The greatest spinoff of all time of course is Frasier and the worst is the lesser known (and deservedly so) The Tortellis.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/15/article-1294817-0A5C6D87000005DC-524_468x573.jpg

http://cdn.serietivu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/The-Tortellis.jpg

I think it is all subjective of course, yes a good thread idea, but I would suggest Happy Days spinning Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and the worst being Joanie Loves Chachi.....it has happened many times in TV Land!

BTW....I am a friend of actor Timothy Williams (Antony t), who after appearing on an episode of Saved By The Bell (the one where he dates Jessie and he is too short) plus many other one-shot rolls, he now lives happily outside of the California area with his wife and two children and continues to act, write and be a parttime house-husband.

I don't know why they insist oh having these darn spinoffs when 99% of the time they never work. I never even knew they had a Tortelli spinoff.

Speaking of Cheers, where did the huge audience spike between season one and two come from? The show started at the bottom of the barrel, but really increased as the series progressed. Did the show suddenly get better or did it just have a better timeslot?

Speaking of Cheers, where did the huge audience spike between season one and two come from? The show started at the bottom of the barrel, but really increased as the series progressed. Did the show suddenly get better or did it just have a better timeslot?

Brandon Tarikoff was involved with that.

He gave shows a 2nd chance rather than have them cancel altogether.

This world NEEDS more Brandon Tarikoffs in the TV world than having sell-outs!

Can't answer your question. However, I believe that there was nothing else on TV around that time and people just watched it and started really enjoying the show. I am glad it was given a second chance because I am really enjoying the first 5 yrs of the show. The rest of the episodes without Diane in them does not appeal to me even though I would take a peep at the episodes with Rebecca ever so often.

Brandon Tartikoff was a great man.:)

Of course I LOVE Frasier (more particularly Niles!), but I didn't even realize they had tried another spin off. I'm so glad that Frasier worked so well, though!

It's possible that Cheers only had a few viewers at first, and then more people heard about it and got interested in it, so the ratings went up . People told their friends about how good and funny it was, so word "got around" . My dad and I liked The Tortellis, but I can see if it didn't hit the right formula with most people . On the other hand, Frasier was a winner right out of the box .

I never even heard of the Tortellis lol But if they we're going to do a spin off the Tortellis. Why in the world wasn't Carla in it? She was the main Tortelli.

The Tortellis featured Nick, his beautiful "dumb -- blonde" wife, Loretta, Nick and Carla's son, Anthony, and Anthony's wife, Angie . They lived in Las Vegas . I'll bet Carla didn't want to leave Cheers . By the same token, if The Tortellis featured Nick, Loretta, AND Carla, there would have been too much of a rivalry between Loretta and Carla .

The Tortellis featured Nick, his beautiful "dumb -- blonde" wife, Loretta, Nick and Carla's son, Anthony, and Anthony's wife, Angie . They lived in Las Vegas . I'll bet Carla didn't want to leave Cheers . By the same token, if The Tortellis featured Nick, Loretta, AND Carla, there would have been too much of a rivalry between Loretta and Carla .



Oh I didn't know it took place when Cheers was still going. If I knew that it would have been self-explanatory. Why leave the greatest show of its time? Lol
I just meant that with Carla. It might have had a chance of succeeding. She was the best character of the Tortelli’s by far.

Carla, Cliff and Norm all appeared on the Tortellis, as guest characters. But gotta say, the show was truly awful.

It's possible that Cheers only had a few viewers at first, and then more people heard about it and got interested in it, so the ratings went up . People told their friends about how good and funny it was, so word "got around" . My dad and I liked The Tortellis, but I can see if it didn't hit the right formula with most people . On the other hand, Frasier was a winner right out of the box .

Bit of an unfair comparison regarding Cheers' and Frasier's first season ratings, don't you think? Frasier had the old audience of Cheers, amongst others, to attract when it premiered.

Cheers, on the other hand, premiered at a bad time for both sitcoms and NBC alike. I think Three's Company and M*A*S*H were the only sitcoms (the latter being more of a dramedy) in the Top 10 in 1982/83, and both of their best years were already behind them.

I think part of why Frasier was so successful is because it bore little resemblance to Cheers. Instead of trying to copy a pre-established formula and take way too many elements from its predecessor, the creators of Frasier decided to take a totally different route. Every detail right down to an intentional lack of stools in Nervosa (to avoid resembling the bar) was taken into consideration. The only real similarity is the quality and style of writing which Joe Schmoe sitting on the couch probably wouldn't even pick up on.

I've only seen 1 episode of The Tortellis on YouTube a couple years ago but from that single episode it was apparent the show tried way too hard to capitalize on Cheers success. Man what a crappy show...

Brandon Tartikoff was a great man.:)

Agreed he also saved Seinfeld from being cancelled after the 5 episode 1st season

I remember watching the first season as it aired on NBC, and I really liked the sharp, funny writing. I was really pulling for Cheers to be successful and it was eventually, which I am glad for.

I tried to get into the Tortellis, but just couldn't. It just did not interest me (similar to the way I felt about AfterMASH). Frasier was great, though.

Speaking of Cheers, where did the huge audience spike between season one and two come from? The show started at the bottom of the barrel, but really increased as the series progressed. Did the show suddenly get better or did it just have a better timeslot?

Better timeslot. For the show's third season, both Cheers and Family Ties were moved to Thursday nights following The Cosby Show, which, of course, was a ratings powerhouse from almost the very beginning. And since there were no such thing as remote controls back then, people decided to stick around after The Cosby Show ended, rather than have to get up off the couch to change the channel.

I like Dan Hedaya, and he is a great character actors. I saw The Tortellis and although I was a young teen, I did not think it was a bad series, and Hedaya carried the show. Maybe some of the problem is Hedaya is usually a dark character and may I say, not a sexy man. Casey Kasum's (sic?) wife was cute in this also and I think both of them carried the show from what I distantly remember.

I have a friend from Iceland and Dan Hedaya was one of his favorite actors and he loved the Coen Brothers movie "Blood Simple". I am also a Coen Brothers fan but thought that was one of their weakest works. One of my favorite roles that he was in to me was Hill Street Blues as the corrupt cop with two families and connections to the mob (who was killed).

I like Kelsey Grammar, but never got into Frasier. It was a well crafted program, but the humor was seemingly too highbrow for me. A show for people with large houses and BMW's in the driveway. Two Frasier episodes I have watched was the one where he and Miles take over a restaurant disasterously, and when Cliff had his retirement party and Frasier and dad went to the party. I have probably watched more Tortellis in the 1980's that any Frasier up to now......

Maybe my animosity was Frasier divorcing the beautiful (if pale white) Lillith. Why couldn't Lillith (Bebe Neuwirth) be the wife of Frasier? I would have enjoyed that more, but the writers wanting him single and the show lasted like 10 years so they know better than me.