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.

Get This Man An Emmy: Zach Gilford

For those of us who have watched and loved the last three seasons of Friday Night Lights, it's been incredibly frustrating to watch the Television Academy snub the show and its superlative writing, acting and directing time after time. Connie Britten and Kyle Chandler, as well as supporting cast members like Taylor Kitsch and minor players like Brad Leland and Louanne Stephens, are so naturalistic that I sometimes think that the Academy voters must be confused and mistake the show for a documentary. Like The Wire, it's too good for its own good.