15 Classic TV Shows (Everyone Forgets) That Were Spinoffs

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15 Classic TV Shows (Everyone Forgets) That Were Spinoffs

Every writer dreams of creating a bit character so popular, they sprout a family and fly off to the suburbs to live their own wacky life. 

Beavis And Butt-Head CRACKED O The boys got their first taste of televised idiocy with a series of shorts on MTV's Liquid Television, a collection of animations from indie producers. Their first short is about them brutally murdering increasingly larger defenseless animals.

Family Matters CRACKEDco Long before Urkel stole the show, the spotlight was supposed to be on Harriette Winslow. She was a breakout success on Perfect Strangers, where she played a sassy elevator operator whose cop husband used to drop by from time to time. In this scene, she delivers the

The Simpsons CRACKEDGO America's favorite jaundiced family first appeared as a short on The Tracey UlIman Show.

The Andy Griffith Show CRACKED CO The world was introduced to Andy Griffith in an episode of The Danny Thomas Show. Thomas takes time off from being a good comedian and terrible father to get arrested in the small town of Mayberry.

NCIS CRACKED CON The source of several spinoffs is, itself, a spinoff of JAG. Four main castmembers from JAG went on to appear in various NCIS.ES.

Xena: Warrior Princess CRACKEDCC Xena was supposed to be killed off after a three-episode arc on Hercules: ThE Legendary Journeys, but was SO popular she got a six-season starring role instead.

Happy Days RONNYHOWARD The Happy Days crew started out on an episode of Love, American Style, which was basically an anthology of unconnected rom-com pilots. Their episode was meant to be a pilot for an entirely different show that was never picked up. Two years later, the characters and

Pinky And The Brain CRACKED CO They first had their genes spliced in recurring shorts on Animaniacs. They got their own, crude-humored show, meant to be a direct competitor to The Simpsons. When that didn't pan out, a more kid-ified version continued to run on Saturday mornings.

Darkwing Duck CRACKEDGO Even though Darkwing DUck features Launchpad McQuack, and Gizmoduck, and references Duckberg, creator Tad Jones says it doesn't necessarily share a universe with its predecessor, Ducktales.

Mork & Mindy CRACKED cO Mork from Ork originally appeared on Happy Days, attempting to kidnap Richie Cunningham. The episode was technically one long dream sequence, but people loved Robin Williams' performance SO much, they edited the ending and spun off a four-season show.

Melrose Place CRACKED COM This was actually the 1st of five spinoffs from Beverly Hills, 90210. Its first season kept the episodic format, where everything wrapped up neatly at the end of the day. They rocketed to success when they started experimenting with the ongoing soap opera saga format.

Sabrina The Teenage Witch CRACKED COM Sabrina hails from the Archie universe. She had her own animated series in the 70's, but her first appearance was as the new kid at Riverdale in 1968's The Archie Show.

Daria CRACKEDG The disaffected Daria made a few appearances on Beavis and Butthead before Mike Judge plucked her out of Highland and dropped her in Lawndale. The only mention of her old life is in a promo for the first episode.

Saved By The Bell CRACKEDC After a middling 13-episode season, The Disney Channel's Good Morning, Miss Bliss decided to ditch Miss Bliss and focus on the snarky kids.

The Muppet Show CRACKED CON Before there were Muppets, there were just freaky-ass puppets. Kermit looks positively traumatized by his first castmates on Jim Henson's Sam and Friends, a local Washington DC kids' show.
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