I just came across this, a bbc article about spin-offs, ranking three or four of them from best to worst. Television spin-off shows seem all the rage these days: Friends spin-off joey didn’t do very well, but the newly announced Big Bang Theory spin-off Young Sheldon will soon be all the rage. It’s quite an interesting phenomenon, really: rather than coming up with a completely fresh idea, or continuing with a scenario or narrative as it is, producers take one character or aspect of a show and enlarge it into it’s own text. Some might call that lazy program making. Then again, two of my favourite shows ever, Star Trek The next Generation and Star Trek Deep Space Nine, are spin-offs, so I can’t complain. I suppose it’s a way of breathing new life into something which, while still valuable, had run it’s course; a way to take something in a new direction.Either that, or it’s a way for tv execs to squeeze more money out of an old idea.