Spin-off shows

Having discovered that Jason King was a spin-off show I started thinking about other spin-offs which stand alone in their own right. I wasn't even aware that Mork and Mindy was a spin-off until years after my early introduction to their antics in the 6.30 slot on channel four as a kid, and when I discovered that the whole show was a spin-off from Happy Days I was bemused. I wouldn't say I was a huge Happy Days fan, but they were another one in the 6.30 slot, so I have seen quite a few, but never any with Mork or Mindy in them. And presumably, for a spin-off to have even be considered they must have featured in quite a few episodes. More confusingly, not only have I not seen an episode with either Mork or Mindy in it, I apparently haven't seen any of the subsequent episodes. Given that the lives of the Happy Days gang revolved around the Fonz's conquests and various school-related melodramas, you would have thought that they would have endlessly relived the time they spent with an alien, possibly even kept in touch given that they would presumably have been a good bunch of friends to have if you were keeping an eye on a socially inept alien. It was a bit weird that he and Mindy got married, but I still think it's weirder that Richie, Potsie and Ralph Malph never even mentioned their alien encounter and that Mrs C never even made cookies for Mork and Mindy. I never saw Laverne and Shirley in Happy Days either, although I never saw Laverne and Shirley the TV show at all until I was in the States. Wikipedia claims that Laverne and Shirley was the most successful spin-off from Happy Days, meaning that even Mork and Mindy's multi-season reign on the small screen was nothing compared to Laverne and Shirley's TV takeover. Wikipedia has also provided useful information about another 3 Happy Days spin-offs, the most entertaining-sounding of which, 'Out of the Blue' was apparently aired by accident before the main character had even appeared in Happy Days. This can only prove that my initial assumptions about a character's popularity being a key factor when deciding whether they warrant a spin-off series was incorrect. I am not sure why you would even create a spin-off series without even knowing whether the character will go down well, and evidently my instinct was correct given that neither 'Out of the Blue' nor 'Blansky's Beauties' have ever registered on my consciousness. 'Joanie loves Chachi' is one that I was at least aware of, but I don't think I have ever seen it and it seems reasonable to assume that it can't have been that great given the speed with which they cancelled it. Interestingly, this brief foray into the world of spin-offs has revealed that Happy Days itself was originally a spin-off of a show called 'Love, American Style', yet another layer in the confusing world of inter-show mingling which has convinced me that there should be some limit to the number of generations you can have of a show before realising it's really gone to shit. In the case of 'Friends' and 'Joey' of course, we have all realised that the limit should have been set at none. However, by far my favourite spin-off (and one which frankly I can't believe was a secondary idea given the fact that it is a truly spectacular show in its own right) is the Colbert Report. Why there was even a need for him to pay his dues on the John Stewart show is far beyond me, as I would imagine anyone with enough rudimentary brain function to either see, hear, or both wouldn't need any convincing to run with the idea of giving Stephen Colbert unlimited access to TV schedules to air his thoughts, hopes and dreams for the nation. I only wish he would bestow his mighty brain power on the UK and resolve all our national, international and personal issues - it would probably only take him half an hour...