Six TV spinoffs that are even better than the original
More than anything, Wednesday is a showcase for Jenna Ortega and her masterful micro-expressions. Her Wednesday Addams is a bookish, steely loner whose dark sensibilities are at odds with the rah-rah boarding school vibes of supernatural Nevermore Academy – an outcast among outcasts. With a phenomenal cast that includes familiar faces from the '90s films and just-gory-enough violence, it's a fun family watch that the over-13s won't turn their noses up at.
Frasier
Watching Frasier Crane's early run on Cheers as the pitiable but sweet egghead who served to turn Sam and Diane's legendary flirtation into a love triangle, you would never have picked him as the anchor for one of the most successful TV spinoffs of all time. But the creators of Frasier knew exactly how to turn this character from a narrative lever into a fixture.
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Crane – whom Kelsey Grammer has been playing since he was in his late 20s – is a pompous, verbose snob, which makes him a great foil for easygoing Boston barflies, but he's also kind at his core and as hard on himself as he can be on those around him, which gives him a path to connect with others despite himself. At the beginning of his eponymous show, his original 1985 sweetness and vulnerability calcified believably into a '90s cynicism, all the better for bickering with his pernickety brother, cranky father and shrewd radio producer.
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