by Jen Hudson

Created on: February 28, 2009   Last Updated: March 01, 2009

Nothing is good as the original. It's a classic cliche that occasionally is proven wrong by a sitcom that can take a good thing and continue it with a spinoff that keeps the laugh track going. Here are my picks for the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good:

"Frasier", spinoff of "Cheers"

Dr. Frasier Crane left his bar stool at Cheers to move on with his life in rainy Seattle. What "Cheers" lacked in high brow literary humor, "Frasier" picked up on and made it mainstream. Two pretentious brothers, an English maid, a promiscuous producer, and a good all-American dad made up a sequel to one of the longest lasting sitcoms and matched its time on air with 11 years. Of course, no show is complete without a lovable dog like Eddie, the Jack Russell Terrier that warmed our hearts. The guest appearances made by an abundance of characters from the Boston bar, such as Ted Danson's "Sam Malone" and Woody Harrelson's "Woody Boyd" kept "Cheers" open even as Niles and Frasier sipped cappuccinos at Cafe Nervosa. When the series ended, Daphne and Niles as new parents, Martin a newlywed, Roz with a deserved promotion, and Frasier embarking on a whole new journey, it was easy to say we would be watching and "listening" to Kelsey and company's masterpiece for years to come in syndication.

The bad:

"Saved by the Bell: The New Class", spinoff of "Saved by the Bell"

Just because it has the same name, doesn't mean it will have the same fame. After the four year high school version of the original series, Bayside's Class of 1997 entered the halls of NBC in 1993. Remarkably, the market for a teeny bopper Saturday morning show was strong enough to continue the sequel with different cast members until 2000. Led by Samuel "Screech" Powers (Dustin Diamond) and Principal Belding (Richard Haskins) from the original cast, the new Bayside class lacked the acting abilities and quick whit that future stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Tiffani Thiessen brought to the cast. With "Weasel" trying to replace the original "Screech" and "Scott" trying to be the new Zack, the cloned class couldn't copy the cult following of Belding's favorite kids and multiple cast members filled the token slots for the next seven years.

The ugly (but great TV):

"Law and Order: SVU", spinoff of "Law and Order"

Nine years after the original cops and litigators show hit our televisions, Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler has brought crime investigation to a new intensity with a show that deals with crimes of a heinous nature. "SVU" is not an easy show to watch. Television that deals with the children or sexual victims is not water cooler discussion, but the character development of Stabler and Benson has brought a whole innovative level of intimacy to the L and O series. Ice-T has used his bad boy pass to bring street cred to the series, and 10 years later, we can't stop watching these cops put the worst criminals imaginable behind bars.

Few shows have come close to their original counterparts, but some like Frasier and SVU make the cut. Even if the spinoffs bring nothing new to the table like "The New Class", they may be able to ride on their predecessors' coat tails for years to come.

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