The Office is becoming a franchise with an interconnected universe.
  • shinratdr@lemmy.ca
    192·
    6 months ago

    Has there been a successful spinoff in the last 20 years? Excluding the mill show genres that lend themselves to spinoffs like reality, home & garden, police procedural, etc. Basically spinoffs that exist so they can just make more of the same mediocre thing.

    I can only think of Better Call Saul. I feel like spinoffs of shows that are actually good as a concept are best left in the 70s & 80s.

    It’s worth noting The Office already has two spinoffs, Parks & Rec which basically only became good when it shed 100% of its Office influence, and the horrible Rainn Wilson show that nobody remembers.

    • teft@lemmy.world
      18·
      6 months ago

      The Boys had Gen V which was successful. But I agree with you that there are very few good spinoffs.

      • felbane@lemmy.world
        6·
        6 months ago

        This is the first I’m hearing about this, and I’m terminally online, and am a fan of The Boys.

        I guess the downside of sailing the seven seas is missing out on all the predatory targeted advertising bespoke entertainment recommendations

        • teft@lemmy.world
          6·
          6 months ago

          Or get access to a better site. I only sail the seas and I was watching it the day it came out.

          • felbane@lemmy.world
            2·
            6 months ago

            One of these days I’ll sit down and figure out how to build a proper seedbox (with VPN and the appropriate *arr variants) so I can set up Trakt for these kinds of recommendations.

      • acosmichippo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        6 months ago

        and walking dead has about a million spinoffs. not sure if they’re any good but they must be successful to some degree since they keep on going and going.

    • GlitterInfection@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      6 months ago

      Do you count prequels as spin-off shows? Both Better Call Saul and House of the Dragon are considered to be excellent and successful if so.

      • jqubed@lemmy.world
        7·
        6 months ago

        IIRC it was originally planned as a spinoff and Rashida Jones’s character had originally been considered to be Karen Filippelli, moved to Indiana. Of course I think it’s much better that they didn’t go with that idea and gave her a new character.

      • shinratdr@lemmy.ca
        61·
        6 months ago

        Parks and Rec had the same production team as The Office and the concept came from NBC asking them to produce an Office spinoff.

        You’re right, it’s not a true spinoff. However it was the first shot at an Office spinoff.

    • misk@sopuli.xyzOP
      6·
      6 months ago

      Vampire Diaries had multiple spinoffs and out of those The Originals were quite successful, Legacies less so. Legacies was most procedural so there’s that.

      • shinratdr@lemmy.ca
        2·
        6 months ago

        Yeah I realize what I am considering a “show” is a much more narrow definition that really only exists in my own head lol. YA shows are another genre that lend themselves to spinoffs that forgot about.

        I guess what I’m thinking of is critically acclaimed shows that are considered to be good by the majority of the public at the time. But that’s a narrow enough definition that it’s essentially meaningless so I concede the point.

        • misk@sopuli.xyzOP
          1·
          6 months ago

          You don’t consider it a show because you think it’s aimed at teens but it’s actually aimed at grown up women. Give it a shot, plot is tastefully over the top and production values are pretty good. I cried at the end of The Originals and I’m not ashamed of it!

          • shinratdr@lemmy.ca
            2·
            6 months ago

            I’ve watched the entire Jenny Nicholson video on The Vampire Diaries like 3 times so I’m definitely familiar. Not for me personally, but I can appreciate the appeal.

            Didn’t mean to denigrate it or anything.

      • shinratdr@lemmy.ca
        62·
        6 months ago

        I was more thinking of shows that are universally considered “good” or at least critically acclaimed. I know a lot of people like BBT (and many hate it deeply) but it doesn’t really come up in conversation when people are discussing good shows.

      • shinratdr@lemmy.ca
        31·
        6 months ago

        King of the Hill would also almost count too, but yeah it’s still a stretch considering it started in the 90s.

  • jqubed@lemmy.world
    123·
    6 months ago

    The article keeps mentioning that The Office ended more than a decade ago but that can’t be right, it was 2-3 years ago tops.