Television spin offs can be a bit of a mixed bag. Generally they are developed because a beloved character from an equally beloved show warrants their own series. Or the world created in the show has so much potential that it is ripe with stories to be told in other settings with other equally interesting characters. The trouble is for every
Angel or Frasier there is a
Joey or
The Lone Gunmen. Knowing when a spin off is ripe for development is always tricky. With the characters of Angel and Frasier Crane, they hadn't outlasted their welcome on
Buffy The Vampire Slayer and
Cheers respectively and they developed a fantastic supporting cast that was as good (and sometimes better) than the originals. Show runners found a vast amount of storytelling for both characters that they easily flourished on their own. Though of course, sometimes spin offs fail epicly. Joey Tribbiani was one of the favourites in
Friends but part of his charm was his 'simplicity' of character. Given his own show, Joey had to develop to the point he wasn't the same character we had known and loved for 10 years and his supporting cast never had the magic of the original. Frankly his story should have ended with his 'friends' back in New York. The Lone Gunmen was a case of a spin off several years too late. Mulder has already left the parent show,
The X Files when this finally appeared on our screens. With audiences switching off from the show from where the Lone Gunmen first came, why would they view the spin off? The answer was, the didn't. Which is why it didn't last a full series. Looking to today's shows, we have
Once Upon A Time In Wonderland from the surprisingly good
Once Upon A Time. Considering the parent show is still big and fresh and the Wonderland / Mad Hatter storylines are the most interesting parts of the show to me, this spin off is very welcome. Plus the actor who played Tom in the later series of
Being Human (UK) is in it, and he was very entertaining. And while I haven't watched more than a couple of episodes of the very popular
The Vampire Diaries, this show is also getting a spin off just as it enters its fifth season. And then there's the latest rumour that the long running and cult favourite show
Supernatural might be getting a city-based spin off. On one side I wonder if this great show is past its heyday and spin off will become another
The Lone Gunmen. On the other side, the world created in S
upernatural is ripe for story potential and I'm still very much enjoying the shoe week by week (even if it's not at the height of seasons four or five). In this article I'm going to look at characters from current, great TV shows and films (or recent greats) that are ripe for a potential spin off. I will point out that these entries are my own opinion and should not be regarded as 'news', no matter how exciting that spin off prospect might be. So with that in mind, on to number 10...