Sunday, November 21, 2010

Blast from the Past: Unsuccessful TV Spinoffs!

This week's Blast from the Past idea came from my time wasting activity today. Yesterday, I found the complete series Tabitha on DVD at Big Lots for $3. I grew up loving Bewitched, and watched the spin-off when it aired in 1977. I remember really wanting to like it, but that it was sort of marginal.  Even at eleven years old, the problems with the show stood out.

First, the show debuted only five years after Bewitched was cancelled, so Tabitha should've only been about 12. Her brother Adam would've been six or so. Instead, she was 20-something, and Adam somehow passed her in age. Also, only Tabitha had magic, with Adam filling sort of a Darrin role, tsk-tsking his sister's use of magic.  Complicating matters was "Aunt Minerva," a heretofore never known member of the family.

It wasn't all bad though. The star, Lisa Hartman, was outstanding, doing a fantastic Elizabeth Montgomery impression. She was beautiful and spunky. Robert Urich played her smarmy boss, and was at his peak of attractiveness.  The theme song was pretty great too, though it took until the third episode to debut. Oddly, the first two shows had the same opening sequence with a dreary instrumental tune. The difference is startling, and shows that maybe if the show had been given a little longer to catch on, it may have gelled into something better.

I have to think if they tried again, they might have better luck. Of course, most of the cast of the original Bewitched is dead, but after the bummer of a remake movie, a recast, re-thought out version of Tabitha might work. Maybe Lisa Hartman could play Samantha? We know she could do it. So, lets get on with it, shall we? Here are some openings from spinoff TV series, all short-lived.




1. Tabitha - Great theme song, sung by Lisa Hartman. I think this opening may be the reason I've always wanted a VW Super Beetle convertible.
2. AfterMASH - After stretching the Korean War out for eleven years, CBS still couldn't let M*A*S*H go. This sorry followup is probably the most disappointing spinoff ever attempted.
3. The Golden Palace - Okay, so maybe this one, the spinoff of The Golden Girls takes the cake for bad spinoffs.
4. The Lone Gunmen - This one should have worked. The quirky guys from The X-Files were one of my favorite things about the original series.


On a side note, I usually post eight clips in this feature. But today, I decided to use my Mac to do the post. For all the noise made about how intuitive Macs are, it fought me all the way on this one. When something as simple as copy and paste go haywire, it's enough to make a "PC" like me lose his marbles. And therefore, just four today. 


Have a great week, everybody!

4 comments:

  1. My votes are Joanie Loves Chachi from Happy Days, Fish from Barney Miller and Archie Bunker's Place from All in the Family.

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  2. I never liked Archie Bunker's place, but I watched all the rest! I'm probably one of the few people who watched every Joanie Loves Chachi! And I loved Bernice on Fish.

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  3. I wasn't surprised that The Lone Gunmen failed. It is usually the case that quirky supporting characters who steal the scenes in their sitcom of origin quickly lose their appeal as main characters. Remember Flo (spun off from Alice)? Klinger was also in that category (he couldn't carry AfterMASH).

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  4. I agree with you, Jill, for the most part. I tried to find "Flo"'s theme song, and couldn't! Also, there was "Enos," the spin-off from "The Dukes of Hazzard," and "The Ropers" from "Three's Company." But I thought that "The Lone Gunmen" was a pretty great show. Obviously, not many agreed with me!

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