Worst Spin-Off Series

In one of our recent blogs, we took a look at some of the best spin-off series ever made, which actually ended up being better than the original series that spawned them.

However, successful spin-off shows are actually a rather rare occurrence in the TV world. And with this in mind, here we take a look at some of the worst spin-off series in TV history.

Joey

Everybody loves Friends, and whilst E4 may have long since ended its continuous loop of re-runs, the series still holds a special place in TV history.

When this landmark series finally came to an end back in 2004, a new spin-off series focusing on the character of Joey Tribbiani was born. Yet, despite being heavily promoted, the show failed to captivate viewers and was cancelled after only two seasons.

Given the enormous success of Friends, it’s rather unsurprising Joey was unable to live up to the same glory, and it’s tempting to suggest that the series was pretty much doomed from the start. However, that said, the series itself has a lot to answer for; not only was it bad, but it was awful, and is pretty much the definitive example of how badly spin-off series can go wrong. Ultimately, the less said about this disastrous spin-off show, the better.

The Cleveland Show

Cleveland Brown was everyone’s favourite Family Guy character…. right? A Family Guy spin-off was pretty much inevitable, and back in 2009 American TV network FOX announced the launch of The Cleveland Brown Show.

Unfortunately, whilst we’re willing to forgive Seth MacFarlane many things, this spin-off show isn’t one of them. The series was pretty much a carbon copy of Family Guy, only whilst Family Guy has a talking dog, The Cleveland Show had a talking bear, and didn’t really offer anything new.

Whilst there were some funny moments, overall, the show was more of a miss than a hit, and was essentially pretty pointless. It’s fair to say it was somewhat of a relief when Fox announced the cancellation of the show in 2013, and Cleveland returned to the Family Guy fold.

The Lone Gunmen

Another hugely popular series, which became the longest running sci-fi series in the US, is the X-Files. This series was also to spawn its own spin-off show, titled The Lone Gunmen, which revolved around 3 popular, but rarely seen, characters from the hit show.

These characters were part of a group known as the Lone Gunmen, and were a bunch of half crazed conspiracy theorists who would occasionally help out Mulder and Scully in their investigations. The series debuted in 2001, however only managed to survive for a 13 episode run before being largely forgotten.

These are just a selection of the TV series that give spin-off shows a bad name. Here at Electronic World, we’re suppliers of a fantastic range of graded smart TVs that are perfect for discovering, or avoiding, TV shows such as these for yourself.

For more information about our fantastic range of affordable TVs, please don’t hesitate to contact us today by giving us a call on 0121 327 3273 and a member of our friendly team will be happy to help you with your enquiries.