Backdoor pilots and crossovers

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

When are they executed well and when are they done poorly?

The Danny Thomas Show introduced us to Andy Taylor and the town of Mayberry, serving as a backdoor pilot for The Andy Griffith Show. I was a little surprised at Opie's question when Andy compared the boy's pet turtle's death by being stepped on to the loss of Andy's wife, prompting the boy to ask, "Who stepped on Ma?" The Andy Griffith Show didn't make her death a funny subject.

The Danny Thomas Show also crossed over onto The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (the later iteration of I Love Lucy) and was well written, dialogue-wise; everyone sounded like themselves. On Lucy's later re-crossover onto Danny's show, however, Lucy and Ricky's lines didn't sound right.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Often when classic shows begin, certain characters aren't entirely nailed-down to their eventually-normal selves. Spock will smile at strange moments in MUDD'S WOMEN and THE CAGE. Even the first HILL STREET had a weirdly-cutesy moment with the Captain trading hand signals with a gang leader.

And if you want to see Blair Warner, of all people, smoking a cigarette, there's her DIFF'RENT STROKES debut.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EarlyInstallmentWeirdness#:~:text=Early Installment Weirdness might be,any number of other things.

Yeah, it's known as Early Installment Weirdness. In Everybody Loves Raymond, the twins were named Matthew and Gregory (Ray Romano's own sons' names) but they changed it to Michael and Geoffrey to be less confusing to the kids.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EarlyInstallmentWeirdness#:~:text=Early Installment Weirdness might be,any number of other things.

Not to risk a punch in the mouth, but most major comics originally written by Stan Lee possess this similarity.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

The characters are judge, jury, and executioner?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The characters are judge, jury, and executioner?

Joe Dredd is.

 

[the G-man]

The Danny Thomas Show introduced us to Andy Taylor and the town of Mayberry, serving as a backdoor pilot for The Andy Griffith Show.

And, of course, Andy Griffth, in turn, had backdoor pilots for Gomer Pyle USMC and Mayberry RFD

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And the entire NCIS franchise spun off from JAG.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

The characters are judge, jury, and executioner?

The Stan Lee ones are generally stodgy, old-fashioned and corn-prone, despite exceptions like Ben Grimm.....until the next regular writer takes over. Don't get me started on Hank Pym. He was such a clueless moron the first compliment he paid to a woman was the Black Widow LONG after he met the Wasp.*

(*In fairness Roy Thomas wrote that compliment, but all Stan Lee's Pym ever told Jan was ''Sorry, I must carress this test tube, so we'll talk later.''Granted the Wasp was an idiot simply for loving that big ''galoot''....or big SOMETHING.)

 

[bdub76]

Two attempted back door pilots in Supernatural. Both didn’t result in a new show.

A Man Called Hawk was spun off from Spenser for Hire. Lasted only one season.

Jeffersons spun off of All in the Family.

 

[Bynar0110]

And most of those shows and it spinoffs are a figment of Tommy Westphall imagination.

Mork and Mindy and Laverne and Shirley as backdoor episodes on Happy Days which itself was a spin off of Love American Style.

 

[the G-man]

I am oft-fascinated with the backdoor pilots that didn't work. For example:

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The time the Partridge Family tried to spin off a new series starring Louis Gossett Jr and Richard Pryor as owners of "Soul Club." Or the one with Bobby Sherman as a struggling songwriter:

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(Though I think the latter did result in a very short lived series)

 

[SithHappens]

And most of those shows and it spinoffs are a figment of Tommy Westphall imagination.

Mork and Mindy and Laverne and Shirley as backdoor episodes on Happy Days which itself was a spin off of Love American Style.

Mork and Mindy is a weird one, really funny series not sure it needed to be a spin off of a series that made no sense to have it as a spin off

 

[DarrenTR1970]

[QUOTE="bdub76, post: 14706094, member:
Jeffersons spun off of All in the Family.[/QUOTE]

Don't forget Maude also spun off from All in the Family, and Good Times spun off of Maude.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Backdoor pilots can be frustrating and often a waste of an episode for me.

"The Ultimate Imposter" from The Six Million Dollar Man is a good example. Steve shows up at the start and then the finish, the rest of the episode is devoted to this guy's mission who we don't know and will never see again. There's there was "Kelly's Kids" on The Brady Bunch as that series was gasping its last.

However, some work well in the framework of the series. "Hollywood Starr" from T.J. Hooker was fine. Hooker was still heavily involved in the episode, but it set up a new P.I. character (Sharon Stone) for her own show that never developed. Same with Burke's Law "Who Killed the Jackpot?" which introduced Anne Francis as Honey West, which resulted in an excellent, if short lived, series for her.

So, I guess I'm saying, they're fine if they introduce a character and situation without marginalizing the regular series' cast. But when they use one or two of the leads to do walk-on's to inro the new characters and vanish until the end (if they come back at all) , that's when they suck. Well, unless the episode is just crummy.

 

[Christopher]

Mork and Mindy is a weird one, really funny series not sure it needed to be a spin off of a series that made no sense to have it as a spin off

It wasn't meant to be a spin-off. It was originally just an attempt to capitalize on Star Wars mania by doing a Happy Days episode where Richie had a dream about meeting an alien. But Robin Williams was such a breakout hit in what had been intended as a one-shot guest role that they decided to spin him off, and actually reran the dream episode of Happy Days with a reshot ending retconning the dream into something that really happened.

Really, the majority of spinoffs don't happen because of the concept, but because an actor made a strong enough impression that producers or audiences wanted to see more of them. If an actor is popular, the concepts and stories will be reworked to give them more to do, no matter how contrived the reworking -- e.g. The Six Million Dollar Man bringing Steve's dead love interest Jaime Sommers back to life because Lindsay Wagner's performance was so great that they wanted to give her a series.

 

[the G-man]

There's there was "Kelly's Kids" on The Brady Bunch as that series was gasping its last.

Even as a very, very, young kid I could see what they were doing with that one, it was so obvious.
Other than F Troop, did Ken Berry ever have a TV show that wasn't a spin off of something else?

 

[SithHappens]

I remember several episodes of highlander in the last season that didn't even feature Duncan that had spin offs in mind.

 

[bdub76]

I remember several episodes of highlander in the last season that didn't even feature Duncan that had spin offs in mind.

Raven?

Highlander TV peaked in season 4.

 

[SithHappens]

Raven?

Highlander TV peaked in season 4.

it ended up being raven but there was episodes centered round others that were new to highlander with the intention they might be the spin off characters

Agree on Season 4