What are some successful shows that haven't seen spin-offs occur? If you want to count filmed pilots, be my guest, but if all it got was the backdoor pilot in the form of an episode of the parent show, and not even a dedicated pilot, I don't think that really ought to count.

Leave It To Beaver

Bob Newhart Show

Newhart

Everybody Loves Raymond

A couple with filmed pilots that weren't picked up: Donna Reed Show, Brady Bunch, My Three Sons

Dennis the Menace
Hazel
The Honeymooners
Everybody Hates Chris

Dick Van Dyke Show
Father Knows Best
Seinfeld
Beverly Hillbillies
Green Acres

Mr. Belvedere
Kids Incorporated
The Wire
Silver Spoons
Family Ties
Hunter
L.A. Law

The Courtship of Eddie's Father
Family Affair
Get Smart
The Ghost and Mrs Muir
Nanny and the Professor
My Three Sons
The Flying Nun
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1990s "Live Action" version (Does this count?))
Movin' On
Cold Case
The FBI
Ironside
Switch
It Takes a Thief
The Fugative
The Untouchables
Medical Center
Ben Casey
Marcus Welby, MD
Doc
Sue Thomas-FBEye
Judd: For the Defense
Naked City
Annie Oakley
Death Valley Days
The Wild Wild West
Lost in Space
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
21 Jump Street
12 o Clock High
Combat
New York Undercover
The Untouchables
Diagnosis Murder
Magnum PI
Chips
Early Edition
Xena Warrior Princess
Space Patrol
UFO
Space: 1999
Flipper

(Note: I just HAD to include these next two!(They are my "Bucket List" Shows)) :D

Hot Wheels
Skyhawks


and of course, Lassie. :thumbsup:

Perry Mason
Cannon

The Beverly Hillbillies does not qualify for this thread (2 posters have mentioned it already), TBH spun off Green Acres and Petticoat Junction.

Are you considering PJ a spin-off from TBH due to Bea Benaderet starring in PJ? Since Bea is playing a totally different character in PJ than in TBH, I wouldn't think of PJ as being spun off from TBH (but I could be wrong).

However, due to character overlap, I would say GA was spun off from PJ.

Are you considering PJ a spin-off from TBH due to Bea Benaderet starring in PJ? Since Bea is playing a totally different character in PJ than in TBH, I wouldn't think of PJ as being spun off from TBH (but I could be wrong).

However, due to character overlap, I would say GA was spun off from PJ.They are all in the same universe with the same creator. Characters from Petticoat Junction appeared on The Beverly Hillbillies, and Frank Cady was in all three shows as Sam Drucker.

They are all in the same universe with the same creator. Characters from Petticoat Junction appeared on The Beverly Hillbillies, and Frank Cady was in all three shows as Sam Drucker.
Paul Henning created the other two but he didn't create Green Acres.

PJ is not a spinoff of TBH because there weren't any characters or connections whatsoever between the shows, besides the creative team. The first character crossover didn't happen until five years after the alleged "spinoff" debuted.

GA is not a spinoff of PJ because no characters on PJ were expanded to main roles in GA. They had Sam Drucker, Fred Ziffel, and a few others come on as regulars, but there's no doubt that GA was about Oliver and Lisa.

When you create a spinoff (at least this is how I see it), you take a successful character on the parent show and give them their own series. Nothing of the sort went on with the Henning trilogy. I don't know why people always make this mistake but maybe it's because the shows share some characters, much more than was usual in that time period.

Green Acres even further distanced itself from the others. As the years went on, some characters on the show were actually seen watching TBH and PJ on TV. :lol: But they may be explained by the surrealistic nature of the show.

There was a lot of crossing over among the three shows (particularly between PJ and GA), but I always thought that was just sharing among Filmways shows. I don't know enough about PJ to know when the TBH characters visited the Shady Rest, but if it was while Bea was still on there (before the June Lockhart stint), it would have been mighty strange. A Jed line could have been, "Pearl, is that you?"

If you go with a literal definition of "spin-off", I'd kind of agree with Phoenix Acres. Where it kind of breaks down is (for example) Maude. Most people would probably says that was spun off from All In The Family, but with the literal definition, it wasn't. Actual Norman Lear spin-offs were Good Times and The Jeffersons.

classic comedies
my favorite martian
the munsters
perfect strangers
night court
family ties
hanging with mr cooper
whos the boss?
home inmprovment
the odd couple
get smart
family matters
my three sons
petticoat junction
family affair
high way patrol
step by step
court ship of eddies father
my two dads
gave me an break
the honeymooners
bosom buddies
the flip wilson show





not sitcoms
Quantum leap
macgyver
the A-team
parry mason
cannon
mannix
matlock
sea hunt
the rockford files
Magnum Pi
seven days

When you create a spinoff (at least this is how I see it), you take a successful character on the parent show and give them their own series.

Example of a comedy:
Fish (short-lived spinoff of Barney Miller that had Abe Vigoda as Fish and dealt with the domestic side of his life; was on from Feb. 1977 to May 1978)

Example of a drama:
Knots Landing (1979-93 spinoff of O-R CBS Dallas that featured Ted Shackelford as Gary Ewing and Joan Van Ark as his wife Valene Ewing; those Ewings moved to a cul-de-sac called Seaview Circle in the fictional town of Knots Landing, CA; almost the entire run of that spinoff was on Thursdays at 10/9 Central, IINM)

classic comedies
perfect strangers

whos the boss?


These two shows had spin offs. Family Matters spun off from Perfect Strangers and Who's The Boss? spun off a short lived show Living Dolls.


I want to say The Facts of Life is a successful sitcom that didn't have a spin off. They tried multiple times but I don't think anything ever came of the backdoor pilots.

These two shows had spin offs. Family Matters spun off from Perfect Strangers and Who's The Boss? spun off a short lived show Living Dolls.


I want to say The Facts of Life is a successful sitcom that didn't have a spin off. They tried multiple times but I don't think anything ever came of the backdoor pilots.


Excellent! Also, people think that "Spinoff" only has to do with a character from one show getting another and playing that same character. However, spinoff can also relate to an idea from one element being transferred to another element.

Home Improvement
Scrubs.

Ed.

Seinfeld.

Ed.