Keep the Character, Ditch the Show: Spinoffs We Would Have Watched

Every so often a show makes enough of an impact that, towards the end of its lifespan, its creators - and let's not forget those helpful network execs - decide to prolong the party by shooting a spinoff. There are the classics-in-their-own-right (Laverne & Shirley, Frasier); the adequate younger siblings (Angel springs to mind); and the downright dreck (ahem, Joey, I'm looking at you).

In order to succeed, a spinoff needs its own premise -- something that engages the loyal carryover audience and draws in new viewers. It needs energy; you can't stick a set of writers and actors who are tired of the same old shtick into a new show and expect them to breathe life into, well, the same old shtick. But most of all it needs compelling characters.
Without one or more of the most interesting characters from the original series - those who routinely steal the scenes, elevate material that's far beneath them, and make the audience keep watching as the quality of the show declines - a spinoff can't succeed. Here are just a few characters I find absorbing enough to imagine an entire show around.

Dick Casablancas and Logan Echolls, Veronica Mars
Both of these guys started out as minor, and at first extremely unlikeable, parts of the show. But before the end of the first season Jason Dohring had us rooting for the quippy, intense Logan. Similarly, Ryan Hansen took the crude incipient frat boy Dick Casablancas and by the series' end had transformed him into my favorite character. I couldn't wait to see what either of them would do next. Some of their best scenes were together; one of the funniest scenes in the entire show, in my opinion, involves only Logan and Dick in their shared hotel suite. I would watch pretty much any show starring either of the actors, but I know I'd make it a point to watch them together - especially as their Veronica Mars characters.

Sylar, Heroes
I know not everyone would agree with me on this one; many fans of the show grew tired of Zachary Quinto's scenery-chewing glee somewhere around season two. I say, in his defense, that there was nothing to do BUT chew the scenery in that mess of a season. Heroes had a fantastic comic book explosion of a first season, but too many new characters and what seemed like a complete lack of direction derailed the show after its freshman year. I stopped watching midway through the third season. The only reason I watched that long? Sylar. His neurotic flashbacks to his past as Gabriel Gray, the creepy ticking clock, his seeming invincibility and the awesome collection of superpowers he amassed were a constant delight. And Quinto made every scene intense. He could be scary, sympathetic, sad, or funny - sometimes within the span of a few minutes. I say dump the Heroes and give us a show with a super-antihero at the center.

Omar, The Wire
Like Sylar, Omar is larger-than-life. Unlike Sylar, he really stands out for that reason. The Wire is a show renowned for its gritty realism; almost every character that we the audience come to love comes to a bitter end. There are no last-minute reprieves or storybook endings. But for the majority of the series, Omar is the closest thing to a superhero that you'll find in David Simon's Baltimore. He's smart and funny and rebellious. He's openly gay in a world of extreme machismo, but he never fails to win the respect of his enemies. He's a criminal with his own peculiar moral code. It might not touch the same journalistic depths as The Wire, but a show about Omar would be a hell of a lot of fun.