SPINNING THE WHEEL: WHAT MAKES TV

SERIES-SPIN-OFFS SUCCESSFUL?
Thomas Kilian
Universitt Koblenz-Landau, Germany

Tessa Schwarz
Universitt Mannheim, Germany

ABSTRACT

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Copyright 2013 Journal of Media Business Studies. Tomas Kilian and Tessa Schwarz,
Spinning The Wheel: What Makes TV Series-Spin-Offs Successful?, 10(2): 39-61 (2013).

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Table 1: Spin-offs and Parent Series

Spin-off
Title
(Genre)
No. of
seasons
Average
TV ratings
Average
fan ratings
Spin-off
type
Synopsis

Title
(Genre)
No. of
seasons
Average
TV ratings
Average
fan ratings
Spin-off
type
Synopsis

Law & Order: Special

Victims Unit (Legal/ police
drama)
12 (ongoing)
~ 12,800,000 viewers per
episode
~ 8,8 out of 10 points (17,937
votes)
Guest-star spin-off
The spin-off is about a team of
detectives, who try to solve
sex crimes and to bring the
offenders to justice.
Conviction (Legal drama)

Parent series
Law & Order(Legal/ police drama)

20 (ended)
~ 12,710,000 viewers per episode
~ 8,5 out of 10 points (9,381 votes)
Guest appearance: Abbie Carmichael
(Angie Harmon)
The show resolves around detectives
and prosecutors, who solve severe
crimes, like murder, and to bring the
offenders to justice.
Law & Order: Special Victims
Unit (Legal/ police drama)

1 (canceled)

12 (ongoing)

~ 7,700,000 viewers per

episode

~ 12,800,000 viewers per episode

~ 7,3 out of 10 (948 votes)

~ 8,8 out of 10 (17,937 votes)

Character spin-off (while

running)
The spin-off is about a team of
young attorneys, who try to
prosecute the offenders of
different crimes.

Spun-off character: Alexandra Cabot

(Stephanie March)
The parent show is about a team of
detectives, who try to solve sex
crimes and to bring the offenders to
justice.

Kilian and Schwarz Spinning the Wheel

Title
(Genre)
No. of
seasons
Average
TV ratings
Average
fan ratings
Spin-off
type
Synopsis

Title
(Genre)
No. of
seasons
Average
TV ratings
Average
fan ratings
Spin-off
type
Synopsis

Title
(Genre)
No. of
seasons
Average
TV ratings
Average
fan ratings
Spin-off
type
Synopsis

Angel (Fantasy/ horror)

Buffy (Fantasy/ horror)

5 (ended)

7 (ended)

~ 4,220,000 viewers per

episode
~ 8.7 out of 10 (24,830
votes)
Character spin-off (while
running)
The vampire Angel and his
team fight the evil creatures
of LA, guided by the good
Powers that Be.

Spun-off character: Angel (David

Boreanaz )
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, fights
vampires and other evil creatures to
protect the town of Sunnydale against
the Hellmouth on which it was built.

Frasier (Comedy)

Cheers (Comedy)

11 (ended)

11 (ended)

~ 14,200,000 viewers per

episode

~ 19,010,000 viewers per episode

~ 8.8 out of 10 (17,273)

~ 8.6 out of 10 (7992)

Character spin-off (after

ended)
Frasier is about the life of the
psychiatrist Frasier and his
family and friends.

Spun-off character: Frasier (Kelsey

Grammer)

~ 4,500,000 viewers per episode

~ 8.8 out of 10 (42,307 votes)

Cheers revolves around the bar Cheers

and its staff and patrons.

Joey (Comedy)

Friends (Comedy)

2 (canceled)

10 (ended)

~ 8,850,000 viewers per

episode
~ 7.5 out of 10 (13,989
votes)
Character spin-off (after
ended)
Joey follows the life of Joey
and his friends as he
struggles to make it as an
actor in L.A.

~ 23,610,000 viewers per episode

~ 9.1 out of 10 (87,945 votes)
Spun-off character: Joey (Matt
LeBlanc)
Friends revolves around the lives of
six New Yorker mid-twenties, who
together master life, love and work in
the big city.

Findings
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
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Figure 1: Model of Determinants of TV Spin-offs Success

Parent Shows
Fan Base

Intertextuality

Spin-Off
Characteristics
Consistency in:
- Genre
- Plot Pattern or
Character
Constellation
- Character
Development

Spin-Off Success (i.e., TV

Ratings)

Moderators
- Overall Genre Performance
- Spin-Off-Type

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