Spin off programmes which didn't work

[Three Litre]

Grace and Favour was the child of Are You Being Served, that did have a few of the original cast so might have had a better chance but can't remember what it was like.

[Cartman]

I thought Are you being served was pretty rubbish anyway and was a poor basis for an offshoot programme. To me, the only funny character in it was John Inmans Mr Humpreys. It was really just his programme.

[Dirty Epic]

Sept 12, 2021 14:47:36 GMT Vienna said:

Sept 11, 2021 19:10:47 GMT Cartman said:

This was touched on in the Only Fools and Horses thread, and the offshoot, The Green Green Grass was mentioned, which wasn't good. 

I don't ever remember watching a single episode of this spin-off for OF&H. Apparently they made 32 episodes over several series so it must have been OK viewing. Sad news to here last week that John Challis (Boycie) is battling cancer. 

Vi 

I think Green Green Grass gets repeated on Drama, Yesterday etc. a fair bit. Never really appealled to me perhaps a one off film or mini-series here might have worked.

Changing the subject hope John Challis is okay as he had to pull out of an event recently. 

[Brown Granada]

I watched the Green Green Grass and to be honest it wasn't that bad. Not a patch on ofah but I enjoyed it. Wishing John Challis all the best and hope he's well again soon.

[Arthur Pringle]

'Z Cars' had several spin offs- 'Softly Softly' which became 'Softly Softly Task Force' ( its original title was simply 'Task Force' but they decided they needed to keep 'Softly Softly' so viewers would recognise it ) then Barlow played by Stratford Johns got his own show 'Barlow At Large' which later became 'Barlow', then Barlow & Watt teamed up for 2 more series, the 6 part 'Jack The Ripper' & 'Second Verdict'.

Having watched most of 'Softly Softly Task Force' I wouldn't say it 'didn't work' but it is rather dull compared to 'Z Cars', the coppers are mostly very straight & the stories can be tedious. Barlow, Watt & Hawkins ( played by Norman Bowler ) are by the book types & and quite unlikeable, whereas the coppers in the 70's era 'Z Cars' are more down at heel, boozing, smoking & not preoccupied by targets & procedure.

I watched & enjoyed all the 'Z Cars' episodes I gleaned off youtube whereas I've still not finished 'Softly Softly Task Force', some episodes being a struggle to get through. Task Force is lead by German actor Walter Gotell ( in fact the show has a dvd release in Germany containing episodes not currently available on dvd in the UK ), his character is a hard nose obsessed by targets & crime statistics, this sets the tone for the show, personally when I watch a show about coppers I don't want them acting like real life coppers.

[Palmer]

I have to say that I feel 'Going Straight' is really something quite special (It is one of my favourite spin off shows)...

You can see that the fact that Fletcher isn't the go-to-man or the person people seek solace in is really difficult for him and that, coupled with the struggles of being an ex-con' is scripted and acted perfectly!! You can see that Fletcher really is out of touch with the real world.

I suppose that's why the show won a BAFTA in 1979!!  It really did deserve it in my opinion...

It's all down to taste but I love how different 'Porridge' is to 'Going Straight' and I love how the different situations the characters find themselves in make them very different people indeed.

[Three Litre]

You make some good points there Palmer, however I guess I found that too many of original elements were missing for me.

However, it did win a BAFTA and pulled in 15 million viewers according to Wikipedia.

[Palmer]

I don't know if you can call this a spin-off entirely but here goes...!!

For me, the 'Carry On' television shows didn't work.  They lacked whatever it was they had that made them the cinema greats that they were at the time (and beyond of course).

They are reasonably funny, and I can watch them and chuckle every now and again, but I just think that they don't work as well as the 'Carry On' films!!

Not a spin-off in the same vane as what we are discussing here maybe but a spin-off nonetheless...

What do you guys think of the 'Carry On' television shows?! Thumbs up (cue Sid James laugh) or thumbs down??!!