Attempted spin-offs
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Film and Television Discussion
stevenackerman69 — 10 years ago(July 09, 2015 11:20 PM)
Did anyone notice that the last episode they would do each season, or almost each season, was an attempt to spin-off a show? Here are the examples:
- Nell and the Kid-season 2, with Don Rickles as that deli owner who takes in a black girl
- The Center-season 3, with Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon at the senior citizen center Grandpa Stanley belongs to.
- The Purse Snatcher-season 5, with Harry Basil and Brian Backer working at a hip new restaurant Nell and Addy try out.
Too bad none of these made it past that, but at least they tried. Maybe because NBC at the time was improving in ratings, they didn't need to do that as much.
-
EmilyTheDramaQueen — 10 years ago(July 11, 2015 08:21 PM)
Didn't Facts of Life which was also on NBC during the time, also have a lot of spin offs that didn't make it? Was this something NBC did a lot during the time period?
"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"
Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material" -
tooclosetothetv — 10 years ago(October 07, 2015 04:02 PM)
Facts of Life had an episode where Natalie and Tootie visit Tootie's Aunt Sylvia, who's married to a white man named Jeff, played by Richard Dean Andersen.
They also tried spinning off a Bates Academy show with Jimmy Baio.
Wracking my brain for other examples. -
jarrodmcdonald-1 — 10 years ago(July 16, 2015 07:58 PM)
I enjoy many of the episodes after the chief's death. Season 5 is my favorite season of the entire series. But even I have to agree the Purse Snatcher episode is not very good. Nell is hardly in it, and the rest of the main cast is virtually absent. The whole thing was done to spotlight the actor they were trying to set up for a spinoff, and he was not very funny.
-
stevenackerman69 — 10 years ago(July 21, 2015 08:19 PM)
Well, some of the episodes after the Chief died were funny, although I missed Dolph being there. It would've been interesting to see him react to some of the stuff that occurred in that season, like the episode where Nell is babysitting a dozen or so kids.
That episode The Purse Snatcher was an attempt to do a spin-off, as I said before. When you do that, you don't use the main cast much. -
stevenackerman69 — 10 years ago(October 28, 2015 05:50 PM)
Funny thing about the man in that episode. That was comedian Harry Basil, who would later do a lot of work for Rodney Dangerfield. He even appeared in Rodney's 1991 special, doing a stand up bit with great impersonations.
-
jarrodmcdonald-1 — 10 years ago(November 28, 2015 06:56 AM)
Yeah, I guess some people found him funny. Maybe his stand-up act was a lot better than what they gave him to play in this particular episode built around him. Since the show's setting was about to change to New York, I would have preferred the last episode of season 5 to be one featuring the Kiniski family more and it being a story about something big going on in Glenlawn.
-
stevenackerman69 — 10 years ago(December 04, 2015 02:34 AM)
The last episode should've been Sam Goes to College. They should never have moved the show to NY. Although some stuff was funny in the final season, it wasn't the same show anymore and they thought to try to retool it again with Sam in college but the network cancelled the show instead.
-
jarrodmcdonald-1 — 2 months ago(January 14, 2026 02:16 AM)
It sort of annoyed me that we never saw the arrival of Julie & Jonathan's baby. That is how I would've ended season 5, with them becoming parents. (Instead, we go from the Purse Snatcher episode at the end of season 5 into the first episode of season 6, where Julie has already had the baby.)
The original show should have ended there, with the birth of the baby, Nell looking up to heaven and telling the Chief he has a grand baby. A subplot could have been Sam getting accepted to college.
Instead of season 6 in New York, the producers could have launched a continuation series, either with Julie & Jonathan moving with their baby into their own apartment with Nell in tow. Or Sam starting college, with the focus on her and her new college mates but we still see Nell as a dorm mother or cook at a sorority house. Nell could have taken classes, so she was working on her degree along with Sam, with those two attending some of the same lectures and study groups together.
Whatever direction the producers went in, Nell could have continued, with Addy still popping up. If they did a college series, I would not have made the setting back east, but somewhere in northern California, like San Francisco would have worked just fine. Then Sam and Nell would still have been close to Glenlawn and the rest of the family for guest visits.