After the success of a TV show, producers will often try to replicate that popularity with a spin-off series.
However, it's incredibly difficult for those new shows to ever really match the same level of acclaim. The sad truth is that it seems more likely that a spin-off will fall to the wayside than actually become a hit in its own right. Still, there are rare examples of shows that can sometimes break that mold (like Frasier, who's title character famously originated on Cheers).
Even more surprising, though, are the shows you might not have even realized got their start on a different series. In fact, chances are that you forgot the spin-off in #4 actually came from another spin-off series!
Take a look to remember which beloved TV shows got their start by branching off from another series.
Don't forget to SHARE all the shows you might have forgotten were spin-offs with your friends on Facebook!
1. The Andy Griffith Show
Original Show: The Danny Thomas Show
Sheriff Andy Taylor was introduced in the seventh-season episode "Danny Meets Andy Griffith" before bringing Mayberry to life on his own series.
2. The Facts of Life
Original Show: Diff’rent Strokes
Before portraying the housemother at Eastland School (and co-starring with a young George Clooney), Charlotte Rae originated the role of Mrs. Garrett as the Drummonds' housekeeper.
3. Maude
Original Show: All in the Family
Bea Arthur was originally cast as a foil for Archie Bunker's notoriously bombastic personality before striking out on her own show.
4. Good Times
Original Show: Maude
Florida Evans, played by Esther Rolle, made her first appearance as Maude's new housekeeper — meaning Good Times was actually a spin-off of a spin-off.
5. Laverne & Shirley
Original Show: Happy Days
The pair of besties were first shown as girls from the "wrong side of the tracks" who double date Fonzie and Richie before they took their hijinks to their own show.
6. Mork & Mindy
Original Show: Happy Days
The nostalgic '50s show helped launch the intergalactic series after Robin Williams showed up as Mork, an alien from Richie's dream who tried to take him back to his home planet, Ork.
7. Benson
Original Show: Soap
Robert Guillaume got started honing his zingers as a witty butler on the soap opera parody show before taking a job with the governor on his own show.
8. Family Matters
Originanl Show: Perfect Strangers
Before Steve Urkel became the breakout star of the series, it was matriarch Harriet Winslow who was first shown as an elevator operator at the fictional Chicago Chronicle, who is fired from her position only to be rehired as head of security on the new series.
9. Sesame Street
Original Show: Sam and Friends
Over a decade before Elmo and Big Bird made their debut, Jim Henson introduced Kermit the Frog in 1955 on a local Washington, DC, series that ran until 1961.
10. The Simpsons
Original Show: The Tracey Ullman Show
The long-running series looked a bit rougher in its early days, when it was a collection of short clips that ran on funny lady Tracey Ullman's sketch show back in 1987.
11. The Tonight Show
Original Show: Broadway Open House
Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, and Jimmy Fallon all have the 1951 variety show to thank for the popular talk show spin-off.
Were you surprised by any of these shows that got their start as spin-offs?
Be sure to SHARE their unexpected origins with your friends on Facebook!
