Wednesday, January 25, 2012
BECAUSE JOEY WORKED OUT SO WELL FOR EVERYONE: A few years ago, there were rumblings of an Office spinoff, and fortunately for all concerned, it morphed into Parks & Recreation instead. Now, preparations are hard at work for Schrute Farms, a spinoff focusing on Dwight and his life at Schrute Farms. As cartoonish as Dwight has become, this sounds like a pretty awful idea, even though there's been some great material revolving around the farm over the years. Of course, complicating matters is that basically no one is under contract to the mothership show for next season, which may force this on us. In addition to the awfulness of this idea, feel free to discuss spinoffs you wish you could have seen (I still wish there was a "Paris and Doyle Move To NYC" spinoff of Gilmore Girls) or backdoor pilots that didn't go (like the 80s set Gossip Girl spinoff/prequel with Brittany Snow as Lily Rhodes (later van der Woodsen Bass Humphrey) and Krysten Ritter as her sister).
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I don't know about an ongoing series, but I might've enjoyed a Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle Sail the World miniseries.
ReplyDeleteAnd when Law & Order: SVU eventually shuffles off this mortal coil, I would watch a show called "Munch"
I am fine with spinning off the too-cartoony Dwight Schrute into a zanier universe while the rest of Dunder-Mifflin (under a new boss) stays put.
ReplyDeleteIs there really a point to a Schrute Farms spinoff with no Ken Tremendous?
ReplyDeleteHave Dwight running a bed and breakfast on the farm and it starts to look like Fawlty Towers (if you squint real hard and wave your hand in front of your face). Or make it a full-blown absurdist farce, like Green Acres. I suppose it's possible.
ReplyDelete"Escape from Mandyville": When a well-paid, high-strung political consultant annoys her boss -- and the viewers -- one time too many, she is banished not only from the White House, but from our version of reality, and never spoken of again. And thus begins her years-long quest to return from the mirror universe. Armed only with her rapier wit and a somewhat stale attack memo detailing the weaknesses of a Commander in Chief nobody in her world has heard of, Mandy must face challenges of all types, with the help of a three-foot tall talking cat named "Toe Pick."
ReplyDelete"Better Call Saul!": Sure, we know what happened AFTER famed lawyer Saul Goodman met up with former Chemistry teacher Walter White. This prequel tells the story of Saul's life before he encountered the feared drug lord Heisenberg. Featuring a zany assortment of cases and clients, not to mention Saul's unexplored home life, this cross between "Law and Order" and "Married, With Children" has a little something for everyone!
<span>"Vesuvio": Making a buck in the restaurant business is hard. But Artie Bucco's problems don't end there. His clientelle includes a broad cross-section of New Jersey's criminal underworld, who play on his goodwill, pay when they please, and sometimes even burn the whole place down. Add to that Artie's lady troubles and his resentment at being left out of the gangster's glitzy world, and what's a hard-working restauranteur to do? The answer will surprise you!</span>
ReplyDelete"Veronica's Boobs": This spinoff is exactly the same as "Better Off Ted," just with a different title that hopefully increases viewership so the show stays on the air.
ReplyDeleteHey, it also works for "Veronica Mars."
ReplyDeleteOne of Mandy's companions could be a grizzled old coot in a letterman jacket known only as "Chuck."
ReplyDelete"Widmore!" starring Alan Dale as a global tycoon....
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Can I have some more Josh Holloway in my TV screen?
"A-Huntin' We Will Go": Before he became the feared, crazy, whistling stick-up man known well to fans of The Wire, Omar Little had a childhood filled with strict rules laid down by his grandmother. Or so he would have you believe. This half-hour sitcom will explore Omar's youth, during which he was in fact raised by a rich uncle in Bel Air, Los Angeles, where Omar lived along with his uptight cousin...
ReplyDelete"Screech At Rest": Picking up some three decades after Samuel "Screech" Powers left Bayside High School, this one-hour drama explores the pitfalls and opportunities presented by fin-de-siecle America. Having retired in his late 40s after selling his tech start-up for a tidy sum, Screech searches for meaning in transformed world. An elegiac examination of regret, rememberance, and the meanings we create for our own lives, "Screech At Rest" will appeal to fans of John Updike, Joseph O'Neill, and Doctor Demento.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe "The Finder" didn't take.
ReplyDeleteOh, wait, no, I HATED "The Finder." What a blatant and anvil-covered backdoor pilot.
Oh, wait, no, "The Finder" totally took, and is now in FOX's primetime lineup.
Dammit.
I can't bear The Office any more. Dwight's cartoonishness, and my completely irrational loathing of James Spade, are the two biggest reasons why. This spinoff sounds WRETCHED, which means they'll probably do it. Count me out.
ReplyDeleteAs far as a spinoff I'd like to see... how about EDEN, a show about Adam and Eve, the characters played by Adam Arkin and Valerie Mahaffey on Northern Exposure? We'd follow the two of them around the world as they seek out treatments for Eve's psychosomatic illnesses, and Adam alternates between shaming the great chefs of the world and carrying out missions for the CIA -- at least in his head. The CIA part, I mean.