Spin Offs...

[krf100]

Happy Days had several spinoffs, Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, Joanie Loves Chachi, etc...

What TV show did Happy Days essentially spin off from?

I can only think of one show that had as many, if not more, spin offs. The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I wonder what is the most spun off show in TV?

Come to think of it, All in the Family also had several spin offs.

MTM: Rhoda, Betty White Show, Lou Grant, ...?

AITF: The Jeffersons, Maude, Gloria, Archie Bunker's Place (or something like that, though I don't know if this one counts since it was essentially a continuance of AITF), ...?

[marxychick1]

What TV show did Happy Days essentially spin off from?

I believe it was Love, American Style.

Now, does anyone remember what series Family Matters spun off from?

[krf100]

What TV show did Happy Days essentially spin off from?

I believe it was Love, American Style.

Now, does anyone remember what series Family Matters spun off from?

Absolutely correct. Happy days was originally a vignette on L,AS. I couldn't quite place which show was Family Matters so I Googled it. Unfortunately the first line that came up told the show it spun off from, so I will keep quiet.

I didn't realize it, though, and I can't place it even after knowing the answer.

[JD]

Now, does anyone remember what series Family Matters spun off from?

It was Perfect Strangers, but everything of the spinoff character was changed so it was a spinoff in the loosest sense of the word.

[Dobie]

Family Matters was the show with Urkel.

[krf100]

Here's a cute little site dealing with spin-offs, but I think there are a couple of mistakes.

http://www.geocities.com/richleebruce/universes.html

[Dobie]

That site doesn't even mention the "Bob Newhart Show", "Newhart", "Coach" universe which has at least 526 episodes.

[marxychick1]

Now, does anyone remember what series Family Matters spun off from?

It was Perfect Strangers, but everything of the spinoff character was changed so it was a spinoff in the loosest sense of the word.

I don't remember them changing things around that much. Harriet Winsolw was an elevator operator on Perfect Strangers. That's how she started out on Family Matters as well. I think Mark Linn Baker (Larry on Perfect Strangers) eventually made a cameo on Family Matters as a totally unrelated character though.

krf100- Neat site! It is a little inaccurate though. They mention a Perfect Strangers/Family Matters/Full House link, which doesn't exist. Urkel crossed over to Step By Step, but never Full House. They also don't add the episodes of The Tracy Ullman Show to the totals of The Simpsons.

Sadly, this is the programming I grew up with. I'm ashamed to know this much about Urkel. lol

[rmfromfla]

Yes, there was a "Full House" episode in which Urkel (Jaleel White) appeared - it had to do with Stephanie getting
her first pair of glasses & the fear she felt of the teasing she might get from her classmates. I can't remember
the exact reasons why Urkel was "visiting in San Francisco", but he was his obnoxious self to DJ's friends,
uttered the line to Danny Tanner, "Got any cheese?!", and later on explained to Stephanie the advantages &
disadvantages of having glasses.

Enough said

[marxychick1]

Yes, there was a "Full House" episode in which Urkel (Jaleel White) appeared - it had to do with Stephanie getting
her first pair of glasses & the fear she felt of the teasing she might get from her classmates. I can't remember
the exact reasons why Urkel was "visiting in San Francisco", but he was his obnoxious self to DJ's friends,
uttered the line to Danny Tanner, "Got any cheese?!", and later on explained to Stephanie the advantages &
disadvantages of having glasses.

Enough said

I bow to your knowledge of Urkel.

[rmfromfla]

Thanks, marxychick1, but that was more to the fact that one of our local stations seemed to have every episode
of "Full House" at their disposal and when a show was bombing in the ratings, they'd replace it with "FH", mornings
or afternoons!

Of course, Laura on "Family Matters" was a whole lot easier on the eyes, especially toward the end of the show's
run!

And one more thing about Mr. Urkel: maybe one of the few TV characters to get his own breakfast cereal,
"Urkel-O's" - Ralston's attempt at "Froot Loops" (and it didn't last long on the market, though the boxes are
now collector's items!)

[rosebud]

Interesting site--

I believe that the Mad About You/Friends/Joey universe can be expanded somewhat:

In one Friends episode, Joey and Chandler meet Lea Thompson, who I believe was playing her Carolyn character from Carolyn in the City.

Also, I believe that on MAY Paul met with Carl Reiner, playing Alan Brady, thus connecting it to The Dick Van Dyke Show.



Dobie--how is Newhart connected to Coach?

[TomK]

Aside from the producer, Barry Kemp?

Maybe the Darryls were Dauber's smarter relatives?

[colonial]

From www.poobala.com...

The crossover happened when Hayden and Christine returned to the cabin Hayden owned and had called home while in Minnesota. They found three odd woodsmen taking up squatters rights at the cabin. They were a guy named Larry,his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl. Larry was the only one who talked and all three of them had been regular characters on Newhart.

According to IMDB, this occurred during the 3-part finale of *Coach* in 1997.

James

[Dobie]

"Caroline in the City" also did a crossover with "Frasier" thus creating the "Cheers"/"Wings"/"Frasier"/"Caroline"/"Friends"/"Mad About You"/"Seinfeld" universe.

[argyl3]

In more recent events, I recall a crossover CSI episode where the guys from Las Vegas go down to Miami to investigate some case.

I also remember watching that Urkel/Full House episode. After Danny told Urkel that he didn't have any cheese, Urkel replied "That's all right, I'll just get some milk and wait for it to curdle"

Suddenly I feel really old.

[Ken Jennings]

I think you have to differentiate the "shared univese" phenomenon from the spinoff phenomenon.

I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but the Cheers/Wings/Frasier/Caroline/Friends/Mad About You/Seinfeld universe (Seinfeld?) all takes place in Chad Allen's Magical Autistic Snowglobe.

[Dobie]

What about the "Andy Griffith"/"Mayberry"/"Gomer Pyle"/"Make Room for Daddy"/"I Love Lucy"/"Ann Sothern"/"Joey Bishop" universe (1209 episodes, not counting "Private Secretary" and "Make Room for Granddaddy")?

[WendellWit]

I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but the Cheers/Wings/Frasier/Caroline/Friends/Mad About You/Seinfeld universe (Seinfeld?) all takes place in Chad Allen's Magical Autistic Snowglobe.

You do know there's a website for that: "Tommy Westphall (character name) - A Multiverse Explored", and it now includes "I Love Lucy" and "Battlestar Galactica"...

I recall a crossover CSI episode where the guys from Las Vegas go down to Miami to investigate some case.

I'm pretty sure all the CSIs have crossed-over with each other, and maybe with the other Bruckheimer Productions cop shows ("Without a Trace", "Cold Case"...) What I found funny was when "Crossing Jordan", the NBC coroner drama set in Boston (aka Westphallville) did a crossover with "Las Vegas"; like they couldn't get somebody local to check out a dead body.

[Ken Jennings]

Wow, that Tommy Westphall site has really grown since the last time somebody pointed it out to me. Too bad the connections are mostly pretty goofy now. The John Laroquette Show and Angel do NOT take place in the same universe just because they each once referenced a company called Yoyodyne. That's just a Crying of Lot 49 reference, not a shared-universe nod.

[Dobie]

What if characters from two different shows appeared on the same real-life game show (at different times)?

[Dobie]

Apparently there was a "Make Room for Granddaddy"/"Here's Lucy" crossover. Thus there are direct, non-tenuous connections between "The Andy Griffith Show", "Mayberry RFD", "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.", "Make Room for Daddy"/"Make Room for Granddaddy","I Love Lucy", "Private Secretary", "The Ann Sothern Show", "The Joey Bishop Show" and "Here's Lucy", comprising at least 1476 episodes.

[krf100]

I'm going with All In The Family...

Archie Bunker's Place (arguable as a spinoff)
Gloria
Maude
Jeffersons
704 Hauser Street (which I didn't know about)

5 spinoffs from one show. Beat that.

[Dobie]

I can beat that.

I'm going with "All in the Family".

Archie Bunker's Place
Gloria
Maude
Jeffersons
704 Hauser Street (which I knew about)
Checking In (which I knew about and apparently you didn't)

6 spinoffs from one show.

[krf100]

I did know about it, but had forgotten. Still is that a spin-off of AITF or of the Jeffersons? I think we need a ruling from the judges here...