These days it seems that whenever someone has a good idea, they want to milk it for all it's worth and make as much money from it as possible. This is especially true in the entertainment industry. When a singer or band has a surprise hit, that song will get played over and over on the radio and on MTV. Even if that band becomes a one-hit wonder and never produces another popular song, you can bet that they will hit the road and play small clubs and other gigs for the next twenty years. This happens with movies, too. How many Rocky or Superman movies are there? Unfortunately, television is not immune to this phenomenon, either. Just look at all the spin-off series that have come and gone over the years.

I personally don't like spin-offs. Although I have attempted to watch several of them, I never got hooked on any. The spin-offs are rarely as good as the original shows. The only exception that immediately comes to mind is Frasier, which was a spin-off of the old Cheers sitcom. I watched Cheers, but I never did warm up to Frasier, probably because Frasier Crane wasn't one of my favorite characters to begin with.

When you look at today's TV lineup, you can see lots of spin-offs on air. The most glaring example is the CSI "franchise" (yes, they refer to successful movies and TV shows as franchises now). There is the original one that takes place in Las Vegas, then there are two spin-offs, one in Miami and one in New York. Do viewers really need to see 3 CSI shows per week? I don't. Another spin-off that's currently on air is Joey, which features one of the characters from the now-defunct Friends series. I watched Friends for several years, but then stopped as the jokes got stale and the situations got even more unbelievably contrived. I tuned in to the premier of Joey just out of curiosity, but didn't like it and never watched it again. Then there's Boston Legal, which takes over where The Practice left off. This show has received some critical acclaim, but hasn't really found a niche with audiences yet.

I guess the fate of the above-mentioned spin-offs is still up in the air. But there are others that never quite made it off the ground. Do you remember that show called The Lone Gunmen? No? Well, you're probably not alone. This spin-off of The X-Files lasted only one season before getting cancelled. Another spin-off that lasted only one season was Models, Inc. This show was spawned from Melrose Place, but obviously didn't enjoy the same success. I'm not even going to talk about The Time of Your Life, which was a spin-off of Party of Five!

The reason I don't like spin-offs is that I watch new shows in order to see fresh ideas, not to see the same characters with the same personalities, only in different locations. Give me something new, not recycled!