Worst Sitcom Spinoffs

[Mr. TM]

When one talks about sitcoms of old, some discussion points to sitcoms that are very successful spinoffs, such as Fraiser, which lasted 11 years, and received many TV Emmys. But sometimes it is fun to look at the reverse end of it and look at the very worse spectrum of TV spinoffs.

I think most would argue something like Joanie Loves Chachi is the worst... but I only ever watched it once, unlike the show I am picking instead. Friends had a spinoff that lasted a little while showing the post life of one of its members. Joey, the name of the show and character was quite poor, working with a new cast, however, it lacked any feel to the show (waits for Tdigle to say the same about Friends). From a guy who has watched every episode of Friends a dozen times a dozen times. I think I watched the first 8 episodes, and couldn't get through the rest. It might be because I always found Joey to be a weaker character of the cast, but I never enjoyed it.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Joanie Loves Chachi and Joey with Joanie Loves Chachi getting a slight edge. This show had NO point to it. Two of the most unrecognizable characters on Happy Days get their own show? As opposed to ... you know ... FUCKING FONZY?! It's stupid. The show was awful. I made it through 10 minutes and said, "Fuck it." out loud.

Joey was awful also. I knew the show would bomb, even with his hot ass sister played by Drea De Matteo. I'd lick her asshole. But she can't act worth a shit. Neither can Matt LeBlanc. Ugh. That show had no chance, no story, and nothing to build off of.

Honorable mention goes to Archie's Place and The Ropers.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

Man, it definitely has to be Joey. I was a moderate friends fan, so I thought I would check it out. Then I realized what made Joey Tribbiani funny in the first place. It was Chandler, and without him Joey failed, and it failed miserably. I think they shouldve done a spin off with Chandler and Monica instead. Just because Chandler was damn funny.

Honorable Mentions: The Ropers (Loved them on Three's Company but they couldn't hold over the appeal.) Joanie Loves Chachi, Baywatch Nights was god awful. A lot more could be added to this list, but I feel as If I don't want a headache tonight thinking about all of them.

 

[Avitus25]

I agree with the general consensus, Joey was pretty pathetic. It was set to fail from the start to be honest. Joey was on a bad TV station (at least here in the UK), and the cast wasn't that amazing. Two things really annoyed me:

1) They just seemed to repeat the same gags that Joey Tribbiani and done on Friends.

2) This is probably just me, because i'm seriously sad about Friends... but they really messed up the consistency. Jennifer Coolidge played the part of Bobbie, Joey's agent on the program Joey, but a few years earlier she had played Amanda in an episode of Friends, and I know that it probably only bothered me, but it really annoyed me that they'd over look something like that.

To be honest the show was never going to really suceed, and maybe the fact that everyone expected it to fail aided it's collapse, but I personally feel that they should have just left the legacy of Friends to rest, instead they made Joey... possibly the worst Sitcom Spinoff ever.

 

[MasterShakeIz4Real]

The Saved by the Bell Spin off, not the college one, the one with completely different people. i cant remember what year it came out and what it was called by i just remember watching it a few times an bein like "this is trash man". Even though i dont remember the name n what not, thats probably one of the worst i've ever seen. that, and Joey lmao

 

[Dysturbed]

^^^

I admittedly watched some episodes from each season out of habit, but agree that it was horrible. It was "The New Class." Initially they tried duplicating the original cast. A character names Weasel was the new Screech another character played an almost identical role to Zack, etc. Then the cast of kids kept changing each year. It wasn't a complete overhaul as there were usually some holdovers but the holdovers eventually left too.

2) This is probably just me, because i'm seriously sad about Friends... but they really messed up the consistency. Jennifer Coolidge played the part of Bobbie, Joey's agent on the program Joey, but a few years earlier she had played Amanda in an episode of Friends, and I know that it probably only bothered me, but it really annoyed me that they'd over look something like that.

I can see where your'e coming from with that but I don't think that it's a matter of overlooking anything rather they just didn't care. There have been multiple times in tv history that the same actor/actress has played a different character in the same "universe" of shows (like on different csis) or even on the same exact show. I admittedly used to watch the original 90210 and a few times an actor would play a guest role and then play a totally different guest role a few seasons later. Jeffrey Tambor was a main character on the Ropers but also played a different character on Threes company for a few episodes. That's similar to the Friends/Joey thing I suppose. One prominent example (though not with a sitcom) is Jerry Orbach, who is of course played one of the best known characters ever on Law and Order yet also played a character on the show prior to his main role as a different character. There are other prominent and non prominent examples of that. Like I said though I can see why that would be noticeable and annoying, especially if a character is memorable the first time around.

Anyway I'm not sure which I think was actually the worst but every one mentioned is a good option.

 

[LSN80]

Joey was just friggin attrocious. I dated two different girls who loved friends, hell, bought them box sets for gifts and that sort of thing. And Matt LeBlancs character was hilarious, in a SUPPORTING role. And then they decided, of all of the characters, to give him an effing show? I couldnt get through more then ten minutes of the darn episode, I swear. The broad who played his sister was attrocious, he couldnt play a lead comedic actor to save his life, and the person who wrote the script should have been run out of Hollywood faster then they should have run the guy out of WWE creative that thought Khali made for a good champ......

 

[pyrusane]

The consistency bit has been a recurring problem with shows over the years. One show that was really bad about that was 21 Jump Street. There was an actor that appeared four different times during the course of that series, in three of the four episodes he was in he was the main bad guy, and each time he was playing a different character.

Going back to the original topic, however, I only saw the original pilot of Joey, so I can't comment on it being the worst ever. However, as a kid I was a big fan of Happy Days, and it gave us some classic spin-offs. Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and...Joanie Loves Chachi? WTF? As someone else mentioned, Fonzie, one of the most over characters in the history of sitcoms, doesn't get his own show, but his nephew does? And we have to watch Scott Baio??? Bah!

 

[PEP3]

Even as one of the hugest fans of The Golden Girls, I couldn't make it through an episode of Golden Palace. I think it's because Dorothy Zbornak, played by Bea Arthur, was just too central of a character to write out. The other three are endearing, but it was Dorothy's one-liners that really made that show. While all four worked extremely well together, taking one key element out of the mix caused the result to be way, way, WAY below the original. The Golden Girls is forever a classic. The spin-off (or, some might argue, the continuation) is a dark spot on its legacy.

 

[Alex]

Im actually going with The Cleveland Show.

Every character in there is similar to a Family Guy counterpart. I've only seen one episode and it just came across just like Family Guy, it has pretty much the same storylines just tweaked slightly, I don't like how Cleveland has gone from mild-mannered and funny in his own way to black Peter Griffin. If I wanted to watch something like Family Guy, I'd watch Family Guy

 

[Tastycles]

Joey is one of the least humorous programmes that I have seen in recent years. It basically took the worst aspects of friends, churned them through the American shitcom-o-matic and then took a big turd on what was left and aired it. Truly abysmal, and I don't know anyone who enjoyed the show.

The worst ones are generally the ones you don't remember though, because they only last an episode or two, but I can't think of any worse than Joey off hand.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

Another TERRIBLE spin off...Saved By The Bell:The College Years. You have the 3 boys living with 3 girls, then all of a sudden they F things up by taking one girl out and putting Kapowski back in, and add some washed up football player as the new Belding as the RA? That only lasted like what...a season?