Inane warm ramblings

[kerravonsen]

It is hot. It is hotter outside. However, the computers make this room quite warm. There is only one cool room in the house, and that is my bedroom. But I can't Do Stuff(*) in my bedroom. Just read books. And I am too tired to Do Stuff anyway. But I have been sitting here playing FreeCell anyway.

(*) write fic, tweak my website, program, do digital art, watch videos/DVDs

Oh, yeah. Er, a question I shall ask ye all: has there ever been a spin-off of a TV show that's been better than the original? Most of them are worse, some of them are just as good. This question was brought to you by Torchwood, which is definitely worse. (sigh)

Comments

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

That's quite a question. *ponders briefly*

I want to say, "No." Although Star Trek: TNG (and DS9, at a third remove from the first show) come close. That's in my humble opinion, and having watched TNG in my formative years and DS9 in my high school years may have warped my perspective a bit. :-)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I was going to say those two!

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

I forgot to tell you that we were snowed in at the beginning of last week. Would that be better? :)

Whether any show is better or worse than another is always going to be up for debate, but there are plenty of spin-offs that are widely considered better than the original. Many people consider NextGen better than Original Trek, for example. Some people prefer one of the later CSIs or Law and Orders. And some spin-offs become well-known while the originals sink into obscurity. Happy Days is much better-known and loved that the show that spawned it: Love, American Style.

[kerravonsen]

Happy Days is much better-known and loved that the show that spawned it: Love, American Style.

"Happy Days" was a spin-off? Well, you learn something new every day...

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Actually, yeah. I'd forgotten about that one. Happy Days was a spin-off of an episode from what I understand was sort of an anthology-type show, Love, American Style (as mistraltoes notes). And it, of course, had a spin-off of its own, Laverne & Shirley.

Of course it's a matter of taste, but I seem to recall liking Frasier better than Cheers

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

Are we counting Buffy the Series vs Buffy the movie? (I like Torchwood. It's not Doctor Who, mind you. But I like it. :)

[kerravonsen]

Well, if we are, then Stargate would probably fit too.

I like Torchwood. It's not Doctor Who, mind you. But I like it.

I really liked the first episode; but my expectations of it have kept on lowering.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Our only cool room is the bathroom, which is even less useful for Doing Things. We're expecting lower teperatures tomorrow (fingers crossed).

Ummmm... NCIS is better than JAG (this is not hard :)

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

And that's why this question is so very subjective--I like NCIS, but I wouldn't say it's better than JAG.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Fair enough :)

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Well, DS9 strikes me as the obvious one. And if your tastes run that way, Xena was probably more popular than Hercules.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Ah. I'd forgotten Xena. Hercules was lame, but Xena I rather liked.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Heh. :-) I agree that Xena was as good as Herc in the early seasons, but for my money, it started downhill within 2.5 seasons. It started taking itself way too seriously and pretty much completely abandoned it's Classical Greek roots. Sure, Herc ventured into other mythos, but they never completelyl left Greece behind. I had to stop watching Xena when they started in on the shamanism/faux-Christianity thing.

(Not to mention Xena turned one of the finest TV villains ever into an angel??? Callisto is psychotic evil. Period. *g*)

Herc, otoh, while definitely having its bumps and bruises, was cheesey-good fun (like a nice colby: mild, with just a bit of bite) and maintained itself reasonably well (which is a point of debate within the fandom), at least up until the last season. Of course, when I discovered that I was far more interested in the show if Michael Hurst was in it than in the storylines where he's missing, well, you can see where my loyalties lie. ;-)

I agree that Xena got far more attention and promotion than did Herc. We in the Herc fandom believe that started happening about the time the exec producer of the shows started dating Lucy Lawless.

YMMV. FWIW.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Michael Hurst is indeed awesome, but he could not overcome for me the awfulness of Keven Sorbo (who also ruined Andromeda for me). And the cheesiness was not to my taste. I always felt that Xena poked fun at itself, while Hercules was mocking the viewers. And Xena had Ted Raimi, who was almost as much fun as Hurst, if perhaps not as cute.

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

I vastly prefer Angel to Buffy - but that's possibly just my personal sensibilities.

[ladyslvr.livejournal.com]

Not just you. Angel's 4th season aside, I think it's a much better show overall than Buffy.