Full disclosure: I haven't seen Better Call Saul, which returns to AMC for a second season February 15. And don’t get me wrong — I’m looking forward to diving in for a binge when the timing feels right. But when the spin-off first premiered on the heels of Breaking Bad's epic final season, my brain was still too full of Walter White to stay in his world and follow a different story. It's this kind of strong attachment to beloved characters and their fictional backdrops that producers hope to capitalize on with the old spin-off maneuver. But they do not always succeed. For every Fraiser or Private Practice, there’s a Ravenswood or a Baywatch Nights. The formula for success is tricky, but often includes a stand-alone great idea for a new show — one that leans less heavily on the original than, say, The Brady Brides.
Ill-advised spin-offs often get swept under the rug so fast that even devoted fans of the original series either blink and miss them or block them out entirely. We revisit 15 you may not believe actually happened, but oh, did they ever.
The Brady Brides (1981)
Spin-off of: The Brady Bunch
Marcia and Jan each get hitched and decide to move into the same house together to keep the whole bunch theme going. The sisters' husbands share an Odd Couple vibe, but it's one formula too many, and the show lasted 10 episodes.
Living Dolls (1989)
Spin-off of: Who's the Boss?
After a brief appearance as a friend of Samantha Micelli (Alyssa Milano) on Who's the Boss, Leah Remini was ready for her spin-off — and incidentally, her close-up. The future King of Queens matriarch played an aspiring model in New York City in this ill-fated series that also featured Halle Berry's screen debut.
The Golden Palace (1992-1993)
Spin-off of: The Golden Girls
This was sort of like when a high school drama tries to make the transition to college and picks up right where the original series left off. The girls move out of their shared house and while Dorothy (Bea Arthur) takes a chance on married life, Rose (Betty White), Blanche (Rue McClanahan), and Sophia (Estelle Getty) try their hand at the hotel business. Don Cheadle even played the joint's manager, but the series only lasted one season.
Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993-1994)
Spin-off of: Saved by the Bell
Speaking of that high school series that pursues higher education... Turns out, going off to college and keeping your teen squad intact doesn't really work on TV, either. Though Zack (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), Slater (Mario Lopez), Screech (Dustin Diamond), and Kelly (Tiffani Thiessen) all enrolled at the fictitious California University, things just weren't the same. Theissen also found herself entangled with another group of Cal U kids when she stepped in to play Valerie Malone on Beverly Hills, 90210 the same year this spin-off went off the air.
Models Inc.(1994-1995)
Spin-off of: Melrose Place
Linda Gray as the lioness proprietor of an L.A. modeling agency, with Carrie-Anne Moss as a client on the roster? There was much to love about this brief, deliciously soapy crossover, but the best would have to be discovering its connection to Melrose, otherwise known as the "Hello...mother" heard 'round the Fox lot.
Women of the House (1995)
Spin-off of: Designing Women
If you've ever been to a drag show, you've likely heard of the Sugarbaker sisters and of the night the lights went out in Georgia. After the Designing Women parted ways, Delta Burke took Suzanne Sugarbaker to Washington D.C., where she stumbles into her late husband's recently vacated seat in Congress. Like you do.
Baywatch Nights (1995-1997)
Spin-off of: Baywatch
Here's an idea: Let's put David Hasselhoff in a shirt and he can solve crimes instead of saving lives. Hot, right? Even the second-season addition of paranormal activity (so hot!) couldn't save this one.
Time of Your Life (1999-2001)
Spin-off of: Party of Five
Love her or hate her, Bailey's on-again, off-again girlfriend Sarah (Jennifer Love Hewitt) always seems to be hanging around the Salinger house. Wouldn't you know she had her own life to figure out? This show followed her to New York City in search of her biological parents. Felicity it was not. Fun fact: Her roomie was a struggling actress (go figure) played by one Jennifer Garner.
Young Americans(2000)
Spin-off of: Dawson’s Creek
The connection between this short-lived series and the cult WB teen drama was mighty tenuous. Lead character Will Krudski (Rodney Scott) was a childhood friend of Pacey and the gang who appears on a few episodes in season 3. Young Americans did have Ian Somerhalder, Kate Bosworth, and a practically Shakespearean story line about a teenage girl (Katherine Moennig) passing as an attractive boy. It wasn't enough; the show lasted nine episodes.
The Lone Gunmen (2001)
Spin-off of: The X-Files
The madcap trio of conspiracy theorists got a shot at their own show after recurring appearances on The X-Files. But audiences preferred these uber-nerds in small doses and the show went bye-bye. Now, Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood), John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood), and Richard "Ringo" Langly (Dean Haglund) are back, alongside Mulder an Scully, for The X-Files reboot.
Joey (2004-2006)
Spin-off of: Friends
Oh, Joey. Though Matt LeBlanc's solo venture lasted two whole seasons, something about the wildly original tale of an actor moving to Los Angeles to strike it big didn't sustain viewer interest. Not even with help from The Sopranos' Drea de Matteo and national treasure Jennifer Coolidge.
Law & Order: L.A. (2010-2011)
Spin-off of: Law & Order
Dick Wolf's criminal justice franchise seemed endlessly adaptable — until it wasn't. Along with L&O: Trial by Jury five years before it, LOLA (as it was called) didn't pass muster, even with players like Terrence Howard, Alfred Molina, Corey Stoll, and Skeet Ulrich (!) on board. Something about the quintessentially New York series didn't lend itself to slick and sunny SoCal. The second coming of L.A. Law this was not.
The Pauly D Project (2012)
Spin-off of: Jersey Shore
Picture it: Summer's over and the gang's packing up to leave the shore. Who do you want to ride home with? Snooki and JWoww? Obvious first choice. The Situation? Only if he behaves himself. Pauly D? Okay, but only if he doesn't talk shop about his DJ career the whole way. Oh, wait.
The Finder (2012)
Spin-off of: Bones
Oscar-nominee Michael Clarke Duncan made his final TV appearance in this short-lived sister series of Bones. Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Booth (David Boreanaz) find a body in the Everglades, which somehow leads them to a missing treasure map, which then of course leads them to Walter Sherman (Geoff Stults) — who has the innate ability to, well, find stuff. Except maybe Neilson ratings?
Ravenswood (2013-2014)
Spin-off of: Pretty Little Liars
When Caleb Rivers (Tyler Blackburn) climbed aboard a bus to the fictional town of Ravenswood, did he know he'd find a tombstone there with his name on it? No, he didn't. But the whole graveyard thing might have tipped him off to where this was all headed.
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