Spin off shows are a strange thing; we seem to either love them as much – if not more – than the show that birthed them or we absolutely hate them, so what is it that makes one work and another fail dismally?

Good examples of this are Frasier and Joey. Frasier was a spin off from Cheers of course, and Joey a spin off from Friends, and while Frasier was every bit as popular, if not more popular, than Cheers, Joey flopped totally.

On the face of it, the principles of both shows were the same; a well loved character moving geographical areas and introducing a whole host of new characters and storylines, but why did Joey fail and Frasier do so well?

And the other sort of spin off shows are those that support reality TV shows such as Xtra Factor or BBLB, but it seems obvious that for those shows, it’s the presenters who make or break the show. Certainly that seemed to be the case for BBLB which was hugely popular when Dermot O’Leary presented it but which died a death when George Lamb and Zezi Ifore took over. George didn’t do too badly but Zezi was horrendous and I very much doubt we’ll see her back next year.

However, back to comedy and drama spin offs and why they work or not – let’s take a look at:

Successful spin-offs

Casualty – Holby City
Buffy The Vampire Slayer – Angel
Cheers – Frasier
Dallas – Knots Landing

Doctor Who has had several spin offs with varying degrees of success but most tend to do well:

K-9 and Company
Doctor Who Confidential
Torchwood
Torchwood Declassified
Totally Doctor Who
The Sarah Jane Adventures

Dynasty – The Colbys: although it only aired for two years, it didn’t do too badly while on air.

Grange Hill – Tuckers Luck: again, not hugely successful but not a total failure either.

Heartbeat – The Royal
Hollyoaks has spawned several spin offs, all of which seem to do very well, though many are literally one-offs rather than full series…

Hollyoaks: After Hours
Hollyoaks: Back From the Dead
Hollyoaks: Crossing the Line
Hollyoaks: Let Loose
Hollyoaks: In the City
Hollyoaks: No Going Back

Happy Days – Laverne & Shirley and Joanie Loves Chachi
Inspector Morse – Lewis
Man About The House – George & Mildred and Robin’s Nest
Only Fools & Horses – The Green Green Grass

Star Trek has been followed by lots of spin offs which have pretty much all done well, including, Next Generation, Voyager and Deep Space Nine.

Phoenix Nights – Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere

Spin-offs that bombed!

Baywatch – Baywatch Nights and Baywatch Hawaii
Brookside – Damon & Debbie
Casualty – Holby Blue
Columbo – Mrs Columbo
Coronation Street – Pardon the Expression and Turn Out the Lights
Dawson’s Creek – Young Americans
Friends – Joey
Last of the Summer Wine – First of the Summer Wine
Peak Practice – Sweet Medicine
The Golden Girls – Empty Nest, Nurses and Golden Palace
The Munsters – The Munsters Today

Why did these shows flop?

Well, going back to Frasier and Joey, I think Joey went so badly wrong because Joey was part of a set – of Friends – and they all depended on each other for good lines and combined comedy whereas with Frasier, he was always a stand alone character in Cheers. His character didn’t depend necessarily on any of the other characters, but Joey’s certainly did.

The supporting cast makes a big difference too; the cast of supporting characters in Joey was abysmal – especially the character of Joey’s sister – whereas the characters in Frasier were all lovable in their own right.

Joey’s sister, Gina, was played by Drea de Matteo, who’d achieved a great deal of success before she appeared on Joey. In 2004, she won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Adriana on The Sopranos but in Joey, she was at best unbelievable as a character.

I suspect another reason some spin offs do so badly is because they rely on the strengths of the original show and character to automatically bring them viewers and therefore don’t spend enough on sets, cast or storylines.

The key factor seems to be the central character’s strength and unless the writers keep that character’s key features – and ensure they blend in almost seamlessly with the new setting and cast – the shows lose credibility very fast.

We all expect spin offs to be pretty much the same as the original, just in a different place, and often that isn’t the case and we quickly become disabused of that idea and lose interest. This seems to apply in equal ratios – the more popular the character, the more likely it is to fail because we have a preconceived idea of what the new show will be like, and often it isn’t.

Frasier was not a major character in Cheers so I think viewers were intrigued to see what the character was like out on his own but we all expected Joey to be just the same as he was on Friends, and he wasn’t.

Let us know what you think makes a spin off sink or swim and also if there are any good or bad spin offs we’ve missed.