19 TV Shows You Probably Didn’t Realize Were Spinoffs
14. Boston Legal
When The Practice ended in 2008, David E. Kelley developed a show based on James Spader’s Alan Shore, who first appeared in The Practice’s final season as Ellenor Frutt’s highly unethical friend.
The last few episodes of the season showed him being fired by the law firm and then being hired to work at the law firm of Crane, Poole, and Schmidt. This transitioned his character into the new spin-off show Boston Legal alongside Candice Bergen and William Shatner.
Alan Shore fit right in at Crane, Poole, and Schmidt. The civil litigation firm is run by the egomaniacal Denny Crane, an undefeated trial attorney. Boston Legal is the story of Shore and Crane as they wage a two-man war on political correctness, while everyone around them tries to keep things from falling apart.
15. Private Practice
Addison Montgomery shocked fans when she appeared in Grey’s Anatomy Season 1 Episode 9 “Who’s Zoomin Who,” and announced that she was Derek’s wife. Two years later, Grey’s Anatomy decided to pursue a spinoff with the character and aired the backdoor pilot Grey’s Anatomy Season 3 Episode 22 and 23 “The Other Side of Life.”
Private Practice aired for six seasons, and unlike Grey’s Anatomy, featured a private “boutique” medical practice.
Although the series started with Kate Walsh, it also featured Caterina Scorsone’s character, Amelia Shepherd. Amelia was introduced on Grey’s Anatomy Season 7 Episode 3 “Superfreak,” and made a couple of guest appearances alongside her brother Derek before joining the cast of Private Practice.
On Private Practice, her storyline included an anencephalic baby, and after Private Practice ended, Amelia returned to Grey’s Anatomy as a series regular.
16. Melrose Place
Some may remember the original 1992 Melrose Place, but did you know that the series originated from Beverly Hills, 90210?
The 1992 incarnation of Melrose Place did not follow Beverly Hills, 90210 characters, but several actors, including Jenni Garth, Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green, and Ian Ziering, made appearances.
Melrose Place followed the residents of an apartment building with the original format consisting of self-contained stories that conclude at the end of each episode, but the format proved unpopular, and the writers started developing long-term stories that evolved at the end of each episode.
By the second season, the show had adopted a full-on soap opera format.
17. Family Matters
You may know the show Family Matters for the nerdy next-door neighbor Steve Urkel, but did you know that Family Matters was actually a spin-off of the show Perfect Strangers. Harriette Winslow originally appeared in the third and fourth seasons of Perfect Strangers as an elevator operator at the Chicago Chronicle newspaper office.
Family Matters followed the Winslows, a middle-class African American family in Chicago, Illinois. Harriette and Carl Winslow were raising their son Eddie, and daughters Laura and Judy.
Halfway through the first season, they introduced Jaleel White’s Steve Urkel, who proved so popular he became one of the focal points of the show.
18. The Facts of Life
Edna Garrett from The Facts of Life originally appeared on Diff’rent Strokes as the Drummonds’ housekeeper in the first and second seasons. The Fact of the Life followed the character as she became the house-mother of a dormitory at a private all-girls school called Eastland School.
The girls in Edna’s care included spoiled rich girl Blair Warner, young gossipy Dorothy “Tootie” Ramsey, and impressionable Natalie Green.
The school first appeared at the end of Diff’rent Strokes’ first season, but when Edna was offered a job, she decided she would rather stay on with the Drummonds. Edna did eventually leave the Drummonds in Season 2, and The Facts of Life premiered in a year later in 1980.
In the original pilot, Diff’rent Strokes character Kimberly Drummond was featured as a character at the school, but she did not cross over into the series.
19. Major Crimes
Did you know the series was born out of Kyra Sedgewick’s detective drama, The Closer?
Major Crime’s lead character, Sharon Raydor, played by Mary McDonnell, first made an appearance on The Closer Season 5 Episode 3 “Red Tape” as a member of internal affairs. Following Brenda Leigh Johnson’s exit from the Los Angeles police department, Johnson names Raydor her successor, and Major Crimes is born.
Due to Raydor’s transition from internal affairs to major crimes, the show original opens with her struggling to close the department’s most high-profile cases while trying to earn the loyalty of her force. She also had a much different style than Chief Johnson.
Since its inception, several characters have appeared on the show, reprising their roles from The Closer including W. Bailey, Tony Denison, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz, Phillip P. Keene, Robert Gossett, Jonathan Del Arco, and Jon Tenney.
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What are your favorite TV spinoffs? Do you have any favorites from this list? Let us know in the comments below!
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Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.
One thought on “19 TV Shows You Probably Didn’t Realize Were Spinoffs”
You missed Good Times, which was a spinoff from Maude. Florida was Maudes housekeeper.
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