A spinoff or spin-off is any

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...

work derived from an already existing work that focuses on different aspects from the original work.

History

One of the earliest spin-offs of the modern media era, if not the first, happened in 1941 when the supporting character Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve from the

old time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

comedy show ''

Fibber McGee and Molly ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' (1935–1959) was a longtime American husband-and-wife team radio comedy program. The situation comedy was a staple of the NBC Red Network from 1936 on, after originating on NBC Blue in 1935. One of the most popular ...

'' became the star of his own program ''

The Great Gildersleeve ''The Great Gildersleeve'' was a radio situation comedy broadcast in the United States from August 31, 1941 to 1958. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. The series was buil ...

'' (1941–1957).

Description

A spin-off (also spelled spinoff) is derived from already existing works that focus on more details and different aspects from the original work (e.g. particular topics, characters or events), and includes books,

radio program A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production, or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio netw ...

television program A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...

s, films,

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s, or any narrative work in any medium. In

genre fiction In the book-trade, genre fiction, also known as formula fiction, or commercial fiction,Girolimon, Mars"Types of Genres: A Literary Guide" Southern New Hampshire University, 11 December 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2024. encompasses fictional ...

, the term parallels its usage in television; it is usually meant to indicate a substantial change in narrative viewpoint and activity from that (previous) storyline based on the activities of the series' principal protagonist, and so is a shift to that action and overall narrative thread of some other protagonist, which now becomes the central or main thread (storyline) of the new subseries. The new

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

generally appears first as a minor or

supporting character A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protagonist, and appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo a ...

in the main storyline within a given milieu and it is very common for the previous protagonist to have a supporting or cameo role, at the least as a historical mention, in the new subseries. Spin-offs sometimes generate their own spin-offs, leaving the new show in its own series only vaguely connected to the original series; for example, the

police procedural The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies ...

franchises of ''NCIS''/ ''JAG'' and ''CSI'' have both spun off multiple shows, including multiple spin-offs from series and spin-offs from spin-offs.

Types and variations

Sidequels

A spin-off may be called a sidequel, a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of "side" (as in side-by-side) and "

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

", when it occurs in the same timeframe as the original, sometimes contacting with the main narrative at points. In

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, the word also refers to such contemporaneous spin-offs and is frequently translated as "side story".References for the translation of as "side story":

Crossovers

Sometimes even when a show is not a spin-off of another, there will nevertheless be crossovers in which a character from one show makes an appearance on another. Sometimes crossovers are created in an attempt to provide closure to fans of another failed series. Sometimes show producers will re-introduce a character from an older series into a later one as a way of providing a connectivity of that particular producer's television "world".

References