The Considered Spin-Offs

James

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I'm sure most have heard of that the producers were considering doing two spin-offs, one a show on the Flanders and one Krusty talking to celebrity guests. I'm wondering if anyone knows how far these spin-offs got, or has the article detailing it for an upcoming Flanders site? Also, do you think if any of these had been made, would they be good?
 
Much as I don't like the idea of a Simpsons spinoff, giving Krusty a pseudo-talk show similar to "Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast" could be okay. It wouldn't need the character development that makes putting a secondary character at the front of a show a problem. It could be presented just like a talk show, with celeb guests (Lord knows the current writers of The Simpsons are used to writing in celeb guests) and musical guests, too--it'd be like a Simpsons music video for our favorite artists.
Downside: There's already a "Space Ghost", so it'd be a retread.
As for the Flanders idea, no no no, a thousand times no.
 
Weren't there plans for a Simpsons spin-off focusing on the secondary characers of Springfield and not the family? Whatever happened to that?
 
Oh, god no. I haven't heard about this at all. I hope they don't go through with it.
 
I don't think any kind of spin-off would be good for anything. Especially the Flanders one. There would have to be a hard-core religious morality to it in order to be Flanders worthy. I think all Simpsons characters are best being left where they are.
 
I haven't heard anything about this either. But maybe thats because I don't hang out with Billy during the lunch break.

Care to quote any reliable sources on this? Or is it simply something being tossed around the school yard?
 
The Three Groening Projects he has talked about doing over the years:

1. The live action "Krusty the Clown" show that never made it past the discussion stage...

2. When asked about a third series beyond Futurama, Groening said: "I'd like to do a show about a travelling rock and roll band..."

3. "Springfield", the show about the secondary characters.

Where did they mention the spinoff about Flanders?

Jake
 
I never heard of this before. I think they should try to fix the scripts a bit before they try any new ideas.
 
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!


Okay, here's a bunch of reasons why spinoffs can suck.

1. Mayberry R.F.D, Gomer Pile

2. After M.A.S.H. (oh God, this sucked worse than "Flo!")

3. Gloria, Archie Bunker's Place, Maude

4. Joanie Loves Chachi, Arnolds

5. Three's a Crowd, The Ropers

6. The Brady Brides, The Bradys


I sincerely hope Matt Groening has better sense and learns from other fool's mistakes.
Don't even get me started with "Mama's Family." ;)
 
Wow Lance, the only one in that list i heard of was The Ropers. I even watched a few of those bad episodes. As for the rest on your list, i never heard of any of those, they must have been reallllllllly bad.
 
I want to see Matt Groening's idea for a traveling rock band. "Futurama" has the humor of "The Simpsons" but takes it in new directions; I just want to see more Matt Groening material, not more Simpsons material. I like to get all of that in one show, thanks.
 
The thing is that the Simpsons isn't Matt Groening material anymore, and it never was, except for the first few seasons when he held major creative influence, over the writers and publicity. He was a major influence, but I wouldn't call the Simpsons Matt Groening material, exactly. He's just one of many with huge influence who shaped the show.
 
Lance_Murdock said:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!


Okay, here's a bunch of reasons why spinoffs can suck.

1. Mayberry R.F.D, Gomer Pile

2. After M.A.S.H. (oh God, this sucked worse than "Flo!")

3. Gloria, Archie Bunker's Place, Maude

4. Joanie Loves Chachi, Arnolds

5. Three's a Crowd, The Ropers

6. The Brady Brides, The Bradys


I sincerely hope Matt Groening has better sense and learns from other fool's mistakes.
Don't even get me started with "Mama's Family." ;)

I don't think you really know entirely what you're talking about. To my knowledge, there was never a show called Arnold's. There were three spinoffs from Happy Days (one of them being Joanie Loves Chachi) but the other two were Mork & Mindy and Laverne & Shirley. And they were both quite successful. I've never heard of Three's a Crowd, are you sure you're not just thinking of Three's Company, the show the Ropers were spunoff from? Gomer Pyle and Maude were both hits, so while I'm not a fan of either, they're not good examples to cite as far as what can go wrong with a spinoff.
 
Proof? Anyone?

Just because Matt Groening once said something doesn't make it a consideration for a Spin-Off... and I'm not even sure Matt Groening said anything about these ideas... because no one has linked to any reliable source. To me, these sound like unfounded rumors, and no one has presented anything to the contrary.
 
I think any Simpsons spin-offs is going to happen. Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe Groening decided to say stuff like this to continue to spur interest in the show.
 
Fat Morbo said:
Proof? Anyone?

Just because Matt Groening once said something doesn't make it a consideration for a Spin-Off... and I'm not even sure Matt Groening said anything about these ideas... because no one has linked to any reliable source. To me, these sound like unfounded rumors, and no one has presented anything to the contrary.

Well, just because you don't think MG mentioned these ideas, doesn't invalidate them. The "Springfield" spinoff was mentioned in the May/June Issue of the AARP's "My Generation" magazine and the "Krusty the Clown" spinoff was talked about many issues ago in the Simpsons comics. (It never made it past the discussions stage.)

I do remember reading about the Travelling Rock band spinoff on the Simpsons NG (it was quoted from a magazine interview with M.G.) and I'll try to find the exact quotes when I get a chance.

As for the Flanders's spinoff, I think that's the only rumor, but I could be wrong...

Jake
 
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Hmm...thanks for the link. From the bit I just read, Matt Groening's idea for the third series, if you think about it, may not necessarily have been for something animated (even though I doubt he'd want to venture outside the realms of cartooning). I don't know if he'd want another show that lived in the shadow of Simpsons and Futurama. I don't think he's that crazy about spinoffs either.
 
mrkatie said:


I don't think you really know entirely what you're talking about. To my knowledge, there was never a show called Arnold's. There were three spinoffs from Happy Days (one of them being Joanie Loves Chachi) but the other two were Mork & Mindy and Laverne & Shirley. And they were both quite successful. I've never heard of Three's a Crowd, are you sure you're not just thinking of Three's Company, the show the Ropers were spunoff from? Gomer Pyle and Maude were both hits, so while I'm not a fan of either, they're not good examples to cite as far as what can go wrong with a spinoff.

Ok, mrkatie

I was wrong about Arnolds - but there was a pilot in development that never was filmed. I do know what I'm talking about regarding the rest and did my research before posting this. I'm not THAT stupid.

1. There was a planned show named Arnolds... Never got past the script.

2. Three's a Crowd starred Jack Tripper, His wife, and his father-in-law and focused on Jack Tripper's (John Ritter) restaurant...

3. Joanie loves Chachi was NOT SUCCESSFUL (sorry if YOU thought so)

I did remember another failed spinoff: The Lone Gunmen

Thanks,
Lance
 
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Lance_Murdock said:
I did remember another failed spinoff: The Lone Gunmen
And one that applies to the discussion nicely. Secondary characters in their own series are often on very shaky ground. It's not easy to make them main-character material.
 
From the Spinoff showcase, which one of the (fictional) spinoffs did you like?

-Lovematic Grampa
-Wiggum P.I
-The Variety Show

I liked Wiggum P.I.
 
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