TVSquad

Spinoffs are nothing new in TV. Some of the biggest hits of all time were spinoffs -- Frasier, Boston Legal, Private Practice, The Jeffersons, The Andy Griffith Show, Rhoda, Maude, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI...the list goes on and on.

The news today that TNT is backing a spinoff from The Closer is no surprise. It makes sense.

The Closer is the top drama on cable in the ratings and has garnered Emmy notice. That kind of success demands replication, and TNT has empowered the brains behind The Closer, creator James Duff to make it happen.

One of the more interesting things to come out of the Silverman-Graboff executive session (which I promise will be up later today ... probably this evening) is that, though Amy Poehler has been signed to be in a show produced by The Office's Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, that show will not be an Office spin-off. It'll have the same comic sensibility and style as The Office, but the characters won't be part of the Office universe. However, a real Office spin-off is still in play, and there's potential for Rashida Jones to be a part of it.

Got that? Neither did the critics, who repeatedly asked mostly Silverman to clarify the situation during both the panel and the scrum that followed.

Some quickie news from Showtime, presented by entertainment president Bob Greenblatt:

• Ilene Chaiken is developing a spin-off for The L Word, which will feature a yet unspecified character from the original show, whose upcoming season will be its last. There will be an open-ended plot in the season finale that Chaiken will continue online, then pick up if the spin-off comes to pass.
• Two more 13-episode seasons of Weeds have been ordered.
• A seventh season of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! has been ordered, making it Showtime's longest-running show.
• A reality/documentary show called Lock 'N Load has been ordered; it's filmed in a gun shop, and it shows the various people who purchase guns and "exploit their right to bear arms," according to the press release.
• Two new pilots have been ordered and filmed. The United States of Tara, produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Diablo Cody, stars Toni Collette as a suburban mother with multiple-personality disorder. John Corbett stars as her husband (yes... it's a comedy). The other pilot is tentatively-titled Nurse Jackie. It stars Edie Falco as a New York City nurse with a painkiller addiction who sometimes crosses moral lines to help her patients (no... it's not a comedy). Tara will begin airing in winter 2009, and Jackie will begin airing in late spring or early summer.
  

Weeds began it's fourth season Monday night on Showtime and showrunner Jenji Kohan told E! Online that she's thinking about doing a Weeds spin-off. The possible spin-off would focus on Conrad's story and take place in a pot club. Kohan explains that it was time to split up Nancy and Conrad but she still felt like Conrad's story was compelling: "I love those characters; I just think those relationships wore themselves out, and I wanted to be true to where the characters were. Truthfully, Heylia and Nancy had nothing more to say to each other. Conrad and Nancy weren't going to be the loves of each other's lives, so it was time to move on."

As for the style of the spin-off, Jenji Kohan has a good idea of what she wants the show to look like. "I'd shoot it sort of fake reality-show style. It could be pretty like The Hills!," she says. While The Hills is indeed a "pretty" show, I think comparing the Weeds spin-off to The Hills is a downgrade for me. I'm just going to pretend it didn't happen.

Word on the street yesterday was that the 90210 spin-off executive producers were thinking of actor Rob Estes to portray Harry Mills, a father who relocates his family in Beverly Hills to take care of his alcoholic mother. The show had yet to find an actor to play the pivotal role and they were now getting ready to just hand it on a silver platter to a "name" actor.

The stars quickly aligned (read here that Rob Estes became available since ABC canceled Women's Murder Club) and the actor will join the already beautiful 90210 cast.

Earlier this week, The CW released this promotional picture of the 90210 regular cast. From left to right: Dustin Milligan, AnnaLynne McCord, Jessica Walter, Shenae Grimes, Tristan Wilds, Lori Loughlin, Ryan Eggold, Jessica Stroup and Michael Steger.

If you've been keeping up with information about the spin-off, you know that there is someone missing from that picture. No, it's not Jennie Garth or Tori Spelling since they will be recurring/guest stars. But it's the actor who'll play the pivotal character of Harry Mills, a father who relocates his family in Beverly Hills to take care of his mother.

When a series is successful, it's not surprising that there are talks of spin-offs. In the last few years, we had spin-offs for Grey's Anatomy, Girlfriends, CSI, Law & Order, etc., while others are in the works for Battlestar Galactica and Beverly Hills, 90210.

Therefore, I don't think you'll fall off your chair if I tell you that FOX is toying with the idea of a House spin off. But you may want to make sure you are properly seated before reading this: the spin-off would not focus on doctors but private investigators!

The Beverly Hills 90210 spin off was looking for an actress in her 60's who could play an actress and alcoholic. Who better for the role than Arrested Development's Jessica Walter? After all, she is an actress and her AD role of Lucille Bluth required that she pretends to be drinking/drunk in a lot of episodes!

TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly confirmed earlier today that the actress was cast in the lead role of Tabitha Mills, an actress who had her career prime in the 70s and who is now best friends with a liquor bottle. Worried about his mother's well-being, her son Harry moves his family to Beverly Hills.

The Berverly Hills, 90210 spin off found its mother! TV Guide's Michael Ausiello reports that Full House's Lori Loughlin was cast as Celia Mills, "an ex-Olympic athlete who relocates to Beverly Hills with her husband and two children."

As we revealed about a month ago, 90210 version 2.0 will revolve around the Mills family, which relocates to Beverly Hills so the patriarch can take care of his movie star mother who just fell off the wagon. Supposedly, he'll get a job as Beverly Hills High new principal.

The Grey's Anatomy boards and blogs, and even some of our articles here at TV Squad, have been experiencing a surge in negative comments and posts. Those comments are directed at solely one thing: the potential spin-off featuring the character of Addison.

Why are fans so unhappy with the end result? Will fan comments have ABC not pick up Private Practice?

Let's analyze a few of the negative comments left by the TV Squad visitors in our "Grey's Anatomy vs. the spin-off -- Part 2" post.

Less than two weeks ago, we pondered if the spin-off would be better than Grey's Anatomy based on the information and spoilers that had leaked so far. Now that the two Grey's Anatomy's episodes serving to launch the potential spin-off have aired, it is time to revisit our "Grey's Anatomy vs. the spin-off" article and reflect on if we were right or not and decide what series is better based on what aired last night.

It's called General Hospital: Night Shift, and it is, as the title indicates, a spinoff of General Hospital. The new series, set to premiere on SOAPnet this summer with thirteen episodes, will flesh out the stories from General Hospital and delve deeper into the characters and their lives. Really, it's more of an extension of a series than a bona fide spinoff, but whatever you call it, it's a clever idea. If ever a series had a built-in fanbase, it's this one. The new series will be written by General Hospital head writer Robert Guza, Jr., and executive produced by General Hospital executive producer Jill Farren Phelps.

This is just part of SOAPnet's plan to extend beyond daytime programming: the cable channel will also begin airing episodes of The OC and One Tree Hill starting April 9. SOAPnet recently acquired the rights to all seasons of both series.

[via TV Filter]

Good news for sci-fi fans in general, and Dr. Who fans specifically. The BBC is reporting that the first two episodes of Torchwood scored the biggest audience for a non sports program on a digital channel ever. Captain Jack was topped by two football matches from 2004 and 2005, no pun intended. One would assume that the great ratings bode well for the continuation of all things Dr. Who. And I am always happy to see positive press for any sci-fi show.

Torchwood is written by Russell T Davies, who also wrote for Dr. Who, and stars John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness. Spun off of Dr. Who, the series follows a team of investigators as they solve crimes, both alien and human. There is more info at the show's website, and a good interview with Barrowman on the BBC's page.

It worked for Mork and Mindy, The Jeffersons, and those crafty crime scene detectives in Miami and New York, so why not Rosie? Now, the cynic in me also has that little voice in the back of his head whispering Joanie Loves Chachi, Joey, and Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, but let's give this one the benefit of the doubt until we know more.

Rumor has it that FX is considering a half hour spinoff featuring O'Donnell's character from the upcoming season of Nip/Tuck. The as yet nameless series would be written by Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy. There is no official word on the show at this time, but when asked if she was considering the show by a fan on her website Rosie answered 'yes'. Take that for what it is.

The new season of Nip/Tuck premieres September 5th on FX and will be covered each and every week here at TV Squad. More info on Rosie's Nip/Tuck character after the jump, with small spoilers.

[via The TV Remote ]