Spinoffs can spin in two different directions. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks of spinoff TV shows that equal or exceed their predecessors — and ones that are basically pointless.
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00:00Walter White couldn't have done it without me.
00:05You got that?
00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:08And today we're counting down our picks for spin-off TV shows that equal or exceeded
00:13their predecessors and ones that are basically pointless.
00:17You know, Tuesday's kind of an interesting name.
00:18Blah, blah, blah.
00:22Number 5.
00:23Unnecessary.
00:24The Lone Gunman.
00:25In the 90s and early 2000s, The X-Files was a hot show for Fox.
00:30A spin-off was developed based on the recurring side characters,
00:33The Lone Gunman, a trio of private eyes who also run a conspiracy theory magazine.
00:39You plan to test that chemical on an unwitting public.
00:42Why?
00:44For what possible reason?
00:45Myers.
00:46Shut up.
00:47Who gives you the authority?
00:49On their own show, the guys get into much more comedic adventures than Mulder and Scully.
00:54Although the show was well received critically, audiences didn't seem that interested.
00:59The series was canceled after a single season.
01:02She did save her butts.
01:05Maybe she's not the person you think she is.
01:11You could still be fired.
01:12The show was good, just not essential viewing.
01:15It probably inspired its own conspiracies though,
01:18considering the pilot's somewhat eerie prediction of the events of 9-11.
01:22Corner of Liberty and Washington.
01:25Lower Manhattan.
01:26World Trade Center.
01:28I'm gonna crash the plane into the World Trade Center.
01:31I'll tell the flight crew.
01:32Number 5.
01:33As Good.
01:34Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
01:36Would have been easier if you'd never found out about Jor-El.
01:41No, I'm glad I did.
01:43If you want to know who you are, it's important to know who you've been.
01:48While Star Trek The Next Generation is a tempting alternative,
01:51we'd argue that this spinoff of that spinoff is as good or better.
01:55Deep Space Nine eschews most of the space exploration Star Trek is famous for,
02:01and instead focuses on the titular space station.
02:04The series arguably delves further into character development than its predecessors.
02:09I am an accessory to murder.
02:14But the most damning thing of all,
02:18I think I can live with it.
02:20The extensive supporting cast all receive their time in the limelight.
02:24Additionally, DS9 doesn't shy away from the darker sides of the 24th century,
02:30with a prolonged war arc and other heavy topics that still ring true today.
02:35We would have reached an accommodation.
02:37We would have sat down across a negotiation table and hammered out a peace treaty.
02:43Deep Space Nine reaches for optimism while still providing a mirror to the real world,
02:47which helps make it among the best Star Trek has to offer.
02:51Number Four.
02:52Unnecessary.
02:53Joey.
02:54Look, we all love Joey Tribbiani.
02:56Who doesn't?
02:57But on Friends, he's part of an ensemble,
03:00where his personality has room to bounce off of the others.
03:03When he's left as the leading man to carry this spinoff,
03:06we find the character ill-suited for the task.
03:08Bunch of songs I thought you might like.
03:11Yeah, some Sinatra, Marvin Gaye,
03:13and the last track is a Jerky Boys prank call.
03:15I'll warn you now.
03:17Make sure you're not drinking anything when you listen to it.
03:18It will come out your nose.
03:20Despite some talented supporting cast members,
03:22Joey just lacks the same spark and effortless chemistry of its predecessor.
03:27Now every time I look at it, I think of her.
03:29Isn't it beautiful?
03:31It's a picture of you.
03:33Yeah, I know.
03:35Those eyes just burn into you, don't they?
03:37The show never quite finds its voice,
03:40and much like Joey's own acting career, meanders from one thing to another.
03:45While it's nice to see Joey grow a bit more as a character,
03:48it honestly feels too little too late.
03:50And you were right.
03:52We're better this way, as friends.
03:58You really think so?
04:00Number four, As Good, Angel.
04:03And to think, we were wondering when to call the police on a bunch of superheroes.
04:07Well, not really a hero.
04:09More like a blood-sucking fiend.
04:11Given that he was one of the most popular characters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
04:15a spinoff focusing on Angel, the vampire cursed with a soul, was only natural.
04:20While it takes a bit for the show to find its groove,
04:23once it does, Angel is every bit as good as Buffy, albeit in a different way.
04:28Fred's got a shot at a normal life.
04:31Not that I don't love you guys, and LA, and my work, but...
04:36Things are just never normal around here.
04:39Angel retains the dry, snarky humor of its predecessor,
04:43yet takes a more somber, darker approach to battling vampires
04:46and other dark supernatural forces in Los Angeles.
04:50Its more mature tone, excellent ensemble, and ability to reinvent itself
04:55proved that Angel was indeed blessed by the powers that be.
04:58Well, personally, I kind of want to play the dragon.
05:06Let's go to work.
05:08Number 3.
05:09Unnecessary.
05:10Aftermash.
05:11We get the thought process behind doing a sequel spinoff to MASH.
05:15It was a huge success that ran for over a decade.
05:18Colonel, before you go, we've been thinking about it,
05:20and there's a little something we'd like to give you.
05:23It's not much, but it comes from the heart.
05:27The idea of following the lives of the characters after the Korean War
05:30might have been compelling in theory, but in practice, it just didn't work.
05:34Aftermash only showed us what happens to a few of the members of the MASH ensemble,
05:39which made it feel even more like the cash grab it was.
05:43Hi, Bonnie.
05:45For you.
05:47I love your nails.
05:49When you cut them, I'd love to have the clippings.
05:51Additionally, despite being a sitcom,
05:54its comedic chops weren't up to the standards set by its predecessor.
05:58MASH would be a tough act for a good show to follow, and this was not.
06:02I prayed for you, Suli, prayed for you.
06:04I prayed to Allah, she prayed to Buddha.
06:06Can you stay on?
06:07Yeah.
06:08Terrific, wow, we'll be together, and he can hear, he can hear.
06:12Number 3.
06:13The Simpsons.
06:14Even the people who know The Simpsons is a spinoff probably forget from time to time.
06:19The characters originated in animated shorts on the sketch comedy series,
06:22The Tracy Ullman Show.
06:24Snuggling up, bonding together as only a tightly knit family can.
06:29Why we're more than a-
06:30Dad, you can stop now.
06:32Commercial's over and the show's back on.
06:34While you might be hard-pressed to find many who remember its origins,
06:38The Simpsons is a veritable giant in television history.
06:41The characters are recognizable worldwide.
06:44I will be there, for I am the Pie Man.
06:48And wherever Pie Man is, the Cupcake Kid will not be far behind.
06:52Its comedy has influenced countless future TV shows, and even culture at large.
06:57Whether you think its golden days are over, or you still swear by the later seasons,
07:02The Simpsons far surpassed its humble origins.
07:05We're actually entering Dad's dreams?
07:08Yes, yes, you see it's the only way you can uncover the psychological trauma
07:13that is causing your father's secret shame.
07:16Number 2.
07:17Unnecessary.
07:18Baywatch Nights.
07:20Baywatch may be iconic, but the show itself is no masterpiece.
07:24Making a watchable follow-up shouldn't have been that hard.
07:26Yet Baywatch Nights still flubbed it.
07:29No, no, no, it's not missing bodies.
07:30Missing persons.
07:31Missing persons.
07:32Body, body.
07:32The Crabtree Funeral Home somehow misplaced the dearly departed Mrs. T-Rizzle.
07:37They'll pay us real money to find her.
07:38You'd be forgiven for thinking it's a show about pretty people saving people from drowning.
07:42But this time, at night.
07:44Yet it's somehow even more ridiculous.
07:46We're not sure who thought it was a good idea to have Mitch Buchanan and Garner Ellerby
07:51start a detective agency, or who they thought would want to watch that.
07:55At least Cassidy wouldn't be doing any photo sessions for a while.
07:59But a man named Grimes might still be alive if I had trusted my instincts.
08:04As if that wasn't absurd enough, in the show's second season,
08:07they tried to get some of that sweet X-Files demographic by investigating paranormal crimes.
08:13Somehow this didn't work either.
08:15Just stay passive.
08:16I don't think he wants to hurt you.
08:17Just stay calm.
08:19It's okay.
08:20He's just confused.
08:21Imagine how you would feel if you died and then you woke up a thousand years later in some new place.
08:26Number two.
08:27As Good.
08:28Frasier.
08:29Cheers was a landmark sitcom with a fantastic ensemble.
08:33While a few spinoffs of it were attempted, the one that really stuck was Frasier.
08:37People move in and out of your life.
08:40You must never miss an opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you.
08:45Following Frasier Crane's return to his home city of Seattle,
08:49the show has a talented cast of its own with Frasier's family,
08:52friends, and co-workers becoming every bit as iconic as those on Cheers.
08:57Where are you going to find an idiot willing to take six dialect parts unrehearsed?
09:01The fussy psychiatrist's neuroses and the frequently farcical plots that see him
09:06scrambling to maintain appearances are absolutely hysterical.
09:11Critics and viewers agreed on the appeal of the show's razor sharp wit.
09:15I need your guidance.
09:16Frasier, I don't see this as a problem.
09:18You don't think this is the selling out of Frasier Crane?
09:21Oh, certainly not.
09:23You sold out a long time ago.
09:25It was even popular enough to merit a revival run decades later.
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09:44Number one, Unnecessary, that 80s show.
09:47Although not technically a spinoff of that 70s show,
09:51there are no characters or storylines shared between the two.
09:54We're still counting it because of the name and creative team overlap.
09:58Which one of you says I will crush you in a hostile takeover?
10:05Burgundy.
10:07She's right.
10:08I can't believe this is a conversation.
10:10It definitely feels like a pale imitation of its predecessor.
10:14The show follows a group of 20-somethings in the 1980s,
10:17yet it lacks the same universal coming-of-age feeling that made the original a success.
10:22Do you have any Miles Davis?
10:27You're not ready.
10:28Although several of the cast members would go on to bigger and better things,
10:32few of the characters felt grounded or easy to connect with.
10:36The show arrived too early for the wave of 80s nostalgia,
10:39but was far from being ahead of its time.
10:42I think you want to have coffee with me.
10:44I was already going to go get coffee, okay?
10:46So if you want to be pathetic and follow me, whatever.
10:50Yeah, I feel like being pathetic.
10:51Good, because you are.
10:53Number one, As Good, Better Call Saul.
10:56If you don't like where you're heading,
10:58there's no shame in going back and changing your path.
11:05When have you ever changed your path?
11:07Breaking Bad is among the most critically acclaimed TV series of all time,
11:11yet somehow creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould
11:15followed it up with a prequel spinoff that equals, and in some ways, surpasses it.
11:20The story of Jimmy McGill's journey to becoming the seedy lawyer Saul Goodman is gripping.
11:25I kept Walter White out of jail.
11:27I laundered his money, I lied for him, I conspired with him, and I made millions.
11:33Millions.
11:34Its plot might not be as tight as its predecessors,
11:37however, the character development and acting from the whole cast,
11:41as well as the spectacular cinematography and top-notch writing,
11:45could put it above Breaking Bad for many.
11:48Like the character himself says,
11:50It's all good, man.
11:52It's all good, man.
11:54Is there a spinoff series that our list is worse off for forgetting?
11:58Let us know in the comments.
12:00There's only one way.
12:02Oh Mandy, well you came and you gave without taking.
12:09Do you agree with our picks?
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