Rant: Spinoffs

So, sometimes, you'll have a good show. Sometimes, the show will be so popular that the showrunner decides to have one character leave and have his/her own show, or take a theme from the show and reapply it somewhere. Sometimes this works. Most of the time it doesn't. These are called Spinoff series.

I'm not opposed to the existence of spinoffs, I just think they're tough to pull off, mostly because a lot of them just feel like rehashes of the parent show in a different setting with some not (or not so new) characters. If the writers can make it different and, obviously, make it good, then I'm down. But a lot of the time that's too much to ask.

Examples of Good Spinoffs:

Torchwood: Doctor Who, as it turns out, is the most spun off show in existence. This is just the one I'm most familiar with. So, Captain Jack Harkness, the immortal time traveling con man first intoruduced in season 1 of NuWho, ends up as leader of the Cardiff chapter of the Torchwood Institute, and organization introduced in NuWho season 2. This honestly got off to a really rocky start, with most season 1 pretty much sucking and failing to overcome early dismissal as "Doctor Who for grownups" with stories that just seemed like stuff they couldn't do on Doctor Who. Season 2 show up though and pretty much saved things, carving out a nice little niche for Torchwood to inhabit after amping up the pace, character developement, and frankly the writing quality. Season 3 was a five epispode mini series and was absolute masterpiece, and was the only time I have like Torchwood better than it's parent. Season 4 sucked. But overall, Torchwood is good.

Angel: One of the better spinoff series is Angel. So the vampire with a soul leaves the love of his life/undeath for her own good and heads up to LA. Naturally, he starts fighting vampires and demons because it makes him feel good about himself, which is something you need when your a demon constantly tortured by a soul your not meant to have. He runs into Cordelia of all people, and Irish half-demon Doyle, and they form Angel Investigations, a detective agency/ demon fighting force. Once again, it got off to a bit of a rough start in season 1, a lot of which I would describe as OK with a side of greatness, but it soon found it's niche as a fantasy-film noire type deal, becoming darker, grittier, and more philosophical than it's parent. Was it ever better then it's parent? Overall, probably not, but I try to avoid comparing the two because they became pretty different. But believe me when I say that it was kicked some pretty serious ass.

Examples of Bad Spinoffs:

The Cleveland Show: I don't like Family Guy very much either, but this is somewhat painfully bad.

That 80's Show: Do I even need to explain this one?

Caprica: Maybe this is just lost on me because I've never seen the parent (BSG) but this has got to be one of the most melodramatic, predictable, and poorly conceived.

So, that's my rant on spinoffs. Be sure to comment, subscribe, and check my other posts.