Spinoffs are a regular feature of modern television and are created for a variety of reasons. When a show gets stale, producers might change the location of the show, for example Saved by the Bell became Saved by the Bell: The College Years. Or the show’s creators will form a new show based on one of the most popular main characters such as Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Spinoffs are usually introduced through a back door pilot, meaning it will be featured in a pre-existing show and then go on to film its own episodes. An example is Private Practice which had its backdoor spinoff during the end of Grey’s Anatomy Season Three where Addison (Kate Walsh) goes to visit her friends’ practice in California. While some of these spinoffs go on to be very successful, such as Frasier, many of them get cancelled after a season or even a few episodes because they don’t have the same appeal as the original series.
11. Time of Your Life
Following the success of Party of Five from 1994-2000 the show’s creators decided to try to capitalize on not only the show’s popularity but the rising stardom of Jennifer Love Hewitt by giving her character her very own show. Time of Your Life followed Sarah Reeves Merrin as she moves to New York City to find out more about her biological parents. Unfortunately the show did not resonate the same way with fans and was canceled in the middle of its very first season. Fox attempted to save it by putting it on hiatus and then running new advertisements touting the “Summer of Love” promoting Jennifer Love Hewitt as the star. The show was intermediately canceled after a failed comeback and seven episodes went unaired until TBS ran them from March to April in 2006, six years after its cancelation.
Source: Fox
