The spin-off is a television programming strategy that constructs new programs around characters appearing in programs already being broadcast. In some cases the new venue is created for a familiar, regular character in the existing series (e.g. Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. from The Andy Griffith Show). In others, the existing series merely serves as an introduction to and promotion for, a completely new program (Mork & Mindy, from Happy Days).

The most famous examples of the spin-off surround the work of producer Norman Lear and that of the producers working at MTM Productions during the 1970s. A list of the originating programs with their spin-offs reads like a genealogy of popular television comedy. Thus, All in the Family begat Maude, which begat Good Times, and The Jeffersons, which begat Checking In. AITF also begat Gloria, which lasted only one season and begat nothing.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show begat Phyllis, Rhoda, and Lou Grant, and though none of these "offspring" engendered specific shows of their own, their producers went on to create numerous programs with the distinctive style of these earlier works.

Other prolific sources of spin-offs were The Danny Thomas Show, the source of The Andy Griffith Show, which led to Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and Mayberry, R.F.D. From Happy Days the list includes Laverne and Shirley, Joanie Loves Chachi, Mork & Mindy, and Out of the Blue. As should be clear from these lists, a spin-off is no guarantee of success. For every Wanted: Dead or Alive (from Trackdown), there is a Beverly Hill Buntz (from Hill Street Blues).

The existence of spin-offs can lead to puzzling problems when one considers the relations among programs across the schedule. The long-running prime time serial, Knots Landing, for example, was a spin-off of Dallas, the most famous example of that genre. During the famous 1985-86 season of Dallas, the season that was "dreamt" by Pamela Ewing (Victoria Principal), various events on Knots Landing occurred in response to Bobby Ewing's (Patrick Duffy) "death." Yet no one on Knots Landing troubled to explain how the history of their own fictional world might be altered by the fact that a "year in the life of Dallas" never occurred.

In any instance, spin-offs attest to television's constant demand for new, if not always different, material. This demand often leads to mindless repetition and the most meager attempts to cash in on previous success. While spin-offs may lead to new sources of creativity in their own right, the result of applying this strategy is often no more than a program that temporarily fills a time slot.

Indeed, it should be noted that spin-offs often result from producers' financial arrangements. Successful producers frequently contract for future commitments from studios or networks. New shows constructed around proven, popular characters offer obvious advantages in these arrangements. Similarly, the existence of a successful program offers the producer and the network a ready-made billboard for advertising new work. Characters from the new production may appear in no more than a single episode of the ongoing program in order to be introduced to a large audience.

A final version of the spin-off is related to variations on a program franchise or formula, variations that often cross national boundaries. It is important to remember that All in the Family and Sanford and Son, two of the most highly acclaimed shows produced by Norman Lear, were copies of British productions, Till Death Us Do Part and Steptoe and Son, respectively. Currently, the most prominent examples here are the international versions of Wheel of Fortune. Licensed by the parent company, Merve Griffin Productions, to producers in other countries, some form of Wheel is popular from France to Taiwan, from Norway to Peru. In each country small variations are created to express particular cultural expectations and attitudes. Because game shows are cheaply and easily produced, this type of the spin-off concept is likely to expand.

-Horace Newcomb