s AFJ?
AFJ = April Fool’s Joke
I like Drew, too. After 30+ years doing a show, it would seem to me that someone should know all there is to know. Plus, he had that streak of harassment issues with a few of the models. At least Drew is willing to have a pregnant model on the show.