When I was a kid, I watched a lot of Saturday morning television — Hong Kong Phooey, Underdog, Krofft Superstars, etc. But even though I've outgrown (most) children's TV, I never fully broke the weekend morning TV habit. My guilty pleasure of late has been watching Beverly Hills 90210 on SOAPnet on weekend mornings.

(Right now they're in the college years, and I keep enjoying little nuggets inspired by the year that Darren Star and I overlapped at UCLA.)

So you'd think I'd be excited about the news I heard the other day — a spin-off of 90210 is reportedly in the works. But, you know, I wasn't so much. In fact, I thought it sounded like a pretty stupid idea. (As Dlisted.com said, “9021-NOOOOOO!!!!”) The show ended eight years ago. (And it should have ended at least 10 years ago.) There's no word yet on which cast members will return, and Darren Starr isn't even attached to the project. Additionally, the original audience is all grown up, and I don't know that they would really be interested in much more than a reunion show. So, I don't really get it. But apparently, it's not for me; it's for the Gossip Girl crowd, and is intended to be essentially a West Coast companion piece. Which still doesn't explain to me why it's going to be a spin-off of a long-dead show.

Of course, 90210 has already spawned one uber-successful spin-off, Melrose Place.

Melrose was one of those crazily successful spin-offs that has probably spawned all sorts of spin-off envy in development executives. It wasn't a particular favorite of mine, but I did like it in the relatively tame first season, before Michael Mancini became Dr. Evil and when the main drama was the will-they-or-won't-they tension between Billy and Allison.

But rather than just puzzle over the 90210 spin-off, I'd rather reminisce about spin-offs I recall fondly. Here are a few of my favorites:

Rhoda (1974 — The Mary Tyler Moore Show) … continue reading