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Main articles: Spin-off
'Media spin-off' is the process of deriving new radio or television programs from existing ones (see list of television spin-offs). Spin-offs work with varying degrees of success. Some become very popular and last for a number of seasons, others exceed the popularity of the forebearing show and others are poorly received and have considerably shorter life spans.
This phenomenon was already established in radio before the advent of commercial broadcast television, for example ''The Great Gildersleeve'' was a spin-off from ''Fibber McGee and Molly''. ''The Great Guildersleeve'' might even have been the very first spin-off, when the popular character from ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' was given his own show.
Jack Benny's popular radio program spawned at least two spin-offs when blustery bandleader Phil Harris and naif Dennis Day launched their own programs after their success on Benny's show.
In genre fiction, the term parallels the usage in television; it is usually meant to indicate a substantial ''change in narrative viewpoint and activity'' from that (previous) storyline based around the activities of the series' principal protagonist(s) and so is a shift to that action and overall narrative thread of some other protagonist(s), which now becomes the central or main thread (storyline) of the new sub-series. The ''new protagonist'' generally appears first as a minor or supporting character in the main story line within a given milieu, and it is very common for the previous protagonist to have a supporting or cameo role, at the least as a historical mention, in the new sub-series.
Television spin-offs come in several variations, including:
★ A supporting character or characters in an existing series is given their own show in which they become the main focus. The original series continues without them and there may be some crossover of characters between the shows on occasion (e.g. ''Angel'' from ''Buffy The Vampire Slayer'', ''Flo'' from ''Alice'', ''The Ropers'' from ''Three's Company'', ''Daria'' from ''Beavis and Butt-head'', ''Torchwood'' from ''Doctor Who'', ''Softly, Softly'' which features the characters of Barlow and Watt from ''Z-Cars'').
★ New characters are specially incorporated into an existing series for the sole purpose of being launched into their own show that will feature no regular characters from the original series, except possibly as guest appearances (e.g. ''Empty Nest'' from ''The Golden Girls'', ''Melrose Place'' from ''Beverly Hills, 90210'', or ''Boston Legal'' from ''The Practice'').
★ Regular characters from a series continue in their own series after the original series ends (e.g. ''George and Mildred'' and ''Robin's Nest'' from ''Man About the House''; ''Frasier'' from ''Cheers''; ''Joey'' from ''Friends''). This is usually done with the same actors, though not always.
★ A new series is started with the same theme and existing in the same universe as the original series, but may not necessarily have the same characters. Examples of this type are the ''Star Trek'', ''Stargate'', ''Law & Order'', and '' series. These are sometimes called ''franchises''.
★ A series that begins in one medium is branched out into other media with material that may or may not be canonically related to the primary production. Examples of this include ''Tokimeki Memorial'', which began as a video game and later branched out into anime and CD audio dramas, and ''Star Wars'', which includes the six feature films, numerous novels, and video games set within the same universe.
★ The main character from ''All in the Family'', Archie Bunker, continued in a retooled version of the series called ''Archie Bunker's Place''.
★ The main cast of ''Golden Girls'', minus character Dorothy Zbornak, continued in a retooled version of the series called ''The Golden Palace''.
★ After the seventh year of ''Da Vinci's Inquest'', most of the main characters returned the next season for ''Da Vinci's City Hall''. The new series carries over some of the same plots threads, the difference being a slight shift in themes that began in the last season of the original series. ''City Hall'' is sometimes even referred to as the eighth season of ''Inquest''.
★ Before the final season of ''M
★ A
★ S
★ H'' the main cast voted as to whether or not to continue the series. The final vote was 4–3 against. William Christopher, Jamie Farr, and Harry Morgan wanted to continue work on ''M
★ A
★ S
★ H'', and, after the eleventh season, they began work on ''AfterMASH''. It lasted just two seasons and 30 episodes, with one unaired (the final one).
★ The popular cartoon '' was brought back after cancellation with a new name and a new smoother animation style. ''The New Batman Adventures'' only lasted 24 episodes.
★ ''Angel '' was a popular spin-off, based on the character of Angel (the vampire with a soul) from ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. The series ran for five seasons.
★ ''All in the Family'' is responsible for several spin-offs. ''Maude'' and ''The Jeffersons'' both featured characters that began on ''All in the Family''.
★
★ ''Maude'' is notable in that it spun-off ''Good Times''.
★ ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' spun-off ''Lou Grant'', ''Rhoda'' and ''Phyllis'', as well as several unsuccessful series pilots and one TV movie.
★ '' spun-off sister show, '' and also ''Young Hercules'', which relates the adventures of Hercules during his teenage years.
★ ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' spun-off TV series ''Enos'' starring Deputy Enos Strate. He was invited to Los Angeles to join a special police team after he had caught two infamous criminals in Hazzard. The series was canceled after one season and the character returned to The Dukes of Hazzard.
★ The only daytime soap opera to spin-off a primetime soap is ''As the World Turns''. In 1965, the producers capitalized on the popularity of the character Lisa Miller Hughes and created a limited-run show around her character, called ''Our Private World''. A year after the nighttime show ended, Eileen Fulton, Lisa's portrayer, returned to ''ATWT'', where she remains today.
★ ''Trapper John M.D.'' was another spin-off from the movie ''M
★ A
★ S
★ H''. (When sued by the makers of the series M
★ A
★ S
★ H, the makers of ''Trapper John, MD'' proved in court that it was instead a spin-off of the movie.)
★ By 2007, the long-running BBC series ''Doctor Who'' with 9 in total, is the show with the most amount of spun off media. The first was a one episode spin off made in the 1980s based on the character of Sarah Jane Smith called K-9 and Company. The film features one of the race of Dr Who Villains, but for licensing reasons not the Doctor himself. In 1989 the spin off wartime was made, about the adventures of some of the UNIT personnel. In the 1990s, Reeltime distributed PROBE a series of five made-for-video movies featuring Caroline John as her Pertwee-era character, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw. BBV, on their part, produced and released a series of movies based on one of Dr Who's Villains: Auton, Auton 2: Sentinel and Auton 3. In 2006 the BBC launched another spin-off, ''Torchwood'', aimed at a more adult audience and featuring Captain Jack Harkness from the newer series. The Sarah Jane Adventures is currently airing, however is more child-oriented than Dr Who. K-9 is currently in production, and there is also an animated serial The Infinite Quest.
★ Even reality shows can have spin-offs. '' spawned two additional reality shows in the early 2000's from a set of ''Trauma'' episodes shot at New Orleans, Louisiana's Charity Hospital, ''Paramedics'' and ''Code Blue New Orleans''.
★ ''Kinnikuman'' spun-off ''Tatakae!! Ramenman'', which depicts Ramenman in his native country of China. However it's not the same Ramenman as in the series and is instead an ancestor of the main Ramenman.
★ ''The Daily Show'' correspondent ''Stephen Colbert'' received his own show ''The Colbert Report'', a parody of shows like ''The O'Reilly Factor''.
★ ''Frasier'' is one of the most critically acclaimed and popular spin-off series of all time, based on the character Dr. Frasier Crane from the American sitcom ''Cheers''. The series ran for eleven seasons (which is how long ''Cheers'' ran).
★ Mary Tyler Moore spin-off ''Lou Grant''. Unusually, ''Lou Grant'' is of a different genre (drama) than its parent show, which was a situation comedy.
★ ''Trapper John M.D.'', while being a drama and using a character from the TV M
★ A
★ S
★ H, was actually not a spin-off from the TV comedy-drama ''M
★ A
★ S
★ H'', but was spunoff from the more dramatic film (which the TV M
★ A
★ S
★ H was also sourced from).
★ ''Joey'' was spun-off from long-running show ''Friends'' after the show's final season. Focusing on the character Joey Tribiani, ''Joey'' ran for two seasons but was taken off the schedule before airing its final episodes.
★ ''Cory in the House'' was spun off after the series That's So Raven ended. It involves Cory and Victor moving to the White House.
★ The longest running spin-off is ''The Simpsons'', which was created as a series of animated segments for the sketch series ''The Tracey Ullman Show,'' and featured the voices of four cast-members. In one episode of ''The Simpsons'', secondary-characters are given their own segments in a so-called "spin-off showcase", parodying classic TV series.
★ ''Happy Days'', a spin-off from ''Love, American Style'', also spun off multiple shows: ''Laverne & Shirley'', ''Blansky's Beauties'', ''Mork & Mindy'', ''Out of the Blue'' and ''Joanie Loves Chachi''. These shows resulted in spin-offs of their own, the animated series ''Laverne & Shirley in the Army'', ''The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang'', and ''The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour''.
★ ''The Practice'' was a TV series that ran for nine seasons on ABC and then was canceled. New characters who were introduced during the ninth season (including two who won Emmys) appeared in a spin-off, ''Boston Legal''. Boston Legal is in its fourth season.
★ '' is an example of a popular spin-off. It was a spin-off from the ''original Star Trek'' television series and movies. ''The Next Generation'' earned its own spinoffs - '', '' and ''. Contrary to popular belief, '' is not considered to be spinoff to the ''original Star Trek'', because it is a direct sequel.
★ ''Stargate Atlantis'', ''Stargate Universe'' and ''Stargate Infinity'' are spin-offs from the ''Stargate SG-1'' television series and the original movie.
★ ''Crusade'' is a spin-off of the original ''Babylon 5'' series.
★ The ''Law & Order'' series has spawned a total of five spin-offs: '', '', ''Crime & Punishment'' (a documentary series as opposed to scripted drama), the short-lived '', and ''Conviction''.
★ '', the popular series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, has produced two spin-offs: '' and ''. Both connected to the original series by a cross-over episode.
★ ''Sabrina's Secret Life'' is a spinoff of ''Sabrina the Animated Series'', which itself was a spinoff of ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'' which was a spinoff of ''Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies'' which was a spinoff of ''The Archie Comedy Hour'' which was a spinoff of ''The Archie Show.
★ The VH1 celebreality shows '' and ''I Love New York'' are spinoffs of ''Flavor of Love'', which was a spinoff of ''Strange Love'', which was a spinoff of ''The Surreal Life''.
★ ''The Lone Gunmen'' was a spin-off of the popular science fiction series ''The X-Files''.
★ ''Power Rangers has had 15 spin-offs in its long history.''
★ The producers of the film ''U.S. Marshals'' stated that it was a spin-off from, rather than a sequel to, ''The Fugitive''.
★ Several Superhero films have had spin-off films, many focusing on female heroines. Examples include ''Supergirl'' being a spin-off of the older Superman film franchise & ''Elektra'' being a spin off of ''Daredevil''.
★ The X-Men film series is set to have two spin-off films about the origins of two popular characters; ''Wolverine'' and ''Magneto.
★ Spin-offs also occur in video games. For example, the ''Wario Land'' series began as a spin-off from the ''Super Mario Land'' series (''), which was itself a spin-off of the ''Super Mario Bros.'' video game series, which in turn was a spin-off from ''Donkey Kong''.
★ ''Viper Phase 1'' began as a spin-off from the ''Raiden'' series.
The Nina Williams game "Death by Degrees was a spinoff from the Tekken series.
Some notable examples of comic book characters who at first were supporting characters in one comic but then got their own titles include ''the Smurfs'' who originated in ''Johan and Peewit'', ''Marsupilami'' who at first was the pet animal of ''Spirou et Fantasio'', and the ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' who first appeared in ''Superboy'' which in turn was a spin-off from ''Superman''.
For more examples, see the List of comics spin-offs.
Main articles: Remake
One notable case which is not a spin-off is when the same series is later remade. Examples include ''Battlestar Galactica'' (1978, 2003), ''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'' (1983, 2002), and ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (1987, 2003)).
Main articles: Fictional crossovers
Sometimes even where a show is not a spin-off from the other, there will nevertheless be cross-overs, where a character from one show makes an appearance on another. A notable example of this are Ursula and Phoebe Buffay, twin sisters played by Lisa Kudrow who normally are on different shows, ''Mad About You'' and ''Friends'' respectively, but sometimes meet. This is also done by Ray Romano and Kevin James with ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' and ''King of Queens''. Steve Urkel from ''Family Matters'' was also shown to be the cousin of one of D.J.'s friends on ''Full House''. The title character from Ally McBeal appeared on episodes of The Practice, both David E. Kelley shows.
Sometimes crossovers are created in an attempt to provide closure to fans of another failed series. For example, ''Millennium''’s characters Frank & Jordan Black (played by Lance Henriksen and Brittany Tiplady) appeared alongside Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in the ''X-Files'' 1999 episode "Millennium" (episode #7.05). This allowed the fans to have some closure, as none was given when ''Millennium'' was abruptly canceled prior to the 1999 season.
Sometimes show producers will re-introduce a character from an older series into a later one as a way of providing a connectivity of that particular producer's television "universe". TV producer Glen Larson is particularly known for this; for example, the character of Jonathan Chase (played by Simon MacCorkindale) from Glen Larson's failed 80's show ''Manimal'' appeared in an episode of Larson's syndicated 90's series ''Night Man''.
★ List of comics spin-offs
★ List of television spin-offs
'Media spin-off' is the process of deriving new radio or television programs from existing ones (see list of television spin-offs). Spin-offs work with varying degrees of success. Some become very popular and last for a number of seasons, others exceed the popularity of the forebearing show and others are poorly received and have considerably shorter life spans.
This phenomenon was already established in radio before the advent of commercial broadcast television, for example ''The Great Gildersleeve'' was a spin-off from ''Fibber McGee and Molly''. ''The Great Guildersleeve'' might even have been the very first spin-off, when the popular character from ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' was given his own show.
Jack Benny's popular radio program spawned at least two spin-offs when blustery bandleader Phil Harris and naif Dennis Day launched their own programs after their success on Benny's show.
In genre fiction, the term parallels the usage in television; it is usually meant to indicate a substantial ''change in narrative viewpoint and activity'' from that (previous) storyline based around the activities of the series' principal protagonist(s) and so is a shift to that action and overall narrative thread of some other protagonist(s), which now becomes the central or main thread (storyline) of the new sub-series. The ''new protagonist'' generally appears first as a minor or supporting character in the main story line within a given milieu, and it is very common for the previous protagonist to have a supporting or cameo role, at the least as a historical mention, in the new sub-series.
Variants of spin-offs
Television spin-offs come in several variations, including:
★ A supporting character or characters in an existing series is given their own show in which they become the main focus. The original series continues without them and there may be some crossover of characters between the shows on occasion (e.g. ''Angel'' from ''Buffy The Vampire Slayer'', ''Flo'' from ''Alice'', ''The Ropers'' from ''Three's Company'', ''Daria'' from ''Beavis and Butt-head'', ''Torchwood'' from ''Doctor Who'', ''Softly, Softly'' which features the characters of Barlow and Watt from ''Z-Cars'').
★ New characters are specially incorporated into an existing series for the sole purpose of being launched into their own show that will feature no regular characters from the original series, except possibly as guest appearances (e.g. ''Empty Nest'' from ''The Golden Girls'', ''Melrose Place'' from ''Beverly Hills, 90210'', or ''Boston Legal'' from ''The Practice'').
★ Regular characters from a series continue in their own series after the original series ends (e.g. ''George and Mildred'' and ''Robin's Nest'' from ''Man About the House''; ''Frasier'' from ''Cheers''; ''Joey'' from ''Friends''). This is usually done with the same actors, though not always.
★ A new series is started with the same theme and existing in the same universe as the original series, but may not necessarily have the same characters. Examples of this type are the ''Star Trek'', ''Stargate'', ''Law & Order'', and '' series. These are sometimes called ''franchises''.
★ A series that begins in one medium is branched out into other media with material that may or may not be canonically related to the primary production. Examples of this include ''Tokimeki Memorial'', which began as a video game and later branched out into anime and CD audio dramas, and ''Star Wars'', which includes the six feature films, numerous novels, and video games set within the same universe.
Examples of notable spin-offs
Name changes/retoolings
★ The main character from ''All in the Family'', Archie Bunker, continued in a retooled version of the series called ''Archie Bunker's Place''.
★ The main cast of ''Golden Girls'', minus character Dorothy Zbornak, continued in a retooled version of the series called ''The Golden Palace''.
★ After the seventh year of ''Da Vinci's Inquest'', most of the main characters returned the next season for ''Da Vinci's City Hall''. The new series carries over some of the same plots threads, the difference being a slight shift in themes that began in the last season of the original series. ''City Hall'' is sometimes even referred to as the eighth season of ''Inquest''.
★ Before the final season of ''M
★ A
★ S
★ H'' the main cast voted as to whether or not to continue the series. The final vote was 4–3 against. William Christopher, Jamie Farr, and Harry Morgan wanted to continue work on ''M
★ A
★ S
★ H'', and, after the eleventh season, they began work on ''AfterMASH''. It lasted just two seasons and 30 episodes, with one unaired (the final one).
★ The popular cartoon '' was brought back after cancellation with a new name and a new smoother animation style. ''The New Batman Adventures'' only lasted 24 episodes.
Support character getting own show (during run)
★ ''Angel '' was a popular spin-off, based on the character of Angel (the vampire with a soul) from ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. The series ran for five seasons.
★ ''All in the Family'' is responsible for several spin-offs. ''Maude'' and ''The Jeffersons'' both featured characters that began on ''All in the Family''.
★
★ ''Maude'' is notable in that it spun-off ''Good Times''.
★ ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' spun-off ''Lou Grant'', ''Rhoda'' and ''Phyllis'', as well as several unsuccessful series pilots and one TV movie.
★ '' spun-off sister show, '' and also ''Young Hercules'', which relates the adventures of Hercules during his teenage years.
★ ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' spun-off TV series ''Enos'' starring Deputy Enos Strate. He was invited to Los Angeles to join a special police team after he had caught two infamous criminals in Hazzard. The series was canceled after one season and the character returned to The Dukes of Hazzard.
★ The only daytime soap opera to spin-off a primetime soap is ''As the World Turns''. In 1965, the producers capitalized on the popularity of the character Lisa Miller Hughes and created a limited-run show around her character, called ''Our Private World''. A year after the nighttime show ended, Eileen Fulton, Lisa's portrayer, returned to ''ATWT'', where she remains today.
★ ''Trapper John M.D.'' was another spin-off from the movie ''M
★ A
★ S
★ H''. (When sued by the makers of the series M
★ A
★ S
★ H, the makers of ''Trapper John, MD'' proved in court that it was instead a spin-off of the movie.)
★ By 2007, the long-running BBC series ''Doctor Who'' with 9 in total, is the show with the most amount of spun off media. The first was a one episode spin off made in the 1980s based on the character of Sarah Jane Smith called K-9 and Company. The film features one of the race of Dr Who Villains, but for licensing reasons not the Doctor himself. In 1989 the spin off wartime was made, about the adventures of some of the UNIT personnel. In the 1990s, Reeltime distributed PROBE a series of five made-for-video movies featuring Caroline John as her Pertwee-era character, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw. BBV, on their part, produced and released a series of movies based on one of Dr Who's Villains: Auton, Auton 2: Sentinel and Auton 3. In 2006 the BBC launched another spin-off, ''Torchwood'', aimed at a more adult audience and featuring Captain Jack Harkness from the newer series. The Sarah Jane Adventures is currently airing, however is more child-oriented than Dr Who. K-9 is currently in production, and there is also an animated serial The Infinite Quest.
★ Even reality shows can have spin-offs. '' spawned two additional reality shows in the early 2000's from a set of ''Trauma'' episodes shot at New Orleans, Louisiana's Charity Hospital, ''Paramedics'' and ''Code Blue New Orleans''.
★ ''Kinnikuman'' spun-off ''Tatakae!! Ramenman'', which depicts Ramenman in his native country of China. However it's not the same Ramenman as in the series and is instead an ancestor of the main Ramenman.
★ ''The Daily Show'' correspondent ''Stephen Colbert'' received his own show ''The Colbert Report'', a parody of shows like ''The O'Reilly Factor''.
Support character getting own show (after original series ended)
★ ''Frasier'' is one of the most critically acclaimed and popular spin-off series of all time, based on the character Dr. Frasier Crane from the American sitcom ''Cheers''. The series ran for eleven seasons (which is how long ''Cheers'' ran).
★ Mary Tyler Moore spin-off ''Lou Grant''. Unusually, ''Lou Grant'' is of a different genre (drama) than its parent show, which was a situation comedy.
★ ''Trapper John M.D.'', while being a drama and using a character from the TV M
★ A
★ S
★ H, was actually not a spin-off from the TV comedy-drama ''M
★ A
★ S
★ H'', but was spunoff from the more dramatic film (which the TV M
★ A
★ S
★ H was also sourced from).
★ ''Joey'' was spun-off from long-running show ''Friends'' after the show's final season. Focusing on the character Joey Tribiani, ''Joey'' ran for two seasons but was taken off the schedule before airing its final episodes.
★ ''Cory in the House'' was spun off after the series That's So Raven ended. It involves Cory and Victor moving to the White House.
Shows from segments/episodes of anthology series
★ The longest running spin-off is ''The Simpsons'', which was created as a series of animated segments for the sketch series ''The Tracey Ullman Show,'' and featured the voices of four cast-members. In one episode of ''The Simpsons'', secondary-characters are given their own segments in a so-called "spin-off showcase", parodying classic TV series.
★ ''Happy Days'', a spin-off from ''Love, American Style'', also spun off multiple shows: ''Laverne & Shirley'', ''Blansky's Beauties'', ''Mork & Mindy'', ''Out of the Blue'' and ''Joanie Loves Chachi''. These shows resulted in spin-offs of their own, the animated series ''Laverne & Shirley in the Army'', ''The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang'', and ''The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour''.
TV Franchises
★ ''The Practice'' was a TV series that ran for nine seasons on ABC and then was canceled. New characters who were introduced during the ninth season (including two who won Emmys) appeared in a spin-off, ''Boston Legal''. Boston Legal is in its fourth season.
★ '' is an example of a popular spin-off. It was a spin-off from the ''original Star Trek'' television series and movies. ''The Next Generation'' earned its own spinoffs - '', '' and ''. Contrary to popular belief, '' is not considered to be spinoff to the ''original Star Trek'', because it is a direct sequel.
★ ''Stargate Atlantis'', ''Stargate Universe'' and ''Stargate Infinity'' are spin-offs from the ''Stargate SG-1'' television series and the original movie.
★ ''Crusade'' is a spin-off of the original ''Babylon 5'' series.
★ The ''Law & Order'' series has spawned a total of five spin-offs: '', '', ''Crime & Punishment'' (a documentary series as opposed to scripted drama), the short-lived '', and ''Conviction''.
★ '', the popular series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, has produced two spin-offs: '' and ''. Both connected to the original series by a cross-over episode.
★ ''Sabrina's Secret Life'' is a spinoff of ''Sabrina the Animated Series'', which itself was a spinoff of ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'' which was a spinoff of ''Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies'' which was a spinoff of ''The Archie Comedy Hour'' which was a spinoff of ''The Archie Show.
★ The VH1 celebreality shows '' and ''I Love New York'' are spinoffs of ''Flavor of Love'', which was a spinoff of ''Strange Love'', which was a spinoff of ''The Surreal Life''.
★ ''The Lone Gunmen'' was a spin-off of the popular science fiction series ''The X-Files''.
★ ''Power Rangers has had 15 spin-offs in its long history.''
In film
★ The producers of the film ''U.S. Marshals'' stated that it was a spin-off from, rather than a sequel to, ''The Fugitive''.
★ Several Superhero films have had spin-off films, many focusing on female heroines. Examples include ''Supergirl'' being a spin-off of the older Superman film franchise & ''Elektra'' being a spin off of ''Daredevil''.
★ The X-Men film series is set to have two spin-off films about the origins of two popular characters; ''Wolverine'' and ''Magneto.
In video games
★ Spin-offs also occur in video games. For example, the ''Wario Land'' series began as a spin-off from the ''Super Mario Land'' series (''), which was itself a spin-off of the ''Super Mario Bros.'' video game series, which in turn was a spin-off from ''Donkey Kong''.
★ ''Viper Phase 1'' began as a spin-off from the ''Raiden'' series.
The Nina Williams game "Death by Degrees was a spinoff from the Tekken series.
In comics
Some notable examples of comic book characters who at first were supporting characters in one comic but then got their own titles include ''the Smurfs'' who originated in ''Johan and Peewit'', ''Marsupilami'' who at first was the pet animal of ''Spirou et Fantasio'', and the ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' who first appeared in ''Superboy'' which in turn was a spin-off from ''Superman''.
For more examples, see the List of comics spin-offs.
Related phenomena
Remakes
Main articles: Remake
One notable case which is not a spin-off is when the same series is later remade. Examples include ''Battlestar Galactica'' (1978, 2003), ''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'' (1983, 2002), and ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (1987, 2003)).
Cross-overs
Main articles: Fictional crossovers
Sometimes even where a show is not a spin-off from the other, there will nevertheless be cross-overs, where a character from one show makes an appearance on another. A notable example of this are Ursula and Phoebe Buffay, twin sisters played by Lisa Kudrow who normally are on different shows, ''Mad About You'' and ''Friends'' respectively, but sometimes meet. This is also done by Ray Romano and Kevin James with ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' and ''King of Queens''. Steve Urkel from ''Family Matters'' was also shown to be the cousin of one of D.J.'s friends on ''Full House''. The title character from Ally McBeal appeared on episodes of The Practice, both David E. Kelley shows.
Sometimes crossovers are created in an attempt to provide closure to fans of another failed series. For example, ''Millennium''’s characters Frank & Jordan Black (played by Lance Henriksen and Brittany Tiplady) appeared alongside Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in the ''X-Files'' 1999 episode "Millennium" (episode #7.05). This allowed the fans to have some closure, as none was given when ''Millennium'' was abruptly canceled prior to the 1999 season.
Sometimes show producers will re-introduce a character from an older series into a later one as a way of providing a connectivity of that particular producer's television "universe". TV producer Glen Larson is particularly known for this; for example, the character of Jonathan Chase (played by Simon MacCorkindale) from Glen Larson's failed 80's show ''Manimal'' appeared in an episode of Larson's syndicated 90's series ''Night Man''.
See also
★ List of comics spin-offs
★ List of television spin-offs
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