20 television shows with multiple spinoffs

Yes, the beloved sitcom had two spinoffs. One is Frasier, one of the best sitcoms ever. The other? The Tortellis, which focused on Carla’s ex-husband and his current wife, who were infrequent recurring characters on Cheers. While Frasier ruled, The Tortellis only ran for one season.

Law & Order didn’t need spinoffs, given that it ran 20 years in its first life and has recently been brought back. Most people know Special Victims Unit, a spinoff as successful as the original. On top of that, there has been Criminal Intent, a few one-season wonders like the Los Angeles spinoff, and the current Organized Crime.

If you were a friend of Mary Richards, there’s a good chance you got your own show. First, there was Rhoda, which was successful as a spinoff sitcom. Then, Phyllis got a show, which wasn’t as good. Don’t forget Lou Grant, which was interestingly a dramatic show about Ed Asner’s character going back to his life as a newspaperman. He won an Emmy for Lou Grant, giving him multiple Emmys for playing the same character on different shows.

CSI debuted, became a big hit on CBS, and perplexed people in terms of how forensic science worked. CSI: Miami gave the world a meme, and then there was CSI: New York. Don’t forget the misfire that was CSI: Cyber.

The hit sitcom about Archie Bunker and his family was successful and controversial, and it was a spinoff machine. While the biggest hit was The Jeffersons, Maude came first. Both of those shows had spinoffs as well. Then, there are the less-remembered All in the Family spinoffs of Archie Bunker’s Place, Gloria, and 704 Hauser.

NCIS is a JAG spinoff, so we could have gone with JAG here. However, NCIS is the show that gets to be before the colon in a few spinoffs, so we are shouting it out. Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Hawaii have all gotten their own NCIS organizations, making CBS watchers quite happy.

They call it the “Arrowverse” on the CW for a reason. The show about DC’s Green Arrow has paved the way to a non-problematic Flash in his own series, plus Supergirl, Black Lightning, Batwoman, and the all-encompassing Legends of Tomorrow.

While Breaking Bad and Mad Men got awards love and critical laudation, The Walking Dead was AMC’s huge hit. That’s how it ran for longer than it should have and got multiple spinoffs. Fear the Walking Dead had gotten several seasons, and there are also Tales of the Walking Dead and World Beyond. 

The Flintstones was a hit animated primetime show, a rarity at the time, and given how cheaply Hanna-Barbera shows were animated, it was fodder for spinoffs. There’s The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, The Flintstones Comedy Hour, and The New Fred and Barney Show, and that’s just scratching the surface.

One of the Golden Girls spinoffs is basically a reboot, Golden Palace. Don Cheadle was on it, but it largely flopped. The more traditional spinoff Empty Nest was more successful, perhaps because it didn’t evoke so many Golden Girls comparisons.

Happy Days was not afraid of the backdoor pilot, which is to say, episodes designed to introduce characters destined for their own shows. That’s how we got Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy. We also got the traditional spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi, the worst of the bunch.

The Archie comics have plenty of offshoots, so Riverdale getting spinoffs makes sense. Katy Keene didn’t quite hit, but Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was more successful, perhaps owing to people’s love of horror storytelling.

There are a couple of classic ways to do spinoffs, and Saved by the Bell did them both. Taking familiar characters and transplanting them somewhere new? That’s The College Years. Staying at the same location but refreshing the cast and trying to do the same thing? That’s The New Class. Both are terrible.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an absurdist talk show that basically birthed Adult Swim. It also gave us a few spinoffs. The Brak Show, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force owe their existence to Space Ghost, another example of how this show is responsible for all things Adult Swim.

There have been several Star Trek shows, some of which are more shows set in the Star Trek universe, but that’s close enough for spinoff cred. The Next Generation has its own spinoffs, including Picard. There was an animated show based on the original series. We have Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and the list goes on. A massive television universe, and that’s not to mention the movies.

Based on a movie, Stargate SG-1 was one of those sci-fi shows that just keep on going. They made 10 seasons and 214 episodes! Way to go, Richard Dean Anderson! If that wasn’t enough, they also spun the show off three times. There’s Atlantis, Universe, and Origins. Man, Stargate gives Star Trek a run for its money!

The Lone Gunmen is a clear spinoff of The X-Files, involving recurring characters from the sci-fi/horror show. Millennium is also considered a spinoff. It helps that the characters from Millennium appear in an episode of The X-Files to close out the story from that show after it was canceled. Neither of these spinoffs was successful, which may be why the show got rebooted.

Black-ish proved a hit sitcom, so ABC ordered a spinoff in Grown-ish. That made sense, and it worked. This led to Kenya Barris pushing his luck. Mixed-ish ended up on Netflix, not ABC, and only lasted two seasons. Meanwhile, Old-ish was announced, but its pilot was canceled.

As a show with segments and an assortment of characters, Animaniacs was sensible as fodder for spinoffs. Pinky and the Brain kicked things off, followed by Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain. Freakazoid! and Histeria! are also considered spinoffs of Animaniacs. They are all in the WB Kids universe to make up a new overarching universe in pop culture.

Dıck Wolf, the creator of Law & Order, loves spinoffs. He does not leave money on the table. Chicago Fire was followed by Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. They both worked big time. There was also Chicago Justice, perhaps a little too Law & Order adjacent because it didn’t work.