Spinoffs oh them spinoffs

    Usually spinoffs do not succeed & ruin a character.  the cream of the
crop shows are the only shows that can spinoff other shows and Seinfeld is
definetly one of those.  Some of the rules of spinoffs are:
        1.  The character has to be liked and not a major character.  All
spinoffs using major characters from the previous shows do not last long ex:
AfterMASH & Three's a Crowd.  I didn't consider Kelsey Grammer's character
Frasier a main character on Cheers.
        2.  New Setting.  Ex.  A Different World took off from the Cosby
Show, a show about raising a family, using a minor character (Denise) to do
a show about going to college and the college life.
        3.  Short character intros can also lead to a spinoff.  An one or
two show appearance by a character can launch a show if that actor is
talented.  Ex.  Mork & Mindy from Happy Days and Empty Nest from Golden
Girls.
    So with these in mind all four major characters in Sienfeld could not be
in a spinoff.  They have to much exposure and we know things about them
already.  It would take a very very talented writer to make this show a hit
and last five years (the best time to sell the syndication rights).  So if
NBC did a spinoff (which I doubt they will do) it has to be a liked
character and not overused.  Now not al of these rules are always accurate
there are exceptions.  tabitha is one of them based on the daughter of
Samantha of Bewitched, but most of the time these rules do apply so just say
bye to Seinfeld and look forword to years and years of reruns.

AfterMASH & Three's a Crowd. I didn't consider >Kelsey Grammer's character Frasier a main character on Cheers.

Not sure I'd agree on this, since Frasier did become one of the core characters on Cheers in the second half of the show's run. However, Frasier Crane does demonstrate what you need to have for a spinoff show to be successful...a character who not only has a well-defined personality, but enough complexity, and enough that still isn't fully known about him, that he has real room for growth in a new show.

Who meets that test on Seinfeld? Not Kramer...he's pretty much locked into his entertaining eccentricities, and he isn't ever likely to change his lifestyle. Not George...he's locked into his own insecurities, his own basic laziness, and his own sporadic fury for life. And not Elaine...we know what she's all about, from her pushiness to her complete shallowness to her too-clever-by-half approach to every challenge. And not one of them shows the slightest bit of self-awareness.

There is one character who has changed and become more self-aware and perceptive about the world around him...who has toyed (at least) with major changes in his life on a number of occasions, and even if he backslides, he still seems to have matured somewhat in his perspectives during the course of the show. He clearly has more potential for further growth in a new series. We also don't have even as much detail about some aspects of his past as we do about the other characters, so there is still more to be learned about him than we'll ever get before the end of this series. Unfortunately for those hoping for a spinoff, that character with what would normally the best spinoff potential for the future, is Jerry. Kinda tough to build a spinoff around the main character of the original show, isn't it? Bob Smith, afternoons WXXI-AM 1370, Rochester NY

Talk1370 wrote:

I think "Seinfeld" spinoff is a very bad idea. However, after couple of years, I would love to see Jerry do a different show, with different characters.

maro

I agree with your ideas about the character of a spin off has to have room to grow on his own, and has to have the ability to function without the constant companionship of the present main characters.

I believe that there is such a character, or characters, and they are George's Parents.

George's parents are very funny in their oun situations. They interact brilliantly between them selves, and could easily have a show based upon them.

They are always talking about moving, they dont really have jobs (not that I am aware of any way), they are as screwed up as any other character on the show.

I think that the Costanza's could pull it off.

Just my .02.

NC

[email] (Talk1370) wrote:

George's parents are very funny in their oun situations. They interact brilliantly between them selves, and could easily have a show based upon them.

       ** Jerry Stiller visited Israel a couple of weeks ago
          and said in an interview that a Costanza parents
          spin-off was being considered but that nothing was
          definite yet.
                                                    Mark L.

Yeah that 'really' worked with 'The Ropers' (from Three's Company).

Mark L. Levinson wrote in article ...