Spin-Offs Trivia

1. "Gomer Pyle: USMC" starring Jim Nabors is a spin-off of this popular show.

From Quiz TV Spin-Offs

Answer: The Andy Griffith Show

Gomer Pile was a mechanic in Mayberry when he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He is replaced in Mayberry by his cousin Goober.

From Quiz What Was the Parent Show?

Answer: Burke's Law

Honey West was created by husband and wife writing duo 'Skip' and Gloria Fickling, who wrote eleven novels featuring the character in the 1950s. In April 1965, the character appeared in "Who Killed the Jackpot?", the thirtieth episode of season two of the ABC series "Burke's Law", featuring Anne Francis as Honey West, a character intended to be reminiscent of Cathy Gale or Emma Peel from the British series "The Avengers", alongside Gene Barry as LAPD Captain Amos Burke. This served as the backdoor pilot episode for "Honey West", which made its debut on ABC in September 1965. Although the series was well received, with Anne Francis receiving both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her performance, the network cancelled the series after a single season, deciding that it would be cheaper simply to import episodes of "The Avengers" for the timeslot.

From Quiz Play It Again Sam ... This Time With Gusto!

Answer: seven

The long running series "Law & Order" generated a total of 11 spin-off series, of which seven were aired on American television. "Law & Order" aired for 20 seasons (1990-2010), with 456 episodes. The American broadcast spin-offs were "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999), "Deadline" (2000-2001), "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2001-2011), "Law & Order: Crime and Punishment (2004-2006), "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005-2006), "Conviction" (2006), and "Law & Order: Los Angeles" (2010-2011). Four spin-off series were produced, filmed, and shown outside of the United States. They included a version of "Law & Order: Paris" (2007-2008), versions of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" in Russia in 2007, and "Law & Order: UK" (United Kingdom) in 2009.

From Quiz Play It Again Sam ... And Maybe Again.

Answer: Ozzie's Girls

The sitcom series "Ozzie's Girls" premiered on January 1, 1973, in first-run syndication. The series was picked up following the successful broadcast of the pilot episode aired on September 12, 1972. In the series, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson decide to rent out the rooms of their grown sons, David and Ricky, after they left home to pursue their own careers. Their rooms are rented to a pair of college students, Susan Hamilton (Susan Sennett) and Brenda McKenzie (Brenda Sykes). The series focused on the aspects and differences of the Nelson's managing a household with two girls instead of two boys. Ozzie Nelson served as writer, executive producer, and co-director for the series. David Nelson, the oldest son of Ozzie and Harriet, served as both a series producer and co-director. The series aired 24 episodes in its single season (January 1, 1973-September 1, 1974).

From Quiz "The NRL Footy Show" and Spin-Off Series

Answer: Paul Harragon

The show was created after the success of "The AFL Footy Show", to try and recreate the ratings of it and drawing in the NRL audience. The four original hosts were Paul Vautin, Peter Sterling, Steve Roach and Ray Hadley.

From Quiz This Show Came From That One...Again?

Answer: 1980

After four seasons on the hit CBS show, "Alice", Polly (Flo) Holliday left Mel's Diner and returned to her hometown in Texas to run her own roadhouse bar, in 1980. The show premiered on March 24, 1980 and lasted until July 21, 1981, producing 27 episodes.

From Quiz This Show Came From That One?

Answer: "The Andy Griffith Show"

"Mayberry, RFD" debuted on CBS in 1968 and enjoyed a four year run of consistently placing within the top 15 most watched shows during its time on the air. The show was a direct continuation of "The Andy Griffith Show", picking up right after Andy married his longtime girlfriend on the show, Helen Crump. Griffith made several appearances during the show's first season to build up a fan base. Francis Bauvier ("Aunt Bea") was a member of the cast the first year, becoming the person from "Mayberry" who logged the most hours as their particular character. The show was cancelled in 1971 despite its good ratings because CBS wanted to move to a more "city" image than the "country bumpkin" image they had with shows like "Green Acres", "The Beverly Hillbillies", and "Petticoat Junction".

From Quiz TV Spin-Offs

Answer: Happy Days

Before "Mork and Mindy", Robin Williams appeared in two episodes of "Happy Days": "My Favorite Orkan" (1978), and "Mork Returns" (1979).

From Quiz What Was the Parent Show?

Answer: Z-Cars

"Z-Cars" began in January 1962, and ran for a total of five series and 170 episodes when it finished in December 1965. The following January, the characters of Detective Chief Inspector Charlie Barlow and Detective Inspector John Watt, played by Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor respectively, who had been leading characters in "Z-Cars" throughout its run, appeared in a new series called "Softly, Softly", which focused on the work of a regional crime squad, rather than uniformed patrol officers. "Softly, Softly" ran for five series until November 1969, and was the first of a succession of series to feature the characters of Barlow and Watt. "Z-Cars" itself was revived in 1967, running on the BBC until 1978.

From Quiz "The NRL Footy Show" and Spin-Off Series

Answer: Matthew Johns

In February 2002, when he was playing for the Cronulla Sharks, Johns and other teammates were part of a group sex session of a woman that took place in a hotel in Christchurch, New Zealand. It wasn't until 2009 that the story was made public and this is when Johns lost his job with Channel 9 and "The NRL Footy Show".

From Quiz Name That Spin-off

Answer: Love American Style

'Happy Days' was a spin-off of a February, 1972 episode of 'Love American Style'. The title of the episode was 'Love and the Happy Days'.

From Quiz Tough TV Spinoffs

Answer: the simpsons & simpsons

Yes, "The Simpsons" is a spinoff, the most successful one of all time, beating out "The Jeffersons" and "Frasier" handily. The show originated as short animated vignettes between sketches of "The Tracey Ullman Show" (1987-1990), one of the charter shows on FOX. "The Simpsons", launched in 1989, is scheduled to run through the 2005 season; that's 16 years.

From Quiz TV Spin-Offs

Answer: The Tracey Ullman Show

"The Simpsons" originated as a regular animated short on the "The Tracey Ullman Show" in 1987.

From Quiz What Was the Parent Show?

Answer: Cheers

"The Tortellis" was created by James Burrows and Glen & Les Charles, the creators of "Cheers", to feature the extended family of Carla Tortelli, the waitress at the eponymous Boston bar. The new show starred Dan Hedaya and Jean Kasem as Nick and Loretta Tortelli, Carla's ex-husband and his new bubble-headed trophy wife, both of whom had appeared as the characters in several episodes of "Cheers". Timothy Williams and Mandy Ingber also appeared as Anthony and Annie Tortelli, Carla and Nick's teenaged son and daughter-in-law, who also appeared several times in the parent show. The premise of "The Tortellis" saw Loretta leave Nick and go to live with her sensible sister, Charlotte, in Las Vegas, with Nick following her to try and reconcile. All of the Tortellis eventually ended up living in Charlotte's house. Rhea Pearlman, who played Carla, made a guest appearance in the pilot episode, while George Wendt and John Ratzenberger, who played Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin in the parent show, also appeared in an episode. "The Tortellis" was eventually cancelled after just a single season of 13 episodes, with the four Tortellis going on to make further appearances in "Cheers".

From Quiz Play It Again Sam ... This Time With Gusto!

Answer: Lee Meriwether

Lee Meriwether starred as the family matriarch in the 1988 remake of "The Munsters". Meriwether was joined in the cast by John Shuck, who played Herman, Howard Morton who played Grandpa, Hilary Van Dyke who played Marilyn, and Jason Marsden as Eddie Munster. The series, "The Munsters Today" was also known as "The New Munsters". In first-run syndication, the series aired for three seasons with 72 episodes. The spin-off series aired longer and with more episodes than the original series, which aired 70 episodes over two seasons. In the series plot, Grandpa invents a time machine that puts the family into a 30 year sleep. Fast forward 20 years when the family is found asleep in Grandpa's basement laboratory and awakened accidently by buyers seeking to purchase the Munster's house. The family had not changed or aged during their 20 year slumber. Stories revolved around the family trying to cope with their new lives and surroundings. The original series starred Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis, Pat Priest, and Butch Patrick as "The Munsters".

From Quiz Play It Again Sam ... And Maybe Again.

Answer: Dan Aykroyd

Dan Aykroyd played Sgt. Joe Friday in the 1987 feature length movie "Dragnet". The comedy drama co-starred Tom Hanks as Friday's partner, Detective Pep Streebek. Aykroyd never played the Joe Friday role on television. Jack Webb originated the role of Sergeant Joe Friday. Webb starred in the 1951 version of "Dragnet". The series ran for eight seasons (1951-1959), producing 276 episodes, and receiving five Primetime Emmy Awards. Webb returned to primetime television in 1967 with a remake of his original series. Harry Morgan co-starred as Friday's partner, Officer Bill Gannon. The series ran for four seasons. For each of the seasons, the year was added to the title ("Dragnet 1967", through "Dragnet 1970"). After Jack Webb's death in 1982, a new version of "Dragnet" was produced in 1989, and shown in first run syndication. The series starred Jeff Osterhage as Detective Vic Daniels and Bernard White as his partner, Detective Carl Molina. Although the names of the main characters were change, everything else remained the same. The series titled "The New Dragnet" aired 52 episodes over two seasons. A 2003 network version of "Dragnet" starred Ed O'Neill as Sergeant Joe Friday. Ethan Embry co-starred as Detective Frank Smith, Friday's partner. After 12 episodes and low ratings, the series was retooled for the final 10 episodes. The series title was changed to "L.A. Dragnet", Sergeant Joe Friday was promoted to Lieutenant, and the cast was change. Instead of a single partner, Friday supervised a team of young detectives. Overall, the series ran for two seasons with 22 episodes. Trivia ... DID YOU KNOW ... That Jack Webb planned to return with a third version of "Dragnet" in 1982. Kent McCord, who played Officer Jim Reed in Webb's series "Adam-12" had been selected to play Joe Friday's new partner. It had not been determined if McCord would play the role of Jim Reed or a new character for the new show. Pre-production work for the new series abruptly ended after Webb suffered a fatal massive heart attack on December 23, 1982. In the 1951 and 1967 versions of "Dragnet", Jack Webb paid homage to many of the police offices and ranking police staff members by using their real names, ranks, and positions in the episodes. The "names that were changed to protect the innocent" were only those of the victims, the accused criminals, and any law enforcement officers accused of wrongdoing. Many fans of the original series remember that in the final season of "Dragnet", Joe Friday was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, yet when the show returned for the 1967 run, Friday was again a sergeant. Webb would later explain in a press interview that the role of a lieutenant was mostly supervisory, and lieutenants rarely worked cases in the field. By returning the Joe Friday character to a sergeant, he would still fight crime and investigate cases in the field. According to the "Merrian-Webster Dictionary", Dragnet is defined as "a series of actions that are done by police in order to catch criminals".

From Quiz "The NRL Footy Show" and Spin-Off Series

Answer: The Brisbane Footy Show

During the mid 1990s, "The Brisbane Footy Show" was created to be aired in Queensland, with "The NRL Footy Show" to be aired in New South Wales. It was hosted by Chris Bombolas, Peter Jackson, Mario Fenech, Laurel Edwards and Steve Haddin. The show was short-lived only lasting a few seasons. In 1999, Channel 9 attempted a comeback of the show but it failed to do any good.

From Quiz TV Spin-Offs

Answer: Love, American Style

Garry Marshall's original unsold pilot for "Happy Days", starring Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham, Anson Williams as Potsie, and Marion Ross as Marion Cunningham, with Harold Gould as Howard Cunningham, and no Fonzie, was reworked into an episode of "Love, American Style" (S3 E22). After the success of the movie "American Graffiti," a new pilot was ordered and became the show we all know and love.

From Quiz What Was the Parent Show?

Answer: Jake and the Fatman

"Jake and the Fatman" featured William Conrad as prosecutor J.L. McCabe, and Joe Penny as special investigator Jake Styles, and was itself a spin-off of "Matlock". In the season four episode "It Never Entered My Mind", Dick van Dyke appeared as Dr Mark Sloan, McCabe's doctor, who was accused of murder, and set out to investigate the crime himself, with the help of his students. The episode led to the commissioning of a series of three TV movies featuring Sloan, broadcast by CBS between January 1992 and February 1993. A weekly television series under the title "Diagnosis: Murder" then followed in October 1993, running for a total of eight seasons. Following the end of the weekly series, two further TV movies were commissioned for broadcast in early 2002, serving as a finale to the series as a whole.

From Quiz Play It Again Sam ... This Time With Gusto!

Answer: five

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" is responsible for five spin-off series. In most instance, the new series starred one of the popular guest who had a recurring segment on the talk show. Spin-off series were "Dr. Phil" (2002), "Oprah After The Show" (2003-2006), "Rachael Ray" (2006), "The Dr. Oz Show" (2009), and "The Nate Berkus Show" (2010-2012).

From Quiz Play It Again Sam ... And Maybe Again.

Answer: twelve

"The Flintstones" aired from 1960-1966. The series told the story of "a modern stone age family". The working-class family lived in the town of Bedrock. The series centered on the exploits of two families who were next door neighbors and best friends. For thirty years, "The Flintstones" were the most recognized and financially successful network animated franchise. "The Flintstones" are credited with spawning a dozen spin-off series. New series based on "The Flintstones" were: "The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show" (1971-1972), "The Flintstone Comedy Hour" (1972-1973), "The Flintstone Comedy Show" (1973-1974), "Fred Flintstone and Friends" (1977-1978), "The New Fred and Barney Show" (1978-1980), "Fred and Barney Meet The Thing" (1979), "Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo" (1979-1980), "Back to Bedrock" (1993), "The Flintstone Comedy Show" (1980-1982), "The Flintstone Funnies" (1982-1984), "The Flintstone Kids" (1986-1988), and "Cave Kids" (1996). During the six season run of "The Flintstones", 166 episodes were originally aired.

From Quiz "The NRL Footy Show" and Spin-Off Series

Answer: Andrew Voss

Following the departure of Paul Harragon and Laurie Daley in 2008, Channel 9 tried to revamp the show, getting in Andrew Voss as a new panelist and adding new segments including "So You Think You Can Play", "What's Happening Vossy?" and "Packs vs Backs".

From Quiz Name That Spin-off, Part Two

Answer: Joey

Despite the great popularity of 'Friends', only the show 'Joey' has its roots in 'Friends'. 'Joey' is centered around the story of Joey Tribbiani as he moves to Los Angels to pursue his acting career. 'Joey' starred Matt LeBlanc. It first aired in 2004 and lasted two seasons.

From Quiz Name That Spin-off

Answer: Fish

The show, 'Fish' was spun-off of 'Barney Miller' in 1977 and lasted two season. The main character of Police Detective Phil Fish was played by Abe Vigoda, who originated the role on 'Barney Miller'.

From Quiz Tough TV Spinoffs

Answer: Star Trek: Phase II

When Paramount cancelled plans to launch the new network, the "Phase II" project evolved into "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". Then, in 1995, Paramount finally did succeed in creating its own network, UPN, with "Star Trek: Voyager" as the anchor. So, in a way, Paramount's initial plans in the 1970s did come to fruition.

From Quiz TV Spin-Offs

Answer: The Danny Thomas Show

The character of Andy Taylor was first introduced on "The Danny Thomas Show" (S7 E20) when Andy arrests Danny for going through an unnoticed stop sign in Mayberry. We also meet Ron Howard's Opie and Frances Bavier, though she plays Henrietta Perkins, not Aunt Bee in this show.

From Quiz What Was the Parent Show?

Answer: Babylon 5

Following the success of TNT's transmission of "Babylon 5", together with a series of TV movies it had produced, the network commissioned creator J. Michael Straczynski to produce a spin-off series set in the same universe. The seed for "Crusade" was laid in the "Babylon 5" TV movie "A Call to Arms", which introduced the major plot, setting and a number of the characters who would go on to appear in the new series. However, despite the apparent commitment, conflicts between the show's producers and TNT began - production was halted after five episodes to bring in a revamp to the show's appearance. The conflict eventually led to the network pulling the plug on production after just thirteen episodes of the planned five-year commitment.

From Quiz Play It Again Sam ... This Time With Gusto!

Answer: Orange County

The first installment of the series in 2006 was "The Real Housewives of Orange County". 2008 saw the addition of "The Real Housewives of New York City" and "The Real Housewives of Atlanta". 2009s entry was "The Real Housewives of New Jersey". In 2010, viewers met "The Real Housewives of D.C." and "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills". In 2011, "The Real Housewives of Athens", "The Real Housewives of Miami" and "The Real Housewives of Vancouver" were added to the American viewing mix. In addition to Athens and Vancouver, additional international installments included "Me'usharot" (2011), an Israeli version, "The Real Housewives of Melbourne" (2014), "The Real Housewives of Cheshire" (2015) and "The Real Housewives of Johannesburg" (2015). Each series documented the trials, tribulations, and relationships of affluent housewives throughout various cities throughout the world.

From Quiz Play It Again Sam ... And Maybe Again.

Answer: Tim Daly

"The Fugitive: The Chase Continues" premiered on October 6, 2000, and starred Tim Daly as Dr. Richard Kimble. The series remained on the air for one season and broadcast 23 episodes. The plot remained the same as was in the original series. Kimble, who was wrongly convicted of the murder of his wife, escaped from custody following an accident that occurred while he was being transported to prison, and is pursued by a determined police lieutenant. The new series, unlike the original series, ended in a cliffhanger with Kimble still on the run and in search for the "one-armed" man who actually committed the crime that he was convicted of. Mikelti Washington co-starred as Lt. Philip Gerard, Kimble's determined pursuer. In 1993, "The Fugitive" was released as a feature length film, starring Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble. Tommy Lee Jones co-starred in an Oscar winning performance as Samuel Gerard, Kimble's dogged pursuer. In the film version, Gerard was portrayed as a U.S. Marshal instead of a police officer, as portrayed in both television versions. The movie also changed Gerard's first name to Samuel.

From Quiz Spin-off City

Answer: 3

The first and most popular of these series' was "Rhoda". Valerie Harper played Mary Thomas (Mary Tyler Moore)'s best friend and neighbor before she got her own show in 1974. "Phyllis" premiered in 1975 and starred Cloris Leachman as a newly widowed, middle-aged woman who returned home and started a new life. In 1977, "Lou Grant" premiered and starred Edward Asner, after the cancellation of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".

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